The Oldest Known Copy of the Decalogue?

Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, the oldest Hebrew Bibles were the Aleppo Codex (c. 925 CE) and Leningrad Codex (c. 1009 CE). Although we do not have a complete Bible from the Dead Sea Scrolls, with their discovery at Qumran (1947) and elsewhere, we now have manuscripts a millennium younger than Aleppo and Leningrad. Recently, advanced technology has also enabled researchers to decipher verses from the beginning of Leviticus from a burnt Torah scroll unearthed in 1970 at the ancient Ein Gedi synagogue, dated to the late sixth century C.E. This is the most ancient Torah scroll found since the Dead Sea scrolls and the most ancient ever found in a synagogue.^[1]

4QDeutⁿ

Out of 920 scrolls discovered at Qumran, 230 manuscripts belong to what we now call the Hebrew Bible (Tanach). These remains, mostly preserved in fragments, cover parts of all the biblical books, other than Esther. Found among these scroll fragments was a small piece of the book of Deuteronomy, dubbed 4QDeutⁿ (also called 4Q41).^[2] Based on the shape of its letters (paleographical dating), 4QDeutⁿ is early Herodian, circa 30-1 BCE.^[3]

This text received some publicity lately when it was included among other ancient objects displayed in “A Brief History of Humankind” at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. This scroll was described as “the oldest known copy of the Ten Commandments” in Haaretz, and similar stories appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, etc. But is that title accurate? What is the significance of this text?

Extant Fragments of Deuteronomy

Thirty manuscripts containing parts of the Book of Deuteronomy were preserved at Qumran (among them 2 from Cave 1; 3 from cave 2; 21 from Cave 4, 1 from cave 5; 2 from Cave 7 and 1 from Cave 11)—more than of any other book now part of the Bible. In addition, three manuscripts of that book were discovered eslewehre in the Judean Desert: one in Wadi Murabba‘at, one in Nachal Chever and one at Masada.

All of the non-Qumran texts of Deuteronomy are proto-Masoretic, namely reflecting the consonantal text of MT, or at least, close to the Masoretic text, but some of the Qumran scrolls, such as our scroll (4QDeutⁿ), are non-Masoretic.

The Physical Text

4QDeutⁿ is one of the best preserved fragments from Cave 4 at Qumran. It contains six columns, the first of which is written on a separate sheet of leather, with signs of stitching visible on both edges. ^[4]

The horizontal dry lines of columns 1-4, and vertical lines and some guide dots in column 1, are still visible. Like all Qumran scrolls, the letters are hung from the line above, rather than written on the line.

The height of the scroll is 7.1 cm., with 12 lines written in every column, with the exception of column 1 which has 8 lines. The scroll is shorter in height than most Qumran scrolls (the average height of a scroll varies from 14 to 25 cm.).^[5]

The first 4 columns are complete but only the first, right-hand side remains of the last column. We cannot determine the original size of the sheet, and how many columns it contained.

The parchment was damaged in a number of places before the writing commenced. As a result, these areas were left uninscribed, creating artificial spaces in the middle of the writing.^[6] The scroll also contains four corrections, where words or letter were added into the margins.^[7]

The Content of the Scroll

Since almost all of the scrolls are very fragmentary, not all the Deuteronomy scrolls preserve the Decalogue, but some, such as 4QDeut^j, 4QDeut^o, do. Some Exodus scrolls also preserves the Decalogue, albeit only in a small fragment, e.g. in 4QPaleoExodus^m, written in Paleo-Hebrew script.

It is impossible to determine whether 4QDeutⁿ was a complete Deuteronomy scroll. The small size of the scroll, and the fact that it contains no text beyond ch. 8, may suggest that 4QDeutⁿ did not contain the entire book of Deuteronomy but only certain chapters (starting in chapter 5), similar to 4QDeut^q that was comprised of only the Song of Moses (Deut. 32). It is possible, that 4QDeutⁿ, like 4QDeut^j—a poorly preserved text fragment, but which also includes the Decalogue and Shema—was a liturgical text, similar to those quotations found in Tefillin. This text may be associated with the tradition found later in both Talmuds that the Decalogue was recited as part of the liturgy (b. Berachot 12a, j Berachot 1:3).

The Nash Papyrus: An Ancient Mezuzah

Another example of an ancient liturgical text witness to the Decalogue, the Nash Papyrus, came to light half a century before the Dead Sea Scrolls,^[8] and is said to have come from the Fayyum in Egypt.^[9]Named after its buyer, the Nash Papyrus is a second-century BCE fragment containing the text of the Decalogue followed by the Shema. The manuscript was originally identified as a lectionary used in liturgical contexts, due to the juxtaposition of the Decalogue with the Shema prayer (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), though it may be a liturgical text, or perhaps even a Mezuza.^[10]

A Harmonistic (Non-Masoretic) Text

When we compare the actual text of Deuteronomy preserved by these early witnesses, they are not identical with the Masoretic text.^[11] 4QDeutⁿ resembles the Torah text found in the Samaritan Pentateuch (with the exception of the extra commandment about Mount Gerizim in the Samaritan Pentateuch, probably added by the Samaritans after this version became canonized in their community). Texts such as 4QDeutⁿ are called harmonistic (or proto-Samaritan) texts, namely texts that harmonize two distinct texts by adding, omitting, and/or altering the different word order of the base text under the influence of a parallel text, just like the Samaritan Pentateuch.

Harmonizing the Law of the Sabbath

The following illustrates how the Sabbath commandment in the Decalogue has been harmonized in this text to solve the tension between the two versions of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. (See Appendix for a full comparison of the Hebrew texts of the Decalogue in the MT and 4QDeutⁿ.)

Green = Deuteronomy/Deuteronomic Text
Blue = Exodus/Priestly Text
Bold Italics = Adaptation in 4QDeutⁿ (with the exception of spelling differences which I will not note but which the Hebrew reader can see for herself/himself.)

Putting aside the small differences like different spelling or differences in when the conjunctive “and” (waw) is used, the main goal of the harmonistic text of 4QDeutⁿ is to unify the two text-forms of Exodus and Deuteronomy, by including both explanations for Shabbat. The later Midrashic claim of the Rabbis, זכור ושמור בדיבור אחד נאמרו, “‘Remember’ and ‘Observe’ were spoken in a single utterance” (b. Rosh Hashanah 27a),^[12] is reflected in the actual text of Deuteronomy here.

Harmonizations are also found when no textual parallels exist, but the text was enriched with details from another text. For example, 4QPaleoExodus^m, which based on its script is dated to the end of the second century BCE or the first half of the first century BCE, adds Deut 18:18-19 (the requirement to write the Torah upon stones) after Exodus 20:21 (the prohibition against coveting).^[13] Unfortunately, the text of the Decalogue in 4QPaleoExodus^m, which is older than 4QDeutⁿ, is very poorly preserved.

The “Oldest” Copy of the Decalogue? An Academic (but not Media-Friendly!) Answer

To return to the question of whether 4QDeutⁿ is the oldest extant copy of the Decalogue, the answer is “no,” “no,” and “depends what you mean.”

• 4QDeutⁿ is not “the oldest known copy of Ten Commandments;” that title must go to the Nash Papyrus.
• It is not the earliest copy of the Decalogue from a Qumran scroll; that title must go to the admittedly fragmentary 4QPaleoExodus^m.
• 4QDeutⁿ cannot even be definitively declared the earliest complete copy of the Decalogue from a Torah scroll, since that depends on whether it was indeed a Torah scroll, a Deuteronomy scroll, or more likely, an excerpt used for liturgical purposes.
• None of the above-mentioned early textual witnesses preserves the Masoretic text, all three—4QPaleoExodus^m, 4QDeutⁿ, and the Nash Papyrus—are harmonistic texts. There are some Masoretic Qumran texts, but all are slightly later than the above three.
• Most significantly, if the assumption that 4QDeutⁿ is harmonistic is correct, it cannot be the earliest version of the Decalogue—the texts which it harmonized must be earlier, even if no copy of them happens to be extant!

Learning from Ancient Texts

In short, when discussing ancient scrolls, it is important to keep in mind what kind of text it is (Torah scroll, liturgical text, Mezuza, etc.), and to realize that a variety of versions circulated in different types of texts. Understanding this is much more important than knowing which of the randomly preserved texts from antiquity happens to be the earliest.^[14]

Appendix

The Decalogue in MT and 4QDeutⁿ

Dedicated to the beloved memory of my late husband, Hanan Eshel, who celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at פרשת ואתחנן.