The Qumran Exodus Manuscripts and the Versions that Became Canonical (MT, SP, OG)

At first glance, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls did not fundamentally change the textual situation for the book of Exodus. Differing Hebrew texts (MT and SP), literarily closely related texts (Deuteronomy), rewritten Bible compositions (Jubilees) as well as excerpted texts (tefillin) were known before. The Qumran evidence clearly demonstrates that such a diversity of textual witnesses was not considered a problem in the Hellenistic period. Long texts (like 4Q22 and SP), short texts (like the OG) or texts with fewer special readings (like MT) were copied and used side by side. Next to the large scale differences, minor agreements and disagreements between the textual witnesses allow insights into their »genetic« relationship. Against this background, the present paper seeks to define a detailed stemma codicum for the book of Exodus which adequately describes the dependencies between the ancestors of the three complete versions (MT, SP, OG) and the Qumran Exodus manuscripts. Conclusions are drawn for so called »higher criticism«: The idea of a »chain of redactors« preserving the old material in its entirety while continuously adding new ideas from generation to generation replacing the older version (the »growth model«) is inconsistent with the empirical evidence. The large scale differences between the three canonical versions do not represent three stages of a linear development but rather the outcome of a conscious choice between existing options.