Observations on the Editorial Shaping of the So-Called Community Hymns from 1QHa and 4QHa (4Q427)

Recent Scholarship on the Hodayot 1993–2010

“…4QH e may be still a different collection; at least it starts with a different psalm (as reconstructed; see discussion of the manuscript above). 4QH b , as the earliest copy, indicates that by c. 80 bce the collection had basically been put together (or at least the Hymns of the Teacher and the second group of Community Hymns, according to Harkins 2008: see discussion above). It is this version of the collection that was copied c. 30-1 bce as the 1QH a scroll.…”

“…In her most recent article, Harkins suggests that this material originated in the Enoch tradition, as a creative literary meditation expressing Enoch's reaction to his ascent (rather than a personal mystical experience) (Harkins 2010b;also Miller 2009). Assuming that this was a 'floating' piece that was introduced into the Hodayot collection, both Harkins (2010a) and Chazon (2010) emphasize that in 4QH b /1QH a this poem is strategically placed near the end as a climax and summit of liturgical communion with the heavenly realm; yet in 4QH a it seems to come more in the middle of the scroll surrounded by other psalms that also have plural imperatives and references to the angelic world; and according to the proposed reconstruction of 4QH e , this psalm comes at the beginning of that scroll. All the copies need to be taken into consideration as we continue to puzzle about this psalm not only as an independent composition but also its integration into the various Hodayot collections.…”