The Socio-Religious Setting of the (Proto-)Masoretic Text

We find the proto-Masoretic texts (MT) in two synagogues, in texts and tefillin found with the Judean Desert communities of the Zealots and the followers of Bar Kokhba, the targumim, Jewish-Greek translations, and rabbinic literature. After 70 CE, proto-MT was in the hands of the rabbis, and prior to that time in the hands of similar circles. However, there were also persons and communities that did not use MT. None of their versions were based on MT, with the possible exception of the quotations of the Hebrew Ben Sira in Jeremiah. The persons and communities that did not use the proto-MT text are the Qumran community and the authors of all the Second Temple rewritten Bible compositions, based on either SP, the LXX, or a combination of the two. These conclusions are instructive regarding the socio-religious environment of the proto-MT, but not about the proto-MT text itself, which remains enigmatic.