The Dead Sea Scrolls More Closely Than a State Secret

FOR FORTY-FIVE YEARS^ A SELECT GROUP OF SCHOLARS HAS QUARDED THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS MORE CLOSELY THAN A STATE SECRET. CORNELL'S ON THE BEAT EXPLAINS WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT. THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS i BY GARY A. KENDSBURG rom the moment forty-five years ago when a young k Bedouin boy chasing down a stray goat accidentally discovered the first manuscripts, to the most recent high- tech applications of infrared pho- tography and computer-gener- ated texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls have captivated the imagination of the general public and the attention of scholars worldwide. In the last year and a half, there have been several new developments based on various con- troversial aspects of Dead Sea Scrolls research. One result of these developments may be easier access to the Scrolls, which should make the life and work ars were taken to the site and sys- authenticity (and there were some of many scholars—including me— tematic exploration of the cave and who considered the scrolls to be much easier. neighboring caves was begun. The medieval) were proved to be unwar- The story of the Dead Sea Scrolls Taamire tribesmen were of great ranted. Scholars had before them begins in 1947 when Muhammad ed- assistance in this project, because what Prof. W. F. Albright of Johns Dhib, a young herder from the they alone know the desert and its Hopkins University called "the Taamire tribe of the Judean Desert, various features. The accidental dis- greatest manuscript find of modern followed a stray member of his flock covery by Muhammad ed-Dhib times," and what were henceforth into a cave in the cliffs high above turned out to be just the tip of the called the Dead Sea Scrolls or the the Dead Sea. He not only found his iceberg (perhaps an inappropriate Qumran Scrolls. lost goat, but he also discovered large metaphor in reference to the arid Starting with Prof. Sukenik's pottery vessels holding seven parch- wasteland of the Judean Desert, but earliest studies, it became clear that ment manuscripts. Muhammad, who an apt one nonetheless). Manuscripts the scrolls were written by mem- like most of the tribesmen was il- were found in eleven caves in the bers of an ancient Jewish sect. But literate, could not read the material region. By the time the exploration which Jewish sect? We know that but recognized its value. On the was finished, dozens of complete or many varieties of Judaism existed Taamires' next trip to Bethlehem virtually complete manuscripts, during the 1st Century B.C.E. and to buy supplies, they sold the scrolls along with hundreds of fragments, the 1st Century C.E. Most promi- to a man named Kando, a cobbler had been found. nent were the Pharisees, Sadducees, who also dabbled in antiquities. Essenes, and Zealots. After 70 C.E., Kando, a Syrian Orthodox Christian, when the Romans destroyed Jerusa- also could not read the material, but lem and the Temple (as well as took the scrolls to Jerusalem where he caves were located in Qumran), the only Jewish sect that the Metropolitan Mar Samuel, head an escarpment above an survived was the Pharisees; this sect of St. Mark's Monastery of the Syr- ancient archaeological site developed into the normative rab- ian Orthodox Church, recognized known as Qumran, only a binic Judaism which has dominated them as ancient Hebrew documents. few hundred meters from the religion for the last nineteen Word soon reached scholars in the northwestern shore of the Dead centuries. Jerusalem that a major discovery had Sea. While the Bedouins and schol- To further complicate the pic- been made. On November 27,1947, ars cooperated in the exploration of ture, Christianity was in its infancy the same day the United Nations the caves, archaeologists began a at this time: Jesus and Paul were voted to partition Palestine and thus systematic excavation of Qumran. active, and the first of the Gospels, create the State of Israel, Prof. There they found an ancient settle- Mark's, was written shortly before Eliezer Sukenik of the Hebrew Uni- ment, with a complex system of 70 C.E. The task of biblical schol- versity of Jerusalem dressed him- water courses and cisterns to col- ars then, from 1947 to the present self in Arab garb and made the dan- lect the meager amounts of rainfall day, has been to determine who gerous trip to Bethlehem. There he that the area receives. Of great im- wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, and how visited Kando, saw the scrolls for portance was the discovery of about the scrolls relate to the different the first time, confirmed their au- 250 coins, all dated, which thus en- brands of Judaism and to incipient thenticity and immediately purchased abled scholars to fix the period of Christianity during the period of the three of the documents. Mar Samuel settlement at Qumran between 120 Roman occupation of Israel. had the other four documents and B.C.E. and 70 C.E. (Like many schol- The majority view, to which I several years later, through a me- ars of antiquity, I prefer to use the subscribe, is that the scrolls were diator, sold them to Prof. Yigael Yadin theologically neutral terms B.C.E.— written by the Essenes. Unfortu- of the Hebrew University. All seven before the common era—and C.E. nately, we do not know a lot about of the documents found their way in place of the terms B.C. and A.D.) this group, but from the ancient Jew- to Jerusalem, where they are now At the same time, carbon-14 dating ish writers Philo and Josephus and displayed in the Shrine of the Book tests were done on the linen wrap- from the Roman writer Pliny the Pavilion of the Israel Museum. pers in which some of the scrolls Elder we learn some important facts But where exactly had these had been found. The tests dated the that dovetail nicely with the evidence scrolls come from? Were there more linen to 33 C.E. (with an accuracy from Qumran. Pliny tells us that the of them? Could their authenticity be of plus or minus 200 years). Essenes lived along the western proven beyond doubt? How old were A study of the handwriting of the shore of the Dead Sea, between Jeri- they? The answers to all these ques- scrolls by paleography experts led cho and Ein Gedi; this description tions began to unfold in the late to the conclusion that the manu- matches Qumran exactly. 1940s and early 1950s. Although the scripts were written in the same The Essenes lived a communal Bedouins had attempted to conceal period. In short, the various lines life, without money, with a period the exact location of the cave in of evidence converged to indicate of probation before complete accep- which the documents were found (for that the scrolls were about 2,000 tance in the community; all of this they wished to explore further and years old. Any doubts that scholars is reflected in the document called sell more items), eventually schol- had about the scrolls* antiquity or the Community Rule. The Essenes Cornell Alumni News 32 The caves at Qumran in which the scrolls were found. did not participate in the sacrificial munity Rule document and in other Light and the Sons of Darkness. services in Jerusalem; likewise the legal texts, there are no references Based on this evidence, then, I think Qumran texts do not refer to sacri- to women. Furthermore, only a few it is clear that the Dead Sea Scrolls fices and in fact allude to their cur- of the skeletons found in the cem- present us with firsthand material rent locale as a voluntary withdrawal etery at Qumran are female. The composed by ancient Jewish sectar- to the desert to remove themselves Essenes believed that all matters of ian Essenes. from what they perceived as the sins human life were predestined, and this Another reason such importance of Jerusalem and its Temple. Many is strongly reflected in all the has been attached to the Dead Sea of the Essenes were celibate, and Qumran texts. Finally, there was a Scrolls is that among the texts are while there is no proof of celibacy clear apocalyptic bent among the the oldest copies of the books of the among the people of Qumran, there Essenes, and this, too, is seen in Bible ever found. In some cases, we are some hints in the texts. In the the Qumran material, especially in have only small fragments, but in various laws laid out in the Com- a text called the War of the Sons of the celebrated case of the Book of April 1992 33 Isaiah we have a complete copy of sages from the Hebrew Bible (or Old do not think there is a direct rela- all sixty-six chapters. When one re- Testament) are cited both at Qumran tionship between the two. The most alizes that prior to 1947 the oldest and in the New Testament to prove important reason: at Qumran the law copies of the Hebrew Bible were the same point. For example, both of Moses was upheld and followed from the early Middle Ages, one groups of texts use the verse "Male in the most scrupulous fashion. In quickly sees how the scrolls repre- and female he created them" (Gen- the New Testament, of course, there sent a tremendous boon to those esis 1:27) as the basis for their dis- is a strong move away from adher- scholars interested in how the bib- tinctive marriage laws.

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