Endnote 2 – Is the Temple Scroll a Sixth Book of the Torah—Lost for 2,500 Years?

The question of Mosaic authority in the Temple Scroll is still much debated. Indeed, the name of Moses does not appear in the extant text of the Temple Scroll. Compare this with Deuteronomy 12–26. For this reason, Baruch Levine (“The Temple Scroll: Aspects of its Historical Provenance and Literary Character,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 232 [1978], pp. 5–23, especially pp. 17–21) denies any Mosaic authority for the Temple Scroll. His conclusion was challenged by Yadin (“Is the Temple Scroll a Sectarian Document?” in Gene M. Tucker and Douglas A. Knight [ed.], Humanizing America’s Iconic Book: SBL Centennial Addresses 1980 [Chico, CA: Scholar’s Press, 1982], pp. 153–169), who relies on Temple Scroll 44:5 and 51:5–7, where Moses is indeed indirectly addressed. But Levine correctly demonstrates the tendency of the Temple Scroll to replace the traditional authority of Moses with God himself. Probably, this is to be interpreted as polemical—against any human authority in Jewish legal matters.