Literary and Historical Studies in the Samuel Apocryphon (4Q160)

4Q160 is a fragmentary text first published in 1968 under the title ‘The Vision of Samuel’. Following a new translation of the text and clarification of its basic contents, this study seeks to identify 4Q160’s proper literary classification and genre. Careful attention is paid to the relationship of 4Q160 to the scriptural text and story of Samuel and the often repeated classification of 4Q160 as ‘rewritten Bible’. This study then addresses the literary function of employing Samuel as the text’s pseudepigraphic voice. The final part of the article explores what can be learned about the historical context and date of the text’s composition. Based on paleographical evidence, references to earlier scriptural material and possible internal historical allusions, this study argues that the text was composed in the second half of the second century BCE. Copyright © Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies