The Dead Sea Scrolls The Greatest Archeological Find

The Dead Sea Scrolls The Greatest Archeological Find of Our Lifetime

What Are The Dead Sea Scrolls? The Dead Sea Scrolls are an archeological find of incalculable worth. They were discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin boy and are comprised of Old Testament scrolls, manuscripts, and fragments dating back to approximately 250 B. C. to 68 A. D. They are named for the close approximation to the Northwest area of the Dead Sea where they were found, the lowest point on Earth.

The Dead Sea Scrolls The Greatest Archeological Find of Our Lifetime Or should we call our study…

The Dead Sea Scrolls The Greatest Archeological Find Ever

Some of the greatest finds… • Discovery of Pompeii in the late 1600’s • The Rosetta Stone in 1799 • Discovery of Troy by Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870 • King Tuts Tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 • The Dead Sea Scrolls by Mohammed ed-Dhib in 1947

Why? Because every other archeological find merely is a window into the past. The Dead Sea Scrolls on the other hand, provides evidence for the truth and reliability of divine Scripture which answers the great mysteries of life: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Who am I How did I get here What is the purpose of life How do I get right with God Where am I going after I die

I. The Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls Or, The Day Muhammad ed. Dhib (The Wolf) Threw a Rock at a Goat and Collided with History

Secret agents using assumed names, clandestine meetings under cover of night behind enemy lines, switching cabs to avoid being followed—these sound like things in a spy novel, but they all happened in conjunction with the discovery, sale, and publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea scrolls and modern translations of the Old Testament. Scanlin, H. P. (1993). Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers.

In 1947 Muhammad ed-Dhib (left) as a young boy, was searching for a lost goat when he happened to throw a stone into a cave and heard the sound of broken pottery.

Cave 4, artificially cut by Qumran sect

1. The Bedouins sell the scrolls to Kondo (Khali Iskander Shahjin) who was a cobbler and antiquity dealer in Bethlehem. 2. Kondo sells four scrolls to Mar Samuel (Syrian Metropolitan Athanasius Y. Samuel) a leader in the Syrian Orthodox Church. 3. On May 14, 1948 United Nations declares Israel a nation, and the Lord gives Israel a home warming gift.

The fulfillment of Isaiah 66: 8 "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.

4. On this very date, Professor Eleazar Sukenik bought one of the first scrolls and brought it back to the Hebrew University. Professor Sukenik believed that God had given back to the Jews the Dead Sea Scrolls as part of their national heritage.

5. Mar Samuel on June 1, 1954 placed an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal offering to sell the scrolls for $1, 000.

6. Yigael Yadin, a retired chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and son of Professor Sukenik, works a deal through intermediaries and buys the four scrolls for $250, 000. Then brings them home to Israel. 7. After the Six Day War in 1967, Yadin goes over to Kondo’s home and confiscates the Temple Scroll.

Kando with scroll jars in his antiquities shop in the 1950’s

The Temple Scroll is the longest of the scrolls and measures 26’ long

8. Today, most of the scrolls are housed in West Jerusalem at Israel Museum in the Shrine of the Book.

II. Ten Basic Facts Regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls

Some basic facts… 1. About 900 manuscripts were found in eleven caves between 1947 and 1956.

2. They were found in clay jars with lids wrapped in linen, some were stuffed in crevasses in the wall, others in the dirt floor.

3. They were written primarily on animal skin (parchment), papyrus (paper made from reed), and one copper scroll. Carbon ink was used. Papyrus Parchment Copper

4. There are literally thousands of broken fragments. Today DNA technology is being employed to piece them together since most of them came from organic animal skin.

5. The majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls were written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek were also used.

6. Cave 4 was the mother load. It contained the majority of the scrolls, 700 manuscripts and about 15, 000 fragments.

7. How the Dead Sea Scrolls are classified (Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha)

8. The Scrolls date from about 250 B. C. to A. D. 68. The following methods were used to determine dating: n Paleography n Radiocarbon Dating n Coins n Internal Dating n Historical figures mentioned

9. The labeling system for the scrolls is as follows. Example: 4 Q 521 2: 6 n 4 = Cave four were scroll was found n Q = Qumran n 521 = Scroll number n 2 = Column n 6 = Line This scroll is Text 521, from Cave 4 at Qumran, column 2, line 6

10. All Old Testament books of the Bible are accounted for except Esther

III. The Essenes and the Qumran Community Who Hid the Scrolls

The Essenes who the Bible never mentions A casual reading of the gospels identifies two well known groups: • Pharisees – Highly legalistic group who held religious power over the Jews • Sadducees- The religious liberals of the day A third group mentioned by Flavius Josephus and Philo are the Essenes. This group is comprised of super-conservative celibate men who denounce and separated themselves from other Jews who they believe were “breakers of the covenant. ” They lived a monastic life in the Judean desert awaiting their Messiah.

Some of the things that characterized the Essenes… 1. Strict adherence to Jewish law and practice and by “The Rule of the Community. ” 2. Celibate 3. Ritual baths 4. Self-baptism 5. Kingdom fever 6. Highly legalistic – they actually reframed from bodily functions on the Sabbath 7. Monastic life 8. Scribal activity and devotion 9. Much of what they wrote was to prepare for the end times 10. They called themselves Yahad – “The Community”

What did the Essenes leave us? • The War Scroll – Which tells how the upcoming war between good and evil will unfold • Commentary on Habakkuk • Thanksgiving Hymns • The Copper Scroll – A map to buried treasure (which no one has ever found) • Rule of the Community – How the Essenes are to live

The reverence for God’s name YHWH written with the pre-exilic script

The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran Community

Why did the Essenes hide their invaluable library? In A. D. 33, the Jewish nation along with the Roman army crucified her Messiah. A few years later an uprising started to take hold to through off the Roman yoke. In A. D. 66 Rome advanced to make Israel an example by punishing her and casting her into exile. As the Essenes saw the coming war they must have hid the scrolls for safe keeping. In A. D. 68 Qumran was destroyed by Rome.

IV. The Dead Sea Scrolls and Apologetics (The Rational Foundation For Our Faith)

To set the stage. . At the end of the nineteenth century, an attack was launched from Germany that has had devastating results for the church to this day. In short, seminaries began to undermine the authority of the Bible, the reservoir of ultimate truth and ushered in religious liberalism. The essence of their argument was that man gave us the Bible and not God. In fact they said, the Bible as we know it today is nothing like the original autographs (the actual first manuscript and not a copy).

The earliest Hebrew Old Testament manuscript is the Leningrad Codex dating to A. D. 1008

This begs the question… What happened to the autographs (original scrolls)? Did the ancient keepers of the scrolls confuse them with junk mail and through them away?

In Washington DC, at the National Archives Building, our country’s most sacred documents are kept and protected. Our scientists have researched and developed methods to keep these documents around for centuries to come.

http: //www. pbs. org/wgbh/nova/charters/case. html

Whatever happened to the autographs? In all likelihood they turned to dust. The ancient scrolls were written on organic materials, primarily animal skin and papyrus reed. In time these materials deteriorate and turn to dust. The enemies of these ancient documents are: – Humidity – Light – Bacteria

In A. D. 66 the Essenes didn’t have American technology to protect the scrolls they had something better, the Lord. The scrolls were kept in a perfect climate controlled environment, well protected for two thousand years, ready to be revealed when Israel was to become a nation again. They were free from moisture, light, bacteria, and man handling. As the scrolls in the clay jars began to deteriorate, they formed a kind of a glue that sealed the jars. Who would have thought it?

The influence of the Dead Sea Scrolls on the reliability of the Bible: 1. 2. 3. The scrolls provide manuscripts over a thousand years older than the Leningrad Codex. The scrolls are greater than 95% identical to the Leningrad Codex which our modern translations are based. The few variations in some texts have no impact on Bible doctrine and are a result of: a. Using an alternative way to spell a word, like “honour” instead of “honor. ” b. Using an alternate word meaning the same thing like “dad” for “father. ” c. On rare occasions a different word is used due to a scribal error.

Accuracy of Textual Transmission My son, be careful in your work for it is the work of Heaven, lest you err either in leaving out or in adding one iota, and thereby cause the destruction of the whole world. —Ishmael (1 st century AD) Qumran scribe (c. 1 st century BC)

The Dead Sea Scrolls establish an early date for the Book of Daniel Liberals have had a serious problem with Daniel predicted events which would have required a supernatural window into the future. Hence the liberal school gave Daniel a late date to take away their uneasiness. For example, the Book of Daniel predicts: • The four world empires • When the Messiah would come, be rejected, and be cut off (crucified) • End time events The Dead Sea scrolls require an early date for Daniel substantiating the miracle of fulfilled prophesy.

V. Jesus And The Dead Sea Scrolls

1. There are no direct references to Jesus in the Dead Sea Scrolls. 2. Most scholars believe that most of the written work of the Qumran community occurred prior to A. D. 3033, the time of Jesus’ ministry. 3. There is an interesting passage that the Scrolls bears some interesting light on, that is Matthew 11: 2 -5.

Jesus proclaims His Messianic Credentials John the Baptist is in prison and present and upcoming events don’t square with his understanding of Old Testament Messianic theology. So he sends a message via his disciples to confirm whether Jesus is truly the Messiah. Jesus claims six Messianic credentials from Isaiah 61: 1, 35: 5 -6, and Psalm 146: 7 -8, which was His way of saying “yes, ” I am the Messiah. 1. Blind receive sight (Psalm 146: 8, Isaiah 35: 5) 2. Lame walk (Isaiah 35: 5) 3. Lepers cleansed (Isaiah 35: 5) 4. Deaf hear (Isaiah 35: 5) 5. Dead are raised up – There is no Old Testament reference 6. Poor have gospel preached to them (Isaiah 61: 1)

In Scroll 4 Q 521 11 -13 We read the following… His holy Messiah will not be slow in coming … when he comes then he will heal the wounded, resurrect the dead, proclaim glad tidings to the poor … He will lead the holy ones, he will shepherd them …

VI. Interesting Old Testament Passages That The Dead Sea Scrolls Shed Light On

Psalm 151 1 I was small among my brothers, and the youngest in my father's house; I tended my father's sheep. 2 My hands made a harp, my fingers fashioned a lyre. 3 And who will tell my Lord? The Lord himself; it is he who hears. 4 It was he who sent his messenger and took me from my father's sheep, and anointed me with his anointing oil. 5 My brothers were handsome and tall, but the Lord was not pleased with them. 6 I went out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols. 7 But I drew his own sword; I beheaded him, and took away disgrace from the people of Israel.

Some eye gouging in I Samuel 11: 1 -5 Now Nahash the Ammonite came up and besieged Jabeshgilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a covenant with us and we will serve you. " But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, "I will make it with you on this condition, that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, thus I will make it a reproach on all Israel. " The elders of Jabesh said to him, "Let us alone for seven days, that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to deliver us, we will come out to you. " Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and spoke these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people lifted up their voices and wept. Now behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen, and he said, "What is the matter with the people that they weep? " So they related to him the words of the men of Jabesh. I Samuel 11: 1 -5

It is all fun and games till someone loses as eye… The I Samuel passage has always been a little confusing, as though something was left out. Well apparently a scribe did leave out a portion of the text which the New Revised Standard Version has reinserted based on the Dead Sea Scrolls… Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1989 (1 Sa 10: 27).

Psalm 22: 16 “For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. ” The Masoretic Text and the Septuagint (Greek translation of Old Testament) differed on a key translation of this verse. • Masoretic Text - Like a lion are my hands and my feet. • Septuagint - They pierced my hands and my feet

The Dead Sea Scrolls clears up the problem… The agreement is with the Septuagint in the Hebrew text of 5/6 Hev. P and the translation should be… • They pierced my hands and my feet This confirms that prophecy that the Christ would suffer crucifixion

The Dead Sea Scrolls The Greatest Archeological Find Ever