The Dead Sea Scrolls

    The Dead Sea Scrolls were an important archeological find that has given insight into Biblical history and culture. The scrolls were found in a series of eleven caves from 1947 through 1956 near the ruins of Qumran. The scrolls included many Biblical and non-Biblical writings that have influenced our understanding of the Bible today. www.ibiblio.org, a website that refers to itself as the public’s library and digital archive states, “The scrolls and scroll fragments recovered in the Qumran environs represent a voluminous body of Jewish documents, a veritable ‘library’…Unquestionably, the ‘library,’ which is the greatest manuscript find of the twentieth century, demonstrates the rich literary activity of Second Temple Period Jewry and sheds insight into centuries pivotal to both Judaism and Christianity. The library contains some books or works in a large number of copies, yet others are represented only fragmentarily by mere scraps of parchment.” Different on-line resources very on the total number of documents found but most estimates are between 800 -1000. They also state that Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic languages were used in the writing of the scrolls. Another online resource, Century One Bookstore, published a list of facts regarding the scrolls which included the following information on what was found in the caves, “There are now identified among the scrolls, 19 copies of the Book of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy and 30 copies of the Psalms…There are nonbiblical writings along the order of commentaries on the OT, paraphrases that expand on the Law, rule books of the community, war conduct, thanksgiving psalms, hymnic compositions, benedictions, liturgical texts, and sapiential (wisdom) writings.” Century One’s complete list of facts can be found here. Other discoveries in the Dead Sea caves included a copper scroll that contained the locations of other treasures, a scroll over twenty-six feet long known as The Temple Scroll and at least part of every book of the Bible except for Esther.

  The finding of the scrolls was significant because they supported other known Biblical sources and provided evidence to their accuracy. The website www.allaboutarchaeology.org states this importance well when it says, “The Dead Sea Scrolls comprise the oldest group of Old Testament manuscripts ever found, dating back to 100–200 B.C. This is dramatic, because we now have absolute evidence that Messianic prophecies contained in today’s Old Testament (both Jewish and Christian) are the same Messianic prophecies that existed prior to the time Jesus walked on this earth. ” It also says, “The Dead Sea Scrolls sat untouched in a perfect, arid environment for approximately 2,000 years. As prophetic events in the Middle East appear to be accelerating, it’s remarkable to read prior Messianic prophecy with absolute assurance like no other time in history. We now have utmost confidence that the Old Testament (Jewish Tanakh) that we read today is the same as existed in 100 to 200 BC. This means that the over 300 Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah preexisted the birth of Jesus Christ.” As shown the scrolls have had an important impact on Biblical translation because of the wealth of knowledge they provide about Biblical times. They are an important resource because they validate other historical writings that were recorded after them.