מגילת מלכים ממערה 6 בקומראן והביקורת הספרותית של סיפור מצור שומרון (מלכים ב ו 24 - ז 20)

The story of the siege of Samaria is the longest Elisha story (2 Kgs 6:24–7:20). A problematic passage appears at the end of the story (7:16–20) which highlights the fulfillment of Elisha's prophecy exactly as he had anticipated (7:1–2). This is, however, a stacked pericope, which includes a repetition of each detail two or three times. Scholars have tried to understand these superfluous repetitions in many ways; some have suggested that the passage was created in several stages, but there is no scholarly agreement on this issue. It seems that a hitherto neglected Qumranic document, together with some other philological considerations, can help us arrive at a solution to this puzzle, according to which the story originally ended in the middle of 7:17.