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document uniformity
The documents hardly demonstrate any uniformity of doctrine. Consider
that they include a brontologion, a horoscope, and a single text of
physiognomical omen lore. Deut 18,9-22 expressly forbids various
forms of magic and divination, and Deuteronomy was the runaway
"bestseller" of Qumran, with fragments of 29 mss. The conclusion
seems obvious that the collection included materials the collectors
did not expressly approve of, but which they felt they should have
some knowledge of. This is in stark contrast with Mesopotamian
collections, in which divinatory and other magical material in fact
*predominates* in many contexts.
Fred Cryer