Rewriting Torah in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract

The author's contribution can be seen as a continuation of the debate about the role of Wisdom in Deuteronomy, as he would like to look at the reception of Torah within the Hebrew Bible and in the Dead Sea Scrolls. His biblical examples are taken from the Covenant Code and Deuteronomy. As the reception of Torah in wisdom literature, so is the reception of the Torah in legal corpora within and outside the Hebrew Bible characterized by the phenomenon generally labelled rewriting. As there is an extensive debate on the phenomenon of rewriting, this chapter proceeds as follows: First, it presents the textual evidence; next it scrutinizes the phenomenon of rewriting and defines how the author understands the term; and finally, it looks at some textual examples in an attempt to show the dynamics of composition and interpretation within the process of rewriting. Keywords: covenant Code; Dead Sea Scrolls; Deuteronomy; Hebrew Bible; Penal Code; phenomenon of rewriting; Torah; wisdom literature