In the first of those he said (provisionally) that the handwriting of the manuscript looks to date to the second to fourth century C.E. Things now become complicated. There is now a photo of the mummy mask that supposedly produced the manuscript, and a photo of some exposed text on it. Brent dates them "at first glance" to the Ptolemaic period (first to third century B.C.E.). But it may be that the Samuel material comes from more than one manuscript, so both dates could be correct.
I am summarizing here, so go and read his new post for all the details. If you are like me, you won't feel much the wiser. But it is good that more information about the manuscript seems to be trickling out and that Brent is keeping us appraised of it.
UPDATE: After I posted this, I saw a new post at Variant Readings: The Green Collection 1 Samuel: A Place of Purchase. Read the post to find out where and, in a general way, from whom.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
