The Temple Scroll

Abstract Chapter 3 analyzes the Temple Scroll from Qumran, focusing on its extensive regulations on ritual pollution, to investigate whether it adheres to the qualitative or quantitative purity model. It challenges previous interpretations that presuppose a hierarchical order of pollutions based on severity within the Temple Scroll. While some evidence suggests a nascent tendency toward hierarchizing pollution levels, particularly in segregating certain pollutants by geographic location, the Temple Scroll largely mirrors the qualitative approach of Priestly texts. Close philological analysis of key passages, such as Column 45, reveals a complex text-historical process and reveals there was not a unidirectional development form qualitative to quantitative modeling.