What Every Christian Should Know about the Dead Sea Scrolls
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Recently the Dead Sea Scrolls made its way back into the news. It has been more than 70 years since the original Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and just a few days ago there was another discovery. In this one, which happened in a desert in Israel, the scrolls that were unearthed contained ancient fragments of Biblical texts which date back more than 2,000 years. The latest texts that were found came from the book of Nahum 1:5-6 which says this,
“The mountains quake before him
and the hills melt away.The earth trembles at his presence,
the world and all who live in it.Who can withstand his indignation?
Who can endure his fierce anger?His wrath is poured out like fire;
the rocks are shattered before him.”
For some people you might be thinking - why does any of this matter? Though it can be interesting to study, I believe there are some important truths that Christians need to know about the Dead Sea Scrolls.
One of the most significant things the Dead Sea Scrolls provide is a reliable record and confidence in the modern scriptures we have. I believe that for Christians, knowing about the Dead Sea Scrolls can also become a wonderful faith builder. Now, you don’t have to be an archeology or history buff to get excited over this, but if you love your Bible than you will love the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
In case you are not familiar with the Dead Sea Scrolls let me help you understand what they are. The story of their discovery almost plays like a Hollywood movie script. In 1947 there were a group of teenagers who were taking care of their sheep and goats. These teenagers were near the town of Qumran which is located on the shore of the Dead Sea; It is because of the location of the discovery that they got the name the Dead Sea Scrolls.
One of the young shepherds, while looking for his lost goat, happened to throw a rock into a cave and heard some pottery shatter. This led him to investigate, which led him to discover a collection of jars in a cave – some of which contained these scrolls.
These scrolls contained texts that were more than 2,000 years old. Because of their discovery, archeologists came to the region, where they were able to recover thousands of additional fragments. When these fragments were all combined, they made up somewhere between 800 and 900 manuscripts.
What Do the Scrolls Say?
The 800 to 900 fragments that were discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls contained portions of every book in the Old Testament except for Esther, including the entire book of Isaiah. These fragments were not all written in Hebrew. Among the other languages that these were written in include Aramaic, Greek and an ancient Hebrew alphabet known as paleo-Hebrew.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Why Are the Scrolls Significant for the Christian Faith?
I must admit, I don’t generally get excited by archeology. However this is exciting because of the ties to our faith. As Christians there are important things to know about the Dead Sea Scrolls and how they relate to our faith. The most important one is that they validate the scriptures we believe in.
If you should ever decide to do your own research on this topic, you are going to find a variety of arguments over these scrolls. Some will try to say that the Dead Sea Scroll are evidence for our modern translations of Scripture. However, there will also be those who will argue these scrolls contradict the modern translations of Scripture we rely on. In my opinion these scrolls do indeed support our modern versions of Scripture.
One of the reasons these discoveries meant so much to Christians, and honestly anyone who reads the Old Testament, is because of the consistency in messaging. During the times these scrolls were written there were no photocopying or word documents. These scrolls were all written by hand. The texts as they were copied and maintained were all done carefully and meticulously by the hand of the Hebrew scribes. When discovered, these became the oldest copies available and validated much of what we already had translated in our English versions of the Bible.
It also became the foundation to help in translating more modern versions of the Bible. Regardless, these scrolls gave validity to the messaging of the scriptures and the truth that the word of God remains the same and endures forever.
Can We Trust the Dead Sea Scrolls?
It is important to understand how the Old Testament was translated from its original language into our English language. For many centuries, the translation of the text was done by relying on what is known as the Masoretic text. The form of the Old Testament that we use and rely on today was given to use by the Masoretes, who were Jewish scholars. They completed this work between A.D. 500 and 950.
When it came to translating the Old Testament, the oldest text available to rely on was dated from 935 A.D. That all changed when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, which were at least 1,000 years older than the Masoretic text. What I want to focus on is their accuracy and why you can trust the Dead Sea Scrolls. Here is a quote from Dr. Patrick Zukeran with Probe.org, about the Dead Sea Scrolls:
“After years of careful study, it has been concluded that the Dead Sea Scrolls give substantial confirmation that our Old Testament has been accurately preserved. The scrolls were found to be almost identical with the Masoretic text…A significant comparison study was conducted with the Isaiah Scroll written around 100 B.C. that was found among the Dead Sea documents and the book of Isaiah found in the Masoretic text. After much research, scholars found that the two texts were practically identical. Most variants were minor spelling differences, and none affected the meaning of the text.”
Photo credit: Pexels/Oladimeji Ajegbile
God’s Word Is Trustworthy
I hope you see that the Dead Sea Scrolls are simply a confirmation of what God has already declared in his word. The Dead Sea Scrolls are another reminder that you can trust God’s word. God has not only been very meticulous in giving us his word, he has also watched over and preserved his word. Here is a Scripture that will remind you about the word of the Lord:
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever” (Isaiah 40:8).
What the Dead Sea Scrolls did was prove that this is true. When it is all said and done, God’s word will remain. You can count on it and you can trust in it. Sometimes it takes man a little while to catch up to where God is. God’s word did not become true in 1947, it was true from the moment God spoke it. God’s word is living and active and it will accomplish what God has set it out to do.
“So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).
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