The Temple Scroll and the Bible: The Methodology of 11Qt.

• Author: Milgrom, Jacob

Swanson's book is accurately titled. It is exclusively about the methodology employed in the composition of the Temple Scroll. That the focus is entirely on the Bible is due to the fact, unique among Dead Sea documents, that the Scroll is a commentary on Scripture by quoting Scripture. The text of the book comprises the following sections: introduction to methodology (pp. 1-16), the festival law (cols. 18:1-23:01, pp. 17-116), the king's law (cols. 57:2-59:21, pp. 117-74), the purity law (cols. 48:1-51:5, pp. 175-214), the temple law (cols. 4:1-7:15, pp. 215-26), and conclusions (pp. 227-44).

Swanson succeeds in his chief aim: fully comprehending the author's technique. A biblical text is used as a base to which a secondary parallel text and, if available, a supplementary text are added in a way that all three texts are harmonized. Word-form insertions, key-word links, proleptic signals, and nonbiblical material are added to create a smooth reading.

Swanson has developed the technique of "close reading" to a fine art. The result is that his meticulous analysis advances well beyond being a mere corrective to previous studies of the Temple Scroll (including mine).

I have minor corrections and questions, which for lack of space will be limited to the one-hundred-page festival law. Book page is followed, in the first two instances, by scroll column.

P. 25. 18.7. In Leviticus 14, the asam is not found in a hattat setting, but the reverse. The sources Swanson seeks are Lev. 4:3 and 5:6, 7.

P. 47. 18:10-19:19. The alleged omission of the selamim from this passage is attributed to its absence in Numbers 28 because "the Scroll shares the Numbers 28 concern for the sacrifices which belong wholly to God over against the shared offerings." However, the selamim here is not a shared offering. It is given over to the priests in its entirety (Lev. 23:20), a fact most likely mentioned in one of the many lacunae and possibly alluded to in 19:4-5.

P. 71. It is impossible to see Deut. 18:3-4 as the basis for Levitic portions, because these two verses state unambiguously that the first fruits belong exclusively to the priests. Furthermore, grain, must, and oil (vegetation) are not selamim (meat) and, hence, the Levitic portion of the latter cannot consist of the former.

P. 72. 21.05 The translation of hwq is "portion," not...