Intertestamental, Apocrypha, NT Use: Qumran

Abstract

Intertestamental, Apocrypha, NT UseQumran Christopher T. Begg, Michael W. Duggan, Gregory Y. Glazov, and William J. Urbrock 2267. [Qumran] Emma Abate, "Frammenti di un discorso magico: demononologia e divinazione a Qumran," Hen 39 (2017) 88-104. In this essay, I seek to analyze the meaning of certain of the prohibitions and beliefs regarding magic and demonology in ancient Judaism in light of various DSS. First, I provide a selective overview of Scrolls' passages pertaining to normative, exegetical, and ritual texts and containing prohibitions of necromancy, divinization, and incantatory practices. These practices, I note, are not forbidden in and of themselves, but only insofar as they are connected to such offenses as apostasy, blasphemy, breaches of secrets, and sexual transgressions. I then proceed to examine a number of recognized Qumranic rituals, whose purposes are divinatory, therapeutic, or antidemonic. On certain designated days, the maśkîlîm, the sages acknowledged by the community, and the community as a whole engaged in the performance of these rituals. In my final section, I attempt to elucidate the changes the above traditions underwent outside the Qumranic context at a later period by comparing features of one of the exorcistic formulas used by the community with a similar medieval text that was discovered among the Cairo Genizah manuscripts. [Adapted from published abstracted.—C.T.B.] 2268. [Tefillin Remains from Naḥal Seʾelim] Yonatan Adler, "Remains of Tefillin from Naḥal Seʾelim (Wadi Seiyal): A Leather Case and Two Inscribed Fragments (34 Se 1A-B) (with Paleographic Analysis by Aida Yardeni)," DSD 24 (2017) 112-37. A.'s study presents and analyzes the tefillin (phylactery) remains found in Cave 34 at Naḥal Seʾelim in the course of Yohanan Aharoni's first 1960 expedition to the Judean Desert. In particular, A.'s article introduces a leather tefillin case, never previously reported on, and two inscribed tefillin slips (34SePhylA and 34SePhylB), which have received only preliminary treatment hitherto. Very few close parallels to the slips in question are known from anywhere in the Judean Desert. Both the slips and the case appear quite compatible with rabbinic descriptions and prescriptions, although there is little reason to label these ritual objects as in some way or other "rabbinic." Paleographic analysis of the tefillin slips suggests that their texts were penned sometime in the 2nd half of the 1st cent. c.e. While a Bar Kokhba date for the deposit of the tefillin remains in Cave 34 is quite likely, an earlier dating—possibly during the First Revolt—should not be excluded. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 2269. [CD 9:2-8; 1QS 5:24–6:1; Lev 19:17-18] Kengo Akiyama, "Reproof in CD 9:2-8 and 1QS 5:24–6:1: A Note on a Curious Omission," DSD 24 (2017) 301-6. The Damascus Document (CD 9:2-8) and the Serekh (1QS 5:24–6:3) amplify Lev 19:17-18 and carefully spell out the legal procedure for open reproof. In so doing, however, they both omit the key phrase of Lev 19:18b, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." A.'s short note suggests that the omission is deliberate and reflects a specific sectarian reading of Lev 19:17-18. In that reading, the sectarians construed this scriptural mandate as a legal command rather than as an exhortation as did the more mainstream Jewish reading of the text in the Second Temple period. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] [End Page 749] 2270. [11QPsa; Sir 43:11-19] Lindsey A. Askin, "The Qumran Psalms Scroll Debate and Ben Sira: Considering the Evidence of Textual Reuse in Sir 43:13-19," DSD 23 (2016) 27-50. This study explores the question of whether Ben Sira's textual use of the Psalms might shed light on the Qumran Psalms Scroll debate. The study proposes that Ben Sira's quotations of Psalms 104, 147, and 148 in Sir 43:11-19 could provide indications as to which Psalter he may have used, since these three psalms are found in close proximity to each other in 11QPsa and 4QPs...