Interpreting and Living God's Law at Qumran: Miqṣat Ma ̔aśe Ha-Torah, Some of the Works of the Torah (4QMMT)

The text Miqṣat Ma ̔aśe Ha-Torah, Some of the Works of the Torah (4QMMT), is one of the most interesting texts among the famous Dead Sea Scrolls discovered near the settlement of Khirbet Qumran and its vicinity in the middle of the twentieth century and by now published in full. It is a writing in the form of a letter by an unknown author to an equally unknown addressee, written in second person singular and plural. This document is the earliest evidence of a proper interpretation of the Jewish Torah, the so-called Halakhah, from pre-Christian, Hellenistic times as it later became customary and widely attested in rabbinical Judaism. This volume - after a short introduction on the findings at the Dead Sea in general and the text Miqṣat Ma ̔aśe Ha-Torah in particular - provides a new edition and translation as well as several contributions from renowned scholars on the manuscripts, the language and content plus literary and historical contexts of this writing. Cover Title Sapere Preface to this Volume Table of Contents A. Introduction Introduction (Reinhard G. Kratz) 1. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Community of Qumran 1.1. The Findings 1.2. The Problem of Historical Contextualization 1.3. The Witness of the Texts 1.4. The Historical Context 2. Miqṣat Ma‛aśe Ha-Torah, “Some of the Works of the Torah” (4QMMT) 2.1. The Content 2.2. The Manuscripts 2.3. Editions and Research 2.4. This Volume B. Text, Translation and Notes Miqṣat Ma‛aśe Ha-Torah, Some of the Works of the Torah (Text, Translation and Notes by Reinhard G. Kratz) C. Essays Material Construction and Palaeographic Dating of 4QMMT: The Evidence of the Manuscripts (Eibert Tigchelaar) 1. Material construction in the Qimron / Strugnell edition 2. Alternative material constructions relating to 4Q398 11–13 3. Previous palaeographic analyses of the MMT manuscripts 4. Palaeographical comments relating to individual manuscripts 5. Preliminary palaeographical conclusions The Language of 4QMMT (Noam Mizrahi) 1. Background 2. MMT 3. Lexicon (including semantics and phraseology) 4. Grammar 4.1. Morphology 4.2. Phonology 5. Syntax 6. Discursive and Text-Linguistic Aspects 7. Conclusion Law and Narrative: 4QMMT and the Hebrew Bible (Reinhard G. Kratz) 1. The literary unity of 4QMMT 2. Biblical quotations and allusions in 4QMMT B 3. Biblical quotations and allusions in 4QMMT C 4. The Relationship between 4QMMT B and C 5. Law and Narrative in 4QMMT and in the Jewish Tradition The Calendar and 4QMMT (Jonathan Ben-Dov) 1. Introduction 2. The kind of calendar contained in 4Q327 and 4Q394 3. Are 4Q327 and 4Q394 the same scroll? 4. Is the Calendar of 4Q394 part of MMT? 5. Conclusion 4QMMT in the Context of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Beyond (Charlotte Hempel) 1. Introduction 2. The Dominant Scholarly Discourse on 4QMMT 3. More Nuanced Reflections in Recent Research 4. The They-Group in 4QMMT 4.1. protectA New Proposal for Reading the Heading to the Halakhic Section of 4QMMT 4Q394 3–7 i 4–5a (i 5–6a [B1–2]) 4.2. Cultic Purity and Propriety 4.3. Priestly Responsibilities and Privileges 4.4. Forbidden Sexual Relations 4.5. Other Exclusions 4.6. The Special Status of Jerusalem 4.7. The They-Group Beyond 4QMMT 4.8. Conclusion From 4QMMT to the Rabbinic Halakhah (Vered Noam) 1. Qumran religious law and rabbinic halakhah 2. Sectarian law and rabbinic halakha from the perspective of 4QMMT 3. Examples of interrelations between sectarian and rabbinic halakhah 3.1. Reinterpretation of a sectarian law, assisted by rabbinic parallels 3.2. 4QMMT regulations expose the background of rabbinic exegetical moves 3.3. A subdued, shared infrastructure that preceded a dispute 4. Conclusion 4QMMT and History (John J. Collins) 1. Scope and composition 2. Genre 3. The dramatis personae 3.1. “We” 3.2. “You” 3.3. “They” 4. The Pharisees and the covenanters 5. The question of dating 6. Conclusion 4QMMT and / as Hellenistic Literature (Lutz Doering) 1. Introduction 2. Discourses on Calendar and Law in the Hellenistic Period 3. Between Epistle and Treatise: The Genre of 4QMMT and Hellenistic Literature 3.1. Official and Other Corporate Letters 3.2. Epistolary Treatises, Letter-Essays 3.3. Structural Features of Hellenistic Letter Closings 3.4. Epistolary Phrases 4. Conclusion Contextualizing Paul’s “Works of the Law”: 4QMMT in New Testament Scholarship (Jörg Frey) 1. The Scholarly Framework: The Qumran Discoveries and the New Testament 2. The “Works of the Law” and the Debate about Pauline Theology 2.1. The Early Reactions among Qumran and New Testament Scholars 2.2. Aspects of the Pauline Debate: Justification, ‘Works of the Law’ and the ‘New Perspective’ 2.3. The Contribution of MMT to the Debate on the “Works of the Law” 2.4. Summing Up the Findings for the Pauline Debate 3. Other Parallels 4. Conclusion D. Appendices I. Bibliography 1. Abbreviations 2. Editions, Translations, Concordances, and Photos 3. Articles and Monographs II. Indices (Andrea Villani) 1. Source Index (selection) 2. General Index III. About the Authors of this Volume "The text Miqṣat ma'aśe ha-Torah, Some of the works of the Torah (4QMMT), is the oldest witness from pre-Christian, Hellenistic times for the explicit intepretation of the Jewish law, the so-called Halakha, as it became customary and was widely attested in later rabbinical tradition. This volume provides a new edition and translation as well as several contributions from renowned scholars on the manuscripts, the language and content plus literary and historical contexts of this writing." -- Publisher, page four of cover