Discovery

• Initial find (1946/47):
  Bedouin shepherds from the Taʿamireh tribe reportedly found the first scrolls in Cave 1 near Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. The story most often told is that a young shepherd, searching for a stray goat, threw a stone into a cave and heard the sound of breaking pottery. Inside, he found jars containing ancient leather scrolls.

• Early handling:
  The shepherds took the scrolls to a Bethlehem antiquities dealer, Khalil Iskander Shahin (“Kando”). Some were sold to Mar Samuel, head of the Syrian Orthodox Monastery of St. Mark in Jerusalem, while others ended up with scholars at the Hebrew University.

• Scholarly identification (1947–48):
  Experts quickly recognised the scrolls as ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, some over 2,000 years old.

• Archaeological excavations (1949–1956):
  After the initial discovery, archaeologists investigated caves in the Qumran cliffs. Between 1949 and 1956, 11 caves were found containing scrolls or fragments.

• Contents recovered:
  Around 900 separate texts in more than 25,000 fragments were eventually discovered, mostly made of parchment (animal skin), some of papyrus, and a few inscribed on copper (the “Copper Scroll”).

 

Types of Writings

1. Biblical texts

   • The oldest known surviving copies of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament books.

   • Every book of the Hebrew Bible is represented except Esther.

   • These manuscripts are about 1,000 years older than previously known Hebrew texts (e.g., the Masoretic Text).

2. Sectarian writings

   • Rules, commentaries, and hymns reflecting the beliefs of a Jewish sect.

   • Examples: Community Rule (Serek ha-Yahad), War Scroll, Thanksgiving Hymns.

   • Many scholars connect these with the Essenes, a Jewish sect described by writers like Josephus, though this is debated.

3. Apocryphal and pseudepigraphal works

   • Books not part of the Hebrew Bible but circulating among Jews at the time, e.g., the Book of Enoch, Jubilees, and Tobit.

   • Show the diversity of Jewish thought in the Second Temple period.

4. The Copper Scroll

   • A unique scroll listing hidden treasures in coded form.

   • Written on thin sheets of copper, unlike the others.

 

Significance

• Textual history: The scrolls confirm that the Hebrew Bible as we know it was already taking shape by the 2nd century BCE, while also showing variations that didn’t survive into later standardised versions.

• Jewish diversity: They provide direct evidence of the varied beliefs, laws, and expectations (such as messianic hopes and apocalyptic visions) in Judaism of the late Second Temple period.

• Christian origins: Since Jesus and his earliest followers lived in this same Jewish world, the scrolls give important background to the religious landscape of 1st-century Judea.

 

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Jewish manuscripts found between 1947 and 1956 in caves near Qumran, dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE. They include the earliest known biblical manuscripts, sectarian texts likely tied to the Essenes, and other Jewish writings. Their discovery revolutionised our understanding of the Bible’s textual history and of Judaism in the time just before and during the rise of Christianity.

 

What Was Found in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Between 1947 and 1956, in 11 caves near Qumran (northwest Dead Sea), archaeologists and Bedouin found:

1. Number of Scrolls

• About 900 manuscripts (scrolls, codices, and fragments).

• Over 25,000 fragments, painstakingly pieced together.

• Written mainly on parchment (animal skin), some on papyrus, and one unique text on copper (the Copper Scroll).

2. Languages

• Hebrew (~80%).

• Aramaic (~17%).

• Greek (~3%).

 

3. Categories of Texts

Scholars group them into four main categories:

A. Biblical Texts

• Copies of nearly every book of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).

• Every book is present except Esther.

• The oldest surviving biblical manuscripts date from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE.

• Famous example: Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ) – a complete copy of Isaiah from Cave 1.

 

B. Apocryphal & Pseudepigraphal Works

• Jewish religious texts are not included in the Hebrew Bible but known from other traditions.

• Examples: Book of Enoch, Jubilees, Tobit, Sirach.

• Shows the diversity of Jewish literature in the Second Temple period.

 

C. Sectarian/Community Texts

Unique to Qumran, probably reflecting the beliefs of the sect that collected them (often linked to the Essenes):

• Community Rule (Serek ha-Yahad / 1QS) – regulations for community life.

• Damascus Document (CD) – covenant and laws for a righteous remnant.

• War Scroll (1QM) – apocalyptic vision of war between the “Sons of Light” and “Sons of Darkness.”

• Thanksgiving Hymns (Hodayot / 1QH) – poetic psalms of praise.

• Pesharim (Commentaries) – interpretations of biblical books, applying them to the sect’s own time.

 

D. Unique Texts

• Copper Scroll (3Q15): engraved on thin copper sheets; lists hidden temple treasures in coded form.

• Temple Scroll (11Q19): a long legal text describing the Temple and its regulations (nearly 9 meters long when unrolled).

 

Correct Names and Designations

Each manuscript has a scholarly code:

• Format: [Cave Number]Q[Text ID]

  • Example: 1QIsaᵃ = Isaiah Scroll A from Cave 1.

  • Q = Qumran.

  • Superscript letters distinguish multiple copies of the same book.

 

Some Famous Scrolls

• 1QIsaᵃ – Great Isaiah Scroll (complete Isaiah, Cave 1).

• 1QpHab – Habakkuk Pesher (biblical commentary, Cave 1).

• 1QS – Community Rule (Cave 1).

• 1QH – Thanksgiving Hymns (Cave 1).

• 1QM – War Scroll (Cave 1).

• 3Q15 – Copper Scroll (Cave 3).

• 11Q19 (Temple Scroll) – long Torah-like legal scroll (Cave 11).

 

Summary

The Dead Sea Scrolls are:

• ~900 manuscripts, found in 11 caves at Qumran, dated 3rd century BCE–1st century CE.

• Written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

• They include:

  • Biblical texts (every book except Esther).

  • Apocrypha/pseudepigrapha (e.g., Enoch, Jubilees).

  • Sectarian writings (Community Rule, War Scroll, Thanksgiving Hymns, commentaries).

  • Unique texts (Copper Scroll, Temple Scroll).

 

Their correct names are given by cave number + Q + text identifier, e.g. 1QIsaᵃ, 1QS, 3Q15, 11Q19.

 

Dead Sea Scrolls – Cave-by-Cave Inventory

Cave 1 (Discovered 1946/47)

Approx. 7 large scrolls + fragments.

• 1QIsaᵃ – Great Isaiah Scroll (complete Isaiah).

• 1QIsaᵇ – another Isaiah manuscript.

• 1QpHab – Pesher on Habakkuk (commentary).

• 1QS – Community Rule (Serek ha-Yahad).

• 1QM – War Scroll (Milḥamah).

• 1QH (Hodayot) – Thanksgiving Hymns.

• 1QGenAp – Genesis Apocryphon (retelling of Genesis stories).

 

Cave 2 (1952)

Fragments of ~200 manuscripts.

• Biblical books: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, Psalms.

• Apocryphal works: Jubilees, Enoch, Testament of Levi.

• Many unidentified fragments.

 

Cave 3 (1952)

Most famous for the Copper Scroll.

• 3Q15 – Copper Scroll (treasure list).

• Biblical texts: e.g., Judges, Psalms.

• Miscellaneous fragments.

 

Cave 4 (1952)

The largest cave, with 15,000 fragments from 500 manuscripts.

• Biblical: every book except Esther. Multiple copies of Torah, Prophets, Writings.

• Apocrypha: Jubilees, Enoch, Tobit, Sirach.

• Sectarian: many Pesharim (commentaries), Community Rule variants, Damascus Document fragments.

• Notable examples:

  • 4QpIsa – Isaiah Pesher.

  • 4QMMT – “Some Works of the Law” (halakhic text).

  • 4QDeutⁿ, 4QGenᵃ, 4QPsᵃ, etc. (biblical scrolls in multiple copies).

 

Cave 5 (1952)

25 manuscripts.

• Mostly biblical: Deuteronomy, Kings, Psalms.

• Sectarian fragments of Community Rule and Thanksgiving Hymns.

 

Cave 6 (1952)

31 manuscripts.

• Biblical: Leviticus, Psalms, Jeremiah, Daniel.

• Sectarian: Hymns, Damascus Document fragments.

• Apocrypha: Book of Giants (Aramaic), Tobit.

 

Caves 7 - 9 (1955)

Smaller finds, mostly Greek fragments.

• Cave 7: Greek biblical fragments, e.g., 7Q5 (tiny, famous because some tried to link it to Mark’s Gospel, but mainstream scholarship rejects this).

• Cave 8: Mostly scraps, biblical + sectarian.

• Cave 9: Only small fragments.

 

Cave 10 (1956)

Very few finds. Mainly minor fragments.

 

Cave 11 (1956)

Some of the most spectacular later finds.

• 11Q19 (Temple Scroll): ~9 meters long, a rewritten Torah focusing on temple law.

• 11QMelchizedek (11Q13): apocalyptic text about Melchizedek as a messianic figure.

• 11Q10 (Psalms Scroll): contains canonical Psalms plus extra ones not in the Bible.

• 11QApocryphal Psalms.

• 11QHymn Scrolls (Hodayot).

• Fragments of Community Rule and Damascus Document.

 

Summary of All Caves

• Cave 1: 7 major scrolls + fragments (Isaiah, Habakkuk Pesher, Community Rule, War Scroll, Hymns, Genesis Apocryphon).

• Cave 2: 200+ fragments, biblical + apocrypha.

• Cave 3: Copper Scroll + fragments.

• Cave 4: Largest – ~500 manuscripts, biblical + sectarian + apocrypha.

• Cave 5: 25 manuscripts.

• Cave 6: 31 manuscripts, biblical + sectarian + apocrypha.

• Caves 7–9: Small finds, some Greek.

• Cave 10: Minimal.

• Cave 11: Temple Scroll, Psalms Scroll, Melchizedek text, Hymns, etc.

 

Together, this corpus = Dead Sea Scrolls: ~900 manuscripts, Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek, dating 3rd BCE–1st CE.

 

Dead Sea Scrolls vs. Torah / Tanakh / Bible

1. Torah (Pentateuch)

• The Scrolls contain multiple copies of every book of the Torah:

  • Genesis

  • Exodus

  • Leviticus

  • Numbers

  • Deuteronomy

• These are the same five books as in the Jewish Torah today.

• Some scrolls show small textual variations (wording, spelling, order), but the content is recognizably the Torah.

 

2. Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)

• The Scrolls include texts from every book of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) except Esther.

• Example:

  • Complete Isaiah (1QIsaᵃ).

  • Fragments of Psalms, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Kings, etc.

• These are the oldest copies of biblical books ever found, earlier than the Masoretic Text (the traditional Hebrew Bible, standardized around the 9th–10th century CE).

• They confirm that the Tanakh was already mostly fixed by the 2nd century BCE, though with some textual diversity.

 

3. Christian Bible (Old + New Testament)

• Old Testament:

  • Yes, the Scrolls preserve Old Testament / Hebrew Bible books, just as above.

  • They show that early Christians inherited these scriptures from Judaism.

• New Testament:

  • No New Testament books were found.

  • A few tiny Greek scraps (e.g., 7Q5 from Cave 7) were once controversially claimed to be part of Mark’s Gospel, but scholarly consensus rejects this.

  • The Scrolls are Jewish texts from before or just around the time of Jesus, not Christian writings.

 

4. Other Writings in the Scrolls

• Apocryphal books (not in the Jewish Tanakh, but some appear in Christian Bibles):

  • Tobit (in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, not in Jewish or Protestant).

  • Sirach, Jubilees, Enoch (outside most Bibles but important in Second Temple Judaism).

• Sectarian writings unique to Qumran:

  • Community Rule, War Scroll, Thanksgiving Hymns, and Pesher commentaries.

  • These are not in any Jewish or Christian Bible.

 

Conclusion

• Yes: The Dead Sea Scrolls contain the Torah and almost the whole Tanakh (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament).

• No: They do not contain the New Testament.

• Extra: They also contain Jewish religious books not in the Bible (e.g., Enoch, Jubilees) and sectarian writings specific to the Qumran community.

 

What the Dead Sea Scrolls Prove

1. The Scriptures of Yeshua’s Time

   • The scrolls preserve the Hebrew Bible (Torah, Prophets, Writings) as it existed in the Second Temple period.

   • These were the texts circulating in Jewish communities during Yeshua’s lifetime.

   • So, when the Gospels describe him quoting Torah, Psalms, or Prophets, those are the same scriptures we now know were in use then.

2. No “New Covenant Writings” at Qumran

   • The scrolls predate Christianity and contain no New Testament texts.

   • They confirm that Yeshua lived and taught in a world deeply rooted in the Hebrew Bible, not a new, separate set of scriptures.

3. Jewish Context

   • The scrolls reflect a variety of Jewish groups and beliefs: law-keeping, messianic expectation, and apocalyptic visions.

   • Yeshua’s message sits inside this same Jewish matrix.

 

What They Do Not Prove

1. About Yeshua’s Own Message

   • The scrolls do not quote Yeshua.

   • They don’t record his teachings directly.

   • They show the religious environment in which he preached, not his exact words.

2. On the “New Covenant”

   • The phrase new covenant (Hebrew berit ḥadashah) actually appears in Jeremiah 31:31, one of the Hebrew Bible books found at Qumran.

   • So the concept of a “new covenant” was already present in Jewish scripture before Christianity.

   • Whether Yeshua saw himself fulfilling this is a matter of interpretation in the New Testament writings, not something proved by the scrolls.

3. On the Trinity

   • The Dead Sea Scrolls are Jewish texts.

   • They show no hint of a Trinity — but that’s because Jewish monotheism of the period did not include it.

   • The doctrine of the Trinity developed centuries later (4th century CE) in Christian theological debates.

   • So, while the scrolls confirm the strict Jewish monotheism of Yeshua’s world, they do not comment on later Christian dogma.

 

Conclusion

• The Dead Sea Scrolls prove that Yeshua’s scriptures were the Torah and the Hebrew Bible — not a new set of writings.

• They do not prove that he rejected the idea of a new covenant; they only show that “new covenant” was already a Jewish biblical idea before Christianity.

• They do confirm that early Jewish religion was non-Trinitarian; the Trinity is a much later Christian invention.

 

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Discovery, Content, and Significance

 

Introduction

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls between 1946 and 1956 ranks among the most significant archaeological finds of the twentieth century. Preserving the oldest known biblical manuscripts and a wide range of Jewish sectarian and apocryphal writings, the scrolls provide direct insight into the textual, theological, and social environment of Second Temple Judaism - the world in which Yeshua of Nazareth lived and taught.

This lecture offers an academic overview of the discovery, excavation, contents, dating, and interpretive debates surrounding the scrolls, with references to key figures such as Josephus, Roland de Vaux, Eleazar Sukenik, Józef Milik, and modern scholars including James VanderKam and Peter Flint.

 

1. Discovery and Chain of Custody

The first scrolls came to light in late 1946 or early 1947 when Bedouin shepherds, including Muhammad edh-Dhib, discovered jars containing rolled manuscripts in a cave near Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. These manuscripts were soon transferred into the hands of a Bethlehem antiquities dealer, Khalil Iskandar Shahin (Kando), and eventually purchased by two main parties: Mar Samuel, Metropolitan of the Syrian Orthodox Church, and Prof. Eleazar Sukenik of Hebrew University, who recognised their antiquity in late 1947.

In the years following, additional caves were located and excavated. Between 1949 and 1956, a combination of Bedouin activity and formal archaeological missions under the direction of Roland de Vaux of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française yielded manuscripts from eleven caves at Qumran, along with additional Judean Desert sites.

 

2. Excavations at Qumran

Roland de Vaux directed systematic excavations of Khirbet Qumran between 1951 and 1956. His interpretation linked the scrolls with the settlement and identified the community as the Essenes described by Josephus, Philo, and Pliny the Elder. While this Essene hypothesis remains influential, modern scholarship continues to debate the relationship between the scrolls and the Qumran settlement, with alternative models proposing Jerusalem origins or other sectarian identities.

 

3. Contents of the Scrolls

The corpus comprises around 900 manuscripts represented by tens of thousands of fragments:

• Biblical manuscripts: Copies of nearly all books of the Hebrew Bible, including the complete Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ). Only Esther is absent.

• Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha: Works such as Jubilees, 1 Enoch, and Tobit.

• Sectarian texts: Unique writings reflecting the beliefs and rules of the Qumran community, e.g., the Community Rule (1QS), War Scroll (1QM), Thanksgiving Hymns (Hodayot), and the Damascus Document.

• Unique compositions: The Copper Scroll (3Q15), which lists hidden treasures, and the Temple Scroll (11Q19), a lengthy legal text.

Languages include Hebrew (majority), Aramaic, and some Greek. Materials are primarily parchment and papyrus, with the Copper Scroll uniquely inscribed on metal.

 

4. Dating and Palaeography

Dating has been achieved through paleographic analysis (comparison of handwriting styles) and radiocarbon testing. The majority of manuscripts date between the third century BCE and the first century CE. This securely situates them within the Second Temple period, overlapping with the time of Yeshua.

 

5. Scholarly Figures and Publication

The scrolls’ publication history was complex. Early work by Eleazar Sukenik, followed by scholars such as Józef Milik, John Strugnell, and others, began the process of cataloguing and interpretation. For decades, access to many fragments was restricted to a small editorial team, generating controversy until the 1990s, when facsimiles and digital photographs were released to the wider scholarly community.

 

6. Significance for Biblical Studies

• Textual transmission: The scrolls demonstrate that multiple textual traditions of the Hebrew Bible circulated in the late Second Temple period, including proto-Masoretic, Septuagintal, and Samaritan-like versions.

• Second Temple Judaism: The scrolls reveal the diversity of Jewish thought, law, and eschatology in Yeshua’s time. Messianic expectations, apocalypticism, and strict interpretations of the Torah were prominent.

• Christian origins: While no New Testament texts are found, the scrolls provide the Jewish scriptural and theological context that shaped the earliest followers of Yeshua. They confirm that his scriptural base was the Torah and the Hebrew Bible, not a new canon.

 

7. What the Scrolls Do Not Prove

The scrolls do not contain references to Yeshua or early Christianity, nor do they speak to later Christian doctrines such as the Trinity. They cannot be used as direct evidence for or against Christian dogmatic claims. Instead, they are crucial for reconstructing the Jewish world in which Christianity emerged.

 

Conclusion

The Dead Sea Scrolls remain an unparalleled window into the textual and religious landscape of Second Temple Judaism. Their discovery confirmed the antiquity and plurality of biblical texts, illuminated the practices of at least one Jewish sect, and deepened our understanding of the environment in which Yeshua lived.

While they do not address later Christian theological developments, their contribution to biblical studies and the history of religion is indisputable.