We don’t know who wrote the Museum of the Bible Dead Sea Scrolls-like fragments, but judging from Ada Yardeni’s observations in Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments in the Museum Collection (Brill, 2016), most of them used reed pens with worn nibs producing strokes of equal thickness. See the table below:
| Content | Designations | Ada Yardeni’s remarks about the nib of the reed pens and the thickness of strokes |
| Gen 31:23–25?, 32:3–6 | motb.scr.000124 DSS F.191 (Gen2) |
“Letters were written with a thin reed pen by a “Jewish” book hand, where the thickness of horizontal and vertical strokes is somewhat even” (Davis, 24)
“The almost equal thickness of horizontal and vertical strokes indicates a somewhat worn out nib of the reed pen” (Bernius et al, 78) |
| Exod 17:4–7 | motb.scr.000120 DSS F.192 (Exod6) |
|
| Lev 23:4(?) | motb.scr.000122 DSS F.193 (Lev5) |
“Letters were written with a thin reed pen with a cut nib, producing calligraphic variation between strokes” (Davis, 24)
“The letters were written with a thin reed pen, the nib of which was cut, thus enabling variations in the width of the strokes according to the angle in which the scribe held the writing implement” (Michelson et al, 126) |
| Lev 23:24–28 | ncf.scr.004742 DSS F.203 (Lev6) |
“The letters are predominantly damaged, but the preserved portions show the writing of a fairly strong hand, holding a reed pen with a cut nib that was somewhat worn” (Davis, 26)
“The letters were written with a reed pen, the nib of which was cut but somewhat worn out” (Kutz et al, 112) |
| Num 8:3–5 | motb.scr.003173 DSS F.194 (Num2) |
“Letters were written with a thin, reed pen, and the generally equal thickness in strokes suggests that the nib may have been worn” (Davis, 25)
“The almost equal thickness of horizontal and vertical strokes indicates that the letters were written with a thin reed pen with a somewhat worn out nib” (Finlay et al, 131) |
| Neh 2:13–16 | motb.scr.003175 DSS F.201 (Neh2) |
“Letters are written by a ‘Jewish’ square, formal hand belonging to an emerging scribe still learning his craft, with a reed pen of medium thickness and a slightly worn nib” (Davis, 25–26)
“The letters were written with a reed pen of medium thickness with a somewhat worn out nib, as indicated by the almost equal thickness of horizontal and vertical strokes” (Abegg et al, 212) Cf. also Abegg et al, 213: “The odd split form of the resh was perhaps caused by the ‘worn out nib’ of the scribe’s pen”; 214: “The scribe may have been reshaping a letter written in error or perhaps the nib of his pen split as he turned the corner at the base”; 215: “The bottom of the visible traces suggests that the scribe’s pen nib again split on the downstroke and perhaps what ink might have been present below was thin and eventually flaked off” |
| Ps 11:1–4 | motb.scr.000121 DSS F.199 (Ps3) |
“It was written with a reed pen of medium thickness with a slightly worn nib, although not as worn as in other examples such as F.Jer2 and F.Num2” (Davis, 24)
“The letters were written with a reed pen of medium thickness with a somewhat worn out nib, as evidenced by the almost equal thickness of the horizontal and vertical strokes” (Wolfe et al, 192) |
| Jer 23:6–9 | motb.scr.003172 DSS F.195 (Jer2) |
“The almost equal thickness of the horizontal and vertical strokes indicates the use of a reed pen of medium thickness with a somewhat worn-out nib” (Kutz et al, 142) |
| Ezek 28:22 | motb.scr.003174 DSS F.196 (Ezek1) |
“The near equal thickness between horizontal and vertical strokes suggests that the nib wassomewhat worn” (Davis, 25)
“The letters were written with a reed pen of medium thickness with a somewhat worn out nib, as indicated by the almost equal thickness of the horizontal and vertical strokes” (Mudliar, 160) |
| Dan 10:18–20 | motb.scr.003170 DSS F.200 (Dan6) |
“Yardeni describes the script as a “Jewish” square, formal hand, written with a thin reed pen with a slightly worn nib” (Davis, 24)
“The almost equal thickness of horizontal and vertical strokes indicates a somewhat worn out nib of the reed pen” (Duke et al, 202) |
| Jona 4:2–5 | motb.scr.003171 DSS F.197 (Jon1) |
“Letters were written with a thin reed pen that likely had a worn nib” (Davis, 25)
“The letters were written with a thin reed pen with a somewhat worn out nib, as evidenced by the almost equal thickness of horizontal and vertical strokes” (McDowell and Hill, 169) |
| Mic 1:4–6 | motb.scr.003183 DSS F.198 (Mic1) |
“Letters were written by thin reed pen with a slightly worn nib, although the variation in thickness of the strokes is likely exacerbated by the scribe’s lack of skill” (Davis, 26)
“The letters were written with a thin reed pen with a somewhat worn out nib, as indicated by the almost equal thickness of horizontal and vertical strokes” (Flint and Herbison, 178) |
| = 4Q418 ii 4–5 | Motb.scr.000123 DSS F.202 (Instr1) |
“Letters are written in a ‘Jewish’ square, formal hand by a professional scribe with a reed pen of medium thickness and a slightly worn nib” (Davis, 24)
“The almost equal thickness of the horizontal and vertical strokes indicates a somewhat worn-out nib of the reed pen” (Johnson, 225) |
The Lying Pen of Scribes 
Cf. also Ada Yardeni’s remark on the Lanier post-2002 DSS-like Amos frgs in Emanuel Tov, “New Fragments of Amos,” DSD 21 (2014): 3–13, at 5: “The writing utensil was worn because of which the shapes of the letters are not flawless (unlike most scrolls written with carefully designed utensils).”
LikeLike