A) INTRODUCTION.

B) THE HEBREW BIBLE.

C) CARBON DATING.

D) MATERIAL USED.

E) WHY WE CARE.

 

 

A) INTRODUCTION

 

 

Every article, peace, parchment, or whatever you want to call them, that was discovered, was broken into many pieces.  The fragments are said to span at least 800 texts that represent many diverse viewpoints; ranging from the beliefs of the Essenes, to those of other sects.  About 30% are fragments from the Hebrew Bible, covering all of the Books except the Book of Esther and the Book of Nehemiah.

 

 

B) THE HEBREW BIBLE

 

 

About 25% are traditional Israelite religious texts that are not in the canonical Hebrew Bible, such as the “book of Enoch,” the “book of Jubilees,” and the “Testament of Levi.”  Another 30% contain Biblical commentaries, or other texts such as the “Community Rule” (1QS/4QSa-j, also known as the “Discipline Scroll” or the “Manual of Discipline”) and the “Rule of War” (1QM, also known as the “War Scroll”), and other fragments which related to the beliefs, regulations, and membership requirements of a small Jewish sect, which many researchers believe lived in the Qumran area.  The rest (about 15%) of the fragments are yet unidentified.

 

 

C) CARBON DATING

 

 

According to carbon dating, textual analysis, and handwriting analysis, the documents were written at various times between the middle of the Second Century B.C., and the First Century A.D.  At least one document has a carbon date with a range from B.C. 21 to 61 A.D.  The “Nash Papyrus” from Egypt, containing a copy of the “Ten Commandments,” is the only other Hebrew document of comparable antiquity.  Similar written materials have been recovered from nearby sites, including the “Fortress of Masada.”

 

 

D) MATERIAL USED

 

 

While some of the scrolls were written on papyrus, a great many portions were written on a brownish animal hide that appears to be “gevil.”  “Gevil,” is an ancient Hebrew word, which, according to tradition, the ancient Hebrews prepared (and some modern Jews still prepare) hides with salt, flour and “mey afatzim” (a wasp residue used with gall-nut water).

 

The scrolls were written with feathers from a bird, and the ink used was made from carbon black and white pigments.  Most of the scrolls were written in one of two dialects of Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, or “Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew.”  Biblical Hebrew dominates in the Biblical documents, and Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew in the documents composed in Qumran.  Some scrolls were also written in Aramaic and a few in Greek.  Only a few of the Biblical scrolls were written at Qumran, the majority being copied before the Qumran period and coming into the ownership of the Qumran community.

 

 

E) WHY WE CARE

 

 

Of main importance to Christians is what was found in regards to the Bible Text we have today (mainly the “KJV”).  Such things as the entire Book of Isaiah, and pieces, or most of the other Books of the Bible (except Esther and Nehemiah).  And what is significant is that the writings found matched up exactly with the Bible as we have It today (except with very minor spelling errors).

 

There is no evidence that the Qumran community altered the Biblical texts in any way.  What is evident, is that they did copy more prominently those portions of the Bible which were more reflective of their own theology.  Such as, it is thought that the Qumran community viewed the “Book of Enoch,” and the “Book of Jubilees,” as Divinely inspired scripture.  However, the Biblical texts cited most often in the non-Biblical “Dead Sea Scrolls,” are the Psalms, followed by the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Deuteronomy.

 

Of other importance to both historians and Christians, is that these scrolls give us a better picture of daily life in those times.  Important texts include the “Isaiah Scroll” (discovered in 1947 A.D.), a Commentary on the Book of Habakkuk(discovered in 1947 A.D. also), the “Community Rule” (1QS/4QSa-j), which gives much information on the structure and theology of the sect, and the earliest version of the, “Damascus Document.”  The so-called, “Copper Scroll(discovered in 1952 A.D.),” which lists hidden caches of gold, scrolls, and weapons, is probably the most notorious.

 

In a point of interest, here is a list of the frequency of the Books found (only listing Books where the majority of each Book was found, or in the case of Isaiah, all of the Book was found):  The Book of Psalms, 39 times; Deuteronomy, 33 times; One Enoch, 25 times; Genesis, 24 times; Isaiah, 22 times, Jubilees, 21 times; Exodus, 18 times; Leviticus, 17 times; Numbers, 11 times; the minor Prophets, 10 times; Daniel, 8 times; Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Job, 6 times; First and Second Samuel, 4 times.