Dead Sea Scrolls

Qumran

Virtual Qumran

Essene Theory

● A Jewish sect ( with Pharisees & Saducees) ● Lived communally with long initiation times● Communal meals● Concerned with extreme piety and ritual purity (especially bathing)● Studied scriptures and probably copied them● Probably hid scrolls in caves in anticipation of

Roman destruction of Qumran in 68 CE

Jar

Cave 4

Cave 4 Interior

Qumran Artifacts

Wooden Comb

Plates

Sandals

Phylactery Cases

Qumran's Water System

The Scriptorium

An Inkwell

Scrolls

Community Rule (3.5”x8.5”) 1CEParchment

11Q14 Book of War 1st c. CE

4Q271 Damascus Document (30-1BCE)

Manuscripts Available to Essenes

Part of the Hebrew Alphabet

1. Paleo-Hebrew

2. Hasmonaean (125-50 BCE)

3. Herodian (50 BCE-70 CE)

4. Medieval

11Q1 Paleo-Leviticus (1-50 CE)

4Q179 Nahum Commentary (1st c. CE)

11Q10 Job Targum in Aramaic(30-50 CE)

Tetragrammaton

11Q5 Psalms (1-50 CE)7.3”x28”

Closeup of Second “Page” From Right

4Q175 Testimonia (early 1st c.)

3Q115 Copper Scroll

Papyrus (5/6Hev 46 Bar Kokhba)(134 CE)

Other ManuscriptsScrolls from Dept of Antiquities of Jordan:● Testamonia-Biblical Excerpts 4Q175● Isaiah Pesher(Commentary) 4Q162

Manuscripts from Russian National Library:● Pentateuch fragments from about 1000 CE● Nehemiah fragments 994 CE● Torah Scroll 9th century

Ethiopic Manuscripts● Two Psalm books of the 17th and 18th centuries

St. John's Bible

Virtual Qumran

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