CHAPTER FOUR
4QMMT
4.1 Introduction
The composite text of 4QMMT, which is also known as Miqsat
Ma‘ase ha-Torah or “some works of the law,” is based upon six
fragmentary copies (4Q394-399) ranging in date from 75 BCE to 50
CE. In all, 4QMMT contains some 130 lines which, according to its
editors, is probably equal to about two thirds of the original text.1
Although the introductory material at the beginning of the text is
now missing, the extant evidence from the manuscripts indicates that
the document contained at least three main sections: (A) a 364-day
calendar; (B) a list of about 20 legal rulings; and (C) an epilogue.
There is some question as to whether or not the calendar, which is
present in only one of the manuscripts (4Q394 1-2 i-v 1-18; 4Q394
3-7 i 1-3), was an original part of 4QMMT. What is clear, however,
is that it was not the created by the author/redactor of 4QMMT.
Rather, the calendar appears to be based on the same 364-day solar
year as the calendars in the Astronomical Book of Enoch, Jubilees,
and the Temple Scroll. Furthermore, like the Temple Scroll,
4QMMT recounts three yearly festivals that are unattested in the
Torah, (i.e., the wood, oil, and new wine festivals). These observa-
tions indicate that the author/redactor of 4QMMT either borrowed
the calendar from another source or that a later scribe attached the
calendar to the beginning of the text some time after MMT’s compo-
sition.
After the calendar, the author/redactor then moves on to discuss a
number of legal concerns. In this section, which is clearly the heart
and soul of 4QMMT, the author/redactor focuses on seventeen dif-
ferent halakhic issues where he and his community disagree with an
unnamed individual and/or group. Some of these issues include
1 E. Qimron and J. Strugnell, Qumran Cave 4. V. Miqsat Ma‘ase Ha-Torah (DJD
X: Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), 109.
4QMMT 181
whether Gentile wheat can be brought into the Temple (4Q394 3-7 i
6b-8a), the proper location to slaughter an animal (4Q394 3-7 ii 14b-
15), and whether streams of liquid can transmit ritual impurity from
one vessel to another (4Q394 8 iv 5-8a; par. 4Q396 1-2 ii 6b-9a;
4Q397 6-13 1-2a).
4QMMT draws to a close with the so-called epilogue (4Q397 14-
21 1-16; 4Q398 11-13 1-7, 14-17 i 5b-8, 14-17 ii 1-8). In this final
section the author/redactor suggests that he and his group have sepa-
rated from their doctrinal opponents based on the legal concerns
discussed in the legal section and calls them to reconsider their posi-
tion. Drawing parallels with the kings of Israel, who, like David,
performed righteous deeds and were forgiven their trespasses, the
author/redactor of 4QMMT urges his audience, in a highly concilia-
tory manner, to consider the arguments laid before them so that they
might come to see the error of their ways and embrace the teachings
of the author/redactor.
The literary style of 4QMMT has inspired several different theo-
ries concerning its genre. The first, and most popular theory, argues
that 4QMMT’s use of the first person plural to compare the legal
opinions of its authors over and against those of its addressees, who
are indicated by the second person singular and second person plural,
indicates that the document should be understood as a extra-
communal letter. Originally written circa 150 BCE by the founding
members of the nascent Qumran community and addressed to the
priestly authorities in Jerusalem, this letter, so the theory goes, out-
lines various reasons why the former had chosen to separate them-
selves from the latter.2 A second interpretation suggests that the
document should be understood as an intra-communal treatise. Ac-
cording to this interpretation, 4QMMT would have been written ei-
ther at the same time as the events it describes or at a later date but,
unlike the extra-communal letter, this document would have been
addressed to those within the community. As a treatise, 4QMMT
would have functioned as a study-text for those within the group by
detailing the group’s history as well as some of its central tenants and
2 E. Qimron and J. Strugnell, “An Unpublished Halakhic Letter from Qumran,”
in Biblical Archaeology Today (ed. J. Amitai; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society,
1985), 400-01; idem, Qumran Cave 4. V. Miqsat Ma‘ase Ha-Torah, 113-21; L. H.
Schiffman, “The New Halakhic Letter (4QMMT) and the Origins of the Dead Sea
Sect,” BA 53/2 (1990): 64-65; idem, “Miqtsat Ma‘asei Ha-Torah,” EDSS 1:558-60.
