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Digital technology significantly expands the resources available to scholars seeking to reconstruct ancient manuscripts and, in combination with conventional philology, contributes to a more accurate reconstruction of both the text and the line breaks of col. 2 of the Temple Scroll. The column’s fragmentary condition led Yadin and Qimron to diverge in their reconstructions of the manuscript’s line-breaks and its lacunae. The problem is most acute at 2:8–9, where the scroll’s composer expanded the base text of Exod 34 with Deut 7:25–26. By employing techniques of digital mapping in conjunction with historical syntax, this article helps reconstruct the column’s line-breaks, helps restore the lacunae, and offers a refined reconstruction of the column.
Abstract
This article investigates the semantics of the protasis of the manumission law of the Covenant Code (Exod. xxi 2a). Despite the proposal by John Van Seters that the slave there purchased must "already" have been a slave, such a restriction of meaning goes beyond the evidence. Critical for understanding the semantic issue is the overlooked distinction between two types of verbal object: "affected" and "effected" objects. Moreover, verbs of creation and appointment are frequently ditransitive. Such verbs may also leave the affected object implicit while specifying only the effected object. This construction emphasizes the change in status undergone by the grammatical patient, as in the case of the manumission law. Attention to the contractual language of biblical law permits, in turn, a more adequate concept of the grammatical concept of effected object.
The authors are preparing a volume for the Yale Anchor Bible Reference Library, Deuteronomy and the Pentateuch, which will examine the following key questions: (1) What is the date and historical context for the composition of Deuteronomy? (2) What is Deuteronomy’s method of composition? (3) What is the relationship between law and narrative in Deuteronomy? (4) What is the intent of Deuteronomy vis-à-vis its Israelite sources? (5) What is the influence of cuneiform legal and treaty traditions upon Deuteronomy and its Israelite forebears? (6) What is Deuteronomy’s status within the compiled Pentateuch (and the larger biblical canon)? In this article, the authors summarize these issues and then examine Deut 13 and its relevance for dealing with each of them.
Die Reihe „Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements“ ( JAJSup) widmet sich der Geschichte, den Texten und institutionellen religiösen Formationsprozessen, die die reiche kulturelle Spur vom Babylonischen Exil bis zum babylonischen Talmud ausmachen. Die interdisziplinäre Reihe dient als Diskussionsforum für Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler aller Disziplinen. Die Reihe unterliegt dem Peer-Review und akzeptiert Manuskripte in deutscher, englischer und französischer Sprache.
Publications from the JAJS series before 2020 can be found at Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com