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DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Overview of the Qumran community and surrounding area. Four of the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found can be seen left of the ravine (Werner Braun)

Scroll and fragments of the Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen ar) (Photo © Israel Museum, Jerusalem)

The remains of a collection of more than 800 biblical and other mostly religious manuscripts found at Khirbet Qumran (“the ruins at Qumran”) and six other sites along the western side of the Dead Sea from 1947 to 1956. The majority of the texts are inscribed on leather (i.e., animal skins), but some are on papyrus, and one (3Q15) is on copper. Most are in the Hebrew language, about one fifth in Aramaic, and a few in Greek. The script for most of the Hebrew scrolls is the Jewish (“square”) script; ca. 16 are in the ancient Phoenician, or Palaeo-Hebrew, script, all being the books of Moses, Joshua, or Job — i.e., believed to originate in the premonarchic period; there are also some rare examples of a cryptic script.

Near the Qumran caves where the Scrolls were found, a building complex was excavated, and it has been widely acknowledged that the Scrolls belonged to a group centered around the building. Three cemeteries were adjacent, the closest holding ca. 1100 graves aligned south-to-north with the head at the south. Of the few excavated, only males were found in the closest, but there were remains of females and children in the other parts. The date of the building and that of the manuscripts are determined by a combination of factors, including coins, pottery, palaeography, and accelerated mass spectrometry. (1) The coins unearthed in the excavations of the building date from Antiochus III (223-197 b.c.e.) to the third year of the Jewish Revolt (68 c.e.). (2) The type of pottery characterizing the jars in which a few of the manuscripts were intentionally deposited in Cave 1 is similar to that of jars and a large collection of bowls stashed in a pantry in the main building. It dates from the last centuries b.c.e. and the first centuries c.e. (3) The palaeographic date of the manuscripts in the Qumran caves, established by study of the scripts used in copying the manuscripts, extends from about the latter half of the 3rd century b.c.e. to about the middle of the 1st century c.e., though at Murabbaʿāt it extends to the first third of the 2nd century c.e. The early dates indicate that many scrolls were brought in from elsewhere. Some texts found at Khirbet Mird written in Arabic date as late as the 7th century c.e. (4) Accelerated mass spectrometry is a system, more advanced than Carbon-14 dating, for determining the age of ancient artifacts. Two tests were performed on a series of scrolls, including some which bore absolute dates in the hand of the original scribe, and the range of dates of the relevant manuscripts was 388 b.c.e. to 136 c.e. When these dating results are placed within the context of Jewish history, many scholars date the period of occupation at Qumran at ca. 150 b.c.e.–68 c.e. (the First Jewish Revolt), with the finds at Murabbaʿāt extending to ca. 135 c.e. (the Second Revolt).

Though the abandoned site of Khirbet Qumran had long been known, the first manuscript discovery was at Cave 1 by Arab Bedouin in 1947. Cave 1 is ca. 1.7 km. (1 mi.) N of the building, in the limestone cliffs towering above the littoral plane. Seven scrolls were found: one complete scroll of the book of Isaiah (1QIsaa), wrapped in linen and enclosed in a tall sealed pottery jar, as well as extended fragments from other scrolls, including a second copy of Isaiah (1QIsab), the Rule of the Community (1QS), a pesher (commentary) on the book of Habakkuk (1QpHab), an imaginatively developed narrative work based on Genesis (the Genesis Apocryphon; 1QapGen ar), an apocalyptic War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness (1QM), and a collection of hodayot (hymns of praise) composed within the community (1QH). In subsequent scholarly excavations of Cave 1 (directed by Roland de Vaux), small fragments from an additional 72 manuscripts were unearthed. These included manuscripts of biblical books and commentaries on biblical books, as well as apocryphal, legal, and liturgical texts.

Ten more caves were found at or near Qumran. Cave 4, discovered in the immediate vicinity, was the richest, yielding fragments of ca. 580 scrolls. Cave 7, equally close, contained only Greek papyrus fragments, including Exodus and the Letter of Jeremiah. Cave 11 was the last discovered in the Qumran area, in 1956. Additional caves were found a few miles south at Murabbaʿāt, containing letters of Simon bar Kokhba and other documents from the Second Revolt, as well as at Naḥal µever/Wadi Seiyal, and Khirbet Mird. Finally, atop the mountain fortress of Masada a mixed collection of more than 50 texts were recovered, including part of the book of Sirach in Hebrew.

The Scrolls and the OT

Indicating the importance of the Scriptures at Qumran, more than 200 scrolls, ca. 25 percent of the more than 800 found, were manuscripts of biblical books. Every book of the traditional OT, except Esther (and Nehemiah if considered a separate book from Ezra), is represented at least minimally. The most frequently attested books were Psalms (39 manuscripts), Deuteronomy (32), and Isaiah (22) — not surprisingly the three most quoted books in the NT as well.

Previously, the oldest extensive Hebrew manuscript available was from the end of the 9th century c.e. The Scrolls are older by a millennium. From the earliest days come two of the most important learnings about the biblical text. First, 1QIsab showed that the traditional text known from the MT had been very faithfully copied over the centuries from one ancient form of the text. Second, 1QIsaa showed that there were variant forms of the scriptural text circulating in antiquity prior to the era of a uniform text. Whereas 1QIsab normally exhibited only minor variants vis-à-vis the traditional MT, 1QIsaa displayed thousands of differences in spelling, word forms, textual variants, and cases of much longer or shorter text.

As the biblical manuscripts (now mostly published in the 38 volumes of the series Discoveries in the Judaean Desert) were analyzed, this pattern continued to reveal itself in ever more elaborate and instructive ways. Prior to the 2nd century c.e., when the proto-MT form of the collection of Scriptures became the only textual form transmitted in Hebrew, the text was pluriform, many books even displaying two or more literary editions. Numerous textual variants pepper all the texts, sometimes showing errors or expansions, but at other times providing superior readings where the MT has erred or expanded; thus many Qumran readings have been incorporated into recent revised translations of the Bible. The Scrolls also validate the LXX and Samaritan Pentateuch in general as faithful witnesses to an ancient Hebrew text that was simply an alternate to the textual form transmitted in the MT. They document a period in which the biblical text was still organically growing and provide evidence of how the text grew during its formative period.

The Scrolls and Judaism

The Scrolls have greatly illumined and changed scholars’ understanding of Judaism at the turn of the era. Whereas it was once thought that there was a single, “mainstream” or “normative” Judaism, it is now clear that Judaism was richly pluriform. There were a variety of parties and a wide variety of views on any number of subjects, and no particular group held full authority in teaching or practice over the others, though the Jerusalem priests probably held the strongest claim to the average people’s loyalty.

The Essenes, as a movement within Judaism, had previously been known only through brief descriptions written for foreigners by Josephus, Philo, and Pliny. While Josephus may have gained firsthand knowledge of the Essenes, Philo and Pliny were probably working from sources. Thus, though these descriptions help identify the Qumran group as Essene, they do not provide a standard for understanding the group’s beliefs. The Scrolls themselves provide abundant correction and amplification to our knowledge of the Essenes, which though still imperfect now exceeds our knowledge of contemporary groups, the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Zealots.

The Essene movement predates the Qumran community, though its origins are not fully known. During the Maccabean period, they were led by someone called the Righteous Teacher, or Teacher of Righteousness. The Teacher, himself a priest, came into serious conflict with the leaders in Jerusalem, possibly over the legitimacy of the high priesthood, since the Maccabees installed themselves in that office in place of the traditional Zadokite priests, and the Teacher was forced into exile from Jerusalem. In time, the group settled in the wilderness at Qumran, to study Torah and so “prepare the way of the Lord” (1QS 8:12-16; Isa. 40:3).

The Scrolls reveal a dualistic worldview. There were two ways — one of light and good, the other of darkness and evil. The community believed that history was predetermined by God, and that they were part of the remnant of true Israel, living under a (re)new(ed) covenant with God, in continuity with the covenant at Sinai, but with a deeper understanding of and incentive to obedience.

In their view, like that operative in the NT as well, Scripture was written in symbolic, obscure language by prophets who may have understood one level of meaning in what they wrote but did not understand the ultimate meaning, which was revelation about the “end time.” The true meaning of the text was revealed, however, to the Teacher of Righteousness. The Scriptures referred to the Essenes’ own period, the “latter days,” and described the events they themselves were experiencing, such as the exiling of the Teacher and Roman rule.

The Scrolls refer to other Jewish groups. They discuss conflicts with “the Seekers of Smooth Things” (probably the Pharisees) and “Manasseh” (probably the Sadducees), as well as conflicts over the high priesthood and the calendar. Some early scrolls, including the Halakhic Letter (4QMMT), contain halakhic views in common with the Sadducees, probably reflecting the group’s roots in the Zadokite priesthood. Views on other subjects, however, such as predestination and resurrection, are strongly opposed to Sadducean views. The Qumran Essenes lived a life of strict observance and greater asceticism than did other groups, but it is not thought that they excluded other groups from the true Israel on that basis.

The Scrolls and the NT

The community at Qumran was destroyed before most of the NT was written, and no scrolls contain NT texts, though some unpersuasive claims of such have been made (such as claims that 7Q5 contains the Gospel of Mark). Nor is there any reference to Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, or anything specifically Christian. Nevertheless, because similarities in language, theological themes, characters, texts, and practices are pervasive, the Scrolls provide inexhaustible illumination for understanding the text and world of the NT and early Christianity.

The Scrolls reveal a common Jewish root in self-defining community practices, such as community property shared in common, a ceremonial sacred meal, and ritual bathing for purity.

The complex of messianic views characteristic of this period is further revealed in the Scrolls. More than one messiah is envisioned — a priestly and a kingly messiah, who are accompanied by a prophet: “. . . until there come the prophet and the messiahs of Aaron and Israel” (1QS 9:11). The kingly messiah was to be a victorious war hero, like David, and to rule with wisdom and justice, as prophesied in Isa. 11:1-5. The priestly messiah was still higher in authority. Christ (the Greek translation for “messiah”) as king is a theme throughout the Synoptic Gospels. Hebrews speaks of Christ as a priest, though after the order of Melchizedek, not Aaron, and a minister of the heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 8:1-2; 10:12-14). A great deal was made of the so-called “Pierced Messiah” text, 4Q285, which was initially misread and thought to describe a messiah who is killed. More careful reading, however, reveals that the text names Isaiah, quotes from Isa. 11, , and here describes a Davidic messiah who kills someone else, as in Isa. 11:4 where the Davidic ruler kills the wicked.

In addition to “messiah,” several other titles are used similarly in the Scrolls and the NT: “branch of David” (e.g., 4Q285 frag. 5:3; 4QFlor col. III:11) is similar to “Root of David” (Rev. 5:5). A striking parallel in terminology to Luke 1:32, 35 occurs in the fragmentary 4Q246, which reads, “He will be called ‘the Son of God’; they will call him ‘Son of the Most High.’ ” However, though this figure was at first hastily claimed to be a positive messianic figure, the context rather suggests a wicked leader who arrogates to himself divine status.

Like the NT, the Scrolls place messianic expectations in a dualistic (light/darkness), eschatological framework (cf. 1QS 3:13–4:26; John 1; 2 Cor. 6:14–7:1). Both read texts from the OT in an eschatological and contemporizing manner. The Scrolls and the NT also show a reverence for the same Scriptures: the Law and the Prophets plus a still undefined collection of other sacred books. They even emphasize the same texts: the Psalms interpreted prophetically, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah. But Enoch and Jubilees were both probably considered among the authoritative books, whereas the Wisdom Literature is sparsely attested.

In contrast to the earlier flat view of a distinct Christianity versus a clearly defined “normative” Judaism, the commonalities between the Scrolls and early Christianity demonstrate how thoroughly Jewish are the roots and development of Christianity. The Scrolls show a wide and diverse spectrum of beliefs and practices in Judaism, from which matrix Christianity eventually developed organically. Nascent Christianity was in most aspects an integrated part of the spectrum of general Judaism. This knowledge had simply been suppressed as Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity both developed in conscious polemical distinction from each other.

For the OT, ancient Judaism, and the NT, the Scrolls light up the ancient world, displaying for each a stage prior to the simplified picture that history had remembered: a stage of pluriformity in the biblical text, the broad spectrum of diversity within late Second Temple Judaism, and the Jewish theological world of the NT.

Bibliography. F. M. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran, 3rd ed. (Minneapolis, 1995); J. A. Fitzmyer, Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York, 1992); F. García Martínez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, 1996); L. H. Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls (Philadelphia, 1994); E. Ulrich and J. C. VanderKam, The Community of the Renewed Covenant (Notre Dame, 1994); VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (Grand Rapids, 1994); G. Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, 4th ed. (Baltimore, 1995); M. Wise, M. Abegg, and E. Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (San Francisco, 1996).

Eugene Ulrich

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)