Difference between revisions of "Dead Sea scrolls"

Revision as of 21:23, May 15, 2007

In 1947, Bedouin shepherds, entered a cave in the desert and found jars filled with ancient scrolls. Thousands of scroll fragments from eleven caves have been found since that day. Archaeologists also excavated the Qumran ruin, a complex of structures that might identify the people who deposited the scrolls.

Within a fairly short time after their discovery, historical, paleographic, and linguistic evidence, as well as carbon-14 dating, established that the scrolls and the Qumran ruin dated from the third century B.C.E. to 68 C.E. They were indeed ancient! Coming from the late Second Temple Period, a time when Jesus of Nazareth lived, they are older than any other surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures by almost one thousand years. ^[1]

Scholars have pointed to similarities between beliefs and practices outlined in the Qumran literature and those of early Christians. ^[2] The Biblical Scrolls' contents focus the books from the Old Testament. The Scrolls are written in Hebrew and in Aramaica and a few texts in Greek. Many of the scrolls are now conserved in Jerusalem.

Most part of the biblical books that have survived two millennia in the caves are extremely fragmented; many are no larger than the size of a postcard, and some fragments are as small as a postage stamp. Even the smallest fragment, however, can add to our knowledge of the Bible.... With the exception of the book of Esther, every book of the Old Testament has been found in the Qumran caves. ^[3]

See also

• Yahweh
• Bible
• Messiah

External links

• The Qumran Library
• 25 Facts
• Dead Sea Scrolls & Qumran

References

1. ↑ THE WORLD OF THE SCROLLS Library of Congress Exhibitions.
2. ↑ JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Library of Congress Exhibitions.
3. ↑ Old Testament Texts at Qumran

Sources

• Burrows, M., The Dead Sea Scrolls (Secker & Warburg, 1956).
• Vermes, G., The Dead Sea Scrolls (Penguin, 1968).