From Bible to Murabba'at: Studies in the literary, textual and scribal features of phylacteries and mezuzot in ancient Israel and early Judaism

This dissertation studies selected features of phylacteries and mezuzot in ancient Israel and early Judaism. The first chapter presents a study of the relevant biblical verses, as understood by the ancient versions and other works of antiquity.;The second chapter consists of a review of the various interpretations of Exodus 13:9, 16 and Deuteronomy 6:8f. and 11:18, 20, and the role of phylacteries and mezuzot in their biblical and ancient Near Eastern matrices. After critiquing the positions of pre-moderns and moderns, two new proposals are offered.;Chapter III deals with the earliest known instances of ritual observance of phylacteries and mezuzot. In addition to tracing the earliest references to these practices, we discuss the possible identity of those circles who may have observed these precepts. Finally, we frame this issue against the broader question of the identity of the inhabitants of Qumran and those circles at Qumran in which the DS exemplars may have originated.;The fourth chapter presents a study of the scribal practices employed in the production of the DS phylactery and mezuzot exemplars. They are analyzed in the light of rabbinic, especially tannaitic, scribal norms. The objective herein is twofold: first, to use the rabbinic texts and the DS exemplars to explicate one another and, secondly, to compare the scribal practices reflected in the exemplars with those preserved in rabbinic texts.;The fifth chapter consists of a discussion of the biblical passages included in the DS exemplars. After discussing the exegetic considerations which led these circles to select these passages, we compare these exegitical techniques with those known from other DS works and early rabbinic exegesis.;The final chapter presents a text-critical study of one of the (fragmentary) passages included in the exemplars, viz., the "Song of Moses" (Deut 32). Our analysis of this exemplar (4Qphyl...