Two Leaves from a Samaritan Pentateuch

A rare early survival of a Samaritan Bible.

An ancient Israelite people historically centered on Mount Gerizim near Shechem (Nablus), the origins of the Samaritans are shrouded in obscurity. According to the Samaritans, they descend from the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Modern scholars disagree as to their exact origins and the precise period when Samaritanism and Judaism diverged, but during the Second Temple period a deep enmity developed between Jews and Samaritans as each claimed to continue the authentic tradition of biblical religion. Like Jews, the Samaritans have preserved their own version of the Bible, largely limited to the text of the Pentateuch. The Samaritan Pentateuch is traditionally written in the Samaritan alphabet (a descendant of Paleo‑Hebrew) and preserves a version of the Pentateuch that in many places aligns with the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Jewish text) and with versions found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, making it central to Pentateuchal textual criticism. However, it also contains a number of significant differences, especially on points relating to Samaritan origins and worship. Most notably, the Samaritan text includes among the Ten Commandments the imperative to build an altar on Mount Gerizim.

The two folios represented here contain the text corresponding to Num. 33:23–35:7, recounting the stages of the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness, the boundaries of the Land of Canaan, and the designation of Levitical cities (including cities of refuge). Over the centuries, Western travelers to Nablus occasionally obtained, by gift or purchase, individual leaves from the Samaritan High Priest or community. In this case, the extremely rare leaves were purchased by the American abolitionist and Congregational minister William Weston Patton (1821–1889), who later served as president of the Chicago Theological Seminary. Patton played a notable role in the antislavery movement in the United States, helping to organize and present the 1862 Chicago memorial urging President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the most influential expressions of Northern civic and moral pressure in the months before the decree.

Physical Description

Single bifolium (276 x 220 mm); black ink on parchment; in Samaritan majuscule (mujallas) book hand, unvocalized, as customary; single column; clear word‑spacing and paragraphing typical of medieval Samaritan book hand; close comparanda include Cambridge UL Add. 1846 (early 12th century), widely regarded as among the earliest extant Samaritan Pentateuch codices. Text: Leaf I: Num. 33:23–33:46 (r) and 33:47–34:3 (v). Leaf II: Num. 34:4–34:18 (r) and 34:19–mid‑35:7 (v).

Provenance

William W. Patton, who purchased the bifolium on November 15, 1866, in Nablus (ink inscription); later given to the Chicago Theological Seminary (ink stamp); Current owner.

Literature

Alan D. Crown, Samaritan Scribes and Manuscripts (Tübingen, 2001)

Moshe Florentin and Abraham Tal, The Samaritan Pentateuch: An English Translation with a Parallel Annotated Hebrew Text (Cambridge, 2024).

Reinhard Pummer, The Samaritans: A Profile (Grand Rapids, MI, 2016).

Emanuel Tov, “Proto-Samaritan Texts and the Samaritan Pentateuch” in Allan D. Crown ed. The Samaritans (Tübingen, 1989), 397–407.