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orion 4QCatena reconstruction



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I just received a copy of Stegemann's The Library of Qumran yesterday and I
was a bit surprised that he accepts without provisio Steudel's view that
4QCatena and 4QFlorilegium are one composition (pp. 120-121; though perhaps
because he was Steudel's advisor this is to be expected).

I have a couple of questions concerning Steudel's reconstruction (the biblio
for her reconstruction is A. Steudel, Der Midrasch zur Eschatologie aus der
Qumrangemeinde  (4QMidrEschata,b) (STDJ 13; Leiden: 1994); and to a lessor
extent, "4QMidrEschat: ^ÌA Midrash on Eschatology¹ (4Q174 + 4Q177)," in The
Madrid Qumran Congress. (STDJ 11,1; Leiden: 1992) 531-41).

1) What do you think about her rearrangement of the fragments so that the
citation of Psalm 6 (frag. 12) comes at the end of the composition, rather
than the beginning? (contra Strugnell's arrangement). This makes the
citation of the psalms out of sequence with the MT Psalter (Pss 11; 12;
5(?); 13; 16; 17; 6; rather than Pss 6; 11; 12; 5(?); 13; 16; 17 according
to Strugnell). I think that the allusion to Ps 5 is quite weak, BTW.

2) Are people convinced that 4QCatena and 4QFlor are two different copies of
the same literary work? While there are some clear links between the mss as
far as vocab and style, I find that even Stegemann's discussion raises
questions (unintentionally) about this view as he discusses the composition
as having two principal parts which happen to correspond to the 4QFlor and
4QCatena: one that exegetes Moses' blessing on the tribes, and another that
focuses on the Psalms. 

(As an aside, I find it curious that Martinez (DSST) seems to follow
Steudel's reconstruction though doesn't mention her in any bibliography,
while Wise, et al (DSSNT) follows Stegemann's, but notes Steudel in their
discussion and their bib.)

-Tyler
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Tyler F. Williams
Assistant Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, NABC/EBS
11525 - 23 Avenue, Edmonton, AB, Canada   T6J 4T3
Phone: (403) 431-5217/ Toll Free: 1-800-567-4988/ Fax: (403) 436-9416
Web Page: http://www.nabcebs.ab.ca/~twilliam 
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