סמכותן של המגילות המקראיות הקדומות

This paper discusses the authoritative status of ancient Scripture scrolls and other sources. Were they all authoritative, if we take into consideration the fact that they differed from one another? And if all or some of them were authoritative, did they have the same level of authority, and for which communities? Likewise, did individual scrolls have authority before Scripture as a whole became authoritative? Different forms of Scripture were granted an authoritative status by religious communities. These two entities are closely connected: without such communities no authority was granted. In the period preceding the first century CE, it is difficult to analyze authority because Scripture was still in the making. Before the time of the earliest textual witnesses from Qumran (the middle of the third century BCE) many authoritative scrolls must have circulated that contained different textual forms. It is necessary to make this assumption if the LXX of the Torah was indeed prepared in 285 BCE, since its Vorlage differed from MT, which probably already existed at that time. However, we have no further tangible evidence for textual plurality in earlier periods. Such evidence for textual plurality exists for the Qumran corpus. This paper suggests that the default assumption for that corpus should be that most Qumran scrolls were considered authoritative: (1) the fact that the scrolls were copied, and in such quantities; (2) subsequent authoritative status; (3) quotation by the community members who did not favor any specific text or text group. Authoritative scrolls are scrolls that were considered to contain “Scripture", which one could study, from which one could quote, which one could read in religious gatherings or in one’s personal meditation, and which formed the basis for religious practice, especially halakhah. Such authoritative Scripture scrolls differed from Scripture-like scrolls, which were not authoritative as Scripture, viz., partial Scripture scrolls and liturgical scrolls, all of which were found at Qumran. In the period following the first century CE a new situation was created: MT became authoritative for the whole Jewish people, the SP for the Samaritans, and the Greek LXX for the Christians.