The Dead Sea Scrolls; when one hears these words uttered together, it sparks interest of the imagination and entices a person to want to know more. Since the scrolls’ discovery in 1947, there has been a tremendous amount of excavation done to locate and retrieve all other scrolls. During this process, ten additional sites and numerous amounts of artifacts have been discovered. These scrolls are so fascinating to man because they contain ancient manuscripts of the Bible. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the caves of Khirbet Qumran; a city of antiquity. The original documents were found in what is known as cave one, thus this original discovery acquires the vast majority of investigation. There are, however, ten more caves in which discoveries were also obtained. These caves are also important and deserve, at the very least, a general glance of their findings.
The discovery of the first scrolls which have been titled “The Dead Sea Scrolls” were found in Qumran near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. They were found by a young boy who was fifteen years of age. His name is Muhammad adh – Dhib, one of two Taamireh Bedouins who stumbled across these precious manuscripts containing portions of God’s word.1 The story goes as so: Muhammad adh – Dhib and a companion went searching for a goat that had strayed from the flock. While searching for the goat, Muhammad saw a cave and threw a stone into the cave. This was an effort to draw the goat out of the cave if in fact the animal was in there. As the rock was cast into the cave he heard a crash that was reminiscent of pottery breaking. This sparked his interest and he commissioned his friend to enter the cave with him. Upon their entry they discovered the manuscripts. Since their discovery they have been bought and sold to various people, universities, and religious groups. The discovery of these ancient texts ignited the search of the caves of Qumran.
Refer to “Article Study Helps” inside.
To be continued next week…