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Voices from the Past:
The Dead Sea Scrolls Open a Window to the World Christ Knew
by Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks

In this first part of a five part series, scholars answer the question: where did the scrolls come from?

Introduction
The following is the first in a five-part series on the Dead Sea Scrolls. This series is adapted from Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Questions and Responses for Latter-day Saints (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2000). The first four articles are taken from the book; the fifth will consist of responses to some of the questions sent in by Meridian readers.

What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The Dead Sea Scrolls comprise a collection of several hundred texts discovered between the years 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. These scrolls are believed to have belonged to a Jewish community of Essenes (see questions 6 and 67) who lived in nearby Qumran (see question 4). However, numerous texts discovered in other locations in the Judean desert, such as Wadi Murabba<at, Masada, Nahal Hever, Khirbet Mird, Nahal Mishmar, and Wadi ed-Daliyeh, are also called Dead Sea Scrolls.

The great majority of scrolls are written in Hebrew on animal skins or papyrus. The scrolls form a significant body of literature, both secular and religious, that originated during the Second Temple period of Judaism (about 250 b.c.–a.d. 70). Unfortunately, most of the scrolls are fragmentary, having been damaged over the centuries by the natural elements and, as it appears in some cases, by individuals who trampled them underfoot.

How were the scrolls discovered?
In 1947 (some accounts say 1945) Muhammad ed-Dhib ("Muhammad the Wolf"), a young Arab boy of the Ta>amireh Bedouin tribe, was walking in the hills northwest of the Dead Sea, possibly in search of a stray goat, when he discovered a small cave opening and tossed small stones inside. The first stone struck something and made a plinking sound; the second stone resulted in a crash that sent the boy scurrying down the hill in terror of jinn, local spirits that were said to inhabit waste places in the wilderness.

The following day Muhammad, regaining his courage and returning with a companion, possibly his cousin Muhammad Jum>a, succeeded in penetrating the tiny opening to the cave now known as Cave 1. There he discovered a cache of clay jars, some of which contained several scrolls in a near-perfect state of preservation. He returned with several scrolls that were eventually passed on, through middlemen, to scholars who identified the scrolls as Jewish and dating to around the time of Christ. In more recent years, Muhammad ed-Dhib, who lived in Bethlehem until his recent death, stated that he was searching for hidden treasure, not looking for lost goats, and that it may not have been 1947, but perhaps months, even a year or two, earlier when he made his initial discovery of the scrolls.²

Where were the scrolls discovered?
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in eleven caves north and south of an ancient site called Qumran. Besides the manuscripts discovered in Cave 1, ancient writings were discovered in ten additional caves in subsequent years. Archaeologists were responsible for finding two of these caves (Caves 3 and 5), workmen at the Qumran site found four more (Caves 7, 8, 9, and 10), and the Ta>amireh tribesmen, who according to Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Geza Vermes often "succeeded in outwitting their professional rivals,"³ discovered Caves 2, 4, 6, and 11. Since 1947 other texts and documents dating from the same era as the Dead Sea Scrolls (250 b.c.–a.d. 70) have been found in other locations near the Dead Sea, including Wadi Murabba<at, Masada, Nahal Hever, Khirbet Mird, Nahal Mishmar, and Wadi ed-Daliyeh.

What types of texts were discovered among the scrolls?
The scrolls, most of which are fragmentary, belong to a variety of text types, including the following:

1. Books of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament). These books include Genesis, Exodus, 1 and 2 Samuel, Isaiah, and Malachi, to name a few. The fragmentary remains of every book of the Hebrew Bible except the book of Esther have been discovered among the scrolls.
2. Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible. Aramaic is a Northwest Semitic language similar to Hebrew. In the centuries before and shortly after the ministry of Christ, many Jews used Aramaic as their primary language. Jews translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Aramaic so they could continue to read and study it. Parts of the books of Job, Leviticus, and other biblical books written in Aramaic have been discovered among the scrolls.
3. Tephillin and Mezuzot. Tephillin (singular tephillah), also called phylacteries (see Matthew 23:5), are small boxes (made of a variety of woods or metals) attached to cords that are bound to the head and left arm. Within the boxes are very small parchments containing verses from the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy (usually including Exodus 13:1–16 and Deuteronomy 6:4–6; 11:13–21). The idea of tephillin originated from Deuteronomy 6:8: "Thou shalt bind them [certain words of the Lord] for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes." Even today the tephillin are used by orthodox Jews during prayers. Approximately thirty tephillin texts have been found in the Qumran caves. Mezuzot (singular mezuzah) are small boxes or containers attached to the right side of the doorpost of a house. Each box contains a parchment with passages from Deuteronomy (usually Deuteronomy 6:4–6 and 11:13–21). The tradition of mezuzot arose from the command in Deuteronomy 6:9: "Thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." The caves of Qumran have yielded eight mezuzot texts.
4. Biblical commentaries. Several scrolls comprise commentaries that explain books in the Old Testament. Commentaries on the books of Psalms, Isaiah, Hosea, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Malachi have been discovered among the scrolls.
5. Apocryphal writings. The term apocrypha originally meant "hidden" or "secret" and pertains to religious books that, for a number of reasons, were not included in the Hebrew Bible.⁸ Several apocryphal books have been discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including Tobit, Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus), and Letter of Jeremiah. Doctrine and Covenants 91:1–2 provides guidelines on how to approach apocryphal writings. The statement concerns the Apocrypha (i.e., those books found in the Catholic Old Testament—such as Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon—that are not in the Protestant Old Testament): "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you concerning the Apocrypha—There are many things contained therein that are true, and it is mostly translated correctly; there are many things contained therein that are not true, which are interpolations by the hands of men."
6. Pseudepigraphic writings. The term pseudepigrapha is a Greek term meaning "falsely attributed writings," or writings of questionable authorship that purport to be written by certain biblical heroes and prophets (such as Enoch, Noah, Isaiah, Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph). These writings, popular among the Qumran people and other Jews of their day, present concepts regarding the prophetic, historical, political, cultural, and religious status of institutions of the period. Pseudepigraphic writings found among the scrolls include the Book of Enoch, the Book of Noah, the Testament of Amram, the Samuel Apocryphon, Second Ezekiel, Para-Danielic Writings, Jubilees, Pseudo-Moses, and the Testament of Levi.
7. Writings for worship. Many texts concern the worship practices of the Qumran people, providing information about prayers, blessings, hymns, and rituals. These texts are called Benedictions, Purification Ritual, Prayer or Hymn Celebrating the Morning and the Evening, Thanksgiving Hymns, Daily Prayers, Blessings, Prayers for Festivals, and Bless, My Soul. Unfortunately, most of the texts are incomplete, as only scroll fragments remain.
8. Legal documents. The Qumran caves yielded a number of religious legal texts that describe rules and regulations belonging to the Qumran community. These texts include the Damascus Document, the Community Rule, the Temple Scroll, and Some Observances of the Law (also known as 4QMMT).
9. Business records. Few in number, business records among the scrolls reveal accounts of money and grain, the sale of property, and records pertaining to debt.
10. The Copper Scroll. This unique text contains a record of supposed treasures that were hidden in various locations throughout ancient Palestine.
11. Writings focusing on the last days. Describing events associated with the end of time, these religious texts are titled the War Scroll, Words of the Archangel Michael, and the New Jerusalem.
12. Poetic compositions and wisdom literature. Many poems pertaining to the study and obtaining of wisdom were discovered among the scrolls, including The Seductress, Exhortation to Seek Wisdom, Parable of the Tree, Beatitudes, Noncanonical Psalms, Thanksgiving Hymns, and Lamentations.
13. Calendrical texts. These writings deal with the calendar used by the Qumran people. They are named Phases of the Moon, Calendars of Priestly Courses, Calendric Signs, and Horoscopes or Astrological Physiognomies.

Who wrote or possessed the Qumran texts?
Josephus, a first-century-a.d. Jewish military leader and historian, describes a variety of Jewish groups who were active in the last centuries b.c. and the first centuries a.d., including the Boethusians, Essenes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Zealots. From contemporary and near-contemporary accounts of the beliefs and practices of these communities, scholars have noted similarities between descriptions of these groups and the writings in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Two groups in particular have received attention in this regard: the Sadducees and the Essenes.
A few scholars believe that the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls were Sadducees or proto-Sadduccees. This judgment is based mostly on material found in a document among the scrolls now known as Some Observances of the Law (4QMMT). However, other scholars have noted that the points of comparison are not particularly strong.⁹

Most scholars agree that the writers and owners of the scrolls were Essenes. This conclusion is based on comparing the scrolls with statements made by Josephus and others. Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Todd Beall recently published a book that takes this approach. Although he found in the writings of Josephus six statements about the Essenes that are apparently at odds with ideas in the Qumran scrolls, he also found twenty-six other statements by Josephus that are parallel to Qumranite beliefs and practices.¹⁰ For example, Josephus made the following observations concerning the Essenes:¹¹

1. They must be Jews by birth.
2. They "despise riches and their sharing of goods is admirable; there is not found among them any one who has greater wealth than another. For it is a law that those entering the group transfer their property to the order; consequently, among them all there appears neither abject poverty nor superabundance of wealth, but the possessions of each are mingled together, and there is, as among brothers, one property common to all."¹²
3. They replace neither clothing nor sandals.
4. They avoid spitting.
5. They always dress in white.

All five of these statements accord with similar statements set forth in the Qumran sectarian writings.

Furthermore, Pliny the Elder, a Roman scholar and scientist, made the following statement regarding the Essenes:

To the west [of the Dead Sea] the Essenes have put the necessary distance between themselves and the insalubrious shore. They are a people unique of its kind and admirable beyond all others in the whole world without women and renouncing love entirely, without money, and having for company only the palm trees. Owing to the throng of newcomers, this people is daily re-born in equal number; indeed, those whom, wearied by the fluctuations of fortune, life leads to adopt their customs, stream in in great numbers. Thus, unbelievable though this may seem, for thousands of centuries a race has existed which is eternal yet into which no one is born: so fruitful for them is the repentance which others feel for their past lives!¹³

Although this brief passage by Pliny contains some factual or historical errors, its details about the Essenes parallel ideas found in the scrolls: renouncing money, experiencing an increase in converts, and the long existence of the group. Also, Pliny's statement places the Essenes" geographical location at or near Qumran. However, Pliny's comments can still be interpreted in more than one way, making positive identification of the inhabitants of Qumran nearly impossible.

When were the scrolls written or copied?
Scholars generally agree that the scrolls were written or copied between the years 250 b.c. and a.d. 70. This calculation is based on four scientific methods:

1. Paleographic analysis. Paleography is the science of deciphering ancient writing styles. After a careful examination of the way that the scrolls" Hebrew characters were written by the scribes, Professor Frank Moore Cross of Harvard University placed the scrolls in three time periods: the Archaic period (250–150 b.c.), the Hasmonean period (150–30 b.c.), and the Herodian period (30 b.c.–a.d. 68/70).¹⁴
2. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). This method of dating the scrolls is similar to the carbon-14 dating system. Of the eight scrolls tested by AMS, seven agree generally with their paleographic dating.¹⁵
3. Archaeological discoveries. Archaeologists have found pottery and coins in many of the caves in which the scrolls were found. The pottery and coins can often be dated to a specific time period.
4. Historical allusions. On rare occasions the scrolls allude to events or characters of known dates in the historical record.

In what language were the scrolls written?
The majority of the scrolls, biblical and nonbiblical, were written in Hebrew, the language of the ancient Israelites and the sacred language of the Jews.

A few of the scrolls, including the book of Daniel, the apocryphal book of Tobit, fragments of the books of Job and Leviticus, the Genesis Apocryphon, the Book of Enoch, and the Testament of Levi were written in Aramaic. Aramaic is a sister language to Hebrew, sharing with it the same alphabet and numerous grammatical features. A few scroll manuscripts of the Old Testament were written in Greek.

How many caves have yielded scrolls?
Eleven caves located near Qumran have yielded scrolls or scroll fragments. For convenience, scholars call these caves, in order of their discovery, Cave 1, Cave 2, Cave 3, Cave 4, and so on. Since 1956 no additional caves have yielded more than a few small fragments of scrolls.

Cave 1, located about one mile north of the Qumran ruins, was the first of the eleven caves to yield scrolls. The seven major scrolls of Cave 1 are the Community Rule, Rule of the Congregation, the War Scroll, the Thanksgiving Hymns, the Genesis Apocryphon, Commentary on Habakkuk, and the Great Isaiah Scroll. Cave 2, located near Cave 1, was discovered by Bedouins in February 1952. It yielded eighteen fragmentary Old Testament texts and fifteen nonbiblical texts, including a text about the New Jerusalem and two copies of Jubilees.

Archaeologists discovered Cave 3, which yielded fourteen fragmentary texts, three of them biblical and eleven nonbiblical. Cave 3 also contained the Copper Scroll, a twelve-column text inscribed on copper sheets that describes the location of presumed temple treasures containing massive amounts of gold, silver, and precious objects.

Cave 4, discovered in 1952, is an "artificially hewn cave" with "regularly spaced rows of holes found in the cave's walls."¹⁶ The manuscripts found there are among the most significant of the Dead Sea Scrolls discoveries. Scholars estimate that between 500 and 600 different texts, all fragmented, were found in Cave 4. Of these, approximately 130 are biblical texts and the remainder are nonbiblical, including fragments of the Community Rule, the Damascus Document, the Testament of Levi, and Jubilees.

When archaeologists discovered Cave 5 in September 1952, it yielded eight biblical and seventeen nonbiblical texts, including fragments of the Community Rule, the Damascus Document, and an Aramaic text concerning the New Jerusalem.

Cave 6, which was located by Ta>amireh Bedouin, yielded seven biblical and more than twenty nonbiblical texts, including fragments from the books of Genesis and Leviticus, which were written in an archaic Hebrew script called paleo-Hebrew.

Archaeologists discovered Cave 7 in 1955 and recovered nineteen tiny Greek fragments, two of which have been identified as Exodus 28:4–7 and Baruch 6:43–44. The remaining fragments are too small to decipher.

During the months of February and March in 1955, archaeologists discovered Caves 7 through 10. Cave 8 yielded four biblical fragments, a phylactery, a mezuzah, and a hymnic text. Cave 9 held only a small papyrus with six Hebrew characters, and Cave 10 yielded a potsherd containing written inscriptions.

In January 1956 the Bedouin found Cave 11, which yielded the famous Temple Scroll, the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls, measuring approximately eight meters long. Other finds in Cave 11 include the Apocryphal Psalms, which contain many psalms from the biblical book of Psalms and seven other psalms not found in our Bible, a fragmentary copy of Leviticus written in paleo-Hebrew, and fragments of the books of Deuteronomy and Ezekiel. In addition, Cave 11 contained fragments of texts from the books of Jubilees, The Heavenly Prince Melchizedek, the Targum of Job, and Songs for the Holocaust of the Sabbath Sacrifice.

How were the scrolls stored in the caves?
The scrolls of Cave 1 were found intact, wrapped in linen, stored in jars, and sealed in a nearly inaccessible location. They appear to have been prepared for storage more carefully than the other scrolls were. The Cave 1 scrolls may have constituted part of the library at Qumran, and the difficult access to the cave suggests that it was used as a hiding place for the scrolls.

The scrolls found in the other caves seem to have been placed there very hastily, without protection against the elements. The Cave 4 scrolls, for instance, were found among centuries of accumulated debris that, at the time of their discovery, reached a height of nearly three feet. As a result, the Cave 4 scrolls exist only in fragmentary condition.

Endnotes

1. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Paulist Press, 1992).

2. Stephen Pfann mentioned this in a personal conversation with Stephen Ricks, 31 May 1993.

3. Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, 3rd ed. (London: Penguin, 1987), xiii.

4. Hans Wehr, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, ed. J Milton Cowan, 3rd ed. (Ithaca: Spoken Language Services, 1976), 231, 1059; compare Fitzmyer, 101 Questions, 2.

5. See Philip R. Davies, Qumran (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1982), 30.

6. See ibid., 44–48.

7. See ibid.

8. See LDS Bible Dictionary, s.v. "Apocrypha," for a discussion of these and other apocryphal books.

9. See, for example, James C. VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1994), 93–95; and Hershel Shanks, ed., Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Reader from the Biblical Archeology Review (New York: Random House, 1992), 35–84.

10. See Todd S. Beall, Josephus" Description of the Essenes Illustrated by the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988).

11. See Josephus, Jewish Wars 2.8.2 (paragraph 119), 2.8.3 (122, 123), 2.8.4 (126), 2.8.9 (147).

12. Beall, Josephus" Description of the Essenes, 15.

13. Pliny the Elder, Natural History 5.17; see H. Rackham's English translation in the Loeb Classical Library edition of Pliny's work (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969).

14. See Frank Moore Cross, "The Development of the Jewish Scripts," in The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Essays in Honor of William Foxwell Albright, ed. G. Ernest Wright (Garden City: Anchor Books, 1965), 136.

15. See the chart in Lawrence H. Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1994), 32–33.

16. Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, xxi.v

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