The Samuel Apocryphon (4Q160) in context : a comparative analysis
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Schrottner, Elisabeth Isabelle
issued: 2019-12-24T20:53:05Z
issued: 2019
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The Samuel Apocryphon (4Q160) is a parabiblical Hebrew manuscript found at Qumran. The text reworks the biblical Samuel narrative by adding, omitting, and rearranging existing material from the Samuel tradition. Through this process, Samuel becomes the prophetic, authoritative voice through which the rest of the text is read. Besides the Samuel tradition, the manuscript also contains new material: two prayers in which the intercessor prays that “they” (an unnamed group) would remember their relationship with God and return to him with renewed purity. These prayers are “new” in the sense that they depart from the Samuel narrative and the author uses words and phrases from other traditions, such as the psalms. When read this way, with the Samuel narrative framing the prayers, the author is engaging in pseudonymity to lend authority to the text. The author’s interpretation of the biblical tradition can serve as a commentary on inter-Jewish dynamics and issues of purity and piety in the second century BCE. I propose that 4Q160 is a valuable source that contributes to our understanding of the Second Temple period and the inter-group dynamics that shaped Judaism at the time. In order to discover where 4Q160 fits literarily and historically, this study is a comparative analysis; 4Q160 is placed beside parallel texts from differing categories. First, 4Q160 is placed beside other Samuel narratives from Qumran and in later traditions (e.g., Josephus). Second, 4Q160 is compared with three different categories of non-biblical texts from Qumran: the Damascus Document, Community Rule, MMT, and Jubilees. All of these texts, including 4Q160, shed light on the socio-historical situations of the authors. While the study seeks to answer the question of “who’s who?” in the text, 4Q160’s fragmentary nature only lets us catch a glimpse. However, the comparative examination of 4Q160’s context proves that this text is useful for understanding the diverse expressions of Second Temple Judais…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/72975
note: THE SAMUEL APOCRYPHON (4Q160) IN CONTEXT: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS by Elisabeth Isabelle Schrottner B.A., Columbia Bible College, 2014 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Religious Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2019 © Elisabeth Isabelle Schrottner, 2019 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: The Samuel Apocryphon (4Q160) in Context: A Comparative Analysis submitted by Elisabeth Isabelle Schrottner in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Religious Studies Examining Committee: Dr. Anthony Keddie (Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies) Supervisor Dr. Sara Milstein (Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies) Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Gregg Gardner (Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies) Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract The Samuel Apocryphon (4Q160) is a parabiblical Hebrew manuscript found at Qumran. The text reworks the biblical Samuel narrative by adding, omitting, and rearranging existing material from the Samuel tradition. Through this process, Samuel becomes the prophetic, authoritative voice through which the rest of the text is read. Besides the Samuel tradition, the manuscript also contains new material: two prayers in which the intercessor prays that “they” (an unnamed group) would remember their relationship with God and return to him with renewed purity. These prayers are “new” in the sense that they depart from the Samuel narrative and the author uses words and phrases from other traditions, such as the psalms. When read this way, with the Samuel narrative framing the prayers, the author is engaging in pseudonymity to lend authority to the text. The author’s interpretation of the biblical tradition can serve as a commen…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2020-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0387347
language: eng
degree discipline: Religious Studies
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/72975