4QMMT, also known as MMT, or the Halakhic Letter, is a reconstructed text from manuscripts that were part of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at Qumran in the Judean desert. The manuscript fragments used to reconstruct 4QMMT were found in Cave 4 at Qumran in 1953-1959, and kept at the Palestinian Archaeological Museum, now known as the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.
The sigla "4QMMT" designates a reconstructed text from manuscripts found in Cave 4 at Qumran. The document was provisionally designated "4QMishnique" (Mishnah) by Józef Milik.[1] The designation at final publication was "4QMMT" (Miqsat Ma’ase ha-Torah, Hebrew for "Some Precepts of the Torah" or "Some Rulings Pertaining to the Torah"). This title can also be translated as "Works of the Law". Some New Testament scholars identified the connections of this document with the ideas reflected in Pauline theology.[2]
The two primary scholars who identified, reconstructed, and published 4QMMT are John Strugnell and Elisha Qimron, the official editors of these manuscripts.
- ^ Heichelheim, F. M.; Benoit, P.; Milik, J. T.; de Vaux, R. (1962). "Discoveries in the Judaean Desert II: Les Grottes de Murabbaat". Phoenix. 16 (3): 211. doi:10.2307/1086820. ISSN 0031-8299. JSTOR 1086820.
- ^ Martin Abegg (2012), Paul, “Works of the Law” and MMT. in Paul: Jewish Law and Early Christianity. Biblical Archaeology Society. p. 28