A New Suggestion for the Reconstruction of 4Q370 1 i 2 and the Blessing of the Most High ( Elyon ) in Second Temple Judaism

Full title
A New Suggestion for the Reconstruction of 4Q370 1 i 2 and the Blessing of the Most High ( Elyon ) in Second Temple Judaism
Research notes

reader checked|10/12/2011 AL

Reference type
Author(s)
Jassen, Alex
Year
2010
Journal / Book Title || Series Title
Dead Sea Discoveries
Volume
17
Number of volumes
0
Issue / Series Volume
1
Pages
88-113
Alternative title
dsd
Label
13/09/2010
Abstract

This article offers a new suggestion for restoring a lacuna in the Dead Sea Scroll manuscript 4Q370 (Admonition Based on the Flood) and discusses its implications for the liturgical blessing of God in the Second Temple period. The first two lines of 4Q370 recount the expectation of human gratitude for the antediluvian agricultural abundance described in the text. Paraphrasing Deut 8:10, 4Q370 exhorts humans to eat, be sated, and bless. The extant text provides part of the direct object of the blessing—”the name of…”—followed by a short lacuna. Based on paleographic and comparative literary evidence, this article proposes that the lacuna should be reconstructed with the divine name “Most High” ( עליון ). This paraphrase of Deut 8:10 in 4Q370 is part of a larger tradition of exegetical reformulation of Deut 8:10 in Second Temple period post-meal thanksgiving prayers, in which the divine epithet “Most High” ( עליון ). replaces the Tetragrammaton as the object of blessing.

Primary Texts: Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
Composition / Author
Passage
22
Primary Texts: Judean Desert Documents
Scroll / Document
Passage
1
Section type
Fragment
Scroll / Document
Passage
2
Section type
Fragment