A New Suggestion for the Reconstruction of 4Q370 1 i 2 and the Blessing of the Most High ( Elyon ) in Second Temple Judaism

Research notes: 
reader checked 10/12/2011 AL
Reference type: 
Journal Article
Author(s): 
Jassen, Alex
year: 
2010
Full title: 

A New Suggestion for the Reconstruction of 4Q370 1 i 2 and the Blessing of the Most High ( Elyon ) in Second Temple Judaism

Translated title: 
Journal / Book Title || Series Title: 
Dead Sea Discoveries
Volume: 
17
Issue / Series Volume: 
1
Number of volumes: 
0
Series Title: 
Abbreviated Series Name: 
Collaborating Author: 
Place of Publication: 
Publisher: 
Pages: 
88-113
Chapter: 
Work type: 
Abstract: 

This article offers a new suggestion for restoring a lacuna in the Dead Sea Scroll manuscript 4Q370 (Admonition Based on the Flood) and discusses its implications for the liturgical blessing of God in the Second Temple period. The first two lines of 4Q370 recount the expectation of human gratitude for the antediluvian agricultural abundance described in the text. Paraphrasing Deut 8:10, 4Q370 exhorts humans to eat, be sated, and bless. The extant text provides part of the direct object of the blessing—”the name of…”—followed by a short lacuna. Based on paleographic and comparative literary evidence, this article proposes that the lacuna should be reconstructed with the divine name “Most High” ( עליון ). This paraphrase of Deut 8:10 in 4Q370 is part of a larger tradition of exegetical reformulation of Deut 8:10 in Second Temple period post-meal thanksgiving prayers, in which the divine epithet “Most High” ( עליון ). replaces the Tetragrammaton as the object of blessing.

Notes: 
Language: 
Alternative title: 
dsd
Date: 
Hebrew bible: 
Book: 
Deuteronomy
Chapter(s): 
8
Verse(s): 
Primary Texts: Judean Desert Documents: 
Scroll / Document: 
4Q370
Section type: 
Fragment
Passage: 
1
Scroll / Document: 
4Q434
Section type: 
Fragment
Passage: 
2
Primary Texts: Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha: 
Composition / Author: 
Jubilees
Passage: 
22
Edition: 
Original Publication: 
Reprint edition: 
URL: 
http://brill.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/dsd/2010/00000017/00000001/art00005
DOI: 
ISBN: 
Accession number: 
Call num: 
Label: 
13/09/2010
Record number: 
5 544