The Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in caves along the western shore of the Dead Sea from 1947 to 1956, are considered by many to be the single most important archaeological find of the twentieth century. They comprise about 800 documents, some complete or nearly complete, but most quite fragmentary. In fact about 100,000 fragments have been found in all! Most of the scrolls were found in caves near Qumran, where a community lived which some scholars identify as Essences, a Jewish sect known to have existed elsewhere in Israel during the Second Temple period, which includes the time of Jesus. The scrolls comprise, among other things, the oldest copies of the Bible in existence. The Qumran scrolls date from approximately 250 B.C. to about 65 A.D., and at some other locations to about 135 A.D. This means that the Dead Sea Scrolls give us texts of the Bible, which were copied more than 1000 years earlier than any others were now in existence! "In 1947, a young Bedouin shepherd, following a goat that had gone astray, tossed a rock into one of the caves along the seacliffs and heard a cracking sound: the rock had hit a ceramic pot containing leather and papyrus scrolls that were later determined to be nearly twenty centuries old. Ten
The Dead Sea Scrolls have played a very important role in the religions of Judaism and Christianity. "The Dead Sea Scrolls, which date back to the events described in the New Testament, have added to our understanding of the Jewish background of Christianity". (See # 6, page 6) "The Scrolls also shed light on the time when Jesus of John the Baptist lived and early Christians began to organize. Specifically, they offer evidence that early Christians beliefs and practices had precedents in the Jewish sects of the time". (See # 7, pages 29-30) Scholars in this area of study have pointed to similarities between beliefs and practices outlined in the Qumran literature and those of early Christians. "These parallels include comparable rituals of baptism, communal meals, and property. Most interesting is the parallels organizational structures: the sectarians divided themselves into twelve tribes led by twelve chiefs, similar to the structure of the early Church, with twelve apostles who, according to Jesus, would to sit on twelve thrones to judge twelve tribes of Israel. Many Scholars believe that both the literature of Qumran and the early Christian teachings stem from a common stream within Judaism". (See # 7, page 123) The most significant discovery of the scrolls relating to the religions of Judaism and Chrisitanity "is the use of the name Son of God to refer to someone other than Jesus, implying a cultural use of them that was not itself synonymous with God". (See # 4, page 213) Can this be true, the "Son of God" referring to someone else other that Jesus? This finding has brought out major controversy between scholars who do and do not relate to the "Son of God" as someone else rather that Jesus. years and many searches later, eleven caves around the Dead Sea were found to contain tens of thousands of scroll fragments dating from the third century B.C. to A.D. 68 and representing an estimated eight hundred separate works". (See # 5, page 1) These "scrolls" that were discovered came to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in Qumran, a village situated about twenty miles east of Jerusalem on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. These Dead Sea Scrolls are most commonly made of animal skins, but also papyrus and one of copper. They are written with carbon-based ink, from right to left, using no punctuation except for an occasional paragraph indentation. In fact, in some cases, there are not even spaces between the words. "Archeologists have claimed the Dead Sea Scrolls indeed ancient, coming from the late Second Temple Period, a time when Jesus of Nazareth lived, they are older than any other surviving biblical manuscripts by almost one thousand years". (See # 5, page 2) The significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls is a very prominent issue today. Biblical scholars and popular writers have published thousands of books, articles, and notes on the subject. "One reason why these scrolls are significant is because they provide information about the beliefs and organization of a sectarian group of Jews who were contemporaries with Jesus". (See # 2, page 148) Since Jesus was a Jew, it is important for every serious student of the Bible to know as much as possible about the Jews of this age. Prior to the Dead Sea Scrolls, most of the information about Judaism of this time came from secondhand information of men who reflected up
Some common words found in the essay are:
Sea Scrolls, Dead Sea, Jesus Nazareth, John Baptist, Judaism Christianity, Isaiah Scroll, Biblical Studies, dead sea, Temple Scroll, Son God, sea scrolls, dead sea scrolls, Israel Temple, page 1, # 8, 8 page, # 8 page, # 7, # 7 page, 7 page, scrolls discovered, 5 page, son god, # 6 page, # 5 page,
Approximate Word count = 2294
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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