Yitzhaq Feder, "The Wilderness Camp Paradigm in the Holiness Source and the Temple Scroll: From Purity Laws to Cult Politics," 290-310
This paper explores the socio-historical implications of the levitical purity laws as they are understood in the Holiness Source (H) and the Temple Scroll (TS). Though these sources show a similarity in rhetoric, closer examination reveals fundamental differences between them. In particular, I focus on the manner in which these sources understand the wilderness camp model, which serves as the primary framework for the application of the biblical purity laws. In H, we find a repeated emphasis on the danger of polluting the Tabernacle (e. g., Lev 15:31; Num 5:4; 19:13, 20). From a strict philological analysis of these sources, it becomes clear that these statements focus on the purity of the centralized sanctuary. Interestingly, this attitude finds echoes in the rabbinic view, which restricted the application of the purity laws almost exclusively to Jerusalem. In comparison, the interpretation of these verses in TS construes them as requiring purity in other cities throughout the land. The comparison of these sources and the relationship between purity and the cult establishment implied by them can serve as a basis for contextualizing them historically. This analysis can enable us to trace the development of attitudes towards purity in Israel in the periods before and after cult centralization.
Walter Houston, "Between Salem and Mount Gerizim: The Context of the Formation of the Torah Reconsidered," 311 - 334
Building on recent suggestions, I argue that the final composition of the Pentateuch in the Persian period was the result of common enterprise or compromise between the province of Samaria and Jerusalem. This is based on an examination of the historical circumstances as well as on the contents and text of the Pentateuch. Contrary to the picture painted in Ezra-Nehemiah, there were good relationships and contacts between the upper classes of the two provinces throughout the period, and it is probable that the priestly staff of the temple of Argarizim, which recent evidence shows was established in the mid fifth century, was closely related to that of Jerusalem. The identities of both holy places are hinted at in the text. The likely original text of Deut 27:2–8 ordains sacrifice to be made and the Torah to be inscribed on Mount Gerizim (v. 4), not on Mount Ebal as in the MT. This either suggested the establishment of the sanctuary there (Kartveit), or was suggested by it (Nihan). On the other hand, Gen 14:18 refers to Jerusalem under the name of Salem. The Torah contains material of northern origin, and some of it, especially the story of Joseph, originated relatively late. The Tabernacle and ritual texts in P do not, as often thought, represent the Jerusalem temple, but an ideal sanctuary, and they are available to reform the practice of both temples. The MT, like the Samaritan Pentateuch, contains revisions away from the common inheritance.
Molly Zahn, "Prophecy Rewritten: Use of Scriptural Traditions in 4QPseudo-Ezekiel," 335-367
Despite the amount of attention and study given to “rewritten scripture” and related phenomena in recent years, a number of texts that appear to employ rewriting have not been fully analyzed from this perspective, including 4QPseudo-Ezekiel. This study provides a detailed examination of the ways 4QPseudo-Ezekiel interacts with known versions of scripture and integrates the results of that examination into the larger conversation surrounding the various forms and purposes of rewriting in Second Temple Judaism. The evidence suggests that the goals and functions of scriptural reuse in 4QPseudo-Ezekiel closely resemble those of “rewritten scripture” texts like the Temple Scroll and Jubilees. At the same time, connections between the text and ideology of 4QPseudo-Ezekiel and that of versions of what became the biblical book of Ezekiel highlight the importance of joining study of “rewritten scripture” with study of the textual development of books of the Hebrew Bible.
Matthew Gordley, "Creating Meaning in the Present by Reviewing the Past: Communal Memory in the Psalms of Solomon," 368-392
This article examines Psalms of Solomon with an eye toward how these compositions may have functioned within the setting of a first-century B. C. E. Jewish community in Jerusalem. Several of these psalms should be understood as didactic hymns providing instruction to their audience through the medium of psalmody. Attention to the temporal register of Pss. Sol. 8, 9, and 17 shows how the poet’s use of historical review and historical allusion contributed to a vision of present reality and future hope, which the audience was invited to embrace. Issues relating to the place of these psalms in the tradition of Solomonic discourse are also addressed insofar as they contribute to the didactic function of this psalm collection.
William A. Tooman, "The Hermeneutics of Scribal Rewriting in Targum Jonathan Ezek 1," 393-414
This paper examines a number of expansions and rewordings in Tg. J. Ezek 1 that alter or elaborate upon the description of the celestial creatures. The object is threefold: to identify textual cues within the Targum’s Vorlage that sparked expansions or rewordings, to explain the exegetical choices reflected in those expansions and rewordings, and to deduce something about the hermeneutical assumptions under which those choices were made. Along the way, I explain several features of the Targum in new ways, but the principal objects of my inquiry are the scribes responsible for Targum Jonathan and the various ways that they interacted with their Hebrew Vorlage. I propose that the expansions and rewordings never reflect exuberance or whimsy on the part of the targumic scribes. Rather, they represent a disciplined effort to produce an accurate reading of their Hebrew text, undertaken according to certain hermeneutical assumptions, assumptions that are co-extensive with their assumptions about the nature of their source texts as scripture.
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