QUMRAN

The greatest archaeological find of the 20th century was made on the northwest corner of the Dead Sea at a place called "Qumran." In 1947 a young goat herder tossed a stone into a cave while looking for a lost goat and heard something break. Upon investigation he discovered there was pottery in the cave. Inside the jars were rolled up leather scrolls. After showing them to a merchant in Bethlehem, the scrolls were taken to the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. Other caves in the area were searched, and more scrolls were found. Some of the scrolls were sold to buyers at the Hebrew University as well as buyers who saw the offer in the Wall Street Journal. Evidently, the Essenes heard about the approach of the Roman legions and had hidden the scrolls in various caves. Thousands of fragments have been discovered in these caves with Scriptures on them which gave the world copies of the Old Testament and other writings that are a thousand years older than any manuscript we have had before. There were parts of every book of the Old Testament with the exception of Esther. The significance of this find is a confirmation of the accuracy of the copying of the Scriptures over the centuries. The oldest manuscripts we have had in some cases were only a thousand years old, and now we have manuscripts that date back 2,000 years and more. The accuracy and preservation of the Scriptures are amazing. The ruins in Qumran show a main building 120 feet long by 90 feet wide. There was a defense tower, a dining room in which a pile of dishes was found, and a most interesting scriptorium with benches, writing tables and inkstands. Cisterns for holding water were found also. A cemetery was discovered east of the settlement with 1100 graves. The most famous of all the scrolls found was that of Isaiah which is one foot wide and 24 feet long. Most of the scrolls were written on leather and papyrus, but two of them were written on copper. The scrolls are now exhibited in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.