More questions about the Cave One scrolls

VARIANT READINGS: Qumran Cave 1 Questions, Part 6: 1QSa and 1QSb. Brent Nongbri continues his excavation of old records of the acquisition of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The post is technical, but has significant implications that Brent does not spell out.

If he is correct, a set of fragments from the Rule of the Congregation (1QS^a), The Rule of the Blessing (1QS^b), 1QIsaiah^b (1Q8), and the Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen) were bought from Kando. They were not, after all, recovered by excavation.

1QSa and 1QSb are both part of the same manuscript as 1QS, the only (more or less) complete copy of the Community Rule/Manual of Discipline.

Does that mean those important works didn't come from Qumran Cave One after all? I doubt it. But it does mean that some (all? I don't know) of the physical proof of their provenance has evaporated.

I think I have that right! If I have misunderstood something, someone please correct me.

I have noted earlier posts in the series here and links

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