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.