‘Holy’ and ‘Unholy’ Texts of Hebrew Scripture

Resumen

This article examines the categories of “holy” and “unholy” texts within the Hebrew Scriptures through the lens of the Judean Desert scrolls. Despite later assumptions about special scribal procedures for sacred writings, the evidence from Qumran and related sites demonstrates that Scripture and non-Scripture scrolls were produced using identical scribal practices. Authority and sanctity were therefore attributed primarily to content, not to the physical scrolls themselves. A significant exception emerges in the proto-Masoretic (proto-MT) tradition, which introduced a theologically motivated no-change approach to the biblical text from at least the first century BCE. This innovation resulted in an unusually stable textual transmission that continued into the medieval Masoretic Text. The study analyzes the origins and implications of this scribal ideology, contrasting it with other textual traditions such as the LXX and Samaritan Pentateuch. Ultimately, the proto-MT tradition transformed certain Scripture scrolls into holy scribal artifacts in addition to carriers of sacred content.