Manuscript, Voice, and the Construction of Pseudepigraphal Identities: Composing a Mutable David in Some Qumran Psalms Scrolls

Through an analysis of varying configurations of the persona of David in some Qumran scrolls, I argue for an approach to the study of ancient pseudepigraphy that prioritizes manuscripts over reconstructed and idealized literary works. Three data sets ground the study: three fragments from Cave 4 that contain Pss 33 and 69; 4Q522, a paraphrase of Joshua that incorporates Ps 122; and finally two groupings of 11QPsa, the Ascents collection and the material following “David's Last Words.” I observe how the “I” voice of a given psalm or group of psalms joins third-person description to constitute David's authorial persona in ways distinctive to the text inscribed on a given manuscript. Accordingly, this article aligns with studies that see the enlargement and mutability of authorial figures in the expanding archive of early Jewish literature and with more recent calls to view texts as material objects that reflect their context of production.