What is it about?
A reconstruction of the Qumran scroll 1QSamuel shows that it preserves a pre-canonical edition of 2 Samuel, which only includes some of the literary appendices in 2 Samuel 21–24. This third- or early-second-century recension casts light on the literary growth of this biblical book. 2 Samuel 24, the story of David's census, was not included, which suggests that the chapter is a post-Chronicles addition to 1–2 Samuel. Archaeological and literary evidence suggests that also 1Sam 22:6–23 was added in the Hellenistic period.
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Why is it important?
The article adds 1QSamuel to the very short list of Qumran scrolls that preserve pre-canonical editions of biblical books. While the bulk of 1–2 Samuel is 6th century work, the book underwent substantial editing in the third and second century BCE.
Perspectives
I bring a Dead Sea Scrolls perspective, informed by archaeology, into the study of the Hebrew Bible.
Torleif Elgvin
NLA Hogskolen
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This page is a summary of: 1QSamuel–A Pre-canonical Shorter Recension of 2Samuel, Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, May 2020, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/zaw-2020-2006.
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