From ancient caves near the northern tip of the Dead Sea to museum halls near Southern California’s Pacific coast came the Dead Sea Scrolls — objects of mystery and intrigue, perhaps among the greatest archaeological treasures ever discovered.

Photos courtesy of holylandphotos.org

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park closed on New Year’s Eve, but not before Bethel Seminar's San Diego faculty completed a series of lectures about the scrolls and guided tours to the museum’s historic display. Why the to-do? Mark Strauss, Bethel Seminary professor of New Testament and popular Dead Sea Scrolls lecturer, offers the following primer for those of us who want to know more.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 11 caves near the Dead Sea in Israel between 1947 and 1956, initially by a Bedouin shepherd boy and later by teams exploring the site known as Khirbet Qumran.

What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?

Almost everyone has heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but few have any idea what they are or understand their significance for Christianity.

The scrolls are a group of manuscripts (hand-copied documents) discovered in 11 caves near the Dead Sea in Israel between 1947 and 1956. They represent a diverse collection, dating from about 250 B.C. to A.D. 68.

The story of their discovery is the stuff of adventure. Several versions exist, but all revolve around a Bedouin shepherd boy tossing a rock into a cave, perhaps looking for a lost goat. The boy heard pottery breaking and later returned to investigate. Entering the cave, he discovered 10 earthen jars holding a collection of ancient scrolls. Knowing that such artifacts could be valuable, the boy and his cousins took them to an antiquities dealer in Jerusalem. The dealer, Khalil Eskander Shahin (known as “Kando” for short), became broker of the scrolls for the Bedouin.

Eventually the scrolls were identified by experts as ancient Hebrew manuscripts. Over the next nine years, 10 more caves were discovered, altogether containing more than 900 documents. Many of the scrolls had to be painstakingly pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle from thousands of tiny fragments. The task of identifying, translating, and interpreting the scrolls continues in earnest even today.

Who wrote the scrolls?

The scrolls remain the subject of much debate, including the question of their origin. Soon after the discovery of the first scrolls, scholars noted the proximity of an archaeological site known as Khirbet Qumran (Khirbet means “ruins”). After the site’s excavation began, the theory emerged that the ancient community who once lived there had produced and eventually hidden the scrolls in the caves.

Scroll content suggests that these people were part of a Jewish sect known as the Essenes, a group described by the Jewish historian Josephus and other ancient writers. The Essenes rigorously kept the law of Moses and, like the Pharisees, developed their own strict legal code. Josephus says that while some Essenes lived in families throughout the villages of Israel, others lived in monastic communities much like Qumran. This interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls is known as the “Essene Hypothesis” and is held by the majority of scholars today.

From the scrolls themselves, we can piece together the history of this sect. They were originally led by a Jewish priest referred to in the scrolls as the “Teacher of Righteousness.” Sometime in the second century B.C., the teacher led his group away from Jerusalem in protest against the ruling Jewish priests and what he and his followers viewed as the corruption of the Jerusalem temple. His opponent in this conflict is identified in the scrolls as the “Wicked Priest,” perhaps the ruling high priest of the time. This separatist group formed their own community, where they studied Scripture and waited for God to return with His angels and destroy the “children of darkness” (the Jerusalem leaders and the Roman rulers) and save the righteous “children of light” (themselves). They expected two messiahs, a royal or kingly messiah from the line of David and a priestly messiah from the line of Aaron. They interpreted Scripture eschatologically — that is, they considered themselves to be the righteous remnant of God’s people living in the last days.

Certain scholars challenge portions of this hypothesis. Some believe the scrolls have no connection with the ancient site of Qumran, and that its convenience to the caves is mere coincidence. They propose that the site may have been an ancient fortress, a Roman villa, or even a pottery factory. According to this view, the scrolls were not part of a monastic library, but were books taken from Jerusalem and hidden in the caves to protect them from Roman invaders during the Jewish War of A.D. 66-73. These scholars also question the identification of the scrolls with the Essenes, claiming that writings in the scrolls show some differences with what we know about the Essenes from other sources. While this debate continues, the majority of scholars still hold to both the Essene Hypothesis and the connection of the scrolls to the site of Qumran.

What’s in the scrolls?

The scrolls contain various types of literature, but in general can be classified in three groups. The first are books of the Hebrew Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament. About one quarter of the Dead Sea Scrolls are biblical books. Every book in the Old Testament has been discovered in the scrolls, with the exception of the book of Esther. It is unknown whether the community did not use the book of Esther or if copies of it were lost or destroyed. Perhaps the greatest find at Qumran is a magnificent, nearly complete copy of the book of Isaiah. The great Isaiah Scroll was one of the seven scrolls found in Qumran Cave 1, the first cave the Bedouin discovered. Another amazing find was a near complete copy of the Psalms, found in Qumran Cave 11.

The second type of writings in the scrolls is extra-biblical Jewish books. These are ancient Jewish books like Tobit, Jubilees, Enoch, and the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, the existence of which scholars were aware before the discovery of the scrolls. They are part of the collection of Jewish writings known as the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha.

The third group of scrolls is known as “sectarian writings,” or writings produced by the Qumran community itself. These include a wide range of different types of works, including commentaries on the biblical books, hymns and psalms written for the community, and works describing the rules and regulations that were to govern the group.

Those who deny that the Dead Sea Scrolls were produced by a distinct (Essene) sect would classify the scrolls into only two groups: biblical and non-biblical writings. They claim that what are called “sectarian writings” are simply Jewish works of which scholars were unaware before the discovery of the scrolls.

What’s the significance of the scrolls for Christians today?

Apart from providing a wonderful glimpse into ancient history, the scrolls are important to today’s Christian in two particularly significant ways. The first concerns the text of the Old Testament. Before the invention of the printing press, all books had to be hand copied. Inevitably, such copying produces errors, which have a tendency to accumulate over the centuries. The question then is: “Do we have accurate copies of the Bible?”

Prior to the discovery of the scrolls, the oldest surviving copies of the Old Testament dated to about A.D. 900, at least 1,300 years later than when the last of the Old Testament books was written. Evidence was good that Jewish scribes had meticulously copied the Bible, but this is still a very large gap in time. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls shrank this gap enormously. The oldest of the Dead Sea Scroll biblical manuscripts is dated from about 250 B.C., a mere 150 years after the last of the books was written. So in just one discovery, we were able to move a thousand years closer to the period of writing. Study of the biblical manuscripts among the scrolls confirmed that, although there are many minor differences, the text of the Old Testament had indeed been reliably preserved over the course of these centuries.

The second great benefit of the scrolls is that they provide insight into the world in which Jesus lived and the Jewish belief systems of His day. Although Jesus is never mentioned in the scrolls and there is no evidence that He had any contact with this community, we learn a great deal about the culture of New Testament times from the scrolls. For example, there are several interesting parallels between the scrolls and the New Testament. John the Baptist, like the Qumran sectarians, lived a monastic life in the desert and proclaimed the imminent coming of God’s kingdom. Both had an “apocalyptic” message that focused on the end times, God’s judgment of the wicked, and His reward for the righteous.

Another parallel concerns the interpretation of Scripture. Both the Qumran community and the early Christians read the Old Testament Scriptures and saw their fulfillment taking place in their day. Both saw themselves as the end-time people of God, awaiting God’s final intervention to establish His kingdom, judge the wicked, and reward the righteous. Both also had a strong “remnant” theology, viewing themselves as the righteous remnant of God’s people living among an apostate nation in the end times.

The most important difference between the people of Qumran and the early Christians, however, is the outcome of their faith. Whereas the Qumran sectarians believed that they would be victorious over the Romans and would reign with God over a restored Jerusalem, these hopes were dashed. During the Jewish revolt of A.D. 66-73, the Romans marched in and destroyed the community. The hidden library, which the Qumran community probably hoped to retrieve after the war, was lost and forgotten…until 1947.

Christians have a very different story with a very different ending. Jesus not only claimed to be the Messiah, but also proved His claim by rising from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion and then pouring out His Spirit on His followers on the Day of Pentecost. Jesus said that He would build His church, and that the gates of Hades would not overcome it. The presence of the worldwide church today and the promises that have already been fulfilled confirm for believers that we have a living Savior who will one day return to deliver us from the present evil age and bring us into His presence forever.

Mark Strauss is professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary San Diego and author of such books as Four Portraits, One Jesus: An Introduction to Jesus and the Gospels; How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth: A Guide to Understanding and Using Bible Versions; and The Essential Bible Companion: Key Insights for Reading God’s Word.