The Scroll Mysteries: Unraveling Biblical Editing Myths

As discussed in the previous article, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls dismantled the theory that various versions of the Bible existed in Israel during the Second Temple period. In reality, thousands of biblical fragments from different times during the mid-Second Temple period were found, with no evidence of significant textual or ideological variations.

However, another branch of theories collapsed when faced with the reality revealed by these scrolls.

Proponents of "biblical criticism" concocted new ideas: yes, changes and edits happened, but much earlier.

The problem is that their description of how these edits occurred is anachronistic and implausible. The Dead Sea Scrolls teach us how texts were truly written and copied, countering narratives that lack any basis in reality. According to prevailing theories, people added comments and changes to the Torah scroll, and the next scribe would incorporate these notes into the text. Is this plausible?

Professor Emanuel Tov dedicated a special article to this topic titled "Writing and Rewriting in Ancient Scrolls: Implications for Biblical Criticism," stating: "One primary question is whether scribes could technically alter a fully written book significantly. In my opinion, it was almost impossible... First, let's discuss writing on parchment and papyrus within fixed margins. We'll describe the technical difficulties scribes would face when attempting to make corrections within such a rigid framework, due to limited space in the column margins and the material's limitations. Correction capabilities were minimal, and after writing, there was no space... It is unlikely that ancient scrolls had wider margins than the Qumran scrolls, and the inter-column margins left little room for additions, generally containing no writing..."

Furthermore, there is no technical evidence of such feasibility. Analysis of countless biblical texts shows no trace of editorial changes or corrections — they simply didn't exist, as Tov notes: "The Qumran findings regarding biblical and non-biblical scrolls show no tangible traces of rewritten scrolls... In the biblical scrolls, we found no physical traces of content rewriting. Not in minor details, nor in significant matters... Our examination of the scribes' technical challenges and the Qumran findings show how generations of editors and scribes (the term used doesn't matter) didn't embed their rewritings into existing copies. Rewriting, additions, or omissions couldn't be carried out by correcting existing copies due to these physical constraints of scroll writing... It seems that in ancient times, the technical issues associated with writing and corrections were even more complex than those in the last centuries BCE...

"From the dawn of biblical critical investigation, especially the historical-literary inquiry, researchers believed many biblical books consisted of layers built upon earlier formulations, contrasting previous versions. Such a new layer could add or omit stories, lists, chronologies, psalms, and the like...

"Assumptions regarding rewriting previous formulations are fundamental to biblical scholars. Yet, to my knowledge, researchers have not paid sufficient attention to the reality of rewriting assumptions."

"In introductory books, commentaries, and various studies, there's much discussion on layering text upon text and on lengthy insertions, yet researchers haven't asked themselves how, practically, one could add a complete section to a completed scroll, or how they could remove a section in the middle of the text (i.e., mid-column...)"

Prof. Tov references various scholars' explanations, describing the imagined technical methods behind supposed "additions," and comments on this: "The description of scribal practices does not reflect reality." Scholars invented stories that didn't align with tangible reality, all in hopes of substantiating additions and changes to the Torah.

On this, Tov writes: "To be truthful, scholars’ perceptions are likely influenced more by modern writing practices than by the realities of ancient scrolls. These scholars were not considering the complex nature of ancient scroll writing, but instead modern biblical editions... We have become accustomed to the ease of making significant changes within existing texts in mere seconds."

Stories are one thing, and reality is another, but worry not, scholars are already inventing new stories, always eager to claim forgeries within the Torah.