The Qumran Opisthograph 4Q509/4Q496/4Q506 as an Intentional Collection of Prayers

Bibliographic Data

ID21586260
AuthorsAyhan Aksu (0000-0001-6991-4474, University of Groningen Qumran Institute The Netherlands Groningen, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume29
Issue3
Pages292-324
Publication date2022-11-10
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDead Sea Discoveries (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0929-0761 • E-ISSN: 1568-5179
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/15685179-02903001
OpenAlexW4309047871
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited5

4Q509/4Q496/4Q506 is the only opisthograph from Qumran with extant evidence for three different compositions: the recto preserves a copy of Festival Prayers (4Q509), and the verso contains copies of the War Scroll (4Q496) and Words of the Luminaries (4Q506). This article investigates the circumstances under which these texts were written down together, and explores a potential performative setting for this manuscript. Palaeographic and codicological examination indicates that the manuscript preserves extracts of these three compositions and shares similar scribal features on both the recto and verso. Literary and form-critical analysis suggests a performative context for Festival Prayers, Words of the Luminaries, and the War Scroll. Based on these considerations, I argue that different scribes wrote 4Q509, 4Q496, and 4Q506 intentionally together in order to create a liturgical collection on a single manuscript—highlighting the scribe as a collectionneur that purposely selected passages from different texts that were of importance

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Biblical studies · Dead Sea Scrolls · Extant taxon · Hebrew Bible · Jewish studies · Judaism · Literature · Performative utterance · Scroll · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classics · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History

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