The Oldest Copy of a Bible Book
In the early 1980’s I studied the archaeological discoveries at Qumran on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea. Because I had been doing a proper academic study of the Essene community and the Dead Sea Scrolls, I was granted permission to film inside the caves where the scrolls were discovered in 1947. This was a privilege rarely granted and gave me, and our film crew, incredible access for the film I was making. The resulting film was ultimately seen in countries throughout the world.
When I left the area, I was given a large pottery storage jar and lid made in the area, and inside a facsimile of the most complete scroll of the 850 Dead Sea Scrolls.
It is likely the original documents were written and hidden by a community of Essenes who lived in the Qumran area. The Jews revolted against the Romans in AD 66. Before they were massacred by Roman troops in 70AD, the Essenes hid their scriptures in caves, not to be discovered until 1947. These were copies of books and texts from the Hebrew Old Testament Bible. The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they are practically the only known surviving Biblical documents written before AD 100.
According to carbon dating, textual analysis, and handwriting analysis, the documents were written at various times between the middle of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. While some of the scrolls were written on papyrus, a good portion were written on a brownish animal hide that appears to be gevil.
Important texts include the Isaiah Scroll. This is the oldest existing book of the Bible and is currently on display at the Israel Museum’s Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. The scroll, which contains nearly the entire Book of Isaiah, will be available for public viewing until mid-August to mark the 60th anniversary of Israel’s modern rebirth as a nation-state. It has not been displayed publicly in over 40 years. Most of the Qumran scrolls are kept in isolated conditions to enable their preservation. The Isaiah scroll has been dated to around 120 BC, just a few hundred years after the prophet himself lived.
This 2.60 metre-long section of the Isaiah Scroll comprises the first twenty-eight chapters of the Book of Isaiah, including Isaiah’s celebrated message of peace: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares…” (Is. 2:4). In order to illustrate this important message, iron tools from the days of the prophet Isaiah (8th century BC) will be displayed alongside the Scroll. An international conference on Dead Sea Scrolls research will be held July 6-8, 2008, and is scheduled to coincide with the exhibition.
REV THE HON DR GORDON MOYES, A.C., M.L.C.
