reader checked|16/01/2012 AL
4Q51, usually designated as 4QSama, contains a series of expansions or elaborations over against the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. Introduced in 1 Sam. 1–3, 1 Sam. 10, and 2 Sam. 24, their aim was to offer a midrashic interpretation of the old stories, particularly when these touched upon cultic matters and described their performance as diverging from the Torah. Accordingly, in a previous article the present writer suggested that 4Q51 be defined as 4QMidrash Samuel. The recent complete publication of 4Q51 makes it possible to consider the fragments recounting the transfer of the Ark to Jerusalem. It appears that the tentative attempt to reconstruct the scroll at this point according to 2 Sam. 6 (MT and LXX) is gratuitous. The remains of 1 Chron. 15:26 which show up in 4Q51 have a midrashic flavor. Therefore, 4Q51 plausibly contained an expansion here (whose elements crop up in 1 Chron. 15) describing the final stage of the transfer of the Ark according to the priestly law of the Torah. This corroborates 4Q51's midrashic character.