 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
This exhibition closed January 6, 2008. SECOND SET OF IAA SCROLLS 1. Paleo-Leviticus
11Q1
Scroll type: Biblical text
Date: 1st century CE Language: Hebrew (written in paleo-Hebrew script) Discovered: Cave 11, 1956 Col. 1 Lev 22:21-27 Col. 2 Lev 23:22-29 Col. 3 Lev. 29:9-14 Col. 4 Lev 25:28-26 Col. 5 Lev 26:17-26 Col. 6 Lev 27:11-19 This scroll comprises portions of the last six chapters of the Book of Leviticus, dealing with various matters, such as the laws of worship, damages, and slaves and Israelite festivals. Most importantly are the precepts commanding the observance of New Year Festival (Rosh Hashanah) and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) still observed by modern Jews. Leviticus dwells on legal rules and priestly ritual. Probably composed by the Jerusalem priesthood, this book addresses the details of sacrifice, purity, and observance of holy days. Leviticus also defines the rituals of the New Year Festival, the Day of Atonement, and the Sabbath, still observed by modern Jews. This scroll corresponds in varying degrees to later versions of Leviticus in Hebrew, Greek, and Samaritan. Biblical scholar Dr. David Noel Freedman (now at University of California, San Diego) began studying this scroll in 1965. Long delays in publication plagued this and many other Dead Sea Scrolls, until Dr. Freedman proposed a radical idea. The Dead Sea Scroll study group would publish photographs of all the scrolls without interpretation, thus making them available to a broader community of scholars and breaking the long-standing gridlock. 2. Deuteronomy: The Ten Commandments This text of the Ten Commandments is longer than traditional translations and reflects both biblical versions of the Sabbath commandment (Exodus 20:11 and Deuteronomy 5:11). This law instructs the Israelites not to work on the Sabbath to remember their rescue from slavery in Egypt and God's resting on the 7th day of creation. Many people practice this tradition of rest today. This scroll is the best preserved of all the Deuteronomy manuscripts discovered at Qumran. This text may have been used in prayer and is not necessarily a copy of the entire biblical book of Deuteronomy. The Ten Commandments—considered by some to be a logical code of moral conduct and by others a social order designed by the Creator of the cosmos—have influence around the world far beyond their Middle Eastern origins. Thirty-two Deuteronomy scrolls were discovered at Qumran—the text is second only to Psalms in its popularity. The biblical book of Deuteronomy contains Moses' farewell speech to the Israelites, chronicling their history and journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. The text includes teachings of the law and emphasizes God's "covenant" with Israel, a common theme in the Qumran community's writing. This text celebrates the success of some Israelite tribes in occupying territories east of the Jordan river, including the famous passage where God tells Moses to look across the river to see the Promised Land that he will not be permitted to enter. 3. Samuel (NEW) First and Second Samuel appear as one continuous book in the Hebrew Bible, presenting the history of Israel from the time of the prophet Samuel through to the later years of the reign of King David. Four scrolls from this book were discovered at Qumran. The fragments on display are from 4QSama , one of the largest biblical scrolls discovered at Qumran. The text was copied in the mid-1st century BCE and contains numerous variants including words, phrases and entire sentences that were not part of the Masoretic text of the Bible. 4QSama is remarkably similar to the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible which scholars call the Old Greek. 4. Zephaniah-Haggai (NEW) This scroll contains text from the Twelve Prophets, known in Christian Bibles as the Minor Prophets—not because of lesser importance, but because of their short length. This particular scroll shows that, during the time of the Qumran settlement, the Twelve Prophets were written as one continuous "book." Also of importance, in the words of Dr. Russell Fuller, Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of San Diego, "The largest fragment preserves the bottom edge of the manuscript, which helps us to determine the manuscript's dimensions and to reconstruct it. All in all, this little fragment provides us with a lot of information about the rest of the larger manuscript to which it belongs." Based on other Qumran scrolls, the themes of these prophets evidently held great significance for the Qumran community. Judgment and redemption pervade Zephaniah. Haggai implores Jews to reconstruct the temple after it was destroyed in 586 BCE. The Second Temple (completed in 515 BCE) was rejected by the people of Qumran, as they objected to the conduct and lineage of the temple priests. 5. Psalms The book of Psalms, represented by 35 manuscripts from 250 BCE to 50–68 CE, is the most frequently found biblical book in the Qumran caves. This scroll (a portion of the Great Psalms Scroll) is the earliest known copy of the book of Psalms and the most substantial, with 51 individual psalms. The text names King David as author of the psalms and demonstrates the ancient tradition of David as the greatest of poets. The order and content of psalms in this scroll does not correspond with present versions of the Bible. Dr. James Sanders, at age 32, unrolled the Great Psalms Scroll in November 1961 in Jerusalem. "I fell to my knees in lonely terror/exhilaration praying that I would unroll it, and not the other way around! Waves of relief swept over me on the 10th day when finally all of it lay securely under glass under those windows." After his first reading, Sanders grasped the revolutionary importance of this scroll in establishing when the Bible became standardized. 6. Targum Job (NEW) Four manuscripts of the book of Job were discovered at Qumran. These fragments are from one of two targums, or translations, of the original Hebrew of Job into Aramaic, the predominant language of Judea after the Babylonian Exile. This text is the earliest targum of a biblical book. The Hebrew text of Job, full of contradictory ideas and grammatical problems, is the most difficult book in the Hebrew Bible to understand. Around the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Job probably challenged the most educated of readers. The story of Job's suffering raises difficult issues regarding God and his intentions toward humanity. The Aramaic deviates from the Hebrew version, which illustrates the difficulty of translating the scroll. Dr. Bruce Zuckerman, Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Southern California, has studied this scroll extensively. He asks, "How did the translator understand the nuances of Hebrew terms? Why did he choose particular Aramaic words to reflect a given Hebrew passage? Was he willing to change things if he thought the original text of Job might give an inappropriate depiction of God? Using new and powerful tools in computer imaging, I am finding out a lot that I did not know before." 7. Genesis Commentary (NEW) Six fragments written by the same scribe comprise the Genesis Commentary. The piece on display, the best preserved of these texts, includes excerpts from the flood story (Genesis 6-8) and accompanying commentary. The text discusses the chronology of the Genesis flood story, the duration of the flood, and several other important events. The text states that the Genesis flood lasted for exactly 364 days or, according to the Qumran calendar, one solar year. Other Dead Sea Scrolls clearly define the Qumran solar calendar, indicating days to observe Sabbaths and Festivals with different dates than the prevailing Jewish lunar calendar. This interpretation of the flood in Genesis serves to justify Qumran's unique solar calendar. For the Qumran community, keeping the correct calendar was not for convenience or practicality, but was an important sign of obedience and righteousness. 8. Shirot olot ha-Shabbat—Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (NEW) The text contains 13 songs of praise for the first 13 Sabbaths of the year and reflects the 364-day solar calendar used at Qumran. It seems likely that the text originally contained 52 individual compositions, one for each Sabbath of the year. The exact purpose of these songs remains a mystery. Did the Qumran community actually read or sing these songs in a Sabbath service and as a substitute for temple sacrifice? Or are they mystical in nature and not attached to any practiced ritual? The texts invoke angelic praise, and describe the angelic priesthood, the heavenly temple, and the worship performed on the Sabbath in the heavenly sanctuary. Like many Jews in antiquity, the authors of this text believed that angels worshipped God in heaven.
5/6Hev 46 Scroll type: Simple deed, lease agreement Date: 2 Kislev, Year 3 of Revolt (134 CE) Language: Hebrew Discovered: Nahal Hever, Cave of the Letters, 1961 This scroll demonstrates that people outside the Qumran community also hid scrolls in the mudstone caves. This ancient lease agreement dates to "the second of Kislev, in the third year of Simeon Bar Kosiba, (Bar Kokhba) Prince of Israel," or roughly November of 134 CE. A scribe recorded this business transaction after the destruction of the Qumran settlement, and during the second Jewish Revolt against the Romans, called the Bar Kokhba Revolt. It is written in Mishnaic Hebrew, which is slightly different and later than biblical Hebrew. The text mentions various crops grown in the Ein Gedi area at the time such as the "fine date" and the "Hasad date," and lists the length of the lease as "until the termination of the season of crops of Ein Gedi, of the vegetables and of the trees," or the completion of the growing season. 10. Messianic Apocalypse This scroll, called the Messianic Apocalypse, lists events expected with the coming of the messiah. The text illustrates a prevalent idea in Judea during the Second Temple Period (586 BCE–70 CE). Among some Jewish communities, Roman domination provoked the belief that the end of times was near and a spiritual and political savior would come soon. Books in the Christian New Testament also reflect this world view, underscoring how the shared historical context of Qumran and the Jesus Movement influenced the development of religious thought. Although many shared the belief in an imminent messiah, their interpretations of prophecy differed. The Qumran community believed two messiahs, a king descended from David and a priest descended from Aaron, would come to lead the righteous to prevail over evil. Early Christians believed that Jesus would serve the role as both king and priest. According to this scroll from the Qumran caves, the messiah will rule both heaven and Earth. His arrival will be signified by the release of captives, the blind regaining sight, and raising of the dead.
11. War Scroll
4Q491 Scroll type: Non-biblical text Date: 1st century BCE Language: Hebrew Discovered: Cave 4, 1952 This text is part of the Book of War, which describes the apocalyptic war between good and evil—"the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness." Angels, both good and bad, join the fight. After 40 years and seven battles, God tips the balance at a predetermined time initiating a new world order. The Book of War details recruitment, requirements of combatants, roles of the priests, rituals of war, and battle strategy. It includes descriptions of soldiers' weapons and blessings to be recited during different stages of the battle. Making reference to the biblical book of Numbers, this fragment describes the blowing of trumpets, like part of a choreographed performance: "On cue, the trumpets sound, the weapons are used, the enemy falls." The Judeans did wage war against the occupying Romans in 66 CE, resulting in a crushing defeat. Romans destroyed Qumran in 68 CE and leveled the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. 12. Enoch This oldest version of the book of Enoch belongs to the Pseudepigrapha, a collection of texts written in the names of famous biblical characters. These books were not included in the Jewish Bible. The book of Genesis mentions Enoch only once. Verses 5:21-24 state that Enoch "walks with God" and makes no direct mention of Enoch's death. Instead, it states "he was no more because God took him." From this minimal passage, a rich literary tradition about Enoch developed, especially during the Second Temple Period. Enoch, a very wise character, travels with God throughout the cosmos, aware of all the secrets of the universe. Based on Genesis 6:1-4, this fragment from the "Book of Watchers" describes how the Watchers (rebellious angels) see the beautiful daughters of humankind and desire them for wives. |
|||||||
List and Descriptions of the Dead Sea Scrolls on exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum. For more information, please contact scrolls@sdnhm.org
The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition is a joint production of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation and the San Diego Natural History Museum.  |
|||||||
