This is the official version of the discovery of the Qumran scrolls. However, it is possible that the Bedouins specifically combed the caves in search of treasures. In any case, when the opportunity arose to trade finds, they did not fail to take advantage of it. In 1952, an international scientific expedition set out in the Judean Desert in search of new scrolls. And here a real archaeological war broke out between scientists and local tribes. The nomads tried to be the first to take possession of the manuscripts and then sell them to archaeologists. Often they were lucky, and the scientists had to buy back the scrolls. In this case, the most valuable information was lost - in which caves and how the manuscripts were found, how they were located, etc. Therefore, archaeologists, in turn, sought to get to the storage facilities before the Bedouins did.
The “cold” archaeological war, thank God, did not develop into a “hot” one, but still bore its sad fruits. Many legends regarding the Qumran finds are connected precisely with the fact that scientists did not have the opportunity to quietly carry out their work, and the first manuscripts found and published, as it turned out later, were not directly related to the main part of what was stored in caves on the shores of the Dead Sea. The work of archaeologists and the painstaking desk work of scientists deciphering and translating manuscripts lasted for four decades. Meanwhile, the sensation-loving public was discussing the “Quumran secrets,” which supposedly were supposed to blow up our entire understanding of the era of Jesus Christ and refute the Gospel.
One of the anti-Gospel theses says that many of the things that the Gospel talks about were invented by Christianized Greeks, but they could not have existed in the ancient Jewish environment. In fact, the Greeks were accused of either inventing or editing the Gospel. For example, the expression “Son of God” is often found there. They said that this expression in relation to Christ arose not at all in the Jewish environment, but in the Hellenized Christian communities of Asia Minor, that this was a purely pagan motive, inspired by Greek mythology about the supernatural birth of various heroes. Meanwhile, such an expression is found in the Qumran manuscripts, and it refers specifically to the coming Messiah.
How the myth was born
Oddly enough, the main “culprit” for the emergence of rumors was... the priest. This was a prominent Catholic biblical scholar, the leader of an archaeological expedition, Father Roland de Vaux. He suggested that the ruins of Qumran were a monastery that belonged to the ancient Jewish sect of the Essenes. Four of the seven scrolls that were found first and immediately published spoke about the structure and life of this sect.
Remains of fortifications were found at Qumran, and many manuscripts were found nearby in caves. Trying to determine what exactly he was excavating, Abbot Roland de Vaux thought in terms of a Catholic monastery. It is known that medieval Catholic (as well as Orthodox) monasteries were not only centers of spiritual life, but also military fortresses and centers of education, where books were stored and copied. In any monastery, the central place was occupied by the library and scriptorium (room for copying books). As it seemed to the leader of the expedition, he discovered all this among the ruins of Qumran. In addition, the life of the Essene community, described in published manuscripts, was very reminiscent of the monastic way of life.
In itself, the hypothesis of Father Roland de Vaux is quite acceptable. However, around the work of scientists who deciphered the manuscripts, there were absurd rumors - the same type as newspaper “sensations” about how Christ was “really” born, or that “science has proven” that Christ visited the Himalayas... in a word, something that has nothing to do with real science.
In the first published manuscripts, a certain “Teacher of Righteousness” was repeatedly mentioned. As a result, a scheme emerged: monastery + Essenes + Teacher of Righteousness. This is where speculation about a certain “Essene Christ” was born, stories about which, they say, inspired the authors of the Gospel when telling about Jesus. This myth existed for decades and collapsed only after the publication in 1991 of all the scrolls and the revision of the conclusions made by the archaeological expeditions of 1951-1956.
Of the 900 texts found near Qumran, only 11 were in complete scrolls, and all the rest had to be reconstructed from about 25 thousand fragmentary scraps, many of which were no larger than a postage stamp. The work on restoring the texts was completed only by the beginning of the 60s. And only in the 90s of the last century it became possible to systematize the Qumran scrolls.
All of them date back to the 3rd century. BC - beginning of the 1st century according to R.H. and are written in Hebrew and Aramaic, a small number in ancient Greek. Only a third of them were written by members of various Jewish sects: Essenes, Sadducees, Zealots, etc. About a third are biblical scrolls, in which all the books of the Old Testament are presented in fragments, with the exception of the book of Esther. Their text as a whole does not differ from the now standard Masoretic, but still has a number of interesting discrepancies. About a quarter are non-biblical, non-sectarian texts. They are especially interesting because they allow us to analyze the religious beliefs of the Jews of Palestine during the Second Temple period (538 BC - 70 AD). The remaining texts are too poorly preserved and cannot be identified.
It has been established that most (perhaps all) of the scrolls were written outside of Qumran.
What did you dig up...
What does modern science say about Qumran? Firstly, the “monastic” hypothesis of Father R. de Vaux is called into question. Archaeologists have concluded that the “monastery” was most likely the well-fortified country estate of some noble Jew. They were engaged in agriculture and crafts. Many luxury items and money were found on the territory of Qumran. This is absolutely impossible for the settlement of the Essenes, who were a mendicant sect and shunned any connection with the world of material wealth.
Secondly, Roland de Vaux’s beautiful theory about the Qumran scriptorium, where books were copied, did not stand up to criticism. Only one inkwell was found in the ruins, while an examination of the handwritings showed that the texts were written by more than five hundred different people! Not even the largest medieval monastery could boast of so many scribes.
Today it is obvious that the Qumran manuscripts are not the result of the activities of monastic scribes, but a library. More precisely, library collections, most likely taken here from Jerusalem shortly before the siege of the city by the Romans in 68 AD. They were taken to different places in Judea and there they were placed in vessels for safekeeping, so that they could later return and be used again. It is even possible that the Jews evacuated the library, which was located directly in the Jerusalem Temple, and what was found at Qumran is a small part of it.
The Essenes were finally “evicted” from Qumran after the publication of all the manuscripts in 1991-92, when, following the hypothesis of the monastic scriptorium, the myth that the library belonged to the Essene community collapsed. About 900 texts were found at Qumran. All of them date back to the 3rd century. BC - beginning of the 1st century according to R.H. Of these, only a few dozen turned out to be “Essene”. In modern terms, the four sectarian scrolls, which were published first and misled everyone, turned out to be part of the “special storage” of a large library. Basically, the Dead Sea Scrolls are well-known biblical texts, in which almost all the books of the Old Testament are presented in fragments, as well as non-biblical non-sectarian manuscripts.
The Essenes are a religious sect that arose in Judea in the 2nd half of the 2nd century. BC and existed until the 1st century. according to R.H. According to ancient authors (Philo of Alexandria, Pliny the Elder, Josephus, St. Hippolytus of Rome), the Essenes lived throughout Palestine, including in cities, in rather isolated communities, which were characterized by common property, collective work and life. They condemned war, slavery and trade, rejected blood sacrifices, and had a special ritual of ritual ablutions. Some Essenes led a celibate lifestyle.
The Essenes have long been considered the forerunners of the Christians. However, the similarity is purely external. Their religious views and spiritual practices have little in common with the teachings of Jesus Christ.
What have you read
After the publication of the entire Qumran corpus of manuscripts, the answer to the question became obvious: do they refute the gospel history. Unfortunately for fans of sensations: no. Moreover, the Qumran scrolls fully confirm it. The “Teacher of Righteousness” turned out to be a character characteristic only of sectarian scrolls, while non-sectarian manuscripts are filled with prophecies about the coming Messiah, Whom the Jews of that era were eagerly awaiting and writing about. The last texts found at Qumran were created shortly before the Birth of Jesus Christ, so they very accurately reflect the then mood of that era. The Jewish people were waiting for the birthday of the Messiah, but we knew about this even before Qumran.
However, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide very clear evidence of why, having waited for Christ, the Jews rejected Him. Among the Qumran scrolls were found the manuscripts “Messianic Collection” and “Messiah of Heaven and Earth.” This is a collection of biblical prophecies and non-biblical texts that show exactly what kind of Messiah the Jews were waiting for. And here, again, Qumran did not give anything new. The Messiah from the non-biblical texts of Qumran is a political and military leader who will miraculously defeat all the enemies and enslavers of Israel and place the Jews at the head of the nations of the world.
It is interesting that among the manuscripts there is also a biblical book of the prophet Isaiah, who is called the Old Testament evangelist. It is precisely Isaiah that contains prophecies that the Messiah, being God, will become a man, being seedlessly born of a virgin, that He will take upon himself the sins of the world and voluntarily accept death for people. The authors of the Gospel constantly refer to these prophecies. But the idea of the Messiah's suffering was not popular among the Jews. None of the Qumran non-biblical manuscripts contain a description of the Savior's suffering for the sins of His people - only descriptions of His power, glory and power.
The Gospel Christ, Who came to free people from slavery to sin, Who said: “My kingdom is not of this world,” did not at all correspond to the ideal of the Messiah, Who was expected in Judea at the turn of the epochs. In this sense, Qumran does not add anything new to the conflict between Jesus and the religious teachers of Israel, which the Gospel speaks of and which ultimately ended with Calvary...
This is the result of almost fifty years of research into the Dead Sea manuscripts. They did not refute the Gospel or shake Christianity. Moreover, from the point of view of science, the Gospel has received additional weight; it has been tested once again, this time by Qumran. And even though some people with esoteric romanticism continue to talk about sensational discoveries at Qumran, supposedly revealing secret knowledge or hidden truth, from the point of view of modern science, all these statements are nothing more than outdated gossip that arose in the 60s of the last century. And there is no need to drag them into the new century.
The term "sect" was coined by Josephus in the 1st century AD. to describe the religious life of Palestine at that time and is more consistent with the modern concept of “religious movement.” In the modern world, a sect is thought of as something not only separated from the general direction, but also opposing itself to it (for example, the “White Brotherhood” in relation to the Orthodox or Catholic Church, etc.). In Palestine at the time of Christ there was no single general direction, but a number of religious movements that were not only comparable in number of members, but also mutually influenced each other.
Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls are religious works, which on our website are divided into two types: “biblical” and “non-biblical.” “Tefillin and mezuzahs” are given a separate category. Documents of a non-literary nature, mainly papyri found not in the caves of Qumran, but in other places, are grouped into sections “Documents” and “Letters”, and into a separate small group “Exercises in writing”. There is also a separate group “Unidentified Texts”, which includes many fragments in poor condition, which scientists were unable to classify into one of the available categories. As a rule, the title of a particular manuscript refers to one text. However, in some cases, one title was assigned to several works. Sometimes the reason for this may be that the scroll has been reused - that is, new text has been written over old, blurred or scraped text (so-called palimpsest). In other cases, one text is written on the front of the scroll and another on the back. The reason for such a classification may also be errors or disagreements among scientists who have not reached a consensus on the classification of the fragments under study.
Shai Alevi
Right: MAS 1o Scroll back (verso) – unidentified text Photo: Shai Alevi
Sometimes researchers mistakenly believed that individual fragments belonged to the same manuscript. But sometimes these were excerpts from the same work - for example, the biblical Book of Leviticus, but from different copies. In some cases, letters are added to the names or numbers of the rolls to distinguish different copies of the same work. In the case of the above-mentioned book of Leviticus these are: 4Q26, 4Q26a, 4Q26b, 4Q26c.
Types of essays
Typically, researchers classify literary works among the Dead Sea Scrolls according to their content or genre. Scholars have differing opinions on some specific categories, and the terms we use are chosen only to aid the user's navigation through the site and not to contribute to already confusing scholarly discussions. Moreover, the same text can be classified into several categories.
Biblical texts
Holy Scripture (מקרא) – copies of books included in the Hebrew Bible. Among the Dead Sea Scrolls, all the books of the Hebrew Bible were discovered except the Book of Esther (Esther). These are the oldest biblical texts that have reached us.
Translations of Scripture (תרגום המקרא) – translations of biblical texts into Aramaic and Greek.
Tefillin and mezuzahs
Tefillin (phylacteries) and mezuzahs contain passages from the Torah, and are used in Jewish ritual according to Deuteronomy 6:6-9:
“Let these words, which I command you today, be in your heart... And you shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and let them be a mark between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Tefillin (תפילין) - rolled pieces of parchment placed in special boxes and intended to be a “sign on the hand” and “a mark between the eyes.” More than two dozen sheets of parchment with text for tefillin were discovered in the caves of Qumran, and several more tefillin were found in the Murabbaat, Hever and Tze'elim gorges.
1 cm by 2-3 cm
2.5 cm by 4 cm
Shai Alevi
1 cm by 2-3 cm
Right: 4Q135 4Q Phylactery H - tefillin text,
2.5 cm by 4 cm
Photo:
Shai Alevi
They are identified by the biblical quotations they contain and by certain features of their writing, particularly the small print. These texts are identical to those required by the rabbinic law that is observed in Jewish religious practice to this day. However, some of the found copies also contain additional quotations from the Bible. Since the tefillin from Qumran are the only examples we have from the Second Temple period, we do not know whether their characteristic features reflect the tradition of one specific community, or a tradition widespread among the people.
Mezuzahs (מזוזה) - sheets of parchment with text from the Hebrew Bible, placed in special capsules and attached to doorposts. Eight mezuzahs were found in the Qumran caves and several more in Wadi Murabbaat. The biblical quotations written on these mezuzahs are identical to those texts that are placed on the doorposts of Jewish homes today.
Non-biblical writings
Non-biblical works are texts that are not included in the Hebrew Bible. At the same time, some of them could well be considered sacred by both their authors and readers of that time.
Apocrypha (אפוקריפה) – this term refers to specific works that are part of the Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments, but are not part of the Hebrew Bible and the Protestant Old Testament. Three similar apocrypha have been discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls: Ben Sira (also known as the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach or Sirach), the Book of Tobit, and the Epistle of Jeremiah.
Calendar texts (חיבורים קלנדריים) – calendar calculations found in the caves of Qumran and predominantly oriented towards the solar rather than the lunar cycle. These calendars are an important source of information about holidays and the so-called priestly successions (משמרות). Some of them are written in a secret script (an unusual way of writing for Hebrew), as this information may have been secret and esoteric. These manuscripts are especially valuable for their orderliness and systematic listing of days and months, thanks to which scientists reconstructed the missing parts of the calendar. The most common of these calendars includes 364 days, divided into four seasons of 13 weeks each.
Exegetical texts (חיבורים פרשניים) – essays that analyze and interpret specific biblical works. The most famous of these texts are the so-called “pesharim” (see below); as well as “halakhic midrash” and interpretations of the book of Genesis.
Pesher (פשר) – a separate type of commentary literature that very narrowly interprets biblical prophecies as relating specifically to the history of the Qumran community. Pesharim are particularly focused on the eschatological idea of the “last days.” These comments are very easily recognized by the frequent use of the word "pesher", which links the Bible quotations and the sectarian explanations that interpret them.
Historical works (חיבורים היסטוריים) – texts dedicated to certain real events, and sometimes also commenting on these events from a moral or theological point of view. These passages mention historical figures such as Queen Salome (Shlamtsion) or Greek kings, and many of the events they describe take place in the midst of wars and rebellions.
Halakhic texts (חיבורים הלכתיים) – texts primarily concerned with halakha (a term used in later rabbinic literature), i.e., discussion of Jewish religious law. The Hebrew Bible contains the widest range of halakhic texts, discussing a wide variety of issues: civil relationships, ritual requirements and commandments (for example, the observance of holidays), temple service, ritual purity and impurity, behavior within the prescribed ethics, etc. Many Qumran texts interpret and expand the traditional biblical view of these laws. And among them there are also such as, for example, the Charter of the community or the halachic parts of the Damascus Document (also known as the Scroll of the Damascus Covenant), which are devoted to specific rules and regulations of sectarians. Several works, the most significant of which is Miktsat Maasei HaTorah (MMT, also known as the Halachic Letter), are devoted to polemics with opponents of the sect.
Circumbiblical texts (חיבורים על המקרא) – writings that retell scripture in new ways, expanding or embellishing biblical narratives or halakhic texts with new details. This category includes, for example, the Apocrypha of Genesis, the Book of Enoch and the Temple Scroll. Some of the circum-biblical texts, such as the Book of Jubilees or the Aramaic Document of Levi, may have had sacred status among some ancient religious groups.
Poetic and liturgical texts (חיבורים שיריים וליטורגיים) – Most of the poetry and hymns of praise discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls are closely related to biblical poetry. Many texts use themes and expressions characteristic of a later period, and this primarily applies to sectarian works, such as the Hymns of Thanksgiving. Some of these texts may have been composed for personal study and reflection, others for formal liturgical service: for example, Daily Prayers, Feast Prayers, and Songs of the Sabbath Burnt Offering.
Instructive texts (חיבורים חכמתיים) – Some of the Qumran scrolls continue the tradition of instructive or philosophical literature, such biblical books as Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes and such apocryphal works as the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon. In these works, practical advice about everyday life is combined with deep reflections on the nature of things and the fate of humanity. Works such as the Instruction and the Mysteries combine pragmatic and philosophical themes with apocalyptic and halakhic issues.
Sectarian works (חיבורים כיתתיים) – writings using specific terminology and describing the specific theology, worldview and history of a separate religious group that called itself "Yachad" ("Together", "Community"). The central group of these texts describes the rules of the community with a special emphasis on the expectation of the end of the world, which is seen by the members of this group as inevitable and imminent. Previously, scholars had attributed all of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Essene community, one of the three leading Jewish sects of the Second Temple period. Today, most researchers believe that, taken together, these texts rather reflect several related religious communities at different stages of formation and development, rather than a single sect. And even texts classified as “sectarian” were most likely composed by representatives of different groups within or outside the Yahad community. Three of the first seven scrolls discovered in Cave No. 1 were the most significant in identifying sectarian texts and are still the best known manuscripts. These are the Charter of the Community, the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness and the Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Habakkuk (Pesher Havakkuk).
Documents and letters
Letters of Bar Kokhba (איגרות בר כוכבא) – fifteen war messages that were preserved in leather fur in Cave No. 5/6 in Hever Gorge, also known as the Cave of Messages. All the letters in this bundle were compiled by a person from the inner circle of the leader of the uprising against the Romans, Shimon Bar Kochba, and most of them were written on behalf of the latter.
Archive of Babatha (ארכיון בבתא) – personal archive of a woman who apparently sought refuge in the Judean Desert during the Bar Kokhba revolt. These documents were also found in Cave No. 5/6 in the Hever Gorge (the so-called Cave of Messages) and represent thirty-five financial documents, including marriage contracts, land deeds, and trade agreements. All the documents were wrapped in a bundle and placed in a leather bag, which was then hidden in a hidden crevice of the cave. Apparently, the careful choice of hiding place was made with the expectation of future use of these documents. The documents are very well preserved and contain exact dates from 94 to 132 AD. n. e. The archive includes texts in Aramaic, Nabataean and Greek.
Archive of Eleazar ben Shmuel (ארכיון אלעזר בן שמואל) – In addition to the archives of Bar Kochba and Babata, another small set of interesting documents was discovered in the Cave of Messages - five contracts belonging to a certain Elazar son of Shmuel, a peasant from Ein Gedi. They were discovered inside a leather bag in the same secret cave crevice as Babata's archive. Another papyrus that belonged to Elazar was hidden among the reeds.
Presumably Qumran texts (תעודות לכאורה ממערות קומראן) – and finally, there are some documents sold by the Bedouins to the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem as supposed Qumran manuscripts, but it is possible that they were actually found in other places. In at least one of these cases, belonging to the Qumran scrolls is very likely. Another fragment is a financial account in Greek, supposedly written on the back of the original Qumran scroll.
The Qumran scrolls are written mainly in Hebrew, partly in Aramaic; there are fragments of Greek translations of biblical texts. Hebrew of non-biblical texts was the literary language of the Second Temple era; some passages are written in post-biblical Hebrew. The main type used is the square Hebrew font, a direct predecessor of the modern printed font. The main writing material is parchment made from goatskin or sheepskin, and occasionally papyrus. Charcoal ink (with the sole exception of the Genesis apocrypha). Paleographic data, external evidence, and radiocarbon dating allow these manuscripts to be dated to the period from 250 BC. e. up to 68 AD e. (late Second Temple period) and consider them as remains of the library of the Qumran community.
Publishing texts
Documents found at Qumran and other areas are published in the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (DJD) series, consisting of 39 volumes published between 1955 and 2005. published by Oxford University Press. The first 8 volumes are written in French, the rest in English. The chief editors of the publication were R. de Vaux (volumes I-V), P. Benoit (volumes VI-VII), I. Strungel (volume VIII) and E. Tov (from volume IX).
Document publications contain the following components:
- A general introduction describing the bibliographic data, physical description including fragment dimensions, material, list of features such as errors and corrections, orthography, morphology, paleography, and dating of the document. A list of variant readings is also provided for biblical texts.
- Transcription of the text. Physically lost elements - words or letters - are given in square brackets.
- Translation (for non-biblical work).
- Notes regarding complex or alternative readings.
- Photographs of fragments, sometimes infrared, usually on a 1:1 scale.
The final volume of the series contains an annotated list of all published texts. Some documents were previously published in scholarly journals devoted to biblical studies.
Implications for Biblical Studies
In terms of their textual status, the biblical texts found at Qumran belong to five different groups.
- Texts written by members of the Qumran community. These texts are distinguished by a special orthographic style, characterized by the addition of numerous matres lectionis, making the text easier to read. These texts make up about 25% of the biblical scrolls.
- Proto-Masoretic texts. These texts are close to the modern Masoretic text and constitute about 45% of all biblical texts.
- Pre-Samaritan texts. These texts repeat some features of the Samaritan Pentateuch. Apparently, one of the texts from this group became the basis for the Samaritan Pentateuch. These tests account for 5% of biblical manuscripts.
- Texts close to the Hebrew source of the Septuagint. These texts show close similarities to the Septuagint, for example in the arrangement of verses. However, the texts of this group differ significantly from each other, not forming such a close group as the above groups. Such scrolls make up 5% of the Qumran biblical texts.
- The remaining texts have no similarities with any of the above groups.
Before the Qumran finds, analysis of the biblical text was based on medieval manuscripts. The Qumran texts have greatly expanded our knowledge of the text of the Old Testament from the Second Temple period.
- Previously unknown readings help to better understand many details of the text of the Old Testament.
- The textual diversity reflected in the five groups of texts described above gives a good idea of the multiplicity of textual traditions that existed during the Second Temple period.
- The Qumran Scrolls provided valuable information about the process of textual transmission of the Old Testament during the Second Temple period.
- The reliability of ancient translations has been confirmed, especially the Septuagint. The found scrolls belonging to the quarter group of texts confirm the correctness of the previously made reconstructions of the Hebrew original of the Septuagint.
Language of the Qumran manuscripts
Texts created by the members of the Qumran community themselves play a huge role in studying the history of the Hebrew language. The most important of this group are the "Rule" (1QSa), "Blessings" (1QSb), "Hymns" (1QH), "Commentary on Habakkuk" (1QpHab), "War Scroll" (1QM) and "Temple Scroll" (11QT) . The language of the Copper Scroll (3QTr) differs from that of these documents and can be attributed to the spoken language of the time, a precursor to Mishnaic Hebrew.
The language of the remaining documents created by members of the community, on the one hand, is close in vocabulary to early biblical Hebrew. On the other hand, features common to Late Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew are absent from the language of the Qumran manuscripts (Qumran Hebrew). Based on this, scholars suggest that members of the Qumran community, in written and perhaps spoken language, deliberately avoided trends characteristic of the spoken language of the time, such as, for example, the increased influence of Aramaic dialects. To protect themselves from the outside world, members of the sect used terminology based on biblical expressions, thereby symbolizing a return to the “pure” religion of the generation of the Exodus.
Thus, Qumran Hebrew is not a transitional link between late biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew, but represents a separate branch in the development of the language.
Unknown scrolls
It is interesting to note that, apparently, not all of the Dead Sea Scrolls have yet fallen into the hands of scientists. After completing the publication of the DJD series, in 2006, Professor Hanan Eshel presented to the scientific community a hitherto unknown Qumran scroll containing fragments of the book of Leviticus. Unfortunately, the scroll was not discovered during new archaeological excavations, but was accidentally seized by the police from an Arab smuggler: neither one nor the others suspected the true value of the find until Eshel, who was invited to the examination, established its origin. This case once again reminds us that a significant part of the Dead Sea Scrolls may pass through the hands of thieves and antiquities dealers, gradually falling into disrepair.
The Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christianity
Of particular interest is the connection between the Qumran manuscripts and early Christianity: it turned out that the Dead Sea Scrolls, created several decades before the birth of Christ, contain many Christian ideas (an approaching turning point in history, etc.) The Qumran community itself, which arose several centuries before this event , is a monastery in the Christian sense of the word: strict rules, communal meals, obedience to the abbot (called the Righteous Teacher) and abstinence from sexual intercourse. These facts made it possible, in particular, to more reasonably consider Christianity as a natural internal development of Judaism, and not as a relatively independently arising religion. Such an understanding, on the one hand, allows Christians to defend themselves against attacks on the lack of connection between the religion of the New and Old Testaments and the alleged “ignorance” of Christ in matters of the Jewish religion, and, on the other hand, demonstrates the correctness of Friedrich Nietzsche, who linked Judaism and Christianity into a single “ Judeo-Christian civilization."
On the other hand, supporters of the idea of the emergence of Christianity as an independent religion, recall that initially Christianity actually arose as a sect that interpreted Judaism outside the main, traditional interpretation (like many other sects before and after Christianity, such as the Hellenists, Seduseans, Karaites, and Reformed movement in Judaism). However, with the advent of Paul’s ideas, a breakdown occurred that separated the sect, which was originally in the Jewish tradition (although not in the “mainstream”) from Judaism. It is this moment, and not the original evolution of Christianity within Judaism, that is the moment of the emergence of a new and separate religion. The fact that Christianity developed gradually from Judaism does not mean that such a development is a natural internal development, otherwise the ideas of Christianity (which do not relate to the Written and Oral Torah, that is, the Tanakh and Talmud) would have been reflected in the ideas of traditional Judaism.
Literature
- S. Rysev.
- Amusin I.D. Finds near the Dead Sea. - Science, 1965. - 104 p. - 30,000 copies.
- Amusin I.D. Qumran community. - Science, 1983. - 328 p.
- Tantlevsky, I.R. History and ideology of the Qumran community. - St. Petersburg: 1994. - 367 p. - ISBN 5-85803-029-7
- Tov, E. Textology of the Old Testament. - M.: BBI, 2003
- Angel Sáenz-Badillos, John Elwolde, A History of the Hebrew Language, Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0521556341, 9780521556347
- D. Yurevich. Prophecies about Christ in the Dead Sea Scrolls. - St. Petersburg: Aksion estin, 2004. - 254 p., ill.
Links
- Article " Dead Sea Scrolls» in the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
Texts of the Qumran manuscripts
- On the Israel Museum website:
- Amusin, I. D. Qumran Fragment of the Prayer of the Babylonian King Nabonidus
- Amusin, I. D. Qumran Commentary on Hosea (4QpHosb II)
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
A long work table with scissors, needles and snow-white sheets of rice paper laid out on it; a few more tables with regular computers; cabinets with black cardboard boxes and materials for work...
That's all the furnishings of a small room in the Israel Antiquities Authority, where the great mystery of conservation of the Dead Sea Scrolls is performed. Their discovery is rightfully considered the main archaeological discovery of the 20th century. And the scrolls themselves still contain secrets that remain to be unraveled.
“Golden hands are urgently required...”
The story of the discovery of the first unique Dead Sea Scrolls, their acquisition by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the subsequent search for more and more new manuscripts is well known. Unfortunately, since the discovery of these unique artifacts in the Judean Desert, many of them have suffered serious damage.
The first blow to the relics was dealt by the Bedouins who discovered them - they cut the scrolls into pieces in the hope that in this way they would be able to get more money for their sale. But, as it turned out, the restorers who worked with the scrolls also made many mistakes at first.
It took a while to realize that the scrolls had been preserved for thousands of years because they had lain sealed in jars in the absolute darkness and unique microclimate of the Dead Sea caves. Normal humidity, direct sunlight - all this led to their destruction. On top of this, the first scroll restorers glued the fragments together with ordinary adhesive tape and placed them between simple window panes. The pressure of the glass, the aging of the glue and sunlight caused the parchments to darken before our eyes.
Only women work in the scroll conservation department. It turns out that only women's hands can touch the scrolls without causing damage to them. Only they can, with minimal loss, clean them from the glue left by the tape, place them between two sheets of special transparent paper, frame them and then sew the space around the scroll with the finest thread.
Sometimes all the work has to be done under a microscope. Such a frame is then exhibited at the Israel Museum in a storage facility that maintains a microclimate corresponding to the caves of the Judean Desert.
Thanks to the experience and truly golden hands of these women, the process of documenting and conserving the scrolls has been completed over the past two decades. And now they are actively involved in the process of photographing the scrolls based on the method of spectral photography, using technology purchased by the Hebrew University from NASA.
From the darkness of millennia
According to historians, most of the Dead Sea Scrolls known today belonged to Jews who fled after the Roman defeat of the Bar Kokhba revolt (131-135) to the Judean Desert - to the very caves in which the future King David once hid from his father-in-law, King Saul.
The Jews who took refuge here were not members of the Essenes sect, considered the forerunner of Christianity. But just like the Essenes, they lived in hope of the coming of the Messiah, who would return their state to them, and lived in a commune, which they called “Yachad” (“Together”). The charter of this commune was discovered among other Qumran scrolls.
At some point, the Romans discovered the “communards” and decided to destroy them.
Anticipating inevitable death, the “Yakhadites” decided to preserve the most valuable thing they had - the holy books. Wrapping parchment and papyrus scrolls in linen, they placed them in jars, sealed them tightly and hid them in caves. There they lay until 1947, when some of them were accidentally discovered by a Bedouin shepherd.
Today, the Antiquities Department houses over 900 such manuscripts, consisting of several tens of thousands of fragments. Several hundred more such artifacts were at the disposal of Jordanian historians. Most of these scrolls are written in Hebrew, the same alphabet that Jews use today, and therefore can be easily read and understood by any Israeli schoolchild. But there are also scrolls written in Greek and Aramaic, as well as the form of the Hebrew alphabet that the Jews used even before the Babylonian exile (before 598 BC), and dated to the 8th century BC.
The found scrolls contain all the books of the Old Testament (Tanakh, as the Jews call it), with the exception of the Book of Esther, and their texts practically coincide with the biblical ones known today. Which, in turn, proves that the Bible has reached our days almost without any changes. At the same time, sometimes there are slight differences in the scrolls from the current canon, and scientists today argue whether we are talking about scribe errors or whether we have evidence that the biblical text was still edited over the centuries.
At the same time, texts were also discovered among the manuscripts that, for one reason or another, were not included in the Old Testament. This is an apocrypha to the Book of Daniel, and the Book of the War of the Sons of Light with the Sons of Darkness, and the previously unknown psalms of David, stunning with their poetic power. But, perhaps, one of the most interesting among the Qumran finds is the manuscript of the Book of Enoch - one of the most mysterious and mystical works of antiquity, not included in the biblical canon.
"The Bible of Ufology"
This is exactly what is sometimes called the “Bible of Ufology” Book of Enoch(Sefer Hanoch) supporters of the theory according to which contacts between humanity and alien intelligence played a decisive role in the development of civilization.
The basis of the Book of Enoch is the story of how angels descended from heaven to earth, began to cohabit with earthly women and passed on secret knowledge to people.
There is a mention of this in Genesis, but the Book of Enoch is a detailed and detailed story about how a detachment of two hundred celestials who rebelled against God, led by an angel named Shamkhazai, descended onto Mount Hermon, the main peak of the current Golan Heights.
These aliens not only made love to women, but also taught people various crafts, as well as magic and witchcraft. For example, an angel named Azazel taught people how to forge iron weapons; angels Kochaviel, Tamliel and Barkiel - to the sciences of the movement of the stars and the Moon and the calendar; Shamkhazai himself gave them knowledge about the magic and healing properties of plants. But at the same time, the righteous Enoch (Hanokh) refused to communicate with the rebel angels.
Therefore, the Archangel Gabriel himself began to descend to him and teach him other secret knowledge - much more true and deeper than those that Shamkhazai and his associates communicated to humanity. So Hanoch became the keeper of secret knowledge on astronomy, cosmology and ways of serving the Creator, which he passed on to his son Methuselah, who passed on to his grandson Noah, and Noah after the flood - to Seth, etc., and so this knowledge has been preserved to this day.
Other biblical sources say that Enoch did not die an ordinary death, but was taken alive into heaven, for which a certain luminous object, “like a great fiery horse,” descended from above. However, even before this, Enoch managed to visit heaven. Ufologists see in the description of his flight confirmation that Noah’s great-grandfather visited an alien ship.
In fact, the book first talks about a “large round body” made as if from pearls and surrounded by lights and flames. Nevertheless, Enoch calmly walked through this flame and found himself inside a round room with many windows through which the surrounding landscape was clearly visible. Then he heard a certain voice, fell into another, even larger luminous body and found many rooms inside it, including a round hall, and in the middle of it - a high throne.
“Before us,” say ufologists, “is a classic description of a flight on a reconnaissance boat to a spaceship in orbit and the control panel of this ship.” Mystics, of course, interpret this text completely differently. As, indeed, are the words of another biblical source - the Book of Straightness, which claims that, having been taken alive to heaven, Enoch received a new body and became the angel-ruler of the higher worlds named Metatron.
Biblical tradition dates the “Rise of Enoch” to 2773 BC, and this is exactly the period of the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Bronze Age, when the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Babylon and Egypt made a giant spiritual and technological leap forward. The Harappan civilization arose in India, and in Britain, by the way, it was at this time that Stonehenge was being built.
So the Book of Enoch actually gives a lot of reasons for thought and various kinds of hypotheses. Meanwhile, the Qumran scrolls are fraught with many other, no less attractive and exciting mysteries, to which we will definitely return more than once.
Peter LYUKIMSON
APOCRYPHA OF GENESIS
(I Q Gen. Ar.)
The manuscript, called Genesis Apocryphon (Apocrypha of Genesis), was discovered in 1947 in the 1st Qumran cave, among the first seven scrolls found in the Dead Sea area. While three scrolls - Hymns of Thanksgiving (I Q H), "War of the Sons of Light" (I Q M) and a short text of Isaiah (1Q Is b) - were acquired by Professor Sukenik, this scroll, along with the other three, is the Charter (1Q S) , Commentary on the book. Habakkuk (1Q pHab) and the full text of Isaiah (1Q Is a) - first ended up in the hands of the Syrian Metropolitan Athanasius. It was only in 1954 that the manuscript was acquired along with three others by Professor Yadin and is now kept in a special book depository in Jerusalem.
From this time on, the sequential study of the scroll begins. Moreover, the research
the manuscript turned out to be very difficult due to its extremely poor condition. Of all
Of the seven manuscripts discovered in the first cave, ours turned out to be the worst preserved.
The reason was that the manuscript was not hidden in a jug and lay there for a long time
on the cave floor, exposed to adverse atmospheric influences. A lot of work
Unrolling the scroll and preserving it was carried out by a prominent specialist in this field
Bieber-Kraut, who had already taken part in the preservation and processing of the first three scrolls.
A full description of the appearance of the manuscript and its paleography is given in the first
*“*1 2 preliminary edition by Avigad and Yadin. According to their information, the manuscript lacks
beginning and end, the skin of the manuscript is thin, light brown, the text is written in
outer side of the skin. The surviving part of the manuscript consists of four pieces,
sewn together with tendons. The three seams that hold these four panels of leather together are
completely preserved. There is also a fourth
1 Avigad-Yadin. Genesis Apocryphon.
2 Ibid., p. 12-15.
a seam that connected the next, still undiscovered piece of leather to the manuscript.
The panels are lined with horizontal lines. The lines were made with a sharp instrument, most likely bone, and therefore the lines are somewhat lighter in color than the leather. The number of lines, and thus the number of lines, is not the same on different panels of leather. On the first there are thirty-seven of them, on the second and third - thirty-five each, on the fourth - thirty-four.
Each individual piece of leather is divided by incised vertical lines that define the space between the columns. The width of the space between individual columns is 17 mm, but near the seams it reaches 26-36 mm. The width of the columns is also not uniform, varying from 8 to 13 cm, on average it is 12 cm. The height of the columns, depending on the number of lines, is from 25.5 to 27 cm. The upper margins are 22-26 mm wide, and the lower ones are 26-26 mm wide. 30 mm. The pieces of leather are also of unequal length. The first, not completely preserved, is about 45 cm and contains the remains of four columns (I-IV), of which the second column is most fully preserved; on the rest, only a few words are readable at the end of the lines. The second piece of leather, approximately 64 cm long, contains the remains of five columns (V-IX). On the third, 64 cm long, traces of seven columns (X-XVI) are visible, and the fourth, 82 cm long, includes six columns (XVII-XXII). The total length of the surviving part of the scroll is 2.83 m, width 31 cm. In total, the scroll has 22 columns, of which the most complete are columns II, XIX-XXII. The method of writing, as noted by Yadin, is the same as in other Qumran
manuscripts. The lines are written under the drawn lines. The scribe's handwriting is clear, missing letters are rare. The scribe himself corrected his mistakes: he put the missing letter above the word to which this letter belonged; According to the system generally accepted in manuscripts, he denoted the extra letter with a dot above it. There is a distance between words, although sometimes one word overlaps another. There is no separation between sentences, but chapters are separated from each other in various ways. If a chapter ends in the middle of a line, the next chapter usually begins at the beginning of the next line, sometimes indented on a new line, and at times even on the same line on which the previous chapter ended, with a little space between them.
As for the paleographic characteristics of the manuscript, according to Avigad and Yadin, the handwriting of the manuscript is not particularly different from the handwriting of some other Qumran manuscripts and is closest to the handwriting of the War of the Sons of Light scroll. According to Yadin's observation, waw and yod are not always easily distinguished in the manuscript. There are ligatures, even the middle mem is often associated with the following letter.
Avigad and Yadin pay special attention
to connect two nuns in a word. The scroll quite clearly distinguishes between the middle and final forms of writing the letters kap, mem, nun, pyo, sade.
Until the manuscript was read, scholarly reviews referred to it simply as the "fourth scroll" or "unidentified fourth scroll." When professors Albright and Trever, as a result of preliminary acquaintance with the manuscript, managed to read the names of Lamech and his wife Bitenosh on a small fragment, the researchers decided that this was an apocryphal book of Lamech, and therefore, when publishing fragments of the Milik scroll in the 1st volume of the collection of manuscripts of the Judean Desert ( DJD, I) the work was called "The Apocalypse of Lamech" (1Q 20).
However, when the manuscript was opened in full and its first publishers, Avigad and Yadin, became acquainted with the entire scroll, it turned out that the manuscript was much broader in content and that it spoke not only about Lamech, but also contained other stories from the book of Genesis, in particular, about the flood, about Noah, about Abraham. Therefore, the publishers gave it the name MGYLH HY$WNYT LBR"SYT, or Genesis Apocryphon (Apocrypha of the Book of Genesis). And despite the fact that this name met with objections from some researchers, it, as given by the first publishers of this scroll, is still preserved in the scientific literature If we turn to the contents of the manuscript, we can immediately see that it is very closely related to the first chapters of Genesis, since in accordance with their order, episodes from the life of the first patriarchs are presented. In essence, we have a free retelling of their individual stories. book of Genesis with the addition of a number of new details. Three main themes can be distinguished in the content: the first theme, telling about the miraculous birth of Noah, is associated with biblical characters: Lamech, the father of Noah, Methuselah, the father of Lamech, and Enoch, the grandfather of Lamech (about this). the remnants of table I, table II and fragments of tables III and V are told). the flood, about Noah's covenant with God, about the division of lands between Noah's heirs. The much better preserved tables XIX-XXII are devoted to the third topic - the history of the patriarch Abraham.
Despite the extreme fragmentation of the above tables, a coherent text is completely restored. The second table is better preserved. It tells about the events that tell of the miraculous birth of Noah: about the suspicions of his father Lamech regarding the origin of the child, about the explanation of Lamech on this matter with his wife, about the appeal of Lamech to his father Methuselah and through him to his grandfather Enoch regarding the origin of Noah. The story is told in the first person, from the point of view of Lamech. This was the reason that at the first partial acquaintance with the manuscript, the work was identified as the book of Lamech and was initially called “The Apocalypse of Lamech” 1. In content, but not in form and detail, this text is very similar to the story of the miraculous birth of Noah in chapters CVI-CVII of the book. Enoch. However, there, unlike our monument, the speech is conducted on behalf of Enoch. In addition, in an excerpt from the book. Enoch is completely absent from Lamech's dialogue with his wife Bitenosh. There is no such story in the Bible at all. The preliminary edition of Avigad and Yadin gives a photographic reproduction of the second table and its transcription in square script.
As for the following tables, due to their extreme fragmentation, the publishers
