4QMMT Reconsidered: Is It Really a Sectarian Text?

This paper takes up two topics concerning the so-called Miqtsat Ma‘asei Ha-Torah (4QMMT): a general overview of the related research history and the ongoing discussion over its sectarian nature. The text has usually been considered a sectarian document sent by the leaders of the Qumran sect to the leaders of the priestly establishment in Jerusalem, as seen, for example, in the discussion between Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam. However, this assumption should be reconsidered. According to the research trends of recent years, for example the works by Steven D. Fraade, Adele Reinhartz, and Maxine L. Grossman, almost all of the commonly accepted theories about 4QMMT, including the definition of the genre, the date of the document, and the identification of the personal pronouns’ antecedents, have come into question.