As some of the most important archaeological finds in the world, the Dead Sea Scrolls have provided an unparalleled look into Israel’s past. Yet, despite their significance they are rarely mentioned outside of academic and research settings.
So, what exactly are the Dead Sea Scrolls and why are they important? The following answers the questions you might have about the Scrolls and what they mean in terms of Jewish history.
1. What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of thousands of millennia-old scrolls, scraps and fragments from ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts with great historical, religious, and linguistic significance. Discovered in caves in the Dead Sea region, these antiquities date back to as early as the third century BCE.
Though only a few were found intact, scholars have been able to piece together documents to account for every book of the Hebrew bible except the books of Esther and Nehemiah.
In addition to biblical texts, the caves revealed many documents, letters, and scribal exercises, providing insight into life in the Judean Desert thousands of years ago. In total, over 950 manuscripts have been uncovered to date.
The documents, which are made from a variety of materials including animal skin, papyrus, and copper, have amazed people around the world with their well-preserved condition. Due to the lack of humidity and aridness of the Judean Desert, the artifacts were able to survive for thousands of years.
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2. Who Wrote the Scrolls?
Despite decades of excavations, scholars are still unsure who actually wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. Before they were discovered, many believed the region, specifically the Qumran area, was inhabited by a single group. However, the Scrolls suggest that there were actually multiple groups of sectarian Jews living in the region around the time they were written, particularly the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes.
Regardless of any differences among the sects, all of the manuscripts found in the Qumran Caves place a strong emphasis on religion. But even though each work centers around the Torah, the various groups all interacted with it in their own unique way. Alterations made to classic religious texts highlight the notion that writers from different communities took liberties to modify them as they saw fit.
It is unclear where these sects came from, with some scholars believing that they may not have even lived in the area and simply hid their manuscripts in the caves while fleeing Roman persecution.
This presumption is heightened by the fact that the Scrolls are written in various languages and styles. While the majority of the Scrolls are written in the standard “square” script known to modern Hebrew, others are in paleo-Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and Arabic, indicating multiple points of origin.
3. Who Were the Essenes?
Many researchers believe the Essenes to be the main community responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls. The discovery of the Scrolls has offered a unique, unprecedented insight into the lives of this group of Jews.
Believed to have been a sect of religious Jews who abandoned Jerusalem in protest at the way the Temple was being run, the Essenes viewed themselves as a sacred community, and referred to themselves as the “Sons of Light.” They believed anyone who was not a part of their holy sect was a “Son of Darkness,” or an enemy of Israel.
Like other sects of their time, the Essenes were an apocalyptic sect of Judaism, meaning they believed that there would be a battle between good and evil, or “Sons of Light” against “Sons of Darkness.” This catastrophic war would end the dark age with a return to the golden age of David and Solomon.
The group was almost exclusively composed of adult males who devoted themselves to the writing and preservation of sacred texts. Living in a monastic community, the Essenes spent the majority of their time dedicated to their studies without any outside distractions.
4. What is Included in the Scrolls?
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain a wide variety of content, from biblical texts and annotations to records of everyday life.
Among the manuscripts found, the Book of Isaiah has proven to be the most prominent. It is the only manuscript preserved in its entirety, and the content of the document aligns with the messianic beliefs of the sectarians.
Additionally, many of the Scrolls feature critiques and interpretations of the Torah known as Pesherim. These are divided into two different types: those that deal with a specific subject and those that are written as running commentaries.
Among the interpretations found in the Qumran Caves were the Community Rule and the Temple Scroll. The Community Rule is the key to comprehending the daily lifestyle of the sectarians in Qumran. It discusses the acceptance of new members of the community, behavioral rules, and theological principles. The Temple Scroll, on the other hand, plans out details for the future of the Temple, written entirely from the perspective of the divine.
The sectarians also placed an emphasis on Hodayot, or thanksgiving hymns. They are partitioned into hymns of the teacher, expressing gratitude for being rescued from the forces of evil, and of the community, relating to their society as a whole.
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5. What is the Historical Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls?
With the amount of detail put into each manuscript, the Scrolls offer information on historic events through primary sources that scholars had not previously had access to.
For instance, letters stored in a leather waterskin in the Nahal Hever Caves provide original first-hand accounts from leaders of the Bar Kokhba revolt approximately 1,900 years ago. Furthermore, the same caves revealed the Archive of Babatha, a collection of finance documents, marriage certificates, and land deeds saved by a refugee during the revolt.
In addition to primary sources, the Scrolls delve into great detail about religious regulations and laws followed by the sectarians. The manuscripts help researchers analyze religious life during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, centuries before Jewish scholars compiled the Talmud.
Before the Scrolls were discovered, the only evidence of the lifestyle during this period came from a small number of allusions found in rabbinic literature. As such, the discovery of the ancient texts is highly significant to contemporary understanding of life in the Judean Desert at the time.
“another small piece of the puzzle of the past”
– Oren Ableman, member of the Antiquities Authority team, describing the artifacts
6. How Were the Scrolls Found?
In 1947, a young Bedouin shepherd was chasing after a stray sheep in the Judean Desert when he came across a cave. While walking along, he tossed a rock into the darkness, and was shocked to hear the sound of breaking glass. Upon further inspection, he found large clay jars, many of which were filled with rolled-up scrolls.
Unaware of their true value, the Bedouin sold the initial seven Scrolls to antiquities dealers. But word got out, and Hebrew University Professor Eliezer Lipa Sukenik decided to investigate.
Sukenik was able to hunt down three of the Scrolls in the possession of a dealer in Bethlehem. Seven years later, his son, Yigael Yadin, acquired the other four, bringing the original Scrolls together at Hebrew University where they became the property of the State of Israel.
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7. What Happened After the Scrolls Were Discovered?
Over the course of nine years after the first cave was discovered, archaeologists uncovered similar artifacts in ten more caves along the Dead Sea. Further excavations have also unearthed documents in caves outside of the Qumran area, specifically in Nahal Hever, Wadi Murabba’at, and Masada.
As interest in the Scrolls grew, the pursuit after more of the texts became a competition between archaeologists and Bedouin treasure hunters, who sought to make a fortune by selling them.
Yet, by 1956, Roland de Vaux, director of École Biblique et Archéologique Française in Jerusalem, and Gerald Lankester Harding, British director of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, had managed to negotiate with the Bedouin to obtain the artifacts the latter had found.
8. Why Were the Scrolls Sold in a Wall Street Journal Ad?
When the Dead Sea Scrolls were first sold to antiquities dealers, four of them were purchased by Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, a Syrian Orthodox Archbishop from Jerusalem. Once the Israeli War of Independence broke out in 1948, Samuel fled to America where he unsuccessfully attempted to sell the Scrolls to universities.
By 1954, Samuel was desperate to sell the Scrolls, leading him to place an ad in the Wall Street Journal. The advertisement, posted on June 1, 1954, read:
Seeing the ad, Yigael Yadin was able to find and purchase the Scrolls and bring them to his father at Hebrew University.
9. What is the Shrine of the Book?
Built in 1965 as part of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Shrine of the Book was created to house the original seven Dead Sea Scrolls. Today, many of the Scrolls, as well as artifacts found along with them, are on display there.
The shape of the building itself is a unique dome-like structure, meant to embody the nature of the jars that the Scrolls were originally discovered in. The building is continuously cooled by fountains spraying water over the exterior, and the exhibition rooms are kept dimly lit in order preserve the fragile texts.
The dome is white, in stark contrast to the black wall alongside it — a clear visual reference to the “Sons of Light” and “Sons of Darkness.”
Additionally, the dark and cavernous interior of the Shrine of the Book is a tribute to the many caves in the Judean Desert that encased the Scrolls for over 2,000 years.
10. Are Archaeologists Still Finding More Scrolls?
On March 16, 2021, archaeologists uncovered the first scroll fragments in over 60 years. The remains have been identified as having come from a larger scroll found in the same cave in the 1950s.
The specific cave containing these Scrolls is called the Cave of Horror, named for the remains of 40 Jewish refugees unearthed the first time the cave was excavated.
With new drone technology, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) is hopeful that it can uncover even more artifacts.
Since 2017, the IAA has been working on a national project in order to find remaining scroll fragments before looters can take and sell them.
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