Biblical Interpretation At Qumran

The Dead Sea Scrolls are an invaluable source of information about Jewish biblical interpretation in antiquity. This volume by preeminent scholars in the field examines central aspects of scriptural interpretation as it was practiced at Qumran and discusses their implications for understanding the biblical tradition. While many of the forms of biblical interpretation found in the Scrolls have parallels elsewhere in Jewish literature, other kinds are original to the Scrolls and were unknown prior to the discovery of the caves. These chapters explore examples of biblical interpretation unique to Qumran, including legal exegesis and the Pesher. Readers will also find discussion of such fascinating subjects as the "rewritten Bible," views on the creation of humanity, the "Pseudo-Ezekiel" texts, the pesharim, and the prophet David. Contributors: Moshe J. Bernstein Shani Berrin Monica Brady George J. Brooke John J. Collins Peter W. Flint Matthias Henze Shlomo A. Koyfman Michael Segal James C. VanderKam

This new volume in the Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature series explores two principal themes: the text and shape of the "Bible" at Qumran and the interpretation of these scriptures by the Qumran community and other ancient Jews. Written by leading scholars in the field, these informed studies make an important contribution to our understanding of these two pivotal topics.

In Reading and Re-reading Scripture at Qumran, Moshe J. Bernstein gathers more than three decades of his work on diverse aspects of biblical interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The essays range from broad surveys of the genres of biblical interpretation in these texts to more narrowly focused studies and close readings of specific documents. Volume I focuses on the book of Genesis, with a substantial portion being dedicated to studies of the Genesis Apocryphon and Commentary on Genesis A. Volume II contains several historical and programmatic essays, with specific studies focusing on legal material in the DSS and the pesharim. Under the former rubric, the documents known as 4QReworked Pentateuch, 4QOrdinancesa, 4QMMT, and the Temple Scroll are discussed.

In this volume, Devorah Dimant assembles twenty-seven thoroughly updated and partly rewritten articles discussing various aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls that she published over the past three decades. An introductory essay written especially for this volume surveys the present state of research on the Scrolls. Dealing with major themes developed in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the author reflects the rapid expansion and change of perspective that has taken place in research on the collection in recent years following its full publication. Among the topics treated are the nature and contents of the Scrolls collection as a whole, the specific literature of the community that owned this collection, the Aramaic texts and the apocryphal and pseudepigraphic works found therein. The volume also includes discussions of particular themes such as the history of the community related to the Scrolls, its self-image and particular interpretation of biblical prophecies, and its notion of time.

This volume explores the use and interpretation of the Bible in the Dead Sea Scrolls and associated apocryphal, early Christian and rabbinic literature. Interpretive interests, techniques and traditions are examined in many types of ancient works: rewritten bibles, pseudepigrapha, legal codes, prayers, sapiential texts, admonitions and historical treatises. The authors highlight the contribution of the new finds from the Judean Desert to such major issues as attitudes to the Bible and the Law in antiquity, continuity and innovation vis a vis the biblical world, common and unique dimensions of interpretation among different groups in the Second Temple and Rabbinic periods in particular, the Qumran sectarians and their opponents, New Testament authors and rabbinic Sages.

How do the halakhic texts from Qumran as well as those Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, which attest to legal texts of the Hebrew Bible, lead to a new interpretation and understanding of the Pentateuchal law collections and other legal texts in the Hebrew Bible and how do they help to illuminate the reception history of the Torah? These are the central questions of this book. The book consists of three parts: Part I: The Legal Texts from Qumran and the Hebrew Bible, Part II: The Legal Texts from Qumran and Second Temple Judaism and Part III: The Legal Texts from Qumran and Rabbinic Judaism. The volume contains an "Introduction" by Armin Lange and Kristin De Troyer and articles by Sidnie White Crawford ("The Qumran Pentateuch Scrolls: Their Literary Growth and Textual History"), Innocent Himbaza ("The Rite of the Blood on the Altar and the Hierarchy of Sacrifices: Qumran Texts, Septuagint and Mishnah as Witnesses to a Law in Evolution"), Michaela Bauks ("Jephtas Gelubde und die Unabwendbarkeit seiner Einlosung"), Loren T. Stuckenbruck ("The Pentateuch and Biblical Interpretation in the Enoch Literature from the Second Century BCE"), Eckhard Otto ("Temple Scroll and Pentateuch: A Priestly Debate about the Interpretation of the Torah"), Simone M. Paganini ("Die deuteronomistische Fassung des Konigsgesetzes und ihre Interpretation innerhalb der Tempelrolle: Rechtshermeneutische Beobachtungen"), Bernhard Dolna ("The Hidden and the Revealed Torah in Philo and Qumran"), Lawrence H. Schiffman ("Light from the Qumran Scrolls on Rabbinic Literature "), Gunter Stemberger ("Mishnah and Dead Sea Scrolls - a Reflection on Continuity and Change") and Hannah K. Harrington ("Examining Rabbinic Halakhah through the Lens of Qumran").

Presents eighteen commissioned articles on biblical exegesis in early Judaism, covering the period after the Hebrew Bible was written and before the beginning of rabbinic Judaism. -- from publisher description

In this volume in honor of Moshe J. Bernstein, students and colleagues offer their latest research on scriptural interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and other literature, and on related themes.