Dead Sea Scrolls

Scrolls roughly 2,000 years old found in caves on the northwestern edge of the Dead Sea. In February or March 1947, a 15-year-old Arab boy named Muhammad adh-Dhib accidentally made one of the greatest discoveries in modern archaeology. Accounts of what happened vary. According to one account, he was taking shelter from a thunderstorm. According to another, he was looking for a lost goat. In any case, he entered a cave in the Wadi Qumran, northwest of the Dead Sea. There he found jars containing scrolls from about the time of JESUS. During the next 20 years scholars and Bedouin found ancient manuscripts hidden in 11 different caves at Qumran. These manuscripts are what many scholars mean by the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were written between the third century B.C.E. and 68 C.E. Originally, they belonged to the library of a monastic-type community located below the caves. Some people take a more inclusive view of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They use the term to designate ancient manuscripts discovered not only at Qumran but also in the entire Dead Sea region. According to this view, the Dead Sea Scrolls were written over a longer period of time. The oldest scrolls in the entire region were hidden by SAMARITANS when Alexander the Great conquered the region around 331 B.C.E. The most recent manuscripts in the entire region date from the time of the revolt of Bar Kokhba against Roman rule (132–135 C.E.) The Dead Sea Scrolls are extremely important. They provide at least fragments of almost every book of the Hebrew BIBLE (Old Testament). These fragments—sometimes complete books—are centuries older than any other surviving copies. They allow us to see what the books of the Bible were like 2,000 years ago and how they grew into their present forms. For example, some scholars have identifi ed what they see as ancestors of three different versions of the Bible, all equally ancient. The three are the version used by the Samaritans; the Greek version, known as the Septuagint, that the earliest Christians used; and the "Masoretic text," that is, the Hebrew Bible that we know today. The Dead Sea Scrolls are important for another reason, too. They provide new insight into the religious world of ancient Palestine between the Hasmonean revolt (167–164 B.C.E.) and the so-called Jewish Wars (66–74 C.E.). This was the time when JUDAISM as we know it, rabbinical Judaism, was just beginning. It is also the time when Jesus lived. The scrolls tell us much about the community at Qumran. Many scholars think it was a community of ESSENES. One scroll contains the rules for the community. Its members followed a rigid discipline designed to ensure purity. Another scroll, called "The War of the Sons of Light with the Sons of Darkness," describes a great battle at the end of time. Apparently, the community expected that the fi nal battle between GOD and the forces of evil would take place in the very near future. It was also waiting for two messiahs: a son of DAVID to rule politically, and a son of AARON to take charge of religious RITUALS. Neither rabbinical Judaism nor CHRISTIANITY came directly from the Qumran community. Nevertheless, the scrolls allow us to see some of the variety of religious beliefs and practices that were current when both of them began.