What are the Dead Sea Scrolls? What makes them such an important archaeological find?
Discovered By Young Shepherds
The Dead Sea Scrolls were initially discovered by young shepherds in 1947. The scrolls were located in a cave about a mile northwest of the Dead Sea. While following some of his goats that had wandered astray, one of the three shepherd boys tossed a rock into the opening of a cave and heard something break.
The Most Important Archaeological Find Ever?
From the young boys initial find of seven scrolls in one cave, to what archaeologists would eventually find by 1956 in the eleven Qumran Caves, it has been called by some people the most important archaeological find ever in regards to the Bible. A total of 972 scrolls and fragments of documents written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek were found in the caves.
Among these documents were found copies of the Old Testament. They were written and then placed in clay jars by a Jewish group called the Essenes. This group hid them in the caves over 2000 years ago. Except for The Book of Esther, parts of every book in the Hebrew Bible have been found in the scrolls.
Why The Dead Sea Scrolls Are So Important
Before these scrolls were discovered, the earliest Hebrew manuscripts known about at that time dated back to the 10th century. This opened the door for critics to say the Bible had to have been corrupted over hundreds of years. To them, for a Christian to believe the words of the Bible had not been changed over time was just not reasonable.
The Old Testament manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls date back to the 2nd century B.C. This makes them over one thousand years older than any previous copies we had. Only minor differences were found when these 2000 year old parts of the Bible were compared to the manuscripts from the 10th century. Most of the errors were spelling and punctuation.
The Dead Sea Scrolls Offers Undeniable Proof
It is often asked by doubters “How can the Bible be trusted?” For the Christian and the skeptic, the Dead Sea Scrolls offers undeniable proof of just how reliable God’s word is. Over hundreds of years God has not allowed his word to be changed. Because of archaeological discoveries such as this, we are able to hold the Bible in our hands and know we are reading the same words they were reading over 2000 years ago.
