The Dead Sea Scrolls

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been hailed as “the greatest archaeological find of the twentieth century,” and for good reason. The story began in the winter of 1946–1947 when a few Bedouin shepherds stumbled upon a cave on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea.

Between 1949 and 1956, dozens of archaeological teams, comprised of both local Bedouins and Western scholars, discovered eleven more limestone caves around the ruins of the ancient Qumran settlement, all containing Dead Sea Scrolls. After years of archaeological excavations, scholars found a complex of buildings at the Qumran site. Research indicates that during the last century BC and the first century AD—the century before Jesus was born and the century in which He lived—a male religious community settled there. The scrolls hidden in these caves were the remains of this community’s library. In total, they included about a thousand manuscripts written on parchment and papyrus. A quarter of these manuscripts contained books from the contemporary Jewish Bible and the Christian Old Testament, such as Genesis, Exodus, Isaiah, and Psalms. Among these was a complete copy of the Hebrew Book of Isaiah, preserved in almost perfect condition. It dates back to around 125 BC, making it about a thousand years older than any other known Hebrew biblical manuscript.

Based on classical sources (Greek and Latin), scholars have identified this community as the Essenes, a Jewish sect from the first century. Although Essenes may have appeared in the four Gospels, the authors never referred to them by name. This religious community was largely forgotten by Jewish and Christian cultures until the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, which brought them back into public consciousness.