The forms and methods of early Jewish reworkings of the Pentateuch in light of 4Q158

This dissertation provides a detailed analysis of the methods and goals that characterize the rewriting of Scripture in the 4QReworked Pentateuch (4QRP) manuscripts from Qumran (4Q158, 4Q364–367). It focuses first on determining the “compositional technique” used in each particular instance of departure from known textual versions—that is, the specific way in which the Vorlage was altered. Separately, an attempt is made to understand the interpretive processes leading to each change. The dissertation also includes a new text edition, with extensive notes, of 4Q158, the one 4QRP manuscript that did not previously exist in a satisfactory edition. 4Q158 provides the point of departure for the project and is examined in greatest detail. The investigation of 4Q158 and the other 4QRP manuscripts indicates that each is unique in terms of the compositional techniques employed and the purposes to which those techniques were put. The methods of reworking in the 4QRP manuscripts are then compared with those evidenced in two related texts or text groups: the Samaritan Pentateuch and its Qumranic forebears, and the Temple Scroll (11QT).