SAMARITAN BIBLE

MS 201
MS Short Title SAMARITAN BIBLE
Text BIBLE: LEVITICUS 13:56 - 15:15
Description MS in Hebrew on vellum, Ascalon, Israel, 1189, 4 ff., 28x24 cm, single column, (18x15 cm), 24-25 lines in a bold Samaritan square book script, by the scribe Ab Hasta, son of Abnef Uscha.
Provenance 1. Maggs European Bulletin 13(1986):18; 2. Maggs Cat. 1073(1987):3.
Commentary This is one of the oldest survivals of the Samaritan Pentateuch in codex form. The oldest is Cambridge University Library from 1149/50 or earlier. The oldest surviving scroll is 11th c. The Samaritans were separated from the Jews 4th – 2nd c. BC. Being extremely conservative, they preserved both a very archaizing form of the Hebrew script, and the original text of the Hebrew Pentateuch, confirmed by its agreements with the Qumran texts, and some Jewish texts that escaped revision by official Judaism.
Exhibited XVI Congress of the International Organization for the study of the Old Testament. Library of Law Faculty, University of Oslo, 29 July - 7 August 1998.
Place of origin Israel
Dates 1189