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ence to the official Old Testament tcxt.
The many deviations are exactly what
one would have expected.
Professor Bruce puts into words the
consensus of scholars dealing with the
Qumran material:
"The new evidence conlirms what we
had already good reason
to
believe -
that the Jewish scribes of the early
Christian centuries copied and recopied
the text of the Hebrew Bible with the
utmost fidelity .
...
Isaiah A (the scroll
containing almost the complete book of
Isaiah] bcars all the marks of a popu–
lar,
unoffirial
copy of the sacred text. It
was probably the work of
AMATEUR
SCRIBES,
or at least of scribes who did
not belong to thc higher grades of their
profession" (pp. 61-63).
Masorecic Meticulously
Maintaioed
The Masoretic text of today is far
superior to the unofficial scrolls of the
Essene community living in the desolate
wilderness.
"Most of the deviations in Isaiah A
which do make a differcnce to the
meaning of the text - additions, omis–
sions, and alterations of words and
groups of words - simply show, when
subjected te critica! scrutiny, that the
text of this manuscript, ancient as it is,
is
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so acmrale as the lraditional text
which was received and handed on by
Massoretes" (Bruce, p. 64).
The Dead Sea Scrolls do not con–
sistently agree even among themselves!
Yet, the more carefully copied material
tends to be
more like
the
lrrtditional
Masoretic text.
"As for Isaiah B [a parti al text of
Tsaiah], thc diffcrenccs betwcen its text
and that of the Massoretcs are fewer
and less significant ... (the scribe] pro–
duccd a
mllch neater
and
more acc!lrrtle
piece
of work than Isaiah A, which is
rather slovenly by comparison" (p. 64).
Yet sorne few critics would still use
such slipshod, carcless pieces of work in
an attempt to "correct" thc officially
preserved text!
Other Finds Confirm Textual
Accuracy
But other Biblical scroll finds from
Murabba'at in thc Judcan wilderness,
The
PLAIN
TIWTH
WADI DALIYEH
e
Jericho •
Jerusalem •
WADI MURABBA'AT
Hebron •
NAHAL HEVER
CAVE
DISCOVERY
SITES OF THE
MASADA
Dead
Sea
Scrolls
T
HE DEAD SEA SCROLL finds
in
1947
were the first dis–
coveries to be made in the area.
Since that time, many important
documents have been unearthed.
For example, che "Temple Scroll,"
the largest scroll found to date,
did not come into Israelí hands
until
1967.
The consensus of scholarly
research puts the dates of the
scrolls to the time preceding the
destruction of the Qumran reli–
gious community (which preserved
the scrolls) in about 68.
All the finds have centered
around five major areas:
Kbirbet Qumrau.
This is the
area oo the northwestern shores
of the Dead Sea where the original
Dead Sea manuscripts were found.
Its name comes from the ruins of
the ancient Essene Qumran com–
munity who copied the material
found in the area.
This was a "monascic" group
whose religious beliefs caused
it
to
witbdraw
from che mainstrearn of
Jewish civilizacion. Members of che
ascetic Qumran community even
refused to worship at the Temple.
They were completely outside
the official body of Jewish scholar·
ship. So, in addition to fragments
of every book of the Bible but
Esther, archaeologists have found
rernains of mystical Essene litera–
cure, and Jewish apocryphal and
pseudepigraphal writings. (These
Iatter are made up of historical and
thcological writings which vary
greatly in scholarly value.)
W rtdi Murabba'rtt mzd tbe Caves
of Nabal Rever rmd Nabal Se'elim.
Both these finds are in the desolace
Judean Wilderness west of the
Dead Sea. As well as fragments
of the Bible, finds in these areas
include evidence from the Jewish
revolt (132-135). This includes
lctters from "Bar Kokhba" (Simon
ben Koshiba), the leader of the
revolt, himself.
W ndi Dnliyeb.
In this area north
of Jericho were found documents
left by refugees from Alexander
the Greac. This material, written
during the time 375-334 before
chis era, is the earliest e,.,:tensive
collection of papyri yec found in
che Palestine area.
Masada.
The excavacion of this
ancient Jewish fortress by che
famous soldier-archaeologist Yigael
Yadin turned up, among other
things, material from both the
lfebrew Bible and the Apocrypha.
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