Reading the dead sea scrolls Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient manuscripts totalling about 800 scrolls and fragments of documents written between 200 B.C. and 68 A.D. and discovered in 1947 in 11 caves in the settlement of Qumran, written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Most of these manuscripts were written on parchment and some on papyrus. The first 7 intact scrolls were discovered by Bedouin shepherds who later sold them to museum curators and antiquities dealers. In 1954 the scrolls were placed for sale in the Wall Street Journal and eventually they were back in the hands of the right owners. All of the 7 scrolls from cave 1 are in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. The text can be grouped into 3 major sections as Biblical, apocryphal and sectarian.
Out of the 3 major Jewish religious groups Essenes said to be the authors of the manuscript who lived at Khirbet Qumran. Essenes had lived in monasteries in the period of 100BC to 68AD; preserving and copying scriptures were their main tasks. During the Jewish Revolt in 66AD Esseness hid the scrolls in caves. During the excavations at Qumran archaeologists have discovered two inkwells and tables, on which the scrolls were fist written. Roland de Vaux a Dominican priest one of the original editors of the Dead Sea Scrolls interpreted, these tables as “Scriptorium”.
Majority of scrolls were written on parchment and about 50 of them were written on papyrus. Specific techniques were used in constructing the scrolls. The smallest skin was used for making of the Tefillin. The archaeologists have discovered the writing of the Tefillin was the smallest script yet discovered from this period. The Tefillin was made out of Vellum which made out of calfskin, sheepskin obtained from small animal. The pens were made out of reeds and the ink was made from a carbon based dye solution. Standard, and style of writing varied considerably, both formal and cursive scripts were used but variety of styles of writing had been used which claims that 95% of Qumran scrolls were written by different people who lived at Qumran.
The 7 scrolls manual of discipline, war of sons of light, thanksgiving scroll, two copies of Isaiah, Genesis Apocryphon and Habakkuk commentary were from cave 1. The Manual of discipline relates to the rules of piety which the community of Qumran needs to practice daily. War scroll relates to a battle of good and evil, Thanksgiving scroll relates to psalms of 24 hymns. The two Isaiah scrolls which are same as the book of Isaiah and Genesis Apocryphon tell the story of Noah, Lamech and Abraham. The Habakkuk scrolls reveal the prophecies in relation to the people of Qumran in the last days.
Cave No. 2 discovered in 1952 contained fragments of all 5 books of Moses, Jeremiah, Psalms and the apocryphal book of Enoch. Fragments of Ezekiel, Psalms, Lamentations and commentary on Isaiah were excavated from cave No. 3. The most intriguing findings came from cave 3 which was the discovery of Copper Scroll15,000 fragments of every Old Testament except for Esther were discovered in September 1952 in cave No. 4. 25 manuscripts of Biblical text were found in cave 5. The scroll of New Jerusalem which gives detail description about the city and its measurements were recovered from cave 5. Fragments of about 31 manuscripts of Biblical text were discovered in cave 6.
Caves 7, 8, 9 and 10 were discovered near the site of Qumran between February and April 1955. Cave 11 was the last discovery made by Bedouin in February 1956. The most notable manuscript the Temple Scroll was discovered from cave 11. The Temple scrolls contains a series of commands to the people of Israel also it gives detailed instructions on the building and ritual maintenance of the temple itself.
With the first publication of the scroll came in Microfiche Edition and a Fascimile Edition in two folio volumes in 1991 and the first CD-Rom “The Dead Sea Scrolls Revealed” was produced in 1994. With the introduction of the Reference Library the user was able search the image and the information, based on the different labelling schemes. The most recent development of the Dead Sea Scrolls would be The Dead Sea Scroll Digital Project which enabling the user to access the scrolls through the World Wide Web.
Dead Sea Scrolls said to be the world’s greatest archaeological treasures ever discovered in the 20th century. This unique library gives us a deeper understanding of the history of Judaism and the background of Christianity.
Bibliography:
Schiffman, H. Lawrence 2010, What really are the Dead Sea Scrolls? Jewish-Christian Relations, viewed 24 October 2011, < http://www.jcrelations.net/What_really_are_the_Dead_Sea_Scrolls.2218.0.html?L=3>
Joemozzone 2010, The Dead Sea Scrolls 2 (of 6) - Rageh Omaar, viewed 21 October 2011
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