'Recentiores non deteriores': A Neglected Philological Rule in the Light of the Qumran Evidence

Prior to the Qumran discoveries, it was much harder to consider any of the ancient versions of the ‎Bible a reliable witness to an original reading. Today we know the Dead Sea Scrolls’ importance ‎for Septuagint studies. As Dorival, Harl and Munnich put it: “En définitive, les découvertes de ‎Qumrân ont résolu une énigme: on sait maintenant que le grec, lorsqu’il s’écarte du TM, n’invente ‎pas”. However, we cannot say the same thing about the mediaeval Hebrew manuscripts. However, ‎it may be of some interest to cursory find out if this judgment on the Mediaeval witnesses of the ‎Hebrew Bible is still legitimate in the light of the now complete Qumran evidence.‎