The Dead Sea Scrolls:
               A Testimony to the Authenticity and Integrity 
                            of the Old Testament
                           A Summary of Findings
                     Based on the Best Selling Book by 
               Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, Jr., and Edward Cook

The Dead Sea Scrolls were the cause of many speculations about the origin of Christianity and the authenticity of both the New and Old Testaments for more than 40 years. Only in the last 5 years, and through the use of personal computers the doubt was cast away and a good understanding of the time, scribes, and contents became both available and acceptable. This series of articles is based on a wonderful translation to English of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Michael Wise,  translator and writer who lives in Bloomington (Minneapolis-St. Paul), Minnesota, Martin Abegg, Jr. co-director of the Dead See Scrolls Institute, Trinity University, British Columbia, and Edward Cook, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Background:
	In 1946, Bedouin Arabs tending sheep in the hills of Judea, a place called Qumran, about six miles from the southern shores of the Dead Sea walked into a cave and found some pottery laying on the ground in the dark cave. Hoping for treasures of gold, they started to examine the contents of the pottery. Their search of what is referred to as CAVE-1 netted 7 sheep skin scrolls with ancient writings (not Arabic) on the scrolls. The Bedouins took the scrolls and gave 4 to then Syrian Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem Athanassious Samuel and 3 to Rabbi E.Y. Sukenik of Jerusalem also. Bishop Samuel traveled with the 4 scrolls to the USA hoping for good use of them in the USA with modern methods of evaluating and deciphering archeological finds. He and the Rabbi recognized that the writings were in ancient Hebrew and/or Aramaic. Time Meyer and I interviewed bishop Samuel on the phone from New Jersey in 1987 for St. Mary's Message. He spoke to us in Arabic and English re-iterating his position that he wanted to get the scrolls to the proper hands to start the process of identifying their age and contents. The government of Israel bought the scrolls from bishop Samuel through agents of the Biblical Archeological Society in 1955. But all seven scrolls fell victims to: Politics, Bureaucracy, lack of technological means of translation, and a power struggle among biblical scholars. They were placed in the basement of the Jordanian Bible Museum in Jerusalem and scholars argued about the rights to access the scrolls.

	Following the first find, many more ship skin pieces were found, totaling more than 15,000 pieces some are as small as a fingernail. Today, more than 970 manuscripts have been put together, like pieces from hundreds of large irregular puzzles that were scattered and gathered. Some pieces of the puzzles are still missing and/or misplaced.

The Breakthrough:
	Until the early 90's, the scholars were not in agreement about what to do, how has access, and how to do it. The old Dead Sea Excavation Committee headed by Fr. Roland De-Vaux a French Jesuit Priest did publish a book about the finds near the Dead Sea. But most translation did not take place until after a new committee was formed to manage the Dead Sea finds. The new committee allowed any scholar or group to obtain copies of microfilms of any of the pieces that were catalogued. 
	Through the wonder of Personal Computers Technology, some young scholars started to assemble pieces of the puzzle together using pattern matching techniques. This netted a good collection, over 970 manuscripts. It became a matter of knowing what language and finding those able to translate. It was even made much easier by creating a lexicon and then it became possible to create preliminary mechanical (computer-based) translations.

The Language of the Scrolls:
	The scrolls are written in ancient (Rabbinic) Hebrew and some in Aramaic (Dialect of Hebrew mixed with the languages of the natives of Palestine which was the everyday language even at the time of Christ. The writing were continuos without a single space, mainly to preserve space on the expensive sheep skin (the paper of the time). Occasionally an indentation is found to signify a new paragraph or a new chapter. 

The Contents:
	1.  The scholars upon translating the manuscripts found out that is all religious documents. Mostly books from the (Torah) Old Testament, some commentary on stories and historic events, and very few historic facts and rules of conduct. It was surprising that every book in the Old Testament used by us Christians and accepted by our brothers the Jews is scribed at least once. Some are scribed several times, except for the Book of Ester. They did not find a single copy of the Book of Ester. This fact alone is a great testimony to the authenticity of the Old Testament and the integrity of what we know about the ForeFathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses the Arch-prophet, Joshua his disciple, David, and Solomon kings and prophets. Samuel, Eliah, Elishah, Isiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, .. etc. Since the authentication of the Old Testament goes only to the 9th century AD. And these manuscripts, dating back to 50-150 BC, are identical to the Hebrew Text used for the accepted translations, these manuscripts are the most powerful proof that the Old Testament has not been altered or modified at anytime.

	2. Some commentary and interpretations like explanation of Adams Fall, the Tower of Babylon, the Great Flood, Giants, the Exodus, the Life of  David and the Forgiveness of his Sins, Solomon Wisdom, etc.

	3. Books that  are considered Apocrypha (Deleted) by the Jews and Second Canonical Group by traditional Christians were found.  These include: Psalm 151: "I was smaller than my brothers, I tended my fathers sheep" used in the Coptic Church in the "Apocalyptic Service"; Psalm 154-155 used in Syrian Church Services; the Wisdom of Isiah the Son of Sirach, Macabbeans, Tobit, .. etc.

	4. Books that are considered Apocrypha by all. Examples are: the Book of Jubilee, the Book of Enoch, the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Psalms of Joshua, Lives of the Patriarchs, The Archangel Michael and King Zedekiah, The Words of the Archangel Michael, The Vision of Jacob, The Last Words of Joseph, The Last Words of Kohath, The Vision of Amraam, Hur and Miriam, The Coming of Melchizadek, ...etc.


Part II: Historic Background & Identity of the Scribes

The following is part history, part theory, and part speculation. The theory is caused by gaps in the history of the Jews during the time between the Maccabeans Jewish Nation and the Advent of Christ. History mentions the second exile and the second return to Jerusalem and the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem around 164 B.C. This is in agreement with Hunaka, the Jewish feast of light in which the freedom from the Assyrian "Oppressors" is celebrated. This is way past the time of Daniel and Nahamia, First return.

The Maccabeans also referred to as "Hasmonian Nation" was a Theocracy,  ruling by or in concert with the Jewish Priesthood. There was a religious rift caused by Jonathan Maccabe elevating himself to the position of the head priest and he was not from the sons of Sadouk, the high priest during the time of king David and a descendant of Aleazar the Son of Aaron. Josephus, the most respected Jewish historian described three major sects of Jews during the Maccabean dynasty: Saduccees, Pharisees, and Essenes. 

The Saduccees are the descendants of the priests can be considered the right wing. The Pharisees were lay teachers of the law (would be similar to leaders of Protestant Christians in attitude and thought), could be considered the left wing. And there was the Essenes about whom very little is known except what Josephus said about them: "those entering the sect transfer their property to the sect, .. " A documented from the dead see scrolls called the Charter states that: " new members must give their property to the oversear.  the would be initiate must pass a trial year as a member, and then  a second year under probation before becoming a full member. .. anyone who spits into the midst of a session of the general membership is to be punished. .."

The Roman writer Pliny wrote: "a sect called Essenes lived without women, sex, or money by the shores of the dead sea, south of Jehrico and north of Engedi." This describes the region where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

So, who are they and what did they do:

They are a religious sect who choose celibacy and poverty by choice, you might say Jewish Monks.
The Monks life is in prayer and reading the Holy Books. So, they must have transcribed books from originals brought in from the temple in Jerusalem. They also had to write commentary, interpretations, and rules of conduct which is the majority of what was discovered. Also, on rare occasions, they wrote views on the political situation of the nation they belonged to and the world at large; e.g. the manuscript: "In Praise of King Jonathan" and an attack on another ruler; e.g. "Wiles of a Wicked Woman" considered to be against his wife, Queen Alexandra who favored the Pharisees, their eternal enemies. 

The Standard Model:

This model was proposed by Fr. De-Vaux and his Dead Sea Scrolls Committee. It proposes that the Essenes lived in the hills south of the Dead Sea using caves for shelters and a large cave for congregational meetings. The large cave which was excavated in the 50's has a middle hall that looks like an assembly hall with a large pile of rocks in the middle that is called the large table. The theory postulates that they numbered between 50 and 200 sect members that gathered daily for prayer and communion (shared meals) and worked most of the day on transcribing religious documents like the ones that were found. 

They must have used caves in the immediate area for safe keeping, like library rooms. It also postulates that they were not on good terms with the government in Jerusalem and in constant fear of invasion by Romans, and Assyrians. This developed an apocalyptic (latter days) attitude evident in many of the writings referring to the "Kittim" which is equated with the evil Roman Empire, and the Wicked Priest who was the Hasmonian leader of the time because he was king and head priest. 

Also, the theory stipulates that the Qumran site was the headquarters of the Essence movement where the Teacher of Righteousness, the leader of the sect and his immediate followers resided. It also stipulates that the situation described continued from around 150 B.C. to 50 B.C at which time the movement was scattered by the Roman Invasion of Palestine in 63 B.C. by he Roman General Aemilius Scaurus.

Part 3: The New Model

In Part 2, we presented the standard model of what the group could have been. Basically, a sect in disagreement with Saducees (Theocracy), and Pharisees (Opposition), and in continuous fear of foreign invasion from Romans and Assyrians.

The New Model is the  opposite. What if the Essens were allied with the Saducees (theocracy) and was working in good terms with the Jewish Priesthood and the Maccabean Ruler. They then would have complete access to everything. Their writings would definitely have the seal of approval of the government and the leaders of the rabbis (Jewish priests) in Jerusalem. This seems (to me) to be the case  because a major finding is exact copies of all the books of the Torah (Old Testament) in Rabbinic  Hebrew. The only missing book was the book of Ester. But Ester is considered by the Jews as a short book of history, a story from exile of limited value and is actually considered apokrypha (deleted),  not part of the Jewish Translations of the Old Testament. Their also would have been frequent journeys from Qumran to Jerusalem and vice versa. Also, Jewish families would have been involved in visits and services to the "monks"?

Now, assuming the New Model is correct, there are many missing facts that include:

1. A question about when exactly the movement started,
2. Who the leaders of the movement were, at least one or two,
3. Who the first leader was. Could it be King Jonathan Macabbean himself, one of his two sons?
4. When they refer to the Son of Righteousness are they referring to their temporal leader, founder of their movement, one that came, or one to come,
5. When did the movement end. Did it end with the Roman Invasion in 63 B.C. Did it end at  a later date between 63 B.C and 5 A.D (Birth of Christ), 38 A.D. (His Crucifixion), or did it end even later like 67 A.D. when The Roman General Titus destroyed the temple?
6. Is their a relation between the Essenes and Massada (The Massacre of a sect that held out for 40 months)?
7. Is their a relation between Essenes and those mentioned by Ghamliel in Acts: " Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space; And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed." (Acts 5:34-38). Knowing that Ghamliel was a Pharisees, and the new model postulates disagreement between Essenes and Pharisees. 

These questions have not been answered yet! There is no mention of  Essenes  in the new testament, but the sects mentioned are: Saducees, Pharisees, and in one place Zealouts. Could the Essenes be the Zealouts. All these questions have not been answered.

Celibacy and Free Choice Poverty are Christian virtues, but they are not new because now there is evidence of  the practice of both virtues by the Essenes.  One question I have, did Paul and the other Apostles know about this sect and their practices. Paul came from a Jewish sect, he exalted celibacy, hand work and poverty by choice. Remember that he said: "I am a Pharisees the son of a Pharisees." He also wrote: "So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better."
(I Corinth 7:38), He also wrote: "as poor, yet making many rich." (II Corinth 6:10).

Part 4: Names of Some Topics translated to English

	The authors of the book, I referenced before did actual translations from Hebrew to English. They chose to skip the biblical text corresponding to the Old Testament in common use and concentrated their effort on the othee manuscripts. Here are Names of Topics with occasional comments:

 1.  The Damascus Document,
 2.  Talse (Stories) of he (twelve) patriarchs,
 3.  Thanksgiving Psalms (The Thanksgiving Scrolls0,
 4.  A Commentary on Habakkuk,
 5.  Charter of a Jewish Sectarian Association,
 6.  Charter of Israel in the Last Days,
 7.  Priestly Blessings of the Last Days,
 8.  The War Scroll,
 9.  The Words of Moses (beyond the five books of Moses),
10.  The Book of Secrets,
11.  Tongues of Fire,
12.  A Vision of the New Jerusalem,
13.  Festival Prayers,
14.  A List of Burried Treasures,
15.  Apochrypha Psalm,
16.  A Reworking of Genesis and Exodus (like extra remarks),
17.  Ordinances, 
18.  An account of the Story of Samuel (commentary),
19.  Commentaries on Isiah,
20.  A Commentary on Hosea,
21.  A Commentary on Nahum,
22.  Commentaries on Psalms,
23.  The Last days, Commentary on Selected Verses,
24.  A Collection of Messianic Proof tests,
25.  A Commentary on Consoling Passages in Scripture (bible studies),
26.  The Last Days: An Interpretaion of Selected Verses,
27.  A Lament of Zion (typical of old testament prophets),
28.  The Ages of the World,
29.  A Sectarian History,
30.  Wiles of the Wicked Woman,
31.  In Praise of Wisdom (Proverbs),
32.  A Horoscope Written in Code,
33.  The Book of Giants (An Apokrypha Book for the Period before Noah),
34.  The Words of Levi (An Apokrypha Book),
35.  The Last Words of Naphtali (An Apokrypha Book),
36.  A Paraphrase of Genesis and Exodus,
37.  Israel and the Holy Land,
38.  Enoch and the Watchers (more about the life of Enoch),
39.  The Healing of King Nabonidus (Similar to Coptic Tradition),
40.  The Vision of Daniel (Similar to Coptic tradition),
41.  A Vision of the Son of God?,
42.  The Acts of a King,
43.  A Commentary on the Law of Moses (bible studies),
44.  Commentaries on Genesis (bible studies),
45.  Portions of Sectarian Law (laws of the sect),
46.  Ritual Purity Laws Concerning Liquids (Rituals of washing, drinking, sprinkling of water & blood),
47.  Rule of Initiation (sectarian rituals),
48.  The Ashes of the Red Heifer (subject of contraversy in 1997),
49.  Ritual Purity Laws Concerning Menstrruation (explanation of cleansiness),
50.  Law Concerning Lots,
51.  A Liturgy of Blessing and Cursing,
52.  Laws for Purification, 
53.  Laws About Gleaning (permission for the poor to take the left overs of the fields),
54.  The War of the Messiah,
55.  The Sage (Son of Righteousness) to the "Children of Dawn" (Essenes),
56.  The Parable of the Bountiful Tree.

Some manuscripts are no more than one or two paragraphs, others are 2-6 pages long. Since they are now available in English in the Book the Dead Sea Scroll, they are worth being looked over. Especially the commentaries.

Part 5: A Sample of Scroll Writings (English Translation)
                             The Secret of the Way Things Are 
      (Qumran Cave 4 Fragments 4Q410-4Q413, 4Q415-4Q421,4Q423, 4Q426)


Out of 56 texts it is difficult to decide which piece to pick.   I chose this one because it has breadth in thought and subject. The Secret of the Way Things Are is a good piece of advice to follow the commandments of God and to realize that good and evil are always present in the life of mortals now and then : Here the sage (leader) is speaking to his children (disciples):

Note: Square Brackets used to indicate missing text.

4Q412:  Impose discipline on your [lips], and on your tongue double doors, [...] Meditate on righteous words. [....] to those who seek [....] Always with your mouth praise [God ... ] your trembling [...] Give joy to His name [...] in the general assembly [...] day and night [...]

4Q418: [...] the secret of the way things are, and learn the nature of the name and gaze at the faculties [...] [....] has made him. Then you will understand the nature of mortal man and the weight of [...] his spirit, and learn the secret of the way things are, the weight of the eras and the measure of [...]

[...] when years begin and when eras end [...] everything that has happened in it, why it was and what will be in [...] His eras that He revealed to the ears of those who understand the secret of the way things are [...] you are one who understands, when you  observe all these things [...] by its hand is the weighing of your deeds with the era [...] Whatever He leaves with you guard carefully [...]

4Q426: [...] glory and a measure of true knowledge and long life [...] those who keep all his commandments; but the seed of the wicked [...] [...] God has put into my heart true knowledge and understanding [..]

4Q410: [... if you] transgress any of [...] [...] [...] curse after curse will cling to you [...] upon you and you will not have any peace therefore [...] [...] what is truly good and what is truly evil [...] [...] all the days of eternity.

And now,  I, with [the help of the Lord] in the spirit [...] [...] he will not lie [...]  The oracle concerns [...], 
The vision is about the house of [....], for I have seen [...]


4Q413: Discipline and insight and wisdom I shall teach you.  Now consider the ways of humanity and the activities of the human race. [...] a man. He enlarged his share in the knowledge of God's truth, and to the degree a man loathes everything evil, [his judgement] shall not be what his ears hear and what his eyes see. 

      So now, mercy [...] of the forefathers, and consider the years of [each] generation, as God has shown [to ...]

4Q415: [...] the secret of men [...] . You are needy, and [....] your poverty is your counsel [...] Test these things by the secret of the way things are [...] from the place of [origins] and by the weight [...]

4Q417: [...] You are one who understands [...] [....] the wonderful secrets [... fearful things you will master ...] 
[..... why things are and how they are ...]  [... why]  [things are and why they continue to be  ...] [... at night meditate on the secret  of why  things are and investigate it at all times, and then you will know truth and evil, wisdom [and falsehood ... Consider the wicked] in all their ways, with all their punishments throughout the world-eras and the eternal punishment and then you will know the difference between good [and evil] deeds, for the God of knowledge is the Confidant of Truth, and in the secret of the way things are He has made plain its basis [...] what is its nature and the governing principle of its deeds for every [...] He has made plain to the mind of every [man] how to live by the nature of His understanding; and He  has made plain [...] and by the faculty of understanding [He revealed] the enigmas of His purpose with blameless conduct [in all] His deeds. Inquire into these things at all times, give careful thought to all their effects, and then you will know [eternal] glory with His wonderful secrets and His might deeds......


	As I read this text, I feel that I am reading Judio-Christian  teachings similar to Proverbs, per say.

William Hanna
St. Louis, Missouri