Dead Sea Scrolls: How and When They Were Discovered, Their Great Importance and Who Wrote Them?
The Dead Sea Scrolls are considered one of the most important archeological discoveries ever made in Israel.
How and when were they discovered?
The story of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls takes us back to December 1947, to the Judean Desert – to Qumran in the northwestern part of the Dead Sea.
A visitor to Qumran will discover, on the west side, a spectacular view of the cliffs of the Judean Desert, at the top of which are many caves, and on the east side – the Dead Sea and the mountains of Moab.
In December 1947 in the Qumran region, a shepherd (a boy named Muhammad Adiv) grazed his family’s sheep. At one point the shepherd decided to climb to the top of the cliffs to improve the chances of finding more water and food for his flock. When he reached the top of the cliff and looked over his shoulder, he realized he had lost one sheep. A sheep costs a lot of money, so he decided to retrace his steps to find the lost sheep. After three hours of searching, and still, without finding the lost sheep, Muhammad Adiv was very angry and frustrated. At that moment he was standing in front of the entrance to the cave (later to be called: Cave No. 1), and in his frustration and despair, he picked up a stone from the ground and threw it with power into the cave.
After a few seconds, he heard an echo, the noise of something breaking inside the cave and because he was curious, he decided to go inside the cave and see what had happened. When he entered, he discovered a broken clay urn containing three old, dusty leather scrolls (sheepskin). He realized that the stone he had thrown into the cave had hit the clay jar and shattered it. Next to the shattered clay urn – he discovered two more sealed urns and when he opened them in each urn, he discovered two more scrolls. In total in Cave No. 1 in December 1947 a shepherd discovered seven scrolls. These were the first scrolls discovered. The shepherd, at that moment, did not realize that he had discovered something very important – the opposite is true. He was sad and very disappointed and thought to himself, “What misfortune! Instead of finding jewelry made of gold, silver, copper, or antique coins, I found pieces of dry leather”. On second thought, he realized that he might be able to make some money from what he discovered.
The small town of Bethlehem is located at the top of the Judean Mountains. In those days in Bethlehem, there was a man, a Syrian (Assyrian) Orthodox Christian called Kendo. Mr. Kendo had a factory for the manufacturing of shoes and sandals. The Bedouin shepherd decided to take the pieces of leather he found to Kendo’s factory in Bethlehem and try to persuade him to buy the above pieces of leather from him to make sandals or shoes from them.
When Muhammad Adiv arrived in Bethlehem, he entered Mr. Kendo’s factory, showed him what he had found, and asked him to buy the leather scrolls from him so that he could make shoes or sandals out of them. When Mr. Kendo looked at the leather scrolls they seemed to him dry, cracked, and completely worthless. So he said to the shepherd: “I do not know if I can even make one pair of shoes or a pair of sandals from what you show me because the skin is very dry, old, and crumbling.” At the same time, Kendo told the shepherd that he felt a little pity for him because he had come to him on foot from the desert. So, finally, Kendo offered the shepherd $ 1 for each scroll. $7 for the seven scrolls. Kendo believed he was doing a very big favor to the poor Bedouin boy. Muhammad Adiv “jumped on the bargain” with great joy – and sold the seven scrolls to Mr. Kendo for that amount, and returned happily to his area of residence in Qumran.
Kendo decided to try and open these leather scrolls to look for a good enough piece of leather to make a pair of shoes or sandals. As he began to open the scrolls, he suddenly saw a caption on the scrolls. When he looked at the caption – to his surprise he saw that the caption was in the Aramaic language! Kendo as a Syrian-Orthodox knew how to speak, write and read Aramaic because it is the language spoken in every Syrian-Orthodox church. When he started reading – to his amazement it became clear to him that he was reading the whole book of Isaiah!!! Only then did Mr. Kendo realize that he had bought something very important and valuable.
In 1950 the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Bethlehem decided to fly to the United States to visit the community in New York. On the eve of his departure for the United States, Kendo gave two of the seven scrolls to the Patriarch and asked him to try and sell them in the United States. A few weeks later an ad was published in the New York newspapers that read: “For sale very ancient scrolls discovered in the Dead Sea area.”
A few days later, this ad was brought to the attention of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In those days, Professor Eliezer Liba Sukenik was the head of the Faculty of Archeology at the Hebrew University. After a short research, Professor Sukenik realized that the source of the above information was Mr. Kendo from Bethlehem. Professor Sukenik contacted Mr. Kendo and asked to meet with him in Bethlehem.
In those days Bethlehem was under Jordanian rule and it was very dangerous for Jews to visit Bethlehem. Professor Sukenik disguised himself as an Arab and thus went to Bethlehem. When he met with Mr. Kendo, Sukenik asked to see the scrolls. Kendo agreed to show him, and when Sukenik checked the scrolls – to his amazement he concluded that the scrolls are original and 2000 years old!! When Sukenik asked Kendo where he found the scrolls, and Kendo told him about the Bedouin shepherd who found them in Qumran.
Sukenik immediately offered Kendo to buy from him all seven scrolls. Kendo mentioned an imaginary sum of $ 100,000 (which in those days was considered an astronomical sum). Sukenik agreed and told Kendo that he was going to raise the necessary money. Sukenik returned to Jerusalem, met with the Prime Minister, Mr. David Ben-Gurion, and told him the whole story. Sukenik finally informed David Ben-Gurion that he was asking the State of Israel to pay the above amount to buy all seven scrolls. At first, David Ben-Gurion vehemently refused, but after much persuasion, he granted the request. Thanks to professor Sukenik, the state of Israel bought all seven scrolls from Mr. Kendo.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem then decided to organize a group of the best Israeli archaeologists with dual citizenship and send them to Qumran to begin an archaeological excavation project in the hope of discovering additional 2000-year-old ancient scrolls. It should be reminded, that until 1967 Qumran was under Jordanian rule. The archaeological search that began in 1952 lasted intermittently until 1994 – 42 years. Why did it take archaeologists 42 years to complete the above project? Because in the Qumran and Judean Desert area there are dozens of caves, and the archaeologists had to reach all those caves, enter them and dig.
By 1994, 1,000 scrolls had been discovered in the caves of the Qumran and the Judean Desert. All those 1000 scrolls were dated to the Second Temple period. Meaning the above 1000 scrolls are original 2000 years old!
The scrolls were named: The Dead Sea Scrolls.
Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls considered one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made in Israel?
Due to four main reasons:
Reason # 1: The Bible
Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 230 of the 1000 scrolls, are manuscripts of the Bible. 23 of the 24 books of the Bible were discovered: All the books except Esther. Meaning: This is the oldest, original, 2000-year-old copy of the Bible!!
The above scrolls help us to research, study and better understand the Bible.
Of the 230 scrolls mentioned above, 22 scrolls are the book of Isaiah. In Qumran 21 copies of Isaiah were discovered and in the entire Judean desert – 22 copies of Isaiah. The oldest scroll of Isaiah, the whole book of Isaiah, dates to 120-100 BC, and the “newest” dates to 66 CE.
Remember that Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the four Gospels. In addition, in the four Gospels we learn about Yeshua (Jesus) teaching, speaking, preaching, and working miracles, but except for one time we do not find him reading. The only time we learn that Yeshua reads is in the Gospel of Luke chapter four: Yeshua reads the book of Isaiah on Saturday in the synagogue in Nazareth.
In addition: one must remember and understand that the Bible is not what many people mistakenly call the “Old Testament.” Why not?
- There are 24 books in the Bible and in what people mistakenly call the “Old Testament” there are 39 books (for the Protestants and more so among the Catholics or the Orthodox). How is that possible? In the Bible, for example, the Book of Samuel is one book, same for the book of Kings, Chronicles, and the 12 minor prophets.
In the Byzantine period, in the 4th century CE, the church decided to divide the Book of Samuel into 2 books: 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. The same with the Book of Kings, the book of Chronicles, and the Books of the twelve minor prophets. So in the final summary in the “Old Testament,” there are 39 books
- In the 4th century CE, the church changed the order of the books. For example, the last book in the Bible is Chronicles in the Old Testament it is Malachi.
Reason # 2: The language
Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls were written in Hebrew. A rather small part is written in both Aramaic and Greek.
When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by Israeli archaeologists, whose mother tongue is Hebrew, when they opened them, they could easily read and understand what was written!!
It should be reminded, that after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE, when the Jews were exiled from their land of Eretz Israel to the Diaspora, in the Diaspora they stopped speaking, writing, and reading Hebrew. From the beginning of the 2nd century CE until the end of the 19th century, Hebrew was a dead language The Hebrew language was revived only in the late 19th century CE when the first pioneers began to return to their homeland. It’s just amazing to see how after 1700 years, when the Hebrew language was dead, how the language was exceptionally preserved.
For example, the Hebrew alphabet from 2000 years ago is just like the modern Hebrew alphabet. The grammar of ancient Hebrew is the same as the grammar of modern Hebrew. In fact: only the pronunciation of some of the ancient words is a little different from the pronunciation of modern Hebrew.
To summarize, anyone whose mother tongue is Hebrew can easily read the Dead Sea Scrolls (which are, as we mentioned are 2000 years old) and understand what is written.
Reason #3: Better understanding of the Second Temple period
Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls tell us in a very clear and unambiguous way the events of the Second Temple period. How today do we better know the historical events and actions that took place during the end of the Second Temple period? Thanks to many historical documents discovered from that period, such as some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some of the scrolls are similar to newspapers from 2000 years ago.
Reason # 4: A better understanding of the laws, customs, and daily life of the sect that wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Essenes.
During the Second Temple period we learn about 3 main currents in the Judaism of the Land of Israel: the Essenes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. From them split sects and other sub-sects. At the end of the Second Temple period, we learn about 24 groups in the people of Israel.
One of the most jealous sects was the Essenes. Until 1947, the year the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, scholars knew very little about the Essenes. However, since 1947 we know a great deal about the ideology, laws, customs, and daily life of the Essenes thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls that have shed a great deal of light on this sect. One of the most important scrolls discovered is Serek Hayachad (Community Rule). Serek Hayachad is considered the constitution of the Essenes.
The Book of Serek Hayachad teaches that the Essenes believed that they were the only good and righteous people living in the world. That is why they called themselves Sons of light. All who were not among them were called, Sons of Darkness. In the Scroll of the Serek Hayachad it is written that the Essenes believed that in the end times there would be a terrible war between the sons of light and the sons of darkness and the only ones who would survive after that war would be only they – the sons of light.
The Serek Hayachad scroll teaches that the Essenes did not allow the members of the sect to marry and have children. why? Because according to their belief family = a waste of time. They wrote that if they have families, it makes sense that during the day they would want to spend several hours with the family and that, in their opinion, is a waste of time. They believed that if they did not have families they would be able to devote all their time and energy at any given moment to the work of God, the study of the Scriptures, and purification and thus would be true sons of light.
The Serek Hayachad scroll teaches that the Essenes forbade group members to own private property or money. Every new member who joined the Essene sect had to give the community all his money and possessions.
That is to say, all their property, money, and even their food and drinking water were shared equally among all the members of the community.
The Serek Hayachad Scroll teaches that twice a day all the group members used to gather in the common dining room to eat together. The leader, the Master of Justice, would cook and prepare the food for everyone. During the meal, no one was allowed to speak; they ate in silence. At the beginning of the meal, the Master of Justice would bless the wine and pass the glass of wine among all the members of the group. Afterward, he would bless the bread divide it, and pass it on to all the members of the sect. After that, they would eat the meal.
Who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The Essenes.
As I wrote above, in Reason Number 4, today we know a great deal about this sect.
In addition to what I wrote above, the Essenes originated from Jerusalem. All members of this sect were priests who served in the Temple in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, a residential district built specifically for Essenes was recently discovered. Until the 2nd century BC, all the Essene priests lived in Jerusalem and served in the Temple.
However, in the 2nd century BC, the Essenes came to the rest of the people of Israel and said: We all live in a wrong and deceived way. This is not how God wanted us to live. But because the people of Israel refused to hear and accept what the Essenes wanted and offered, the Essenes decided to protest. As an act of protest, they left Jerusalem and descended into the Judean Desert to Qumran. According to archeological excavations, we learn that Qumran was founded as early as the 9th century BC in the northwest of the Dead Sea, but only after 700 years – in the 2nd century BC, the Essenes came to Qumran. Here, in the heart of the desert – perceived as a pristine and pure place, the Essenes lived according to the correct and right way in their eyes. The Essenes lived and worked in Qumran until 66 CE – the year the Great Revolt broke out. During their stay in Qumran, they wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls with their own hands. That is, the time frame in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were written and copied by the Essenes is from the 2nd century BC to 66 CE. The scrolls were written on skins of kids, sheep, and goats.
Today, in retrospect, we know that in 66 CE, with the outbreak of the Great Revolt against the Romans, the Essenes decided to leave Qumran and return to Jerusalem without delay to help their brothers and sisters fight against the Romans.
Today, in retrospect, we know that when the Essenes left Qumran they wholeheartedly believed that they were leaving Qumran for a very short time period. They believed and were very sure that in a matter of weeks, after, of course, defeating the Romans, they would return to their village Qumran.
Today, in retrospect, we know that before leaving Qumran, the Essenes decided to hide the scrolls they had written in the caves around and above their village. Why? They feared that if they left the scrolls (which they had labored so hard to write) in Qumran it might be that in their absence that the Romans would come here and burn the scrolls.
Today, in retrospect, we know that to hide the scrolls, the Essenes rolled each and every scroll into a cylinder and thus buried it in a clay jar (originally used for water, oil, and wine) and sealed it with a clay cork. After that, they climbed by foot to the caves at the top of the cliffs, where they hid the clay jars with the scrolls inside. Only after that, did they leave Qumran and go by foot to Jerusalem to fight the Romans. It should be noted and remembered that only the Essenes knew about the 1000 scrolls they left behind in the caves of Qumran and the Judean Desert. It was their most secretive secret. They did not tell this secret to anyone.
Today, in retrospect, we know that when the Essenes left Qumran they wholeheartedly believed that it would last a very short time, after defeating the Romans, returning to Qumran, removing the scrolls from the caves, returning them to the village, and returning to normal life.
But as history teaches us, the Essenes never got back to Qumran alive. During the Great Revolt in the years 66-70 CE most of the Essenes were killed in battles against the Romans and in 70 CE with the end of the revolt and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the last Essenes who remained alive fled to Masada. But with the bitter end of Masada in 73 CE when everyone committed suicide – even the last Essenes in Masada committed suicide with the rest.
And so it happened when the last of the Essenes committed suicide in Masada, he took with him the secret of the 1000 scrolls hidden in the caves of Qumran and the Judean Desert with him to the tomb.
So from 73 CE no one knew a thing about the 1000 and hidden in the caves above Qumran until December 1947 when that poor shepherd tried his best to find his lost sheep. That of course gives a very dramatic twist to the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Ladies and Gentlemen: if you have any more questions – this is the time and this is the place
Yours sincerely, Isaac Karasenti – Tour Guide, Bible expert, and expert in Christianity
