Constructing, Deconstructing and Reconstructing Fragmentary Manuscripts: Illustrated by a Study of 4Q184 (4QWiles of the Wicked Woman)

In this chapter we begin with a well-known but important observation. The finds of Qumran Cave 4 consist of a hodgepodge of at least fifteen thousand (but possibly as many as forty thousand) fragments. These have largely been sorted and assembled into slightly fewer than seven hundred manuscripts, which provide the basic categorization used in editions, research tools, and Scrolls studies. However, whereas fragments are discrete physical entities, manuscripts are scholarly constructs. This chapter will comment on the concept of manuscripts, the historical process of sorting and assembling manuscripts, and the need to critically approach and if necessary deconstruct the editors’ construction of manuscripts, as well as the possibilities and methods for reconstructing manuscripts. It would be possible to give many illustrative examples, but this chapter will go back and forth between general observations and the exemplary discussion of one particular manuscript, 4Q184. Right from the outset, it should be stated that one can benefit fully from reading this chapter only if one also examines the publicly available images of the fragments.