Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-08T04:21:08.679Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Scriptural interpretation at Qumran

from Part II - The Hebrew Bible and Old Testaments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2013

James Carleton Paget
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Joachim Schaper
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
Get access

Summary

The Qumran Dead Sea scrolls constitute a collection of Jewish manuscripts recovered from eleven caves near an ancient settlement called Khirbet Qumran on the north-western shore of the Dead Sea. The interpretation of scripture in sectarian manuscripts is central to understanding the Qumran community in its late Second Temple context. This chapter demonstrates how diverse the interpretation of the scriptures at Qumran was. It is possible to see in the Qumran sectarian writings a range of interpretative methods from plain-sense exegesis through more ideologically motivated handling of scriptural texts to what Bernstein has classed eisegesis. The Damascus document contains instances of both plain-sense and highly ideological exegesis. Scholars have noticed various interpretative techniques at Qumran and elsewhere in the late Second Temple period. Attempts have been made to identify similarities with the exegetical rules of later rabbinic literature.
Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×