4QpaleoExodm and the Gerizim Composition

Abstract:This article establishes the attribution of the Gerizim composition to the pre-Samaritan tradition, a textual tradition of the Pentateuch circulated in Israel in the late Second Temple period. It undermines the previous assumption that the Gerizim composition was not included in 4QpaleoExodm, the longest pre-Samaritan scroll found at Qumran. Based on material and textual reconstruction of the relevant columns in 4QpaleoExodm, I demonstrate that this section was indeed included in the scroll. These findings have significant implications for the origin of the pre-Samaritan tradition, the textual development of the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the textual history of the Pentateuch in the Second Temple period.