New Fragment Identification: 4QSam^a

New Fragment Identification: 4QSam^a

During the time when I was producing the Dead Sea Scrolls – Image Sources page, it gave me a great opportunity to check the manuscript images again, especially as they had uploaded some better, more up-to-date images than what was previously available to the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library (LLDSSDL). I will obviously be going back again (and again, and again!), but I was very happy to see, and subsequently identify, a never-before-published fragment of 4QSam^a (4^th Qumran Cave, Samuel Manuscript A), regarding which I will now discuss.

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Wadi Murabba’at Isaiah and The Way to Yahuweh Transcription Process

Whilst I can’t exactly fathom how I missed such a Dead Sea Scrolls Manuscript (I mean, it’s not like I haven’t done transcriptions for the other Wadi Murabba’at scrolls… oh wait, yes I did!), it does however give a good opportunity to discuss the Dead Sea Scrolls and the transcription process for TWTY, using this very manuscript as an example.

Prior to 2011, the only way to see manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls (which include those from Wadi Murabba’at, Wadi Sdeir, Nahal Hever etc.) would either a) be a scholar and have access to them for a scholarly article/Masters/Ph.D.; b) have a copy of one of the numerous volumes from the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series (DJD), which range from the ‘oh that’s not that expensive (£96)’, to the ‘OH MY WORD I’LL NEED TO REMORTGAGE MY BLASTED HOUSE! (£282.50)’ – you’re looking at £6,000+ for the entire collection (40 Volumes at the moment); or c) find a book about a Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript produced by a scholar, that also includes the image(s) (or facsimile as a reproduction of a manuscript is more commonly known).

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Yahuweh’s Feasts: Fixing the dates Part 1

Passover, Unleavened bread, Firstfruits, and Weeks

One of the stickiest subjects regarding the Festivals/Feasts of Yahuweh (Passover/Pesach, Unleavened Bread/Matstsah, Firstfruits/Re’shiyth, Weeks/Pentecost/Shabuwa’, Trumpets/Taruw`ah, Reconciliations/Kippuryim, Tabernacles/Sukkah) is when exactly to date them, with regards to both the Hebrew calendar, and our Gregorian calendar.

As with all things it’s probably best to let Yahuweh tell us how this all pans out, so as to make an informed decision.

When it comes to Passover/Pesach, the dating is quite easy. Yahuweh tell us in Leviticus 23:4‑5: These are the appointed feasts of Yahweh, the Set-Apart (qodesh) Assemblies (migra’ (although as this is in its plural form, this is pronounced mirqra’ay)), which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth [day] of the month at twilight, is Yahweh’s Passover.

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‘Ask’ or ‘asking’ – Translational error

As I’ve been translating the eye-witness account of Lucus/Luke, I thought it’d be nice to just have a look at a blatant translational error in one of its chapters.

In Chapter 11:5-10, we read (ESV/English Standard Version):
And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.’’

I’d like to focus on the words “ask”, “seek”, and “knock”. In the Greek, they are the words αιτεω/aiteo, ζητεω/zeteo, and κρουω/krouo, and each of them, each and every time they are mentioned in this passage, are in the present tense, active voice (active means that the subject is performing the action of the verb).

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No it doesn’t…

A friend of mine recently lent me a book to read, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church by Frank Viola, a vehement proponent of house churches who attacked the “paganism” of Christianity in his other book, Pagan Christianity, although he completely didn't do that in the book, but more attacked the use of Church buildings rather than house-Churches, as you'd expect.

I'm not exactly sure why I expected this new book to be any better, but I did, and it's already full of completely untrue and useless 'information', non more blatent that what's written in brackets on page 57,

The report that the Gentiles have received the gospel spreads like wildfire all throughout Judea. When Jerusalem hears of it, some of the believers in the church are alarmed and infuriated. (The Law prohibits the fraternization of Jew and Gentile…..)

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