4QReworked Pentateuch C and the Literary Sources of the Temple Scroll: A New (Old) Proposal

Abstract

This essay proposes a new understanding of the literary history of the Temple Scroll in light of its relationship with 4QReworked Pentateuch C (4Q365 + 365a). It begins from the argument that 4QRP C includes the five fragments labeled 4Q365a (4QTemple?), and that 4QRP C should be regarded as an expanded edition of the Pentateuch. Substantial parallels between 4QRP C (both 4Q365 and 4Q365a) and the Temple Scroll raise the possibility that an expanded Pentateuch resembling 4QRP C could have constituted the main source with which the Temple Scroll’s redactor worked. This proposal departs from the usual understanding of the Scroll as comprised of several lightly-reworked, independent sources. Instead, it situates the composition of the Temple Scroll more firmly in the context of the ongoing scribal reworking of scripture in the Second Temple period.