Dead Sea Scrolls

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Copper Scroll found among the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the greatest manuscript discoveries of all time. They consist of around 1,000 documents, scrolls of papyrus, including Hebrew texts from the Bible. They were discovered between 1947 and 1979 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran) on the northeast shore of the Dead Sea in the West Bank. The discovery raised the possibility that the origins of Christianity might have to be viewed in a new light.

There are several stories about how the first of the scrolls were discovered. It is generally accepted that a Bedouin herder made the first discovery in 1947. The most common version of the story is that the herder threw a rock into a cave in an attempt to drive out an animal under his care. The sound of breaking pottery drew him into the cave, where he discovered several ancient jars containing the scrolls wrapped in linen. Another story is that two boys were looking for a lost goat and came upon some of the jars containing the texts.

The 700-800 manuscripts date from the period between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. They consist of leather, papyrus, and copper; several are largely intact, while only fragments remain of others. It has been determined that the scrolls were written by the Essenes, a small breakaway Jewish sect.

The manuscripts were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Around a quarter of the scrolls consist of copies of texts from the Old Testament, and their sources are more than 1,000 years older than previous versions. The others are partly texts from the Old Testament which the modern church does not recognize as authentic, as well as previously unknown non-biblical texts.

These non-biblical texts, which were to give rise to the strongest reaction, display a consistency of ideas, leading many scholars to believe that they can only stem from a mystic religious community not far removed from the beginnings of Christianity.

Rumors have surrounded the Dead Sea Scrolls from the beginning. Due to the fragmentary nature of many of the manuscripts, they could not be made public without reconstruction work. Because of the long delay in publication, rumors spread that the scrolls revealed that the origins of Christianity differed from official doctrines. The claim also circulated that the Vatican had tried to suppress this information because it challenged the authority of the Pope. Since 1991, scholars have had free access to photographs of the manuscripts.

1 The Essenes
- 1.1 Lifestyle and Rituals
- 1.2 Christianity and the Essenes
2 The Scrolls
3 External Links
4 Relevant discussion threads on AboveTopSecret.com

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The Essenes

A settlement once stood in the vicinity of the caves of Qumran, the ruins of which show clear traces of an ancient community center. The site includes a dining room, kitchen, storage rooms, halls, workshops, a burial ground, as well as cisterns and baths, which were supplied with water by means of an aqueduct. A long table, benches, and an ink bottle were also discovered, an indication that scholars and scribes worked within the community. However, no manuscripts were ever discovered at the site. Due to that, researchers believe that the people of Qumran probably placed the Dead Sea Scrolls in nearby caves when danger threatened their settlement.

Qumran Caves

Evidence shows that Qumran was a center for a tiny Jewish sect called the Essenes. A description of the lifestyle of the Essenes found at the Qumran site corresponds closely to the accounts of Jewish historians who wrote in Greek.

The community of Qumran was founded around the year of 100 BC by a priest of the Jerusalem synagogue who had renounced the official doctrine, called Teacher of Justice by his followers. It is thought the Essenes settled into the ruins of an 8th century BC fortress at Qumran in order to find room for their services.

Admission into the closed community of the Essenes was a long and hard process. A novice first had to break ties with his family and spend a year outside the community. This was followed with a two year novitiate, a trial period, which entitled the novice to participate in the cleansing rituals of full members and to share in a communal meal that was considered holy.

Life in the community was strictly regulated by various rules and ordinances. A violation of the disciplinary code was apparently severely punished and could lead to the expulsion of a member from the community.

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Lifestyle and Rituals

The daily life of an Essene was rigidly organized. There were fixed times for prayers and prescribed tasks for each member. Each member of the congregation had to attend to his duties in the same way. Apart from this, the Essenes dedicated themselves to studying the apocalyptic scriptures, living in anticipation of the Last Judgment and the advent of the kingdom of God. The liturgy is described in the songs of praise, written like the psalms in the Bible. They showed great respect for the Law of Moses and their own rules, but some of their special festivals differed from those of official Judaism. They followed a calendar which originated from the work of Greek philosopher Pythagoras.

The Essenes left behind bodies of writings, some written in code. They wrote of things ranging from weather predictions to physiognomy (the art of judging a person's character from their facial features).

The settlement was attacked between 67 and 63 BC, and the Teacher of Justice was banished to Damascus. Some of his followers travelled there with him, but he died sometime before 63 BC. About 40 years later, the surviving members returned to Qumran to anticipate the return of the Teacher of Justice as the Messiah at the end of the world; they remained there until 68 AD.

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Christianity and the Essenes

According to some, there are indications that the early Church had its roots in the Essene community. According to scholars, many beliefs that were previously considered to be Christian in origin are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It has also been suggested that John the Baptist was a member of the Qumran community. This hypothesis is based on the fact that John, like the Essenes, expected the end of the world and the Last Judgment, preparing for it in the desert. In addition, ritual washings played an important role among the Essenes, a fact which could explain the significance of baptism for John.

These similarities may be chance; many apocalyptic movements sprang up during the 1st century AD and seem to have strongly influenced one another.

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The Scrolls

The scrolls include manuals of discipline, hymnbooks, biblical commentaries, apocalyptic writings, two of the oldest known copies of the Book of Isaiah, almost fully intact, and fragments of every book in the Old Testament except that of Esther, including a fanciful paraphrase of the Book of Genesis. Also found were texts, in the original languages, of several books of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. These texts, none of which are included in the Hebrew canon of the Bible, are Tobit, Sirach, Jubilees, portions of Enoch, and the Testament of Levi.

The manuscripts appear to have belonged to the library of the Essene community. Evidence suggests most of the documents were written at various dates between 200 BC and 68 AD.

As they were discovered, the manuscripts were put under the control of the Israeli Antiquities Authority by the government of Israel. Most of the scrolls reside in the Shrine of the Book and in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem, and in the Museum of the Department of Antiquities in Amman.

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