Divine Names Different Approaches and Writing Procedures in the Qumran Scrolls

Traditionally, the ancient Israelites approached the name of God with reverence as is visible in the third commandment (Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11). In the written documents, a special approach towards the Tetragrammaton is already visible in the Elohistic Psalter (Psalms 42–89 [83]) in which that name was usually replaced with םיהלא in all textual witnesses. A similar avoidance of the Tetragrammaton is evidenced in many Qumran scrolls. Reflecting a similar approach to the avoidance of the use of divine names, scribal solutions were invented in order to avoid the regular writing of these names in the text; they are the focus of our analysis: (i) The writing of the Tetragrammaton in Paleo-Hebrew characters; (ii) Four dots (named Tetrapuncta) (….); rarely: (iii) A dicolon (:) in 4QRP^b (4Q364); (iv) כיהלאל written in red in 11QpaleoUnid. Text (11Q22). The picture that emerges is a clear tendency to present these names with various graphical solutions in the Qumran Hebrew scrolls, but not in the other Judean Desert scrolls. This tendency is not felt across the board in the Qumran scrolls, but it is mainly limited to the scrolls that are closely connected to the Qumran scribal practice. The writing of the Tetragrammaton in Paleo-Hebrew characters is also evidenced in Greek manuscripts and the connection between the Hebrew and Greek evidence is scrutinized.