Qumran Calendars and the Creation: A Study of 4QcryptA Lunisolar Calendar (4Q317)

Full title
Qumran Calendars and the Creation: A Study of 4QcryptA Lunisolar Calendar (4Q317)
Research notes

Reader Checked|OA 13/01/2014

Reference type
Author(s)
Jacobus, Helen R.
Year
2013
Journal / Book Title || Series Title
Journal of Ancient Judaism
Volume
4
Issue / Series Volume
1
Abbreviated Series Name
JAJ
Pages
48-104
Work type
Label
21/10/2013
Abstract

This paper re-examines 4QcryptA Lunisolar Calendar (4Q317), a scroll from Qumran in an esoteric
|Hebrew script with many emendations that aligns the moon’s daily waxing and waning to
|a 364-day calendar. It seeks to ascertain whether the calendar may be exegetically related to the
|Creation and also discusses the text’s arithmetical relationships with the cycles of the priestly
|courses from Qumran, possible intertextual allusions to other lunar calendars in the Dead Sea
|Scrolls (4QDaily Prayers [4Q503], 4QAstronomical Enocha–bar [4Q208–4Q209]), biblical passages,
|and parallels with another Mesopotamian calendar text. The first transcription of the
|largest fragments using a Cryptic A font is here published with a commentary (in the Appendix),
|focusing on the text’s unusual scribal features. A reconsideration of the calendar’s structure with
|a new arrangement of its dates is presented.

Primary Texts: Judean Desert Documents
Scroll / Document
Passage
1
Section type
Fragment