The Difference Between Scholarly Mistakes and Scholarly Concealment: The Case of MMT

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Mistakes in scholarship are inevitable. When they occur, they can lead other scholars into further error. One error begets another. I recently read a fascinating article, by a young graduate student at Hebrew University named Yosef Garfinkel, about an error made by the great Biblical archaeologist William F. Albright.1 Nearly 60 years ago, Albright identified the personal name Yokan—found on a seal impression on a jar handle that Albright had excavated at Tell Beit Mirsim—with the name of the next-to-last king of Judah, Jehoiachin. Jehoiachin ruled for only three months in 598/597 B.C.E.a On this basis, Albright dated the […]

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Footnotes

B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era) are the scholarly alternate designations corresponding to B.C. and A.D.

The abbreviation for a text called Miqsat Ma’aseh ha-Torah (literally, “Some Rulings Pertaining to the Torah”).

To reward those who read so carefully as to include this footnote, you may subscribe to Bible Review, at half-price. Simply cross out $18 on the card and write $9 in its place. However, your check (or Visa or MasterCard order) must accompany a subscription at this price. If you are already a subscriber, you can give one gift subscription for only $9 by following the same procedure. Congratulations on getting this far. This offer expires December 1, 1990.

Endnotes

Yosef Garfinkel, “The Eliakin Na’ar Yokan Seal impressions,” Biblical Archaeologist (BA) 53 (1990), p. 74.

Garfinkel, “Eliakin Na’ar Yokan,” p. 78.

Joseph Fitzmyer, The Dead Sea Scrolls—Major Publications and Tools for Study (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 2nd ed., 1977), p. 26.

Jerusalem Post, March 2, 1990.

John Strugnell and Elisha Qimron, “An Unpublished Halakhic Letter from Qumran,” in Biblical Archaeology Today, ed. Janet Amitai (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Sociery, 1985), p. 406.

Lawrence Schiffman, “The New Halakhic Letter (4QMMT) and the Origins of the Dead Sea Sect,” BA 53 (1990), p. 64.

Schiffman expresses his gratitude to Strugnell and Qimron “for graciously making available their soon-to-be-published edition and commentary of this text.”

Stephen Goranson, “Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and 4QMMT,” BA 53 (1990), p. 70.