What Was the Book of Moses in 4QMMT?

Updated by: 
Oz Tamir
Research notes: 
OT/not checked/11/06/2020 YKC/reader checked/14/03/2022
Reference type: 
Journal Article
Author(s): 
Wearne, Gareth J.
year: 
2020
Full title: 

What Was the Book of Moses in 4QMMT?

Journal / Book Title || Series Title: 
Catholic Biblical Quarterly
Volume: 
82
Issue / Series Volume: 
2
Abbreviated Series Name: 
CBQ
Pages: 
237-255
Work type: 
Essay/Monograph
Abstract: 

Discussions of 4QMMT have often focused on whether the epilogue refers to a tripartite canon comprising the Books of Moses, the prophets, and David. Recent scholarship has tended to doubt the possible reference to a Davidic corpus but has nonetheless persisted in the assumption that the Book of Moses (ספר משה) refers to the canonical five-book Torah. In this article I reexamine the use of the term ספר משה in 4QMMT and other Second Temple-period sources and argue that the expression had a narrower scope, specifically denoting the Book of Deuteronomy. By recognizing file restricted nature of the ספר משה in MMT, we are better able to appreciate early Jewish conceptions of Scripture and the important place of Deuteronomy in the rhetoric of the epilogue.

Primary Texts: Judean Desert Documents: 
Scroll / Document: 
4QMMT
Label: 
22/06/2020
Record number: 
106 883