Re: ponies/DSS

From: Timster132@aol.com
Date: Tue Jan 30 1996 - 03:17:41 EST


Kenneth Litwak <kenneth@sybase.com> wrote on 25 Jan 1996...
<< this Spring I'm taking a course in Qumran Lit.,
and we are going to read the DSS in their original, unpointed Hebrew.
Since my Hebrew knowledge is still developing (then again, who can claim to
know
biblical or Qumran Hebrew perfectly?), there will likely be times when I'm
unsure how to point something. I'd be a fool to decide, after consulting
BDB,
that when I'm unsure I still must be right even if Lohse's pointing is
different. One can read the philological material as much as one wants. It
is
nevertheless the case that someone accustmoed to a regular diet of Qumran
Hebrew is going to be be more likely to correctly point the text than
a comparative amateur, and no amount of biblical Hebrew I've done prepares me
fully for reading the DSS, where the rules of the game change considerably,
JUST EXACTLY like moving from NT Greek to any other flavor of Greek.>>

  If you're reading Bible texts from the DSS, and you're familiar with the
Hebrew Bible, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Its like the Greek NT
manuscripts in that it is scriptori continuum (no space between the letters
of the text). With reading Hebrew, you're used to seeing the consonants
together and that helps in identifying words in the unpointed texts.

   I found the Hebrew text of the _Manual of Discipline_ much harder to read
since I was not very familiar with the text in English. Still, if you are
familiar with Hebrew trliterates, you can make some headway with some
logical guesses. You might be surpised how well you do!

   One of the great things about reading Greek or Hebrew lit. outside of the
Biblical texts is that you really do start to depend on your skills. One
problem with reading Scripture texts is that the "pony" is in your mind
if you have read the Bible a lot.

   BTW, DSS literature is less often called "Qumran lit" in some scholarly
circles,
since many grave weakness have been demonstrated in the theory that the
scrolls found in the caves were written solely by a community at the Qumran
site. It is beginning to look like the scrolls represent a variety of groups
within Judaism during the 2nd Temple period, and not the work of a single
group or sect.

Peace,

Tim Staker, pastor
Poseyville Christian Church
Poseyville, IN USA
Timster132@aol.com
http://home.aol.com/Timster132



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