Wrapping Up 1QM

Abstract

This article evaluates the debated placements of fragments in the reconstruction of the War Scroll from Cave 1 (1QM). There are three fragments (frags. 3, 9, 10) and one large fragment cluster (1QM 2, 8, DSSHU pl. 34; 1Q33 2) that are contested in 1QM scholarship. These placements are important for establishing the text of 1QM and the determination of whether there was another War Scroll from Cave 1 among the fragments assigned to 1QM and 1Q33. I will evaluate the remaining debates about fragment placements in 1QM, focusing especially on Hanan and Esther Eshel’s proposal (2000) that the large fragment cluster is not part of 1QM but is the remnant of a different scroll, which they label 1QMa. To assist in weighing the plausibility of fragment placements in 1QM, this article incorporates 3D visualizations of how 1QM would appear in a rolled state to demonstrate how well some proposed fragment placements cohere with the scroll’s damage patterns.