History & Overview
by Ayala Sussman, Ruth Peled
The Dead Sea Scrolls refer to ancient Hebrew scrolls that were accidentally discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin boy in Israel's Judean Desert. On display today in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the scrolls have kindled popular enthusiasm as well
as serious scholarly interest over the past
half century as they reveal exciting history from the Second
Temple period (520 B.C.E.-70 C.E.) - a time of
crucial developments in the crystallization
of the monotheistic religions.
- Introduction
- Archaeological
Investigations
- Dating
of the Scrolls
- The
Essenes
- The
Qumran Library
Introduction
The Judean Desert, a region reputedly
barren, defied preconceptions and yielded
an unprecedented treasure. The young Ta'amireh
shepherd was certainly unaware of destiny
when his innocent search for a stray goat
led to the fateful discovery of Hebrew scrolls
in a long-untouched cave. One discovery led
to another, and eleven scroll-yielding caves
and a habitation site eventually were uncovered.
Since 1947 the site of these discoveries-the Qumran region (the desert plain and the adjoining
mountainous ridge) and the Qumran site have
been subjected to countless probes; not a
stone has remained unturned in the desert,
not an aperture unprobed. The Qumran settlement
has been exhaustively excavated.
The first trove found by
the Bedouins in the Judean Desert consisted
of seven large scrolls from Cave I. The unusual
circumstances of the find, on the eve of Israel's
war of independence, obstructed the initial
negotiations for the purchase of all the scrolls.
Shortly before the establishment of the state
of Israel, Professor E. L. Sukenik of the
Hebrew University clandestinely acquired three
of the scrolls from a Christian Arab antiquities
dealer in Bethlehem.
The remaining four scrolls reached the hands
of Mar Athanasius Yeshua Samuel, Metropolitan
of the Syrian Jacobite Monastery of St. Mark
in Jerusalem.
In 194-9 he traveled to the United States
with the scrolls, but five years went by before
the prelate found a purchaser.
On June 1, 1954, Mar Samuel placed an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal offering "The Four
Dead Sea Scrolls" for sale. The advertisement was brought to the attention of Yigael Yadin, Professor
Sukenik's son, who had just retired as chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and had reverted to his
primary vocation, archeology. With the aid of intermediaries, the four scrolls were purchased from Mar
Samuel for $250,000 Thus, the scrolls that had eluded Yadin's father because of the war were now at
his disposal. Part of the purchase price was contributed by D. S. Gottesman, a New York philanthropist.
His heirs sponsored construction of the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem's Israel Museum, in which
these unique manuscripts are exhibited to the public.
The seven scrolls from Cave I, now
housed together in the Shrine
of the Book, are Isaiah A, Isaiah B, the
Habakkuk Commentary, the Thanksgiving Scroll,
the Community Rule (or the Manual of Discipline),
the War Rule (or the War of Sons of Light
Against the Sons of Darkness), and the Genesis
Apocryphon, the last being in Aramaic. All
the large scrolls have been published.
Archaeological Investigations
The Caves. At least a year elapsed between the discovery of the scrolls in 1947 and the initiation of a
systematic archeological investigation of the Qumran site. The northern Dead Sea area, the location of
Qumran, became and remained part of Jordan until 1967. The search for scroll material rested in the
hands of the Bedouins, who ravaged the Cave I site, no doubt losing precious material in the process.
Early in 1949 the cave site was finally identified by the archeological authorities of Jordan. G.
Lankester Harding, director of the Jordanian Antiquities Department, undertook to excavate Cave I
with Père Roland de Vaux, a French Dominican priest who headed the École Biblique in Jerusalem.
Exploration of the cave, which lay one kilometer north of Wadi Qumran, yielded at least seventy
fragments, including bits of the original seven scrolls. This discovery established the provenance of the
purchased scrolls. Also recovered were archeological artifacts that confirmed the scroll dates suggested
by paleographic study.
The Bedouins continued to search for scrolls, as these scraps of leather proved to be a fine source of
income. Because Cave I had been exhausted by archeological excavation, the fresh material that the
Bedouins were offering proved that Cave I was not an isolated phenomenon in the desert and that other
caves with manuscripts also existed.
The years between 1951 and 1956 were marked by accelerated activity in both the search for caves and
the archeological excavation of sites related to tile manuscripts. An eight-kilometer-long strip of cliffs
was thoroughly investigated. Of the eleven caves that yielded manuscripts, five were discovered by the
Bedouins and six by archeologists. Some of the caves were particularly rich in material. Cave 3
preserved two oxidized rolls of beaten copper (the Copper Scroll), containing a lengthy roster of real or
imaginary hidden treasures-a tantalizing enigma to this day. Cave 4. was particularly rich in material:
15,000 fragments from at least six hundred composite texts were found there. The last manuscript cave
discovered, Cave II, was located in 1956, providing extensive documents, including the Psalms Scroll,
an Aramaic targum of Job, and the Temple Scroll, the longest (about twenty-nine feet) of the Qumran
manuscripts. The Temple Scroll was acquired by Yigael Yadin in 1967 and is now housed alongside
the first seven scrolls in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. All the remaining
manuscripts, sizable texts as well as minute fragments, are stored in the Rockefeller Museum building
in Jerusalem, the premises of the Israel Antiquities Authority
Khirbet Qumran (The Qumran Ruin). Père de Vaux gradually realized the need to identify a habitation
site close to the caves. Excavating such a site could provide clues that would help identify the people
who deposited the scrolls.
The ruins of Qumran lie on a barren terrace between the limestone cliffs of the Judean Desert and the
maritime bed along the Dead Sea. The excavations uncovered a complex of structures, 262 by 328 feet
(80 by 100 meters), preserved to a considerable height. The structures were neither military nor private
but rather communal in character.
Nearby were remains of burials. Pottery uncovered was identical with that of Cave I and confirmed the
link with the nearby caves. Following the initial excavations, de Vaux suggested that this site was the
wilderness retreat established by the Essene sect, which was alluded to by ancient historians. The
sectarians inhabited neighboring locations, most likely caves, tents, and solid structures, but depended
on the center for communal facilities such as stores of food and water. Excavations conducted in 1956
and 1958 at the neighboring site of 'En Feshkha proved it to be the agricultural adjunct of Qumran.
The final report on the Qumran settlement excavations is pending, but the results arc known through
preliminary publications.
Dating of the Scrolls
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls caused heated controversy in scholarly circles over their date and
the identity of the community they represented.
Professor Sukenik, after
initially defining the time span of the scrolls
as the Second
Temple period, recognized their special
significance and advocated the now widely
accepted theory that they were remnants of
the library of the Essenes.
At the time, however, he was vociferously
opposed by a number of scholars who doubted
the antiquity as well as the authenticity
of the texts. Lingering in the memory of learned
circles was the notorious Shapira affair of
1883. M. Shapira, a Jerusalem antiquities
dealer, announced the discovery of an ancient
text of Deuteronomy. His texts, allegedly
inscribed on fifteen leather strips, caused
a huge stir in Europe and were even exhibited
at the British Museum. Shortly thereafter,
the leading European scholars of the day denounced
the writings as rank forgeries.
Today scholarly opinion regarding the time span and background of the Dead Sea Scrolls is anchored in
historical, paleographic, and linguistic evidence, corroborated firmly by carbon 14-datings. Some
manuscripts were written and copied in the third century B.C.E., but the bulk of the material,
particularly the texts that reflect on a sectarian community, are originals or copies from the first century
B.C.E.; a number of texts date from as late as the years preceding the destruction of the site in 68 C.E.
at the hands of the Roman legions.
The Essenes
The Qumran sect's origins are postulated by some scholars
to be in the communities of the Hasidim, the pious anti-Hellenistic circles formed
in the early daysof the Maccabees.
The Hasidim may have been the precursors
of the Essenes, who were concerned about growing Hellenization and strove to abide by the Torah.
Archeological and historical
evidence indicates that Qumran was founded
in the second half of the second century B.C.E.,
during the time of the Maccabean dynasty.
A hiatus in the occupation of the site is
linked to evidence of a huge earthquake. Qumran
was abandoned about the time of the Roman
incursion of 68 C.E., two years before the
collapse of Jewish self-government in Judea
and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E.
The chief sources of information
for the history of this fateful time span
are the Qumran scrolls and the excavations,
but earlier information on the Essenes was
provided by their contemporaries: Josephus
Flavius, Philo of Alexandria, and Pliny
the Elder. Their accounts arc continuously
being borne out by the site excavations and
study of the writings.
The historian Josephus relates the division of the Jews of the Second
Temple period into three orders: the Sadducees,
the Pharisees,
and the Essenes. The Sadducees included mainly
the priestly and aristocratic families; the
Pharisees constituted the Jay circles; and
the Essenes were a separatist group, part
of which formed an ascetic monastic community
that retreated to the wilderness. The exact
political and religious affinities of each
of these groups, as well as their development
and interrelationships, are still relatively
obscure and arc the source of widely disparate
scholarly views.
The crisis that brought
about the secession of the Essenes from mainstream Judaism is thought to have occurred when the Maccabean
ruling princes Jonathan (160-142 B.C.E.) and
Simeon (142-134 B.C.E.) usurped the office
of high priest (which included secular duties),
much to the consternation of conservative
Jews; some of them could not tolerate the
situation and denounced the new rulers. The
persecution of the Essenes and their leader,
the teacher of righteousness probably elicited
the sect's apocalyptic visions. These included
the overthrow of "the wicked priest"
of Jerusalem and of the evil people and, in the dawn of
the Messianic
Age, the recognition of their community
as the true Israel. The retreat of these Jews
into the desert would enable them "to
separate themselves from the congregation
of perverse men (IQ Serekh 5:2).
A significant feature of the Essene sect is its calendar, which was based on a solar system Of 364 days,
unlike the common Jewish calendar, which was lunar and consisted Of 354-days. It is not clear how the
sectarian calendar was reconciled, as was the normative Jewish calendar, with the astronomical time
system.
The sectarian calendar was always reckoned from a Wednesday, the day on which God created the
luminaries. The year consisted of fifty-two weeks, divided into four seasons of thirteen weeks each, and
the festivals consistently fell on the same days of the week. A similar solar system was long familiar
from pseudepigraphic works. The sectarian calendar played a weighty, role in the schism of the
community from the rest of Judaism, as the festivals and fast days of the sect were ordinary work days
for the mainstream community and vice versa. The author of the Book of Jubilees accuses the followers
of the lunar calendar of turning secular "days of impurity" into "festivals and holy days" (Jubilees 6:36-37).
The Essenes persisted in a separatist existence through two centuries, occupying themselves with study
and a communal way of life that included worship, prayer, and work. It is clear, however, that large
groups of adherents also lived in towns and villages outside the Qumran area.
The word Essene isnever distinctly mentioned in the scrolls. How then can we attribute either the
writings or the sites of the Judean Desert to the Essenes?
The argument in favor of this ascription is supported by the tripartite division of Judaism referred to in
Qumran writings (for example, in the Nahum Commentary) into Ephraim, Menasseh, and Judah,
corresponding to the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. As the Essenes refer to themselves in
the scrolls as Judah, it is quite clear whom they regarded themselves to be. Moreover, their religious
concepts and beliefs as attested in the scrolls conform to those recorded by contemporary writers and
stand in sharp contrast to those of the other known Jewish groups.
In most cases the principles of the Essene way of life and beliefs are described by contemporaneous
writers in language similar to the self-descriptions found in the scrolls. Customs described in ancient
sources as Essene-such as the probationary period for new members, the strict hierarchy practiced in the
organization of the sect, their frequent ablutions, and communal meals-are all echoed in the scrolls.
From the Community Rule: "Communally they shall cat and communally they shall bless and
communally they shall take counsel" (IQ Serekh 6:1). Finally, the location of the sect is assigned to the
Dead Sea area by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder.
Although this evidence is accepted by the majority of scholars as conclusive in identifying the Essenes
with the Qumran settlement and the manuscripts found in the surrounding caves, a number of scholars
remain vehemently opposed. Some propose that the site was a military garrison or even a winter villa.
The scrolls are viewed as an eclectic collection, neither necessarily inscribed in the Dead Sea area nor
sectarian in nature, perhaps even remains of the library of the Temple in Jerusalem. Other scholars view
the texts as the writings of forerunners or even followers of Jesus--Jewish Christians--who still
observed Jewish law.
The Qumran Library
The collection of writing recovered
in the Qumran environs has restored to us a voluminous corpus
of Jewish documents dating from the third
century B.C.E. to 68 C.E., demonstrating the
rich literary activity of Second Temple-period
Jewry. The collection comprises documents
of a varied nature, most of them of a distinct
religious bent. The chief categories represented
are biblical, apocryphal or pseudepigraphical,
and sectarian writings. The study of this
original library has demonstrated that the
boundaries between these categories is far
from clear-cut.
The biblical manuscripts include what are probably the earliest copies of these texts to have come
down to us. Most of the books of the Bible are represented in the collection. Some books are extant in
large number of copies; others are represented only fragmentarily on mere scraps of parchment. The
biblical texts display considerable similarity to the standard Masoretic (received) text. This, however, is
not always the rule, and many texts diverge from the Masoretic. For example, some of the texts of
Samuel from Cave 4 follow the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Bible translated in the third to
second centuries B.C.E. Indeed. Qumran has yielded copies of the Septuagint in Greek.
The biblical scrolls in general have provided many new readings that facilitate the reconstruction of the
textual history of the Old Testament. It is also significant that several manuscripts of the Bible,
including the Leviticus Scroll are inscribed not in the Jewish script dominant at the time but rather in
the ancient paleo-Hebrew script.
A considerable number of apocryphal and pseudepigraphic texts are preserved at Qumran, where
original Hebrew and Aramaic versions of these Jewish compositions of the Second Temple period were
first encountered. These writings, which arc not included in the canonical Jewish scriptures, were
preserved by different Christian churches and were transmitted in Greek, Ethiopic, Syriac, Armenian,
and other translations.
Some of these are narrative texts closely related to biblical compositions, such as the Book of Jubilees
and Enoch, whereas others arc independent works-for example, Tobit and Ben Sira. Apparently some
of these compositions were treated by the Qumran community as canonical and were studied by them.
The most original and unique group of writings from Qumran are the sectarian Ones, which were
practically unknown until their discovery in 1947. An exception is the Damascus Document (or
Damascus Covenant), which lacked a definite identification before the discoveries of the Dead Sea
area. This widely varied literature reveals the beliefs and customs of a pietistic commune, probably
centered at Qumran, and includes rules and ordinances, biblical commentaries, apocalyptic visions, and
liturgical works, generally attributed to the last quarter of the second century B.C.E. and onward.
The "rules," the
collections of rules and instructions reflecting
the practices Of the commune, arc exemplified
by the Damascus Document, the Community Rule,
and Some Torah Precepts. Here we witness a
considerable corpus of legal material (Halakhah) that has Much in common with the rabbinic
tradition preserved at a later date in the Mishnah.
The Halakhah emerging from the sectarian
writings seems to be corroborated by the sectarian Halakhah referred to in rabbinic
sources.
The biblical commentaries (pesharim), such as the Habakkuk Commentary, the Nahum Commentary,
and the Hosea Commentary, are attested solely at Qumran and grew out of the sect's eschatological
presuppositions. The Scriptures were scanned by the sect for allusions to current and future events.
These allusions could be understood only by the sectarians themselves, because only they possessed
"eyes to see"-their distinct eschatological vision. Liturgical works figure prominently among the
sectarian manuscripts at Qumran because of the centrality of prayer in this period. The Thanksgiving
Psalms (Hodayot) are of two types: those characterized by a personal tone, attributed by some to the
"teacher of righteousness," and the communal type, referring to a group.
Many more compositions deserve mention, but this brief survey demonstrates the major role played by
the Dead Sea Scrolls in improving our comprehension of this pivotal moment in Jewish history.
Sources: Ayala Sussman and Ruth Peled, Scrolls
From the Dead Sea, (DC: Library
of Congress, 1993).
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