Significance Of The Dead Sea Scrolls

Scrolls with sufficient writing for an assessment to be made fall into four textual groups: Proto-Masoretic (i.e., the consonantal text behind the Masoretic Text, represented by about 40% of the scrolls), Proto-Samaritan (about 15%), Pre-Septuagint (about 5%), and mixed or nonaligned (about 40%). The Proto-Masoretic scrolls in particular affirm the accuracy and great age of the Hebrew text found in modern Bible editions.

On the other hand, many scrolls (in all four groups) preserve original or preferable readings that are convincing enough to have been adopted by modern English Old Testament translations. One example is at Isaiah 19:18, where the Masoretic Text reads “City of Destruction,” but two scrolls (1QIsaa, 4QIsab) and even a few Masoretic manuscripts read “City of the Sun,” which makes better sense. The reading found in the scrolls has also been adopted by many modern Bibles, including the CSB, RSV, and NRSV. A second example is the missing verse in the acrostic Psalm 145. This verse is present in 11QPsa and the LXX, and hence it is now included as verse 13b in the CSB, RSV, NRSV, NIV, and so forth. At least one hundred such examples have gotten modern Bible translators closer to the original text, and the majority of these discoveries have been adopted by the Christian Standard Bible.

Most of the nonbiblical scrolls throw light on Judaism in the late Second Temple period. Certain scrolls illuminate our understanding of Jewish sects, namely the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. Sectarian documents such as the Community Rule and the Damascus Document reveal the doctrines and teachings of the Essenes: for example, their expectation of two separate Messiahs (of Aaron and of David) and their ascetic lifestyle. One fascinating text named Some of the Works of the Law (4QMMT) is a manifesto which details how the Essene interpretation of some 25 laws from the Pentateuch differed from those of the Pharisees.

Some scrolls illuminate our understanding of Jesus and the early Christians. None of the Qumran scrolls was written by or for Christians, but several are relevant for understanding the historical context of Christian origins. The three books most commonly found at Qumran are Psalms (36 scrolls), Deuteronomy (30), and Isaiah (21). These are also the books quoted most often in the New Testament (Psalms 79x, Isaiah 66x, and Deuteronomy 54x). This is hardly a coincidence, but speaks to similar messianic expectations and covenantal themes among the Qumranites and the early Christians.

Key nonbiblical scrolls are just as pertinent. For example, the Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521) describes the works and wonders that will accompany the Messiah’s coming in language that is very close to Jesus’s words in Luke 4:18-19 (will bring good news to the poor, set the captives free, open the eyes of the blind, and lift up the oppressed) and in Matthew 11:4-5 and Luke 7:21-22 (will open the eyes of the blind, make the dead live, and bring good news to the poor). This scroll helps Bible readers see that Jesus is claiming to be a prophetic Messiah in the Gospel passages just mentioned. Another striking example is Some of the Works of the Law (4QMMT), since the term “works of the Law” occurs nowhere else except in Romans (e.g., 3:20, 28) and Galatians (e.g., 3:2,5,10). In this light we now know that Paul is using a term identified with the Essenes, and so is criticizing Essene Jews or Christians who have been influenced by Essene doctrines concerning works of the Law. A final example is the sectarian New Jerusalem Text, which is found in several scrolls (1Q32, 2Q24, 4Q544-55, 5Q15, 11Q18), and describes the coming New Jerusalem with language that would be developed further in the book of Revelation (21:9-27).

In conclusion, the Dead Sea Scrolls help scholars get closer to the original OT texts where variants have entered the tradition, plus they help set the historical and cultural context for the Intertestamental and New Testament eras.