The new volume 28 (2023) of TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism has just been published here, and it is packed with twelve articles and some reviews. I have pasted contents and links below.Most of the volume is devoted to New Testament related matters. But the following article is of more direct interest to PaleoJudaica:[...]
Juha Pakkala, The Rebuilding and Settlement of Jerusalem in Ezra-Nehemiah and 1 Esdras (pp. 1–18)For more on the debate about the relationship of Masoretic Ezra-Nehemiah to Septuagintal 1 Esdras, see the book edited by Lisbeth S. Fried noted here.Abstract: This paper reviews Dieter Böhler’s theory about the conception of Jerusalem in MT Ezra Nehemiah and 1 Esdras. According to Böhler, 1 Esdras preserves earlier versions in variants dealing with the rebuilding and settlement of Jerusalem, while the MT was revised to accommodate Ezra (and Neh 8) to the Nehemiah story. This paper argues that Böhler’s theory is highly unlikely. It is based on things lacking in the MT, while there is little positive evidence for the theory in the MT variants. The theory also neglects many passages that contradict the conception of an unsettled and unbuilt Jerusalem before Nehemiah. Textual variants used in favor of the theory are often controversial, heavily edited, and/or the result of textual corruption. In none of the cases does 1 Esdras unambiguously preserve the original reading. A conceptional connection between the MT variants remains unclear or is based on the variants in 1 Esdras. The 1 Esdras variants are connected by Jerusalem, its physical spaces, and temple gates. This may be an attempt to highlight the accomplishments of the Davidic Zerubbabel, which fits well with the anti-Hasmonean stand of 1 Esdras. Nehemiah and his accomplishments (such as references to the wall) were omitted because he was a non-Davidic leader whose memory 1 Esdras sought to eradicate.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
