When Leolaia responded to me in a recent post, she generated a question in my mind. Firstly, I provide parts of her post, and then I pose my question.
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Leolaia wrote (in part):
The text of the OT is pluriform and one may recognize three main text traditions, the Palestinian (represented by the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and a few other sources), the Egyptian (represented mainly by the LXX), and the Babylonian (represented mainly by the MT). In some books, especially 1-2 Samuel, Jeremiah, and Daniel, the differences between the various text types can be quite large.
In the case of Jeremiah, the LXX and the Dead Sea Scroll versions (as found in 4QJer b and 4QJer d ) are shorter than the MT by some 13%. When the differences are examined systematically, it becomes clear that the MT contains many additions in a developing tradition. Basically, there were two different editions of the book in antiquity, and they developed on different trajectories from each other in terms of redaction and composition.
The oldest manuscript of Jeremiah, 4QJer a (which is also one of the oldest Dead Sea Scrolls, dating to c. 200 BC), is chock full of scribal additions and corrections. ... Regional differences are very important to keep in mind, especially with a book like Jeremiah.
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My question:
Through an examination of these variants, is it possible to identify which group (family or geographic) used the name El, which used YHWH ("Jehovah"), and which group worshiped Asherah as the wife of YHWH?
Doug