The Dead Sea Scrolls
(Research by Jonas Manske)
The Dead Sea Scrolls.
In 1947, young Bedouin shepherds, searching for a stray goat in the Judean Desert, entered an untouched cave and found jars filled with ancient scrolls. That initial discovery yielded seven scrolls and began a search that lasted nearly a decade and produced thousands of scroll fragments from eleven caves. Within a fairly short time paleographic, and linguistic evidence, as well as carbon-14 dating, established that the scrolls and the Qumran ruin dated from the third century BC. to 68 AD. This was the late Second Temple Period, a time when Jesus of Nazareth lived. They are the oldest group of Old Testament manuscripts ever found!
Significance of the Find:
The importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery cannot be understated. Collectively, the unearthing of the Dead Sea Scrolls may easily be called the greatest manuscript discovery of modern times. The caves’ original writings provide a glimpse into the original state of Jewish Scripture and culture, as they existed during the time of Jesus.
The vast majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered along the shore of the Dead Sea between the years 1947 and 1956. The eleven caves have produced about 15,000 fragments from more than 500 manuscripts. In all, scholars have identified the remains of about 825 to 870 separate scrolls. Among the scrolls, portions of 19 copies of the Book of Isaiah have now been identified, 25 copies of the Book of Deuteronomy have been uncovered, and portions from at least 30 copies of the Psalms have been distinctly recognized. The Isaiah scroll, found largely intact, is 1,000 years older than any previously known copy of Isaiah.
The Isaiah Scroll.
This scroll represents perhaps the most important of the discoveries: The scroll predates the previously oldest complete version of the Hebrew Testament by 1,000 years and represents one of the oldest parts of the Hebrew Testament ever found. Measuring in size 1 foot by 24 feet, the Hebrew text is in 54 columns; the text demonstrates a remarkable similarity with the Masoretic text written a thousand years later. This demonstrates that a 1,000 years of copying had not in any way significantly altered the meaning of the text.
The Isaiah Scroll is especially important because Isaiah’s prophecies regarding the future Messiah were particularly specific in the information they provided. So much so, that it would all but impossible to apply them to anyone other than to one man in all of human history, Jesus Christ. The discovery of the Isaiah Scroll in Cave 1 means that it is all but impossible for critics to claim that these prophecies were engineered or created by Christians “after-the-fact” or at a later date than when the prophecies were originally written down.
The information given in Isaiah 53 is so specific in regard to the nature of Jesus’ trial, crucifixion and subsequent resurrection that it reads almost like a “fifth gospel” account.