title: The Samaritan text of the Pentateuch: A comparison of the Samaritan text with the Masoretic text
Creators: name: McClymont, John D
Publisher: name: University of Glasgow
Year: 1967
Subjects: subject: Biblical studies, Bible, Pentateuch, Samaritan.

description: The purpose of this Thesis is to endeavour to evaluate the textual variants of the Samaritan Hebrew Pentateuch and, if possible, indicate lines upon which the text might be restored as it existed at the time of the Samaritan secession. Texts collated are: 1. The Masoretic Text, as published by Kahle in Kittel's Biblia Hebraica, 7th. Ed., Stuttgart, 1951. 2. The Samaritan Text, as reconstructed by A. von Gall, Der Hebraische Pentateuch der Samaritaner, Giessen, 1948-18. 3. The Pentatouch texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, I,II, &amp; III, in the case of all the Samaritan variants. 4. The Septuagint, ed. A. Rahlfs, Stuttgart, 1935, in the case of the Samaritan variants that show difference in sense, or where proper names occur. The introductory Chapter I consists of a short history of studios on the Samaritan text of the Pentateuch. Brief mention is made of scholars prior to Gesenius but with him, and thereafter, increasingly detailed treatment is given. Chapter II states the Methods adopted, namely, the collection, critical examination and classification of all the Samaritan Pentateuch variants. There is a discussion on the objection sometimes levelled against the von Gall text, that it is eclectic and that it has not made use of all the MS material available. Chapter III prepares the way for the actual classification of the variants by dealing with certain preliminary considerations that affect the comparative study of the texts: it consists of three monographs; oral transmission, Pre-Masoretic Hebrew texts, and Scroll and Codex (the last being a criticism of Gaster's view that the Scroll and not the Codex should be taken as the basis of comparison). Chapter IV discusses the Principles to be used in the Classification of the variants and then gives an outline of the Classification which divides the material into three main groups, viz. Orthography, Grammar and Vocabulary and of the sub-division of the last two groups into variants that show (l) agreement in sense or (2) divergence in sense. Chapter V gives a selective survey of the whole material into a series of classified paragraphs, giving representative examples and referring the reader to the Appenclix for complete lists. Chapter VI contains the evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls, showing in the case of the Samaritan variants where the Scrolls agree with the Samaritan, or the Masoretic Text, or diverge from both. The final Chapter VII gives conclusions, obtained from the consideration of the Samaritan Pentateuch, regarded as a descendent of a type of text earlier than the Masoretic and belonging to the period of variant texts, prior to the Council of Jamnia, to which the Masoretic, the Samaritan, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Greek texts commonly referred to collectively under the term LXX all go back. Appendix A consists of a detailed list of the variants under the categories of the Classification outlined earlier in the Thesis. This exhaustive list constitutes a large part of the Thesis which it is hoped will be of permanent usefulness for reference. Appendix B is an additional paper on two Samaritan MSS specially examined. A Bibliography of Books and Periodicals concludes the Thesis.