A More Perfect Torah

The historical-critical method that characterizes academic biblical studies too often remains separate from approaches that stress the history of interpretation, which are employed more frequently in the area of Second Temple or Dead Sea Scrolls research. Inaugurating the new series, Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible, A More Perfect Torah explores a series of test-cases in which the two methods mutually reinforce one another.

The volume brings together two studies that investigate the relationship between the composition history of the biblical text and its reception history at Qumran and in rabbinic literature. The Temple Scroll is more than the blueprint for a more perfect Temple. It also represents the attempt to create a more perfect Torah. Its techniques for doing so are the focus of part 1, entitled “Revelation Regained: The Hermeneutics of KI and ‘IM in the Temple Scroll.” This study illuminates the techniques for marking conditional clauses in ancient Near Eastern literature, biblical law, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. It also draws new attention to the relationship between the Temple Scroll’s use of conditionals and the manuscript’s organized spacing system for marking paragraphs.

Part 2 is entitled “Reception History as a Window into Composition History: Deuteronomy’s Law of Vows as Reflected in Qoheleth and the Temple Scroll.” The law of vows in Deut 23:22–24 is difficult in both its syntax and its legal content. The difficulty is resolved once it is recognized that the law contains an interpolation that disrupts the original coherence of the law. The reception history of the law of vows in Numbers 20, Qoh 5:4–7, 11QTemple 53:11–14, and Sipre Deuteronomy confirms the hypothesis of an interpolation. Seen in this new light, the history of interpretation offers a window into the composition history of the biblical text.

“Advanced students and academics alike are sure to find a wealth of insights in this slim tome.”—Laura Quick, Vetus Testamentum

“Levinson has provided us with two fine detailed studies that nicely demonstrate the interplay of language and hermeneutics.”—John J. Collins, Theologische Literaturzeitung

“It is so very tempting to surrender and suggest that Levinson has uttered the final word on the subject. The book is just that good.”—Jim West, Zwinglius Redivivus

“A More Perfect Torah is an important contribution to the ongoing dialogue about text and composition. The best feature of the work is the author's effort to bring together two often insular disciplines—biblical studies and the history of Jewish interpretation.”—Matthew McAffee, Bulletin for Biblical Research

“By showing how the earliest exegetical impulses have impacted biblical texts, Levinson is shaking the canonical foundation on which many histories of biblical exegesis begin.”—Jonathan Klawans, The Review of Rabbinic Judaism

“Essential reading for understanding the development of authoritative Judaean texts in the Second Temple Period.”—Sandra Jacobs, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

“Within biblical studies, where there are so many competing models for understanding the formation of the Pentateuch, the Temple Scroll would seem to offer valuable empirical evidence, not only for the way that scribes worked with texts in antiquity, but also for the hermeneutical issues they confronted in seeking to integrate originally inconsistent sources into a unified document. The categories of ‘Scripture’ and ‘Rewritten Scripture’ are, according to one conclusion of Levinson’s insightful study, not so far apart as is often assumed. The fields of ‘Bible’ and ‘Second Temple/Dead Sea Scrolls’ should ideally be more closely integrated than they are today. With this, I believe, one can only agree.”—Karin Finsterbusch, Henoch

“A More Perfect Torah contains two short yet richly rewarding studies which seek to combine what are frequently considered separate disciplinary pursuits within biblical studies, skillfully demonstrating the benefits of a broader and more integrative approach to the field.”—Deane Galbraith, Relegere