The Transmission of the Pentateuch: Analysis of Variants Due to Graphic Similarity between MT and SP

The volume focuses on variants between the Masoretic Text and the Samaritan Pentateuch prompted by graphic similarities between letters. As a phenomenon that occurs during the transmission of ancient texts, an in-depth study of the linguistic and paleographic background of these variants provides fruitful ground for the exploration of the Pentateuch transmission. This volume gathers all the relevant variants from the Masoretic Text and the Samaritan Pentateuch, comparing them to further witnesses, primarily the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint. Each case is examined independently through a linguistic analysis of the variants, their process of development and an evaluation of which version is preferable (when possible). It then presents a statistical analysis of the data. Moreover, the volume offers a paleographic analysis of the interchanging letters in the three relevant scripts – Hebrew, Jewish, and Samaritan script. Through this process it determines the script in which the variants have occurred and estimates the chronological framework of the variants. This study has implications for the textual history of the Samaritan Pentateuch and, more broadly, for the distribution of the Pentateuch and the extent of its transmission in the late Second Temple period.