Abstract
This article tells the story of 4Q419, a manuscript that was once associated with a well-known Wisdom text: 4QInstruction. However, following its removal from 4QInstruction and re-categorisation as an “Unclassified Manuscript” in the 1990s (see DSSR 6 and DJD 39), 4Q419 has been largely overlooked by the scholarly community. There are two core objectives to this article. First, it encourages scholars to re-engage with a neglected manuscript that still has much to contribute to discussions of pluriformity, textual development, and the scribal background of 4QInstruction. Second, this article attempts to shed light on the ramifications of scholarly adherence to the Wisdom label and raises broader concerns about the degree to which our designated labels influence the way we read, understand, and talk about the Scrolls.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-30 |
| Journal | Dead Sea Discoveries |
| Early online date | 2 Mar 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 2 Mar 2023 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgmentsI am grateful for the financial support provided by the AHRC-funded Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership. I am indebted to my supervisors Charlotte Hempel and Hugh Houghton, as well as to the anonymous reviewers and to editor-in-chief Molly Zahn for their insightful comments, which have significantly improved this article. I am also especially grateful to Stephen Reed for generously sharing his insights regarding early labelling practices in Dead Sea Scrolls research.
Keywords
- wisdom
- 4Q419
- 4QInstruction
- labels
- genre