Nathan Mastnjak’s Before the Scrolls: A Material Approach to Israel’s Prophetic Library is a bold, programmatic attempt to account for how the biblical prophetic literature developed. Building on New Philology and book history, Mastnjak argues that the historical-critical study of this literature must begin with—and answer to—the material realities of textual production in ancient Israel and the Second Temple period. ...Regarding this:
In Chapter 2 (the first main chapter following the introduction), he builds upon Menahem Haran’s influential claim that in the Persian period, Judahite scribes shifted from short papyri to long parchment scrolls. Mastnjak affirms the shift but pushes it later, to the Hellenistic period. The (modest) empirical evidence and internal hints from the Hebrew Bible itself suggest that in the Persian period, discrete papyrus sheets or short papyrus scrolls were still the Judahite scribal standard.I wonder about this. In Egypt there were very long papyrus scrolls many centuries before the Persian Period. For example, the Book of the Dead manuscripts noted here, here, and here. In addition, Papyrus Amherst 63 (cf. here) is another substantial (12-foot-long) scroll which came from Egypt toward the end of the Persian Period. It looks as though its contents originated in Babylon and Israel.
Both the Book of the Dead and the Amherst Papyrus are anthological works. I haven't read the book, but I would be interested in what Mastnjak has to say about them and how they affect his thesis.
PaleoJudaica posts noting the publication of the book and another review of it are here and here.
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