10. The Dead Sea Scrolls

Amihay, Aryeh, Theory and Practice in Essene Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. xiv + 242. £64.00. ISBN 978-0-1906-3101-7.

A. sets out to offer a new framework for studying the legal texts of the DSS. He considers problematic the interpretation of these texts through the lens of rabbinic law, offering in its place the lens of current legal theory, philosophy of law in particular. The title of the book reflects his revival of the ‘Essene Hypothesis’, basing this study on the Damascus Document and the Community Rule, and MMT. The study is divided into two, Part I on concepts and Part II on practices. This highlights the tensions of the law: between the ‘coherent vision and the written law’; and between the written law and its application. The concepts are what A. calls ‘legal essentialism’, and are considered the chief contribution of the study. These concepts are discussed in binaries of hierarchy and exclusivity, time and space, obligation and authority, intent and responsibility, retribution and control. These are then reflected in Part II under association and admission, covenant and initiation, officers and leaders, reproof and mediation, and punishment and exclusion. The virtue of this study is the fresh lens through which to look at the legal texts, and the application of multiple methodologies including sociology and spacial theory; and suggestions are made for new terminology in describing the laws. Both the introduction and the dust cover suggest the study is novel and offers new directions for study. This may not be paradigm-shifting, but is a fruitful study to add to ongoing exploration of the Scroll corpus.

Dwight D. Swanson

Collins, John J., Scriptures and Sectarianism: Essays on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016), pp. xii + 329. $45.00/£29.99. ISBN 978-0-8028-7314-9. [Distributed in the UK by Alban Books.]

This is a welcome Eerdmans paperback edition of the 2014 Mohr Siebeck hardback (WUNT, 332; not reviewed in the B.L.) of John Collins’ essays on the DSS written between 2003 and 2013. The essays are prefaced by a clear and accessible introduction on the Scrolls. Part I (‘Scripture and Interpretation’) comprises essays on ‘The Transformation of the Torah in Second Temple Judaism’, ‘Changing Scripture’, ‘Tradition and Innovation in the Dead Sea Scrolls’, ‘The Interpretation of Genesis in the Dead Sea Scrolls’, ‘The Interpretation of Psalm ‘, and ‘The Book of Daniel and the Dead Sea Scrolls’. Part II (‘History and Sectarianism’) includes chapters on ‘Historiography in the Dead Sea Scrolls’, ‘Reading for History in the Dead Sea Scrolls’, ‘ “Enochic Judaism” and the Sect of the Dead Sea Scroll’, and ‘Sectarian Consciousness in the Dead Sea Scrolls’. Part III (‘The Sectarian Worldview’) contains essays on ‘Covenant and Dualism in the Dead Sea Scrolls’, ‘The Angelic Life’, ‘The Essenes and the Afterlife’, ‘Prayer and the Meaning of Ritual in the Dead Sea Scrolls’, and ‘The Eschatologizing of Wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls’, followed by an Epilogue presenting an essay on ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament: The Case of the Suffering Servant’. A cumulative bibliography and comprehensive indices allow readers to pursue matters further. All but one of the essays (‘Covenant and Dualism’) were published previously across a range of journals and edited books, so now these characteristically lucid and authoritative essays are made widely available and affordable. This volume is essential reading for advanced students and scholars of the Scrolls.

Charlotte Hempel

Crawford, Sidnie White and Cecilia Wassen (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and the Concept of a Library (STDJ, 116; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. vi + 338. €110.00/$142.00. ISBN 978-90-04-30182-5.

Is the identification of the Dead Sea Scrolls as a library feasible, given that these 930 manuscripts and fragments were not found in an accessible, public, building? This question was explored in an International SBL session (2012), which compared available models of ANE, Egyptian, Greek and Roman libraries. With introductions from C. Wassen and D. Dimant, the essays foreground the view that the scrolls represented a single library—variously as a ‘library with archive’ (S.W. Crawford, p. 131) or ‘the remnants of an ancient library’ (A. Lange, p. 279). In terms of the site's archaeology— including two Roman niches, a podium and exedra in L2 and L4, and several inkwells— I. Werrett suggests that these afford ‘a compelling analog to the library of Alexandria and its scholarly community’ (p. 103), a view commended by S. Reed's account of the linguistic range provided, alongside M. Popović's suggestion that ‘the Qumran collection of manuscripts reflects a milieu of Jewish intellectuals’ (p. 164). The analogue, however, is not entirely compatible with M. Berti's account of how the Hellenistic libraries emerged, when bureaucratic powers began to use culture to legitimize their institutional authority, alongside the spread of Greek philosophy (p. 53). Au contraire, at Qumran the scrolls were carefully rolled, often wrapped in linen, then stored in sealed jars (except for those left open on the floor of Cave 4). Here also C. Martone finds Nehemiah's memoirs and 2 Macc. 2.13-14, together with the suppositions in The Letter of Aristeas, to be largely speculative. S. Pfann's equally judicious treatment concludes that the ‘scrolls do not represent the holdings of a single group’ (p. 210), but rather ‘an apparent multiplicity of libraries’ (p. 213). As such, Å. Justnes explains the need to replace ‘surface level’ anachronisms and canonical stereotypes with more carefully calibrated terms, which better reflect Qumran's fluid and dynamic ‘clusters’ (p. 28). Likewise, H. Jacobus ‘suggests an integrated interest in intra-calendar plurality and the preservation of historical knowledge in a library of interlocking texts’ (p. 241), complementing D. Machiela's account of the coherence and themes of the Aramaic scrolls. Yet what other purpose might such diverse manuscript clusters have served? Could the caves have functioned as a genizah—i.e. a locus for Jewish sacred texts which have fallen out of use and are thus buried or stored? This would accommodate larger deposits from multiple libraries, alongside texts produced for personal and devotional use, including tefillin (phylacteries): a suggestion footnoted (p. 175 n. 12). Both editors should be warmly congratulated for facilitating this important dialogue, while providing an intellectually rigorous, yet readable, collection of essays.

Sandra Jacobs

Davis, Kipp, Dorothy M. Peters, Kyung S. Baek and Peter W. Flint (eds.), The War Scroll, Violence, War and Peace in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature: Essays in Honour of Martin G. Abegg on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday (STDJ, 115; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. xvi + 489. €168.00/$218.00. ISBN 978-90-04-27114-2.

The War Scroll, though one of the more famous of the DSS, has been surprisingly neglected in comparison to its fame. This volume is therefore a welcome addition to scholarship, and serves as a fitting tribute to M.G. Abegg whose many contributions to the field began with a dissertation on the War Scroll. An introductory section presents the life and work of Abegg: D.M. Peters, ‘Introduction’; E. Tov, ‘From Concordance to Concordance: Martin G. Abegg's Work on Computerizing and Concordancing the Dead Sea Scrolls’; J. Kalman, ‘From “The War Scroll” to A Preliminary Edition of the Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls’. The second section focuses on the War Scroll itself: G.J. Brooke, ‘Text, Timing and Terror: Thematic Thoughts on the War Scroll in Conversation with the Writings of Martin G. Abegg’; R.D. Holmstedt and J. Screnock, ‘Writing a Descriptive Grammar of the Syntax and Semantics of the War Scroll: The Noun Phrase as Proof of Concept’; A.R. Meyer, ‘The “Mysteries of God” in the Qumran War Scroll’; K. Davis, ‘ “There and Back Again”: Reconstruction and Reconciliation of the War Texts of 4QMilḥamaa (4Q246a–c)’; D.D. Chang, ‘Priestly Covenants in 1QM and 1QSb’; R. Kugler, ‘The War Rule Texts and a New Theory of the People of the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Brief Thought Experiment’. The third section opens up the theme of the volume more widely to issues of war and peace throughout the DSS: A. Jassen, ‘Violent Imaginaries and Practical Violence in the War Scroll’; B. Schultz, ‘The Naval Battle in the Qumran War Texts’; J. Kampen, ‘Wisdom, Poverty, and Non-Violence in Instruction’; D.M. Peters and E. Eshel, ‘Cutting Off Shechem: Levi and his Sword in the Rylands Genizah Fragment of the Aramaic Levi Document’; J.E. Bowley, ‘Prophecy, False Prophecy, and War in the Dead Sea Scrolls’; D.K. Falk, ‘Prayer, Liturgy and War’; I. Werrett in collaboration with S. Parker, ‘Purity in War: What Is it Good For?’. The final section opens up the theme further by considering war and peace in early Jewish and Christian texts: T. Elgvin, ‘Violence, Apologetics, and Resistance: Hasmonaean Ideology and Yaḥad Texts in Dialogue’; C.A. Evans, ‘Jesus, Satan and Holy War in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls’; K.S. Baek, ‘The Sword-in-the-Mouth of Jesus the King: Declarations of War and Peace in the Gospel of Matthew’; M.O. Wise, ‘Papyrus Ḥever 30 and the Bar Kokhba Revolt’; S. Delamarter, ‘The Cave 11 Psalm Scroll (11Q5) and the Textual History of Ethiopic Psalm 151: Memory and Interpretation of David as Anointed Warrior’.

James K. Aitken

De Loouijer, Gwynned, The Qumran Paradigm: A Critical Evaluation of Some Foundational Hypotheses in the Construction of the Qumran Sect (Early Judaism and Its Literature, 43; Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2015), pp. xviii + 297. $37.95. ISBN 978-0-88414-071-9.

This revised Durham PhD (supervisor: J. Barclay, with L. Stuckenbruck and L. Doering) wants to challenge the ‘prevailing Qumran paradigm’, created in the early study of Qumran, which she feels has canalized research on the Scrolls and thus limited our understanding. She uses two case studies (of 4QMMT and 1QS 3.13–4.26) to show how an ‘innocent’ analysis can produce different results. Ultimately, she argues that each individual text should be studied in itself, apart from a theory about origin, and so on. Her conclusions are well taken and her questions and critiques are often to the point, but occasionally there seems to be a tilting at windmills: in my experience many recent studies have started with the text and only came to a conclusion about origin at the end. Also, few scholars of Second Temple Judaism would today subscribe to an ‘orthodoxy’, while the appeal to apply the social sciences preaches to a large group of those already converted. She is quite right that you cannot automatically equate text with social or historical groups or personages (as some of us long ago pointed out), but sometimes analysis will lead to reasonable (if always provisional) conclusions. And as a historian I cannot overlook the fact that we have some archaeological data and also textual statements about Jewish society: a thoroughly nominalistic approach can be too limiting!

Lester L. Grabbe

Dec, Przemysław, Zwój Hymnów Dziękczynnych z Qumran (1QHodajot^a): Rekonstrukcja—przekład—komentarz (Teksty z Pustyni Judzkiej, 2; Kraków: Enigma Press, 2017), pp. xviii + 230. zł110.00. ISBN 987-83-86110-71-1.

It is much to be welcomed that following the publication of the first title in this series in 1996, a second has at last appeared (and also a third, by Antoni Tronina, reviewed below, p. 247). This book is largely based upon a dissertation submitted in 2004, in which D. produced a reconstruction of 1QH^a, following proposals of Hartmut Stegemann. After a brief introductory chapter on the Hodayot manuscripts, D. gives details of his reconstruction of the columns, illustrating this graphically with a hand-drawn outline of the pieces of leather placed in position to make up each column. The centrepiece of the book is the edition of the Hebrew text, for which the numbering of columns and lines essentially follows that of Stegemann and Eileen Schuller in DJD XL (2009), though D. does not include columns 27-28, attested only in small fragments. A generally conservative approach is taken with regard to the reconstruction of missing portions of text, except where the 4QHod manuscripts can be used for this purpose. Footnotes give details of the Eliezer Sukenik reference for each line, and also readings found in other editions and studies. Fragments not assigned to columns are added at the end. A Polish translation of the columns is then given, followed by an index of Hebrew words. Despite the subtitle, there is no commentary as such, but the footnotes to the Hebrew text make up a very useful critical apparatus, enabling the reader to see at a glance what different readings have been given by other scholars.

David M. Stec

Elgvin, Torleif, Kipp Davis and Michael Langlois (eds.), Gleanings from the Caves: Dead Sea Scrolls and Artefacts from The Schøyen Collection (LSTS, 71; London and New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016), pp. 508. £90.00. ISBN 978-0-5671-1300-9.

This long-awaited volume is on the one hand impressively presented and lavishly illustrated, yet on the other hugely problematic. The lengthy delay in publication is evident from its assigned series number in the Library of Second Temple Studies, LSTS 71 (LSTS 72 appeared in 2010). The volume itself presents fragments from 26-28 manuscripts purportedly from the Judaean Desert, along with a number of artefacts (including scroll wrappers and ceramic jars), all belonging to The Schøyen Collection. It is divided into six parts. Part One (‘Overview’) contains contributions from M. Schøyen (‘Acquisition and Ownership History: A Personal Reflection’), H. Eshel (‘The Fate of Scrolls and Fragments: A Survey from 1946 to the Present’), T. Elgvin (‘Texts and Artefacts from the Judaean Desert in The Schøyen Collection: An Overview’), I. Rabin (‘Material Analysis of the Fragments’), M. Langlois (‘Palaeographical Analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls in The Schøyen Collection’), and K. Davis (‘High Quality Scrolls from the Post-Herodian Period’). In Parts Two, Three, and Four (‘Pentateuch’, ‘Prophets’, and ‘Writings’), Elgvin, Davis, Eshel, and Å. Justnes present: MS 4612/4 = 4Q(?)Gen-Miniature (Gen. 36.7-16); MS 5439/1 = 4QRP^b (4Q364) frg. 8a (Gen. 37.8); MS 4611 = Mur/ḤevLev (Lev 26.3-9, 33-37); MS 4612/5 = 4Q(?)Num (Num. 16.2–5); MS 5214/1 = 4Q(?)Deut1 (Deut. 6.1-2); MS 5214/2 = 4Q(?)Deut2 (Deut. 32.5-9); MS 2713 = Mur/ḤevJosh (Josh. 1.9-12; 2.3-5); XJudg with MS 2861 (Judg. 4.5-6); MS 5480 = 4Q(?)Sam (1 Sam. 5.10-11); MS 5233/1 = XQSam (2 Sam. 20.22-24); MS 5440 = 4Q(?) Kgs (1 Kgs 16.23-26); MS 4612/9 = 4Q(?)Jer (Jer. 3.15-19); MS4612/1 = Ḥev(?)Joel (Joel 4.1-5); MS 5233/2 = 4Q(?)Ps (Ps. 9.10, 12-13); MS 4612/11 = 4Q(?)Prov (Prov. 4.23–5.1); MS 5441 = 4Q(?)Ruth (Ruth 2.1-2); 1QDan^a (1Q71) with MS 1926/4a (Dan 2.4-5); and 1QDan^b (1Q72) with MS 1926/4b (Dan. 3.26-27). Part Five (‘Other Writings’) contains: MS 1909 = 1QRule of Blessings (1Q28b) frg. 25a, 1QSb V 22-25 (G.J. Brooke); MS 1926/2 = 1QApocryphon of Genesis ar (1Q20) cols I, III, IV, V (Elgvin and Davis); MS 5095/7 = 4Q(?)Fragment with Text from Commentary on Genesis A (Elgvin); MS 4612/3 = 11Q(?)Eschatological Fragment ar (E. Eshel); MS 5439/2 = Ḥev(?)Unidentified Fragment (Elgvin); MS 5095/1, MS 5095/4 = Wads from 11QT^a, Unidentified Fragments from Cave 11 (Elgvin and Davis); MS 1926/1, MS 1926/3 = Uninscribed Fragments from 1QIsa^a and 1QS (Elgvin); and MS 4612/7 = Fragments of Wadi ed-Daliyeh Documentary Texts (J. Dušek). Finally, Part Six (‘Artefacts’) examines: MS 5095/6, MS 1655/5 = Leather Cord from Qumran, Shoe Remains (Elgvin); MS 5095/2, MS 5095/4 = The Temple Scroll: Wrapper and Fragment (Rabin); MS 5095/2, MS 5095/4, MS 5095/1 = The Temple Scroll Wrapper from Cave 11 (N. Sukenik); ‘Radiocarbon Dating of the Temple Scroll Wrapper and Cave 11Q’ (J.E. Taylor and J. van der Plicht); MS 5095/3 = Palm Fibre Tool from Cave 11Q (Rabin); MS 1655/1 = The Jar that Came from the South (J. Gunneweg and M. Balla); ‘Compositional Analysis of Two Ceramic Specimens’ (M.T. Boulanger and M.D. Glascock); ‘Samples from the Cylindrical Jar MS 1655/1’ (I. Rabin and R. Schütz); ‘The Allegro and Schøyen Jars among the Qumran Jars’ (Taylor); ‘Archive Jars and Storage Jars in Context: MS 1655/1, MS 1655/3abcd’ (Elgvin); MS 1655/4 = Incense Altar from Naḥal Ḥever(?) (Elgvin); MS 1655/2, MS 1987/15 = Bronze Inkwells from Naḥal Ḥever(?) and Nabataea (Elgvin); and ‘Ink Sample from Inkwell MS 1655/2’ (Rabin). (It is unclear why MS 1926/1 appears in Part Five rather than Part Three, or why MS 5095/4 is dealt with in three different places, once in Part Five [Elgvin and Davis] and twice in Part Six [Rabin and Sukenik].) The volume concludes with a bibliography and indexes. Space prohibits a detailed engagement, but by far the most serious problems are lack of provenance and suspicion of forgery which underlie and undermine the book as a whole. Nine fragments were withdrawn from the volume before publication, yet others included here nevertheless display ‘suspicious features’ (p. 239), ‘hesitant hands’ (p. 53), and other ‘inconsistencies that may raise concerns as to the authenticity of some manuscripts’ (p. 124). From Langlois's palaeographical analysis (ch. 5), nearly half of the fragments would appear to be dubious. Significantly, since publication the editors have conceded that ‘a number of fragments published in Gleanings from the Caves and elsewhere may also not be authentic’ (Davis et al. in DSD 24 [2017], pp. 189-228 [191]). Unfortunately the horse has bolted, and having been published in this manner (and thereby imbued with implicit authenticity) the danger now is that we will find these dubious fragments cropping up in future scholarship. Equally unfortunate is that this issue undermines and obscures the important and detailed work undertaken here on those fragments which are authentic. Indeed, as the volume currently stands, the problem is how to distinguish between the two.

Matthew A. Collins

Feldman, Ariel, Maria Cioatǎ and Charlotte Hempel (eds.), Is There a Text in this Cave? Studies in the Textuality of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Honour of George J. Brooke (STDJ, 119; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. xl + 558. €165.00/$190.00. ISBN 978-90-04-34452-5.

As the substantial summary of George Brooke's career and the list of his many publications reminds us, he edited this Book List in 2000–2006 and was President of the Society for Old Testament Society in 2012. Many other friends will therefore want to join the 28 authors of this Festschrift in acknowledging his major contributions to scholarship and the warmth of his collegiality. The articles, which are nearly all focused on particular aspects of DSS research, are grouped loosely into five parts. The first part, whose title has been used also for the volume as a whole, starts with the only jointly authored essay in the collection, by H. von Weissenberg and E. Uusimäki, on the concept of sacred text, and continues with P. Alexander on the problem of the biblical canon at Qumran (an important contribution which swims thoughtfully against the prevailing tide), C. Hempel with reflections on literacy, textuality, and community, J.H. Newman on ‘Scribal Bodies as Liturgical Bodies’, and S.W. Crawford who seeks to relate archaeology and the specific manuscripts found in Cave 4. The second part deals with some fragmentary texts (E. Puech on 4Q116^a, J.E. Taylor on 4Q341, A. Feldman on 4Q47, and K. Davis on 4Q252). The third part looks at ‘Texts within Texts’: A. Lange on the text of Jeremiah in Qumran exegetical literature, M.A. Collins on ‘The Case of Ephraim and the Seekers of Smooth Things’, H.R. Jacobus on Balaam's fourth oracle and its links to other texts, and C.A. Newsom on the Hodayot as an example of ‘Deriving Negative Anthropology through Exegetical Activity’. The fourth part is a collection of articles on ‘Texts, Scribes, and Textual Growth’: E. Tov writes on the value of the Tefillin for textual criticism, E. Tigchelaar reflects on the extent to which dittography may contribute to the question whether scribes followed the line layout of the parent text, M. Popović studies the meaning of ‘copy’ in relation to the Book of the Words of the Vision of Amram, P.R. Davies revisits the growth of the Damascus Document with particular attention (positive and negative) to a study by R.G. Kratz, and M. Cioatǎ looks at medieval Hebrew tellings of Tobit. The final part is a mixture: J.C. VanderKam, ‘Some Thoughts on the Relationship between the Book of Jubilees and the Genesis Apocryphon’; D. Dimant, ‘Tobit and the Qumran Aramaic Texts’; J.J. Collins, ‘Life beyond Death in the Hodayot’; J. Ben-Dov, ‘The Book of HGY’; J. Jokiranta, ‘Ritualization and the Power of Listing in 4QBerakhot^a’; H. Najman, ‘Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Period’; J.-S. Rey on several representations of the tradition of ‘the garden of good and evil’; and finally two essays relating to the Teacher of Righteousness, by A.K. Harkins and by R.G. Kratz (who interprets the title in the light of the so-called Groningen hypothesis). This is a rich and varied collection within a particular field of knowledge which should stimulate as much interest on the part of its worthy honorand as it will of other readers.

H.G.M. Williamson

Fidanzio, Marcello (ed.), The Caves of Qumran: Proceedings of the International Conference, Lugano 2014 (STDJ, 118; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. xvi + 362. €202.00/$241.00. ISBN 978-9-0043-1649-2.

This well-presented volume constitutes a collection of essays first delivered at an international conference in Lugano in February 2014. Rather than either the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves (the texts) or the site of Khirbet Qumran (the ruins), the focus here is on the character and content of the caves associated with the discoveries, not only the 11 manuscript caves (1Q–11Q) but the dozens of other caves surveyed as well, many of which contained pottery or other objects. Indeed, the very ambiguity of the term ‘Qumran caves’ (a geographical or conceptual designation?) is just one of the many issues addressed in a volume which seeks to reconsider the caves ‘in their broader historical and geographical context’ (p. 1). To that end, a foreword by G.J. Brooke and an introduction by the editor are followed by contributions from J.E. Taylor (‘The Qumran Caves in their Regional Context: A Chronological Review with a Focus on Bar Kokhba Assemblages’), J.-B. Humbert (‘Cacher et se cacher à Qumrân: grottes et refuges. Morphologie, fonctions, anthropologie’), F. García Martínez (‘The Contents of the Manuscripts from the Caves of Qumran’), C. Hempel (‘The Profile and Character of Qumran Cave 4Q: The Community Rule Manuscripts as a Test Case’), E. Tov (‘Scribal Characteristics of the Qumran Scrolls’), E. Puech (‘La paléographie des manuscrits de la mer Morte’), J. Młynarczyk (‘Terracotta Oil Lamps: Roland de Vaux's Excavations of the Caves’), M. Bélis (‘The Unpublished Textiles from the Qumran Caves’), D. Mizzi (‘Miscellaneous Artefacts from the Qumran Caves: An Exploration of their Significance’), Y. Adler (‘The Distribution of Tefillin Finds among the Judean Desert Caves’), M. Popović (‘When and Why Were Caves Near Qumran and in the Judaean Desert Used?’), J. Magness (‘The Connection between the Site of Qumran and the Scroll Caves in Light of the Ceramic Evidence’), J.K. Zangenberg (‘The Functions of the Caves and the Settlement of Qumran: Reflections on a New Chapter of Qumran Research’), S.W. Crawford (‘The Inscriptional Evidence from Qumran and its Relationship to the Cave 4Q Documents’), B. Callegher (‘The Coins of Khirbet Qumran from the Digs of Roland de Vaux: Returning to Henri Seyrig and Augustus Spijkerman’), G.L. Doudna (‘Dating the Scroll Deposits of the Qumran Caves: A Question of Evidence’), and M. Burdajewicz (‘History of the “Qumran Caves” in the Iron Age in the Light of the Pottery Evidence’). An appendix by M. Fidanzio and J.-B. Humbert (‘Finds from the Qumran Caves: Roland de Vaux's Inventory of the Excavations [1949–1956]’) introduces and publishes for the first time de Vaux's original inventory of the materials from the caves, with a complete photographic record of both his handwritten and typewritten card indexes (including sketches and photographs of the finds). Finally, a bibliography and indexes of modern authors and sites/place names complete the volume. The contributions are coherent and complementary (though not always in agreement), with a shared interest in key underlying questions, such as the relationship between the caves and the ruins, and the timing and nature of the cave deposits. Given this, it would perhaps have been helpful to have had a final editorial chapter summarizing the emerging points of consensus and/or dispute with regard to these issues. Lavishly illustrated throughout, in both format and focus the volume sits happily alongside STDJ 57 from 2006 (K. Galor, J.-B. Humbert and J. Zangenberg [eds.], Qumran: The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls). Its publication coinciding with the near-simultaneous discovery of an alleged Cave 12 (February 2017), the result is a timely and welcome attempt to more fully integrate the evidence of the caves into the field of Qumran Studies, one that is impressively executed.

Matthew A. Collins

Kugler, Robert A. and Kyung S. Baek, Leviticus at Qumran: Text and Interpretation (VTSup, 173; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. ix + 124. €105.00/$120.00. ISBN 978-9-0043-2978-2.

Leviticus at Qumran is designed as a supplement to DJD for scholars working with Leviticus. The volume attends to the biblical manuscripts of Leviticus and the use of Leviticus in non-biblical manuscripts found at Qumran and elsewhere in the deserts of Judea. The features of each Leviticus manuscript are described, and then transcriptions with a modest apparatus of variant readings are provided (both the transcriptions and variants being derived from the relevant DJD volumes), followed by a list of all variant readings in order by chapter and verse. Then are listed ‘Leviticus texts taken up in different ways in the non-biblical scrolls, from simple quotations to elaborate interpretations’ (though how instances of [re]use were identified is not indicated), followed by brief descriptions of the (re)use of Leviticus in the scrolls in order of appearance by cave number. The work then turns to analysis of this material, summing up the treatment of Leviticus at Qumran manuscript by manuscript, followed by a summary assessment of the overall picture. This is a very handy volume, particularly for scholars of Leviticus itself or its reception. It collects and sums up a great deal of material that is scattered across the DJD volumes. It is exhaustive in its coverage of Leviticus manuscripts, though not in its coverage of the use of Leviticus in the non-biblical manuscripts: the list of instances of (re)use is far from complete; the most obvious cases are included, but hundreds of additional cases are omitted. So long as users keep this fact in mind, they will find Leviticus at Qumran convenient and useful, and I, for one, welcome its arrival.

William A. Tooman

Lim, Timothy H., The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd edn, 2017), pp. xx + 147. £7.99/$11.95. ISBN 978-0-19-877952-0.

The first edition (2005) was reviewed in B.L. 2007, p. 249. This ‘fully updated new edition’ has some new content: discussion of recent challenges to Roland de Vaux's Qumran-Essene hypothesis; consideration of authoritative scriptures and a bipartite canon at Qumran that reflects L.'s recent work (cf. B.L. 2017, p. 7); and some analysis of the scrolls’ ongoing cultural significance and recent online digital projects (e.g. by Google and the Israel Museum; and by the Israel Antiquities Authority: the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library). L. has revised some of his language and phrasing (chapter titles included) in a publishing opportunity that celebrates a significant date: ‘The year 2017 marks the seventieth anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls’ (p. 1). There are a number of new photographs (some from the first edition are retained), and additional items in the bibliography that have informed the discussion further. There is a new chapter on canon and authoritative scriptures (ch. 5); there are now 12 chapters in all. L. has taken into account recent scholarship on the DSS, and given attention to what is now often called Reception History. This book, which exemplifies its series well, strikes a successful balance between generality and detail, especially when matters could easily become dense (e.g. ch. 4, ‘New Light on the Hebrew Bible’). This is a fine place to start the intelligent (non-sensationalist) study of the DSS, which are very understandably described as ‘the greatest manuscript discovery’ (ch. 12).

Hywel Clifford

Parry, Donald W., Stephen D. Ricks and Andrew C. Skinner (eds.), The Prophetic Voice at Qumran: The Leonardo Museum Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls, 11–12 April 2014 (STDJ, 120; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. vi + 204. €105.00/$121.00. ISBN 978-90-04-34978-0.

This slim volume is a real gem, exploring the reception of prophetic texts in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and packed with valuable insights from the following: Ida Fröhlich, ‘The Prophetic Voice in the Qumran Pesharim’; Matthew J. Grey, ‘Priestly Divination and Illuminating Stones in Second Temple Judaism’; Donald W. Parry, ‘Exegete as Prophet? Qumran Methods of Receiving Revelation for Pesher Interpretation’; David Joseph Larsen, ‘Artificial Forms in the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa^a)’; Dana Pike, ‘The Word of the Lord and the Teacher of Righteousness in the Qumran Texts’; Joshua M. Sears, ‘False Prophets as a Construction of Authority at Qumran’; Emanuel Tov, ‘Were Early Hebrew Scripture Texts Authoritative?; Eugene Ulrich, ‘The Prophet Isaiah at Qumran’; and James C. VanderKam, ‘Jubilees as Prophetic History’. The strength of this collection lies in its close tracing of the reception of prophetic voices in the Second Temple period— notably at a time when the scriptural text had not been fixed—and by its evaluation of the subtle changes in their intensity, pitch and content. Such makeovers inform the diverse and competing authorities in ancient Judaism, with their impact in the early Christian movement: a context particularly enhanced by these sophisticated treatments.

Sandra Jacobs

Tov, Emanuel, Kipp Davis and Robert Duke (eds.), Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments in the Museum Collection (Publications of Museum of the Bible, 1; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. xxii + 236. €99.00/$119.00. ISBN 978-90-04-32148-9.

This volume serves as the official publication of the 13 Dead Sea Scrolls fragments held in the Museum of the Bible collection in Washington, DC. The volume may be divided into two parts—a set of introductory essays and the publications of texts—along with a preface that provides some background on the museum's collection as well as statistics related to its Scholars Initiative. The five introductory essays address a range of issues pertaining to the collection as a whole, including text and orthography (E. Tov), paleographical and physical features (K. Davis), and digital reconstruction (B. Zuckerman, A. Levy, M. Lundberg), along with two essays pertaining to the pedagogical dimensions of the Scholars Initiative (R. Duke and L.M. Wolfe). The second half of the volume contains the publications of the texts themselves, each one produced by a ‘text scholar’ in conjunction with her or his students. Each chapter in the second half is devoted to a single fragment, and each follows a similar rubric that includes the following sections: Introduction, Physical Description, Structural Assessment, Paleography, Transcription, Translation, Notes on Readings, Variants, Reconstructed Variants, Orthography and Morphology, Textual Character, Plates, and Reconstructions. It is important to note that since the publication of the volume in the summer of 2016, serious doubts have been raised about the provenance and authenticity of many of the fragments included in this volume. Tov provides a short discussion of provenance in his introductory essay (pp. 5-6), but no mention is made of the possibility that some of these fragments may be modern forgeries. Given these concerns, this volume must be used with the utmost caution, and can only be consulted in conjunction with a set of articles on this issue that have been published subsequently in DSD 24 (2017): the most important of these is K. Davis, ‘Caves of Dispute: Patterns of Correspondence and Suspicion in the Post-2002 “Dead Sea Scrolls” Fragments’, pp. 229-70; but also noteworthy are E. Tigchelaar, ‘A Provisional List of Unprovenanced, Twenty-First Century, Dead Sea Scrolls-like Fragments’, pp. 173-88; and K. Davis et al., ‘Nine Dubious “Dead Sea Scrolls” Fragments from the Twenty-First Century’, pp. 189-228.

James Nati

Tronina, Antoni, Reguła Zrzeszenia i inne teksty prawne wspólnoty z Qumran: Adnotowany przekład z hebrajskiego 1QS, 1QSa, 1QSb, CD, 1QM (Teksty z Pustyni Judzkiej, 3; Kraków: Enigma Press, 2017), pp. 191. zł85.00. ISBN 978-83-86110-83-4.

A very useful presentation of some of the texts of most fundamental importance to the Qumran community. Each of these texts is given a brief introduction, followed by a bibliography and then a Polish translation with extensive annotations at the bottom of each page. The annotations are concerned mainly with elucidation and interpretation, rather than textual or linguistic matters, and should be of particular assistance to those new to the study of these documents. Although the Cave 4 material is not systematically covered in this volume, cross-references are given to the 4Q fragment numbers, and in the case of CD, the Cave 4 material is included where this is necessary to supplement the Genizah columns for the sake of completeness. Just one minor point: when T. states (p. 19) that the Rule in 1QSa has survived only in 1QS, he overlooks the small fragments of that work in 4Q249a-i, published by Stephen Pfann with a critical edition in DJD XXXVI, and omits this from the bibliography.

David M. Stec

Uusimäki, Elisa, Turning Proverbs towards Torah: An Analysis of 4Q525 (STDJ, 117; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. xii + 360. €129.00/$167.00. ISBN 978-90-04-31339-2.

This monograph is a revised doctoral thesis, completed at the University of Helsinki in 2013 under the supervision of Hanne von Weissenberg. Of 4Q525, more commonly known as 4QBeatitudes, very little remains. Fifty fragments, comprising a fraction of the original composition, remain of a scroll that was at least 13 columns in length. Its damaged condition notwithstanding, the remnants of 4Q525 are a subtle and pious reflection on the virtues of wisdom, that both seconds many ideas already evident in the biblical wisdom tradition (especially Proverbs) and goes beyond them in a variety of ways. U.'s volume amounts to a critical edition and commentary on 4Q525. Her chapters cover, in order: the physical condition of the fragments, the text and its translation, literary structure, engagement with Scripture, genre, settings, and functions. She argues that 4Q525 reflects the subsumption of wisdom under T/torah, widespread in Second Temple Judaism. Her most important chapter is, perhaps, her last one. In it she explores the role of wisdom teaching in Hellenistic Jewish pedagogy, stressing the importance of Proverbs in the curriculum and the link between wisdom and torah. She has provided scholars with an invaluable companion volume to this enigmatic and captivating wisdom composition.

William A. Tooman

Note also the following books reviewed in other sections of this Book List:

Baden, Joel et al. (eds.), Sibyls, Scriptures, and Scrolls: John Collins at Seventy — see p. 1

Chang, Donshin Don, Phinehas, the Sons of Zadok and Melchizedek: Priestly Covenant in Late Second Temple Texts — see p. 223

Driesbach, Jason K., 4QSamuel^a and the Text of Samuel — see p. 54

Hogan, Karina Martin et al. (eds.), Pedagogy in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity — see p. 226

Najman, Hindy et al. (eds.), Tracing Sapiential Traditions in Ancient Judaism — see p. 234

Tov, Emanuel, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Qumran, Septuagint: Collected Essays, Volume 3 — see p. 60

Wiley, Henrietta L. and Christian A. Eberhart (eds.), Sacrifice, Cult, and Atonement in Early Judaism and Christianity: Constituents and Critique — see p. 203