Stylistic Classification of the Hebrew Scripts

For those interested in Hebrew paleography, I just got word that my article on stylistic classification is now published. My goal in this article was to clarify what paleographers mean by "formality" and lay a theoretical framework for stylistic classification of the Hebrew scripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Drew Longacre, “Disambiguating the Concept of Formality in Palaeographic Descriptions: Stylistic Classification and the Ancient Jewish Hebrew/Aramaic Scripts.” Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin 5, no. 2 (2019): 101–128. http://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.739.

Abstract:

The concept of formality in palaeographic analysis is often ill-defined and understood in conflicting ways by the scholars who utilize it. In this article, I attempt to clarify the meaning and significance of formality by suggesting that it is best understood as a multifaceted concept dependent upon the interaction between morphology, execution, and function. From this perspective, formality is an overall impression of the level of handwriting based on the type of model script chosen to reproduce, the skill and care with which it was written, and the purpose(s) for which the embodying manuscript was created. Each aspect can be conceptualized and to some extent analyzed independently in concrete terms other than formality. The resulting, more explicitly-defined nature of formality proposed here then provides a better foundation for hypothesizing about the functions of manuscripts. I apply this schema to the Jewish Hebrew/Aramaic scripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls to show its potential for increased clarity and resolution in stylistic analysis.

New ZAW Articles

A new issue of ZAW (128, no. 4) is out including some articles of text-critical interest.


The Analysis of the Pentateuch
Kratz, Reinhard G.


Comparing Critical Editions: BHQ Proverbs and HBCE Proverbs
Hendel, Ronald


HT Agade

New Articles in Biblica and JSCS

Innocent Himbaza has a new article out in Biblica.


Innocent Himbaza, «Critique textuelle et critique littéraire en 2 Samuel 6,2: une généalogie des témoins textuels.», Biblica 97 (2016) 440-453.


2 Sam 6,2 raises both textual and literary questions. On the textual level, no witness provides the original reading, since all the readings are the result of a literary development. However, the LXX of 2 Sam 6,2 is later than the MT since it depends partially upon it. The reading of 4QSam^a does not depend upon the MT of 2 Sam 6,2. Instead, it may have originated from the MT of 1 Chr 13,6 with which it shares literary concerns. Moreover, the presence of the name Baal in a verse concerning the ark of God may explain textual changes not only in the MT but also in the LXX.


Also, the new issue of JSCS is out with numerous articles and reviews of relevance.

Editorial	p. 3
Articles
Constructions Denoting “To Have” (Predicative Possession) in the Greek Genesis Theo van der Louw	5
Quelle est la Septante du Lévitique? Innocent Himbaza	22
Antiochian Readings of 1–4 Reigns in Early Church Fathers Martin Meiser	34
Θεκεμείνας und תַּחְפְּנֵיס in 1 Könige 11,19 (Wevers Prize Paper 2015) Christoffer Theis	50
“Ipsissima verba”: The translator’s “actual words” in Old Greek Job and what they tell us about the translator and the nature of the translation Claude Cox	61
Shall I Surely Translate This? The Hebrew Infinitive Absolute in the Greek Twelve Prophets Joshua L. Harper	81
Ruins, Zion and the Animal Imagery in the Septuagint of Isaiah 34 Anna Angelini	97
A Note on Papyrus 967 and Daniel 2:1 Carson Bay	110
Dissertation Abstracts
The Language and Style of Old Greek Job in Context Marieke Dhont	117
Quasi Nahum — Ein Vergleich des masoretischen Texts und der Septuaginta des Nahumbuchs Nesina Grütter	118
Book Reviews
Nicholas King, The Bible: A study Bible freshly translated Harold Scanlin	119
Natalio Fernández Marcos and M.a Victoria Spottorno Díaz-Caro, La Biblia griega: Septuaginta, III: Libros poéticos y sapienciales; IV: Libros proféticos Theo van der Louw	122
Joseph Bali, Gillian Greenberg, George A. Kiraz, and Donald M. Walter, The Syriac Peshiṭta Bible with English Translation: The Twelve Prophets Michael Tilly	123
Alain Le Bouluec et Philippe Le Moigne, Vision que vit Isaïe. Traduction du texte du prophète Isaïe selon la Septante Arie van der Kooij	125
James K. Aitken, No Stone Unturned: Greek Inscriptions and Septuagint Vocabulary Marieke Dhont	128
Kristin De Troyer, T. Michael Law and Marketta Liljeström, eds., In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes: Studies in the Biblical Text in Honour of Anneli Aejmelaeus Matthieu Richelle	129
Barbara Schmitz and Helmut Engel, Judit Jeremy Corley	132
Friederike Oertelt, Herrscherideal und Herrschaftskritik bei Philo von Alexandria Adam Kamesar	135
Emanuel Tov, The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research Mark A. Hassler	138
Pieter W. van der Horst, Saxa judaica loquuntur: Lessons from Early Jewish Inscriptions Julian Elschenbroich	140
Wolfgang Kraus, Michaël N. van der Meer, and Martin Meiser (eds.), XV Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Munich 2013 Siegfried Kreuzer	143
James Aitken (ed.), T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint Theo van der Louw	152
Siegfried Kreuzer, Einleitung in die Septuaginta Johanna Erzberger	153
IOSCS Matters
I. Minutes, Annual Business Meeting, 2015	158
II. Treasurer’s Report

New Book, Article, and Conference Report

It is worth pointing out a few books and articles that have come out recently that may be of relevance to readers of this blog.




Wolfgang Kraus, Michael N. Van Der Meer, and Martin Meiser (eds.), XV Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies: Munich, 2013 (SBL Press, 2016).

ISBN	9781628371383
Status	Available
Price:	$99.95
Binding	Paperback
Publication Date	September 2016
Pages	780

Essays from experts in the field of Septuagint studies
The study of Septuagint offers essential insights in ancient Judaism and its efforts to formulate Jewish identity within a non-Jewish surrounding culture. This book includes the papers given at the XV Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS), held in Munich, Germany, in 2013. The first part of this book deals with questions of textual criticism. The second part is dedicated to philology. The third part underlines the increasing importance of Torah in Jewish self-definition.
Features:

• Essays dealing with questions of textual criticism, mostly concerning the historical books and wisdom literature and ancient editions and translations
• Philological essays covering the historical background, studies on translation technique and lexical studies underline the necessity of both exploring general perspectives and working in detail

Wolfgang Kraus is Professor of New Testament at the University of Saarland, Protestant Theology. He is the author of Zwischen Jerusalem und Antiochia. Die ,Hellenisten', Paulus und die Aufnahme der Heiden in das endzeitliche Gottesvolk (Katholisches Bibelwerk) and Das Volk Gottes. Zur Grundlegung der Ekklesiologie bei Paulus (Mohr Siebeck).
Michaël N. van der Meer is an independent scholar Biblical Studies and teacher of Religious Education at Hermann Wesselink College, Amstelveen. He is the author of Formation and Reformulation: The Redaction of the Book of Joshua in the Light of the Oldest Textual Witnesses (Brill).
Martin Meiser is Assistant Professor of New Testament at the University of Saarland, Protestant Theology. He is the author of Galater (Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht) and Judas Iskariot. Einer von uns (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt).


Eran Viezel, "Medieval Bible Commentators on the Question of the Composition of the Bible: Research and Methodological Aspects," Tarbiz 84, nos. 1-2.


Roberta Mazza's "Fragments of an Unbelievable Past? Constructions of Provenance, Narratives of Forgery. A Report."


In light of recent discussion about the SBL policy on publishing unprovenanced artifacts, Roberta Mazza's report on the conference "Fragments of an Unbelievable Past? Constructions of Provnance, Narratives of Forgery" from 14-16 September 2016 at the University of Agder is highly pertinent. For those who do not know her work, Roberta is a prominent voice from the side that argues that we should not publish unprovenanced materials, and her vocal contribution to the debate would be hard to underestimate. The conference on forgeries and questions of provenance is particularly appropriate in today's climate, where numerous ancient biblical and Bible-related manuscripts have come up with questionable provenance and/or authenticity, and it sounds like a very interesting and successful conference. One caveat... I don't personally know Nina Burleigh, and I did not hear her paper at the conference, but the article linked to in the report The Messiah Cometh was decidedly one-sided and unnuanced, a big disappointment in comparison to Ariel Sabar's outstanding work "The Unvelievable Tale of Jesus's Wife."


HT Agade, John Meade

New article on the Pesharim

The recent Journal of Biblical Literature volume has one article that might be of particular importance for the understanding of the pesharim and the reception of the scriptures in Second Temple Judaism:

The Compositional Development of Qumran Pesharim in Light of Mesopotamian Commentaries
Bronson Brown-deVost
Journal of Biblical Literature

Vol. 135, No. 3 (Fall 2016), pp. 525-541

Abstract

The manuscript remains of Mesopotamian commentaries from the first millennium BCE provide ample evidence to construct a model for the creation of singular commentary texts out of widespread interpretive traditions. This model demonstrates how traditional interpretations of texts may be shared over a wide geographical area during a lengthy time span. What is more, the commentaries comprising these interpretations were neither static nor uniform; rather, they could represent interpretive traditions to varying extents, as well as grow and develop. A comparative application of the Mesopotamian model of commentary writing to the Qumran pesharim, which ostensibly lack manuscript evidence for their compositional history, provides solutions to a number of literary incongruities found in the pesharim as well as several scribal markings. This model also has important implications for the pesher genre and helps to highlight the similarity of several so-called thematic pesharim to the continuous ones, while at the same time further accounting for the variation attested in the continuous pesher category itself.