During the intertestamental period, when the Greeks took over Persia, a group of Jews worked hard to separate themselves from the Greek culture. The Jews who accepted Greek culture were Hellenized (cf. Acts 6:1). The group who refrained from this hellenization called themselves the Hasidim – the “pious ones.”
Their strength reached its height under the Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes (175-163 B. C.). About 60 years later, the Hasidim revolted against another Greek ruler, King Alexander Janneus (103-76 B. C.). Under this revolt, many Hasidim fled to the area of the west bank of the Dead Sea and established a community called Qumran.
THE COMMUNITY
Some believe the community at Qumran is the Jews known as the Essenes from Josephus, Philo, and Pliny the Elder.
The people at Qumran were religious, warriors, industrious, and writers. At any given time, there were about 200 people who composed this community. They were under the leadership of a priest and his council of twelve men and three other priests.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE DSS
In February or March of 1947, a young Bedouin named Muhammad abh-Dhib was looking for a lost goat. He went into a cave on the west bank of the Dead Sea and discovered a number of jars 25 ½ – 29 ½” high and almost 10″ wide. Inside the jars were numerous leather scrolls.
These scrolls ended up at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and are now in the possession of the nation of Israel. They have been called “one of the greatest recent archeological discoveries, and for biblical studies certainly one of the greatest manuscript discoveries of all times” (ISBE: 1:83).
Medicines such as kamagra tablets can help cheap cialis canada you have an erection in nearly 20 minutes. This blue pill has not been extensively studied for use during pregnancy. buy generic levitra As a result, women seen under such circumstances are to be frequently having evolved with the feeling that she pharma-bi.com samples viagra is no longer attractive to satisfy her fully in bed. When the cialis in uk http://pharma-bi.com/contact-us/ husband is away (working overseas or traveling), his frozen sample can be used to treat phobias.
Several hundred fragments of biblical books were found as well as apocrypha and other writings. It appears that the caves concealed a library of roughly 200 scrolls and tens of thousands of fragments. There have also been found jar fragments, pottery remains, fragments of cloth used to wrap the scrolls, and coins.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DSS
On the canon of Scripture – Prior to the discovery of the DSS, our OT text was the Massoretic text, which dates back to about 1,000 A. D. The DSS set back our oldest manuscripts over 1,000 years.
On the authority of the Bible – the fact that there were numerous commentaries shows that the community took the Bible seriously as a source of study and guidance. The Old Testament canon was complete at least 200 years before Jesus came along.
The concept of the Messiah, although rooted in the Old Testament, among the Qumran community was very similar to what we see in the New Testament. These Jews were looking for the Messiah. The coming of the John the baptizer would not have been outlandish in this environment nor would the claims of Jesus. Also, perhaps we readily understand how the disciples, associating Jesus with the Messianic expectation, would expect him to establish the New Jerusalem, to restore the Kingdom to Israel.
In contrast with liberal scholars who try every way they can to discredit the New Testament, there is no evidence that John the baptizer was a member of the Qumran community, nor the apostle Paul, nor Jesus.
As with other archeological finds, the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery substantiates the Bible record and, therefore, strengthens our faith.
–Paul Holland
