As August of 1883 came to a close, Hermann Guthe’s assessment of the Shapira MSS was published without notice or fanfare in Leipzig.
Guthe concluded his publication with the following comments: “The examination of the text has led to the certain realization that the manuscript is a forgery.… It is not the artistry of a gifted craftsman to which we must, as must others attribute this forgery. Its originator is at least a dilettante in the area of Old Testament science, scarcely a representative thereof by profession—his work must, then, in any case count as a witness of arguably good facilities…. He shows, namely, in the last part of his work, a quite good handling of Hebrew expression, has language understanding, as the application of interpuncts in the Decalogue proves, has certain epigraphical knowledge, is familiar with multiple results of Pentateuch criticism, was able to giftedly recognize doublets in our Bible text, but betrays, in his critical operations, the complete lack of a firm method.“
Guthe’s work went unnoticed for the most part. English readers would have to wait until 8 September 1883 to learn of it when a brief notice appeared in The Academy in an article titled, “The Shapira MSS. of Deuteronomy” (8 Sept. 1883, No. 592).
Meanwhile, Shapira was in the Netherlands, and we now know why. (See my chapter twelve, “The Venice of the North,” in The Moses Scroll).
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For an English translation of Guthe’s book (Kindle), see Fragments of a Leather Manuscript Containing Moses’ Last Words to the Children of Israel (Saint Francisville: Horeb Press, 2022).
I LOVE your work and Shabbat teachings. Have you addressed Israel Knohl’s, article: “IT IS A FORGERY” which (I believe) is his latest response to Idan’s “Valediction.” He claims that the use “edut” instead of “ed” conclusively proves the Moses Scroll is a “modern forgery” because it was first used in the context used in the Scroll around 200 BCE, etc. I’d love to hear your response. Thank you [ps: I may reproduce this request in a couple other “Comment” section because I’d really like to know your thoughts on this… perhaps many others would as well.]
Hey Bob. Thanks for your comment. It seems you are digging deeply into the subject! Good for you. Israel Knohl first came out in favor of the authenticity of the Shapira Fragments and then against. The question on ed vs edut is most thoroughly covered by Dershowitz in section 6.4.5, pages 123-125 of his book, The Valediction of Moses, which I assume you have. Idan’s final point says, “We thus see that the form עדת in V is appropriate in its context; it simply means something other than what has been presumed.”
Hi, I am from The Netherlands. Of everything tat I saw on YouTube we have also discover or were thinking the same way. We have a group that wants to follow the Lord as it should be.
Do you have any material about the real or at least most of the real words of Moses.
That we don’t have to think this one or that one is correct?
We just want to follow the Torah. We don’t and cannot believe the a merciful God wouyld accept animal sacrifice. We as a group also think that there is a lot added to. We even think acording to the discription in Nehemiah and in Kings that Yom Kippur was not known till after the death of Nehemiah when Boargas of the Persians took over as government. Those articles we found in The Haaretz of Israel itself. And also was a pagan practice of the passover killing a goat and the sprinckle of the boold and so on.
Help us, if you have, according to you, THIS IS THE REAL LAWCODE.
I hope you can help us out. You can see me on YouTube chanel Bnee Emet