By Tom Brennan
The story of the Dead Sea Scrolls reads like a mystery. You keep asking yourself a never ending list of “what ifs”. What if the shepherd didn’t throw that rock into that cave? What if he missed and out came a million very annoyed bats? What if he told his family and they broke up as many scrolls as they could and sold the pieces one at a time. And what if, as legend has it, the leather scrap was used to fix his shoe and no one ever saw the writing on it. Instead we have an Indiana Jones-worthy adventure and a wealth of knowledge about the Bible that endures and will be under study for generations.
The Qumran complex is in the desert, in an area just about as hostile to comfort as any Jewish ascetic of the 1st century could desire. Located as far from Jerusalem as it could be and still be close enough for the Feasts and Passover, the celibate men lived under a rule and discipline that mirror the Christian monks of later years. Living righteous lives, observing rituals of cleanliness and mikvot, following a written scroll of rules (Scrolls found contained the way of life for the members), these men departed the traditional ways of life that endorsed the family and marriage and instead waited for a final battle between Sons of Darkness and Sons of Light. There was an Essene Quarter in Jerusalem, most likely where they travelled to eat the Passover. The room where Jesus and the twelve celebrated that Feast was in that area. One clue is that the two who were sent to secure the room were to meet a man carrying water. Carrying water was a woman’s duty and an unmarried man who lived apart from women would have to do this: an Essene fits into this description quite perfectly.
The Qumran community has been excavated and what are generally assumed to be tables for transcribing Scripture and scrolls are in the architecture. Some conjecture is that this is really a refectory, a dining hall where they took meals in community. Several ink wells have been found to support a scriptorium thesis but what was done with scrolls that were allegedly copied there is another conjecture. At some point a handwriting analysis might confirm that a scroll or fragment of the type of scrolls found in the holdings of a separate group or one excavated outside the confines of Qumran may confirm this. Computer imaging will be useful here in comparison and matching.
The Dead Sea scrolls were removed and deliberately hidden by men who knew that the end was near in 66 and 70 CE. The revolt had begun and Rome could not afford to have as small a province as Judea break away. The Empire was too full of tribes and peoples who would see this as an incentive to throw off the yoke of Caesar. If too many Provinces did this at the same time the multiple campaigns by Rome’s Legions necessary to put down the revolts would strain the Empire’s resources and the whole thing would collapse. Judea had to be disciplined. Legions were on the march towards Jerusalem the epicenter of the revolt and Qumran was in the line of march. The Sons of Light prepared to meet the Sons of Darkness.
Why should everyone know about the Dead Sea Scrolls and visit the Shrine of the Book if they can? Today the Bible is under attack from almost every quarter. The media, late night celebrities, organized and unorganized atheist and agnostic groups all feel it is safe and fashionable to join in a festival of nonbelief and doubt. Several well-spoken and well-read atheists make the circuit and debate pastors and other spokesmen. It is the Roman arena all over again. But the overwhelming evidence of the consistent transmitting word for word of the Scriptures, sometimes in shards of parchment, parts of scrolls and in Greek and Hebrew that stop many scoffers in their tirades. The number of actual relics of written fragments overwhelm the physical remains of many of the Greek and Roman authors, historians and philosophers. The Dead Sea Scrolls and their miraculous discovery, preservation, interpretation and circulation are proof of the constant transmission of the Bible through the centuries. The positive evidence is overwhelming.
The Shrine of the Book is in the Israel Museum Complex. The simple but immensely dramatic architecture calls to mind the simple but sturdy jars that doomed men, Sons of Light to the last, placed in secure places so that no unclean hand would defile them. Perhaps after that they went to the mikvot for one last cleansing. As the Legion formed up against the simple men in white linen the last of daylight set on the cave that held the scrolls. They were found and unrolled in a world that needed them more than ever. The Scrolls are part of the proof we have of the continuity of the Bible, unchanging in times of faith and under threat from the unfaithful. Today several of the Scrolls have made world museum tours. Most are online for study. They were hidden for over a thousand years and now everyone can see what the Essenes cared for and protected and what a world in need of consolation really needs. The Scrolls await our reading and amazement in Jerusalem.
When you visit The Land and Jerusalem you really must visit the Shrine of The Book. If you can’t go there physically, go online and witness the writings of the Sons of Light who hid the Scrolls to keep unclean hands away. There was no accident or coincidence involved in those jars being in a cave just as Israel was being born again. Today as in the days of Noah we need to know that the Bible and its Author never change.
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