This study is an attempt to analyse IQM in order to show its structure
and literary history. The author found it difficult to pursue a detailed
criticism in the form of a commentary whilst at the same time offering a
comprehensive account of the many problems which the text raises in the
area of tradition-history. Where possible conclusions of a more general
nature have been presented in close association with the specific
material from which they arise. Davies stresses that the purpose of this
work is rather to reveal characteristics of the material and the major
questions which these raise than to offer a full account of the origin
and development of IQM. The result achieved by this study may serve as
one foundation upon which a sound approach to the wider questions of
Qumran history and theology may be built.