The article investigates, by way of close reading, the literary unit that opens the seventh among the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. The study begins with a text-critical analysis of the poem based on its extant witnesses, including the many corrections contained in its best preserved copy (4Q403 1i 31–40). It then advances a new proposal concerning the poetic structure of the text, relying on linguistic and stylistic evidence. The literary delineation allows one to discern the generic characteristics of the poem, which place it within the tradition of scriptural hymns. These form-critical insights form the basis for a renewed and nuanced appreciation of the theological message of the hymn.
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James R. Davila, Liturgical Works (Eerdmans Commentaries on the Dead Sea Scrolls 6; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 124, note h, translates the reading of 4Q404 as “their [we]ll being,” apparently vocalizing the word as שְׁלוֹמָם, but this interpretation is less likely in a context that explicitly speaks of divine judgment and punishment.
See especially Alviero Niccacci, “A Neglected Point of Hebrew Syntax: Yiqtol and Position in the Sentence,” Liber Annus 37 (1987): 7–19; idem, The Syntax of the Verb in Classical Hebrew Prose (trans. Wilfred G.E. Watson; jsot Supp. 86; Sheffield: jsot Press, 1990), 75–81 §§55–56. Cf. Jan Joosten, The Verbal System of Biblical Hebrew: A New Synthesis Elaborated on the Basis of Classical Prose (jbs 10; Jerusalem: Simor, 2012), 313–47.
See Gunkel and Begrich, Introduction to Psalms, 22–65. Cf. Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship (2 vols.; trans. Dafydd R. Ap-Thomas Oxford: Blackwell, 1962), 1:81–105; Frank Crüsemann, Studien zur Formgeschichte von Hymnus und Danklied in Israel (wmant 32; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1969).
See especially D. Dimant, “Men as Angels: The Self-Image of the Qumran Community,” in Religion and Politics in the Ancient Near East (ed. Adele Berlin; Bethesda, md: University Press of Maryland, 1996), 93–103. Note that the above generalization holds true regardless of one’s position concerning the much-contested issue of the original provenance of the Songs, i.e, whether it was authored within sectarian or non-sectarian circles. What is essential for our concern is the recognition—which commands broad consensus—that the performance of the Songs held pride of place in sectarian liturgical practice. In any case, the sheer number of copies of the work unearthed in Qumran indicates its popularity within the community that occupied this site.
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The article investigates, by way of close reading, the literary unit that opens the seventh among the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. The study begins with a text-critical analysis of the poem based on its extant witnesses, including the many corrections contained in its best preserved copy (4Q403 1i 31–40). It then advances a new proposal concerning the poetic structure of the text, relying on linguistic and stylistic evidence. The literary delineation allows one to discern the generic characteristics of the poem, which place it within the tradition of scriptural hymns. These form-critical insights form the basis for a renewed and nuanced appreciation of the theological message of the hymn.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 535 | 53 | 4 |
Full Text Views | 220 | 4 | 1 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 106 | 18 | 2 |