What are the Dead Sea Scrolls on might ask. Written 200 BC and 70 AD, they are among the oldest manuscripts ever found and include Hebrew versions of Biblical texts at least 1,000 years older than any previously known [Ancient Mysteries: The Dead Sea Scrolls]. The initial discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was in 1947, by a young Bedouin goatherd. Apparently he was looking for a lost goat and threw a rock into a cave. Hearing the sound of shattering pottery, he investigated. He found jars with scrolls wrapped in linen. That discovery produced 7 scrolls. Over the next 10 years, thousands of fragments were found in 11 caves near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is located in Israel and Jordan, about 15 miles east of Jerusalem, and is supplied by the Jordan River and other smaller water sources. It averages 1,000 feet deep, is the lowest body of water in the world, and has no outlet causing it to be so salty that nothing can live in it.
Areas near to the Dead Sea are very dry and favorable for the preservation of materials like parchment and papyrus, which are the materials that most of the Dead Sea Scrolls are written on.
Concurrent to the search for scrolls, ruins of an ancient nearby settlement, Khirbet Qumran, were found and excavated. It is speculated that the inhabitants of Qumran deposited the scrolls in the caves for safekeeping after a failed Jewish revolt against the Romans in 68 AD. No scrolls were ever found in the Qumran settlement itself.
The Dead Sea Scrolls include a complete copy of the Great Isaiah Scroll. There are several other intact scrolls, however most of the manuscripts are in fragments. These fragments include every book of the Old Testament except Esther, as well as other non-Biblical writings. The manuscripts are written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek and were most likely written by the residents of Qumran. While most of the scrolls are made of parchment or papyrus, in the third cave a copper scroll was discovered. It was etched with a list of 64 hiding places in the desert containing treasure. Nothing has yet been found.
Comparing today’s Old Testament to these ancient texts proves that the Old Testament was accurately transmitted. The Dead Sea Scroll Old Testament documents are virtually identical to today’s Bible with less than 5% variance. These differences are mostly spellings and minor copyist errors, proving reliability of text. This strongly confirms the authenticity of the Hebrew/Masoretic text in current use.
Also important is that the scrolls provide historical and cultural information on the times leading up to, and during, the life of Christ. The authors of the scrolls called themselves the ‘Sons of Light,’ the ‘Community,’ and the ‘Poor.’ Their writings seem to indicate that they were members of some kind of monastic order and were excessively strict in their observations. They took frequent ritual baths, owned no private property, followed Mosaic Law religiously (except for one glaring exception), practiced celibacy, and exacted severe punishments for disobedience.
The Sons of Light tried to maintain a pious lifestyle believing that most other Jews were not obedient to God’s commands. However, one interesting and puzzling discovery was that they did not practice Temple worship but stayed in monastic communities with their stringent set of rules and rituals.
Archeologists have tried to link the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls to a group called the Essenes. The rituals were similar and the Qumran site is laced with an extensive system of water reservoirs and cisterns suggesting that the residents probably bathed frequently. Also discovered at Qumran were inkpots which most likely means scribes lived there. Also, Pliny in his Historia Naturalis, written in 77 AD, mentions an Essene community in the very same area of Qumran. Many archeologists believe the Essenes to have been the inhabitants of Qumran and the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls. We may never know the answer but it is intriguing to speculate and continue searching for clues.
However, the most important issue is that we have evidence of the amazing accuracy of the Bible over thousands of years. Hopefully as more documents are pieced together, more scripture will be found. But with what has already been discovered, we can rest assured that we are reading the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
See the following: http://www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_scrolls
www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html
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