Evidence · Case 03 · Reliability of Scripture
Leviticus
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
About 13 to 17 copies of Leviticus were found. The standout is 11QpaleoLeviticus, written in the paleo-Hebrew script and usually dated to around 100 BC, in the late Hasmonean period, though some scholars place it later.
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Objections & responses
- A paleo-Hebrew Leviticus is interesting archaeologically, but the script says nothing about whether the words were copied accurately.
The script matters for a different reason: paleo-Hebrew was a deliberately archaic choice reserved for texts regarded as especially sacred, which shows the care the community took with the Torah. On accuracy, 11QpaleoLev is a substantial scroll whose text is close to the Masoretic tradition with some Samaritan-type readings, which is exactly the kind of witness that lets scholars check both traditions against a third.