דוק ושאלת שלבי הירח בלוחות השנה מקומראן: ראיות חדשות ממסופוטמיה

The aim of this study, based on joint research with Wayne Horowitz, is to explain the three recurring lunar phases recorded in 4Q320, 321, 321a (Calendrical Document Mishmarot A, B, C) with reference to our knowledge of the 364-day year and its sources. The history of ancient science constitutes a relevant analogue for the interpretation of Qumran materials, and the dependence of the Astronomical Book of Enoch on the seventh-century-BCE cuneiform composition Mul.Apin, proven in earlier research, serves as a departure point for this study. The Qumran calendars mention three lunar phenomena: (1) an unnamed phenomenon, usually referred to as X; (2) a phenomenon called dwq; and (3) the number of days in the previous month. After demonstrating the background to these lists in the early first-millennium Akkadian sources Mul.Apin and Enūma Anu Enlil XIV, the study proceeds to show that the closest parallel to the Qumranic triad is a Late Babylonian scientific method of recording 'the lunar three' in use in nonmathematical Babylonian astronomy during the Persian and Hellenistic periods The parallel presented comes from the second-century-BCE lunar text BM 32327 +. The conclusions are, firstly, that X should be interpreted as the last day on which the moon is visible, and dwq as the day after the full moon, which supports the view of Talmon–Knohl as opposed to the emerging consensus on this question. Secondly, this study showed that the lunar phases in Qumran bear no religious-cultic significance but are rather simply scientific facts. Thirdly, it demonstrates that cuneiform Babylonian culture was alive in the works of Jewish scholars deep into the Hellenistic era.