Pentateuch, the Samaritan
What Is the Samaritan Pentateuch?
The Samaritan Pentateuch is the Samaritan community's own version of the Torah, the five books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy). Unlike the Jewish canon, the Samaritans accept only these five books as Scripture. Their text is written in a distinctive paleo-Hebrew script that resembles the old Israelite script used before the Babylonian exile, rather than the square Aramaic script adopted by the Jewish community. The Samaritan community, centered in Nablus (ancient Shechem) near Mount Gerizim, has preserved this text for over two millennia.
Rediscovery and Early Controversy
Knowledge of the Samaritan Pentateuch existed among the early church fathers. Origen noted insertions not found in the standard Hebrew text, and Eusebius compared its patriarchal chronologies with those in the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text. Jerome also referenced it. However, after these early notices, the Samaritan Pentateuch fell into obscurity for nearly a thousand years.
In 1616, the Italian traveler Pietro della Valle purchased a copy from the Samaritan community in Damascus. This manuscript was presented to the Paris Oratory in 1623 and subsequently published in the Paris Polyglot Bible under the editorship of Jean Morin. Morin, a Catholic scholar, used the differences between the Samaritan and Masoretic texts to argue for the need of church authority to settle textual questions. A fierce scholarly controversy followed, with Protestant and Catholic scholars debating the relative value of the two traditions.
Differences from the Masoretic Text
The Samaritan Pentateuch differs from the Masoretic Text in roughly 6,000 places. These differences fall into several categories. Many are minor and accidental, arising from scribal errors of sight, hearing, or inattention. Others are intentional, including grammatical smoothing, logical harmonizations, and doctrinal changes.
The most notable doctrinal alteration concerns Mount Gerizim. In Deuteronomy 27:4, where the Masoretic Text reads "Mount Ebal," the Samaritan Pentateuch reads "Mount Gerizim," reflecting the Samaritan belief that Gerizim, not Jerusalem, is God's chosen place of worship (compare John 4:20). The Samaritan text also inserts a command to build an altar on Mount Gerizim after the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.
Relationship to the Septuagint
In about 1,900 of its variant readings, the Samaritan Pentateuch agrees with the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) against the Masoretic Text. This overlap has generated significant scholarly discussion. Some scholars have argued that the Septuagint translators used a Hebrew text similar to the Samaritan recension, while others propose that both traditions independently preserve older readings that were later changed in the Masoretic tradition. The Dead Sea Scrolls have confirmed that some readings shared by the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint reflect genuinely ancient Hebrew text traditions.
The Nablus Scroll and Manuscript Tradition
The most famous manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch is the Nablus Scroll (also called the Abisha Scroll), which the Samaritan community claims dates back to the time of Moses' great-grandson Abisha. Modern scholarship generally dates the oldest portions to the medieval period, though the text it preserves is certainly much older. All known copies of the Samaritan Pentateuch ultimately derive from the manuscript tradition centered at Nablus. These manuscripts are written in the distinctive Samaritan script on parchment and are read according to a unique pronunciation tradition.
Significance for Biblical Studies
The Samaritan Pentateuch is important for several reasons. It provides an independent witness to the text of the Torah that predates the Masoretic standardization of the second century AD. When it agrees with the Septuagint or the Dead Sea Scrolls against the Masoretic Text, it can help scholars reconstruct earlier forms of the Hebrew text. It also sheds light on the history of the Samaritan community and its break from mainstream Judaism, illuminating the background of passages like John 4:9, where the Gospel notes that "Jews do not associate with Samaritans."
Biblical Context
The Samaritan Pentateuch covers Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It is directly relevant to understanding the Torah's textual transmission. Key passages where it diverges from the Masoretic Text include Deuteronomy 27:4 (Gerizim vs. Ebal), the chronologies of Genesis 5 and 11, and harmonizing additions in Exodus and Numbers. The rivalry between Samaritans and Jews reflected in the textual differences appears in the New Testament in passages like John 4:1-42 and Luke 10:25-37.
Theological Significance
The Samaritan Pentateuch demonstrates that the text of Scripture was transmitted through multiple communities and traditions, raising important questions about textual authority and preservation. Its existence reminds readers that God's word was entrusted to human hands and that careful textual scholarship is needed to understand the original text. The sectarian changes also illustrate how theological convictions can influence textual transmission.
Historical Background
The Samaritan community traces its origins to the northern tribes of Israel and the region around Shechem. The split between Samaritans and Jews deepened after the Babylonian exile, when the returning Jewish exiles refused Samaritan participation in rebuilding the Jerusalem temple (Ezra 4:1-3). The Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizim, which was destroyed by the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus around 128 BC. The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered beginning in 1947, revealed Hebrew manuscripts that sometimes agree with the Samaritan Pentateuch, confirming that its text type was known in ancient Judea and not merely a Samaritan invention.