Abstract
Since Gesenius’ seminal analysis of the Samaritan Pentateuch in the early 19th century, it has been customary to consider the MT as the primary text and deviations between the MT and SP as additions or interpolations into the SP. Gesenius termed such variants additamenta maiora e locis parallelis interpolata (major expansions interpolated from parallel passages), thereby indicating a priority not only of the Masoretic text, but also of Deuteronomy, which in most cases is considered the source text of the additions. Avoiding such a priori assumptions, I prefer to use the term “major variants”, most of which can be found in SP Exodus and Numbers. The article examines literary and linguistic relationships between Number’s Wilderness narratives and Deuteronomy 1-3’s retelling in the Samaritan Pentateuch and ask whether the variants in SP reflect a Samaritan or a (proto)-Masoretic Vorlage. Since most of the larger variants are found in Numbers 10-14 and 20-27, both of which are “summarized” in Deuteronomy 1-3, it is also relevant to ask, how the SP variants differ from shared Deuteronomic passages in MT and SP Numbers.