Here is the last of the presentations. This was the first one I delivered, so the handout was in bullet form rather than paragraph form. Hopefully it still has useful information for the curious out there.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Significance
∞ Gave a look into the life of the Essenes sect of Judaism
∞ Scrolls hidden during First Jewish Revolt circa 66-70 C.E.
∞ Oldest surviving manuscripts of the OT
o Gave great support for the accuracy of the Masoretic Text (MT)
o Only 13 significant variances between the two in Isaiah[1]
∞ All books of the OT canon are present in some form except Esther[2]
∞ A complete copy of Isaiah, 1QIsaa, dates back to 100 B.C.E.
o Previous complete books dated only to 895 C.E. from Cairo[3]
∞ Copper Scroll lists treasure drops throughout Israel
∞ Temple Scroll is the longest found at 26.7 feet[4]
∞ Scrolls are referred to by cave number, site, abbreviated title, and subscript for version.[5]
o 1QIsaa = Cave 1, Qumran, Isaiah variant 1 - a.k.a St. Mark’s Monastery scroll
o 1QpHab = Cave 1, Qumran, pesher, Habakkuk
Timeline[6]
∞ Spring, 1947 - Muhammad adh-Dhib discovered while searching for his goat northwest of the Dead Sea
o April, 1947 – Bedouins bring scrolls to Bethlehem looking to sell them
o July, 1947 – Athanasius Y. Sameul buys several scrolls, including 1QIsaa and 1QS
∞ March 15, 1948 – W.F. Albright confirms the discovery
∞ April 11, 1948 – Dead Sea Scroll discovery announced to the world
∞ 1950 – First scrolls are published by the Albright Institute, including 1QIsaa
∞ March 20, 1952 – The Copper Scroll is discovered in Cave 3
∞ 1955 – Publication of 1QIsaa, 1QH, 1QM as well as others
∞ January, 1956 – Cave 11, the last Qumran cave, is discovered
∞ Fall, 2011 – All scrolls will become available digitally through Google
Annotated Bibliography
Scanlin, Harold The Dead Sea Scrolls & Modern Translations of the Old Testament. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers Inc., 1993.
An excellent review of what the DSS are, as well as their impact on the field of textual criticism. Employs multiple helpful charts and reads easily while staying reasonably technical. Available in Logos 4 Scholars.
VanderKam, James C. The Dead Sea Scrolls Today. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.
A revised work detailing current discoveries and latest theories on the DSS. It discusses topics from the culture of the Essenes, to the texts themselves, to OT canonization comments. VanderKam is a professor of Hebrew Scriptures at Notre Dame and has edited 12 volumes of Discoveries in the Judaean Desert.
Hirschfeld, Yizhar Qumran in context: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004.
Hirschfeld argues against an Essene connection to the scrolls but rather instead a Jerusalem connection. He details evidence about the excavation of Qumran by de Vaux, and points out flaws in project. Interesting divergent viewpoint for the origin of the DSS.
D. Barthélemy, OP, J. T. Milik, and others (eds.) Discoveries in the Judaean Desert. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955-2008.
A 40 volume set that is the edito princeps of the DSS scrolls. Necessary for serious study of the scrolls; overkill for casual readers. All volumes available except 32 which is still under construction.
[1] Paul J. Achtemeier et al., Harper's Bible Dictionary (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985), 917.
[2] Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996), 360.
[3] Ibid., 916-917
[4] “Fascinating Facts About the Discovery at Qumran.” 3 June 2011. Online: http://www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html
[5] F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 460.
[6] Harold P. Scanlin, The Dead Sea Scrolls and Modern Translations of the Old Testament (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1993).
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