6. 4Q252. Method and Context, Genre and Sources (A Response to George J. Brooke, 'The Thematic Content of 4Q252')

George J. Brooke, in his paper "The Thematic Content of 4Q252", sets out a broad agenda for dealing with Qumran texts of this sort which stresses the appropriate contextual interpretation of the texts within the framework of Second Temple literature. Brooke divides the contents of 4Q252 into eight parts: chronology of the flood, Noah to Abraham, Abram chronology, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cleansing of the land, the binding of Isaac, Isaac's blessing of Jacob, Amalek, and the blessings of Jacob. The author prefers to divide it into exegetical units, focusing on the underlying passages of the Hebrew Bible, the difficulties of which the commentary attempts to resolve.Keywords:4Q252; Bible; chronology; George J. Brooke; Qumran