WITH BRANDON SENIOR

The Dead Sea Scrolls

 

     Two kilometers inland from the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, a Bedouin shepherd by the name of Muhammed edh-Dhib and two others discovered scrolls in a cave.  The scrolls were discovered between 1946 and 1947.  The caves where the scrolls came from were rediscovered from 1949 - 1951. Though largely non-biblical in nature there were some Biblical scrolls included. 

     The story regarding the discovery is nothing less than amazing.  The shepherd boy was looking for one of his animals and found himself near a series of caves.  The shepherd then picks up a rock and throws it in the cave to either scare out the animal or whatever else may be in there.  What he heard was a crash.  He later brought back other people and then ventured in to discover that the crash was clay pots breaking that contained a series of scrolls.  The scrolls importance were not immediately realized.   It wasn't until some time later that their vaule was truly recognized.

     Up to this point many Bible sceptics claimed that the Bible could not be trusted because it had been copied and translated too many times.

     This discovery silenced those sceptics.  Almost all of the Old Testament was preserved through these scrolls except the book of Esther. Jesus himself said "the stones would immideately cry out"  (Luke 19:40).  That Bedouin shepherd boys stone cried out and announced to the world that the Word of God can be trusted.

     When compared to these scrolls, which date back to 200BC to 68AD, the Bible we have today matches up virtually word for word.  That means that the Old Testament we have today is the very same that Jesus Himself taught from.

     These scrolls seem to have been collected by a group known as the  Essenes who were a sect of Second Temple Judaism that flourished from around 200BC to the 1st century AD.

     This find is vitally imporant to our Christian faith in that it verifies God's ability to protect and preserve His Word.