Storing Scrolls in Earthenware Jars

Testament of Moses 1:15–18

2nd Century BCE–2nd Century CE

15Therefore, I shall speak plainly to you. The years of my life have come to an end and, in the presence of the entire community, I am going to sleep with my fathers. 16But [you] take this writing so that later you will remember how to preserve the books which I shall entrust to you. 17You shall arrange them, anoint them with cedar, and deposit…

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In the pseudepigraphic Testament of Moses, Moses explains to Joshua how to prepare and preserve the sacred writings of the Torah. The scribal practice of storing scrolls in clay jars is recorded in Jeremiah 32:14. This is also how the Dead Sea Scrolls were preserved until their discovery in the mid-twentieth century (see ESSENES AND QUMRAN).

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