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< Back to The Dead Sea Scrolls and Why they Matter Table of Contents The Dead Sea Scrolls and Why They MatterIntroduction to the Dead Sea ScrollsRemarkable Finds Talkback Add Your Comment
In early 1947 (or late 1946) an Arab shepherd searching for a lost sheep threw a rock into a cave in the limestone cliffs on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Instead of a bleating sheep, he heard the sound of breaking pottery. When he investigated, he found seven nearly intact ancient documents that became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Three of the scrolls, including the Book of Isaiah, were acquired in Bethlehem by Eleazar L. Sukenik of The Hebrew University just as the United Nations voted by a two-thirds vote to partition Palestine, thus creating a Jewish state for the first time in 2,000 years. The other four scrolls were acquired by the Metropolitan Samuel, the Jerusalem leader of a Syrian sect of Christians. When he was unable to sell them in Jerusalem, he took them to the United States, where they were displayed in the Library of Congress. Still unable to sell them, he placed a classified ad in The Wall Street Journal offering them for sale. Through fronts, they were purchased for Israel by war hero and archaeologist Yigael Yadin, Sukenik’s son. A special museum, The Shrine of the Book, was built in Jerusalem to house the scrolls. Excavations BeginPère Roland de Vaux of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem, together with G. Lankester Harding, the British-appointed head of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, mounted an archaeological excavation early on at Khirbet Qumran, near the cave where the scrolls had been found (by that time, the Bedouin had also found a second cave). Since then, a debate has raged among scholars over the relationship of the Qumran ruins to the scrolls. The majority of scholars believe Qumran was the monastery-like settlement of a Jewish sect known as Essenes, to whom the scrolls belonged. Other suggestions range from a caravanserai to a pottery factory. Ultimately a total of 11 caves were found (mostly by the Bedouin) containing ancient manuscripts. Scholars date the scrolls between about 250 B.C.E. and about 68 C.E., when Roman legionaries overran the Judean Desert on their way to destroying Jerusalem and the Temple (which they did in 70 C.E.). The most famous, or infamous, of the caves is Cave 4, found by the Bedouin practically under the noses of the archaeologists digging at the adjacent ruins. Cave 4 contained more than 500 different manuscripts, but all in tatters. About 80 percent of them had been looted by the Bedouin before the archaeologists discovered the cave. The archaeologists retrieved the remaining 20 percent, but they were forced to buy the other 80 percent, chiefly through an Arab middleman known as Kando. The publication of the Cave 4 fragments was assigned under Jordanian auspices to eight scholars. Over the years the publications of this team gradually dwindled to a trickle and finally disappeared. In the meantime, the unpublished texts were unavailable to the public or to other scholars. Academic ScandalIn 1977, Oxford don Geza Vermes declared that the failure to publish these scrolls and make them publicly available was threatening to become “the academic scandal par excellence of the 20th century.” In the late 1980s, BAR took up the call, publicly demanding the release of the scrolls so that all scholars could study them. After the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel gained control of the scrolls in Jerusalem’s Rockefeller Museum (formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum), but the Israelis did not change the situation. The scrolls remained under the control of the small, non-Jewish, practically nonfunctioning scroll-publication team. The then-editor-in-chief of the scroll team was Harvard’s John Strugnell, whose personal emotional problems, including alcoholism, were affecting his work. After Strugnell gave a grossly anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist interview to an Israeli journalist, Israel finally replaced him with Professor Emanuel Tov of The Hebrew University. At first he, too, refused to release the scrolls, although, as Strugnell had also done toward the end of his editorship, Tov appointed additional scholars to the publication team, including Israelis. The first break in the release of the scrolls came when the Biblical Archaeology Society published some unpublished texts that had been reconstructed with the aid of a computer, based on a private concordance of the Cave 4 fragments. Then the Biblical Archaeology Society published a two-volume work of photographs of the unpublished scrolls, obtained in a still-mysterious way by Professor Robert Eisenman of California State University. Even now Eisenman declines to divulge how he obtained the photographs, although it was always clear they were genuine. Finally, director William Moffett of the Huntington Library in California decided to release images of the unpublished scrolls on a microfilm strip that had been deposited in the library as a security measure in case the originals were lost. The Huntington’s decision to release its copy of the unpublished scrolls was announced at the top of the Sunday edition of The New York Times on September 21, 1991. Although Israel first considered suing the library (and the Biblical Archaeology Society), saner minds eventually prevailed, and the scrolls were declared open and available to all.
NakanoI subscribed this site to read the actual text of DSS, but all I've got is explanations about it, NOT the actual text! Where can I find the English translation of the actual text? • • • • • • • Dead Sea Scrolls not translatedOn a Christian web site the writer tells about visiting William Kando's antiquities shop in Bethlehem. "Kando," he said, "owns the remains of one large scroll of Genesis worth 35 million dollars and other DSS fragments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars." The Kando family also say they possess jars taken from the Qumran caves. Have scholars been allowed to view these fragments in order to get an idea of their content? • • • • • • • Dead Sea Scrolls "per se"... not tedious comments on them!This is all very nice but where are the links for the actual translations of the texts "per se"? Perhaps I couldn't locate them, so, would you be kind enough as to provide the link(s) to them? Thank you. And blessed be those who do not conceal these things from the little ones such as myself. Amen. • • • • • • • DSS in EnglishThere are at least three English translations available. Vermes, Garcia-Martinez, and the Wise, Abegg and Cook translation. I've read virtually all of all three. I would suggest that comparing passages between the three translations gives new insights. • • • • • • • DSS UnderstandingNot sure about online, but for a critical look at the currently accepted translation and process read: Norman Golb, Who Wrote The Dead Sea Scrolls? And for a good version of the currently accepted translation: Geza Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English • • • • • • • DSS in EnglishIt's not as black and white as just reading the text because these original writings require scholarly interpretation of ancient language and customs. There is no one "exactly as the authors meant" version. So far, the Jewish historical perspective seems to be lacking, which explains the original weak theory that all of these writings were by one group. The best we can do is read everything we can, translations and critical books about the process of the translations. • • • • • • • DSSYea, umm, I would just like to read the DSS for myself, in the english language, however, all that I can find on the internet is discussion about the DSS and not the DSS interpreted in English online! Can somebody help? • • • • • • • Truth anyone??There are some great books that take a critical look at the monopoly the École Biblique held on scholarly interpretation. The basic premise that ONE group (Essenes of Qumran) wrote such a radically diverse body of literature is a real misunderstanding of Judaism, and the diversity within it. There are many concepts in various scrolls that contradict the Essene lifestyle, like war documents and codes dealing with children. Insights into early Christianity, yes. The mothership itself, no. • • • • • • • Dead Sea ScrollsThe DSS were hidden because the Romans were coming. The Essenes of Qumran saw themselves as serving two basic purposes. To preserve ancient knowledge and to teach. Both Jesus and John were students there and friends with common interests. Jesus was Baptized by John for the same reason others were. To be cleansed of sin and be reborn in light. The thought that these two people of knowing were in competition could only be considered by someone who is unrealized. • • • • • • • jesus is teh Teacher of RighteousnessChristianity started 100 years earlier than we have been told, The DSS documents this. The "Teacher of Righteousness" is Jesus; the "wicked Priest" is Hyrcanus II and "Man of the Lie" is Shimon Shetach. Judaism and Christianity can't be understood without understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Maccabean Dynasty. • • • • • • • EisenmanYou left out the one man who really matters in DSS research: Eisenman. He pegged the Wicked Priest (Ananus), Lying Spouter (Paul) and Righteous Teacher (James)! • • • • • • • 4q521http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jdtabor/4q521.html • • • • • • • The Scrolls are not about the J-manIf you are expecting to find support for Christianity in The Dead Sea Scrolls you are going to be disappointed. QUOTE:"The Dead Sea Scrolls generated so much excitement when they were first found in part because it was thought they might contain some of the earliest Christian writings. Graham Stanton asks, “A Gospel Among the Scrolls?” but replies, Alas not." It turns out that the scrolls contain a copy of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and some of the Jewish "apocryphal" writings. There are NO mentions of the Jesus his friend in the scrolls. I think it is becoming clear that even his own followers knew he was not "the messiah" and CERTAINLY NOT "g-d in the flesh" G-D FORBID! That isn't how the G-d of Abraham, G-d of Isaac and G-d of Jacob rolls. • • • • • • • Jesus vs. John the BaptistThe Salome with Jesus was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of his son's; compare Mr 15:40; Mt 27:56. Also, if you read the book of John (the Apostle, not the Baptist) you will see that John and Jesus were never adversaries; no "vs." need go between their names. • • • • • • • Jesus vs John the BaptistPerhaps Jesus was behind the death of John. They both had followings of disciples and most likely also had disputes along with competition. If Jesus was the 'son of God' why did John ask whether he was the 'one to come or should we look for another'? Surely he of all people would know! At the death of John the bible says the disciples of Jesus came to him and told him all that happened, as if he was waiting somewhere for the news. Also, there was a female follower of Jesus' whose name was Salome. Could this have been the same Salome who danced for Herod and requested the head of John? Jozef Milik was one of the original DSS translators and also a RC priest. He left the church and married. One of the reasons he left the church was due to what he found in those scrolls. That information belongs to the world and I highly resent that all we get are crumbs and what the powers that be decide we can have. What does it take to wake people up? I for one, would love to know just what the truth is and EVERYTHING contained in the scrolls. How many more have to die over religion before we all come to our senses? How many children dying in such conflicts over who has the right god and who doesn't will it take. I fear many are still in the savage and barbaric state of ignorance and superstition and it is not only distressing, it is scary. • • • • • • • Importance of the Dead Sea ScrollsAs they stand today, their importance is terribly underestimated because the public has given up following the scholarly debates that brought more confusion than clarification. This was however a necessary phase where all ideas, be they contradictory, had to be debated. Everybody agrees on the importance of the DSC for nascent Christianity, but nobody agrees on their exact significance. Something new has to happen to shake off drowsiness. Time has come when we have to think differently. And realise that the Qumran Messiahs of the 'Apocalyptic fragment' represented two different clans supporting two different projects within the Teacher's Community. They were not waiting for two Messiahs, but each clan for its own Messiah. The avant-garde won, advocating a more political approach than the Essene traditionalists who did not search much further than eschatology. This is an enormous change in perception, and opens up to a different view of the Gospels. Considering all the affinities between the two communities, do the Gospels also oppose two Messiahs? Here also, we have to think differently. The first Gospels were written by a Jewish community for their own purposes and were not originally intended to becomoe a religion for Rome. We can therefore expect the Gospels to convey a local message very different from the one currently understood after they had been exported and set out of context. Thinking differently means realising that the Gospels are not telling us about a wandering Messiah whose words and deeds have been collected by different witnesses, but the story of a community at different stages of its history, explaining the baffling differences. They tell the story of the Essene community becoming a 'Christian' community. This community context in Antiochus where the Gospels were written becomes terribly apparent for the authors are also dealing here with two Messiahs, one winning, the other losing, quarelling until they accept to recognise the traditionalists in as much as they had preceeded the avant-garde and that they belonged to their antecedents. This is the meaning of the baptism of Jesus by John: a peace treaty. The avant-garde no longer rejects the traditionalists portrayed by John the Baptist and his baptism by water. The 'Jesus' clan is saying 'we accept that you were there before us and belong to our history'. This scene did not initially belong to Mark, the quarreller, but is typical of Mathew's healing the divided community. Thinking differently also means that we are terribly endebted to all those who previously studied the scrolls and were circling around their real meaning, without landing where they wanted on the planet Eurêka. • • • • • • • Why the Dead Sea Scrollls are ImportantTo Matt who doesn't understand why the Dead Sea Scrolls are important. Excerpting from the article: The scrolls were written between the dates of 250 B.C.E. and 68 C.E. when the Roman legions were on their way to destroy Solomon's Temple in 70 C.E. Matt, these scrolls were written during these times in history, just think back over all of those years and realize the these documents which are real and in the hands of autoratative people being deciphered so that we can now know their contents and see the actual original documents when they are on public display. Matt, what would it mean to you to have in your hands important archaeological religious historical documents written well over 2,000 years ago. Matt, the most important information was given to us at the beginning of the article. I am quoting directly from the manuscript: Read carefully . . . "This priceless collection of ancient manuscripts is invaluable to our understanding of (1)the history of Judaism, (2)the development of the Hebrew Bible, and (3)and the beginnings of Christianity." • • • • • • • Connie's questionConnie, if you research under "calendar" or "roman calendar" you will see that the current calendar was presented to the then-current Pope in 531 by a monk named Dionysius Exiguus. But Dionysius was wrong about the date of the birth of Jesus - scholars now put that three years earlier in 4 BC not 1 BC. So if Jesus was born in Aril 4BC, he could not have been born in the year 0, Dec 25, or in the year -1 (1 BC), on Dec 25. In effect, if you do some research, you will see that all dates are wrong, from that starting point in 531. Everyone knows but no one wants to change the calendar. • • • • • • • NEED MORE INFO ON WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANTIts pretty good but i think it needs to have more information on why they are important to us!!! • • • • • • • time lineI am a little confused on the time line you have posted, I was always under the assumption that the cuurent era began with the birth of Jesus. And that hew was app. 33 years when he was crucafied. That would make His crusafixtion somewhere betwee 32-34 AD. The time line shows His birth at 4A.D. and his crucafixtion at 30 A.D.. Which would make him 26. We have always been told that men could not begin to teach before the were 30 years old. Could you explain this to me, I am sure I am missing somethg significant. Thank you. • • • • • • • SCROLLSKEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! • • • • • • • teacher of righteousnessdoes Barbara Thiering's theory of the teacher of righteousness being John the Baptist, fit with the idea that the text is telling of future events when the end of days is imminent? • • • • • • • The Dead Sea ScrollsI agree with Mr. Johson in the fact that the scrolls should be shared publically. No one should have absolute authority as to peace-meal the information out as they see fit. • • • • • • • DSSI certainly agree with Don. those findings should be shared with the public. remember the scrolls were not found by archaeologist but rather poor shepherds. even then it was shared. • • • • • • • PhotosThe Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah is available on the Internet along with an English translation. I also have two different book with photos of the entire scroll of Isaiah. But, that is all a layperson can find. I would like to have photos of all of the balance of the scrolls and fragments. • • • • • • • Robert EisenmannWhy is not Bob Eisenmann mentioned amoung the people surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls. Surely, his efforts deserve mention • • • • • • • Where are the photo copies?Why are photocopies of the Dead Sea Scrolls on the internet not available free to the public? Why are the intellectuals who control them allowed to have such exclusive rights, and cut the public out of such finds of Biblical importance? I’m only glad these fellows went into the field of archaeology. Had they gone into the field of atmospherics we would all be denied the very air we breath. • • • • • • • |
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