From: Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?-_Answers_from?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?_the_Evidence_?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?Bible?= Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2003 16:23:52 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: =?iso-8859-1?Q?http://www.wor?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?ldoutreach.ca/?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?witnessingtool?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?/deadseascroll?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?s.shtml?= X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.3314.1001 - Answers from the Evidence Bible

The Dead Sea Scrolls
"The greatest = manuscript=20 discovery of all times."

By William F.=20 Albright

The discovery of the = Dead Sea=20 Scrolls (DSS) at Qumran in 1949 had significant effects in corroborating = evidence for the Scriptures. The ancient texts, found hidden in pots in=20 cliff-top caves by a monastic religious community, confirm the = reliability of=20 the Old Testament text. These texts, which were copied and studied = by  the=20 Essenes, include one complete Old Testament book (Isaiah) and thousands = of=20 fragments, representing every Old Testament book except Esther. The = manuscripts=20 date from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D. and give the = earliest=20 window found so far into the texts of the Old Testament books and their=20 predictive prophecies. The Qumran texts have become an important witness = for the=20 divine origin of the Bible, providing further  evidence against the = criticism of such crucial books as Daniel and Isaiah. Dating the = Manuscripts.=20 Carbon-14 dating is a reliable form of scientific dating when applied = to =20 uncontaminated material several thousand years old. Results indicated an = age of=20 1917 years with a 200-year (10 percent) variant. Paleography (ancient = writing=20 forms) and orthography (spelling) indicated that some manuscripts were = inscribed=20 before 100 B.C. Albright set the date of the complete Isaiah scroll to = around=20 100 B.C.=97"there can happily  not be the slightest doubt in the = world about=20 the genuineness of the  manuscript." Archaeological Dating. = Collaborative=20 evidence for an early date came from archaeology. Pottery accompanying = the=20 manuscripts was late Hellenistic (c. 150=96 3 B.C.) and Early Roman (c. = 63 B.C. to=20 A.D. 100). Coins found in the monastery  ruins proved by their = inscriptions=20 to have been minted between 135 B.C.  and A.D. 135. The weave and = pattern=20 of the cloth supported an early date. There is no reasonable doubt that = the=20 Qumran manuscripts came from the century before Christ and the first = century=20 A.D. Significance of the Dating. Previous to the DSS, the earliest known = manuscript of the Old Testament was the Masoretic Text (A.D. 900)  = nd two=20 others (dating about A.D. 1000) from which, for example, the King James = version=20 of the Old Testament derived its translation. Perhaps most would have = considered=20 the Masoretic text as a very late text and therefore questioned the = reliability=20 of the Old Testament wholesale. The Dead Sea Scrolls eclipse these texts = by=20 1,000 years and provide little reason to question their reliability, and = further, present only confidence for the text. The beauty of the Dead = Sea=20 Scrolls lies in the close match they have with the Masoretic = text=97demonstrable=20 evidence of reliability and preservation of the authentic text through = the=20 centuries. So the discovery of the DSS provides evidence for the = following: 1)=20 Confirmation of the Hebrew Text 2) Support for the Masoretic Text 3) = Support for=20 the Greek translation of the Hebrew Text (the Septuagint). Since the New = Testament often quotes from the Greek Old Testament, the DSS furnish the = reader=20 with further confidence for the Masoretic texts in this area where it = can be=20 tested. (Generated from Norman Geisler, "Dead Sea Scrolls," Baker = Encyclopedia=20 of Christian Apologetics)





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