The Dead Sea Scrolls

Every Christian should have some understanding of
the Dead Sea Scrolls

In a day and age when the reliability of the Bible is under such attack these manuscripts found in the late 1940's and early 1950s are some of our most valuable assets.  While the Muslims claim Israel has no historical claims to Jerusalem and the Mormons argue that the bible is only as reliable as far as it is translated correctly this pile of texts found in various caves around the Dead Sea prove otherwise.  In harmony with the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948 this material sheds light on both the religious and political ideas of the Jews during the days in which they were hidden.  They compile a library of over 800 texts that date back to nearly two centuries before the time of Christ and are housed in the "Shrine of the Book" in Jerusalem.

Shrine of the Book

They were found in numerous caves in the cliffs above Wadi Qumran.  A wadi is simply a dry creek bed.  Though most were in pretty bad shape buried under hundreds of years of dust and bat dung others such as the book of Isaiah is pretty much complete and can be seen on display to this day.  The first scrolls were found by some Bedouin shepherds in 1947 looking for some lost sheep but soon the word got out to the authorities and a serious search began by a list of scholars. The first pieces to be examined by Professor E. L. Sukenik at the Hebrew Univeristy were found to be that of the book of Isaiah dating a 1,000 years older than any manuscript of its kind. The only Old Testament book not found in this collection is the book of Esther.  Other books found fall into the pseudepigrapha category, which means they appear to be of a religious nature but fall outside the historical Jewish Bible.  First Enoch and the Book of Jubilees would be in this list.  Something called the Manual of Disciples and the Temple Scroll bring insight into tradition of the community as well as to their view of the temple establishment in Jerusalem.  The Copper Scroll is possibly the most fascinating, it is a list of temple treasures and a guide to where it is all hidden.  How to make sense of it presents a list of difficulties.  Because of the turmoil during those early years it took decades for much of this material to be translated and released to the public.

The ruins of an ancient settlement lies near Wadi Qumran.  It appears to have been some sort of religious community possibly linked to the scrolls.  Much of the sectarian texts found may have been connected to a Jewish community called Essenes which some have suggested where John the Baptist may have spent some time.  There is no mention of Jesus in the Dead Sea Scrolls.