INSPIRATION

When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them -- Confucius

Pottery Artifacts: Sundial from Qumran

A sundial found at Qumran thought to have been used to determine the cosmic calendar for the celebration of the Jewish feasts.

Great Isaiah Scroll

The Isaiah Scroll was written on parchment with each section hand-sewn with animal sinew threads. The outside of the scroll shows darkened areas from the many ancient hands that held the scroll open 2000 years ago.

The Isaiah Scroll shows evidence of three scribes having written the text with the second and third making corrections to the writings of the first scribe.

Full size reproduction Historic Connections

A fascinating and fun read for those who love religious thrillers

A fascinating and fun read for those who love religious thrillers

By Midwest Book Review


Truth is something that is battled for everyday. "The Eighth Scroll" tells the story of archeologist Frank Tones and his pursuit of the lost scroll of the famed Dead Sea Scrolls. But when bodies begin to turn up and people are silenced, the good of history seems to be no match for corruption and lust for power. "The Eighth Scroll" is a fascinating and fun read for those who love religious thrillers.

The Top Ten Reasons Why the Trinity is Not Valid

Nash Papyrus

The oldest Fragmentary text we had prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was the Nash Papyrus.

The Nash Papyrus is a segmented papyrus manuscript found in Egypt in 1898 by W.L.Nash. It is thought it came from the Fayyum though its provenance is not entirely known. It is dated to 150 - 100BC and was the oldest Hebrew manuscript at the time until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It contains the Ten Commandments and the Shema Yisrael. At one point it was customary to say the Ten Commandments before the Shema Yisrael and thus it is thought that this fragment was made for this purpose

Aleppo Codex

The Dead Sea Scrolls are key to understanding and confirming the accuracy of the transmission of the Biblical text over 2000 years. There is no part of the Dead Sea Scrolls that challenge the text or beliefs of our present core Christian beliefs. There are spelling variances and wording differences but the core of the text has been accurately carried through time to the present day.

"We have given practical proof of our reverence for our own scriptures. For although such long ages have now passed, no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable; and it is an instinct with every Jew, from the day of his birth, to regard them as the decrees of God, to abide by them, and if need be, to cheerfully die for them."
-Falvius Josephus (Contra Apion, Book 1, sec.,8,p158)

Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls the oldest complete manuscripts were those of the Masoretic text. The Dead Sea Scrolls are 1000 years older giving us a window into the original text a millenia closer to the original autographs.

The Aleppo Codex is one of these Masoretic Texts:

 Aleppo Codex

The Aleppo Codex is the oldest and most complete  manuscript of the Hebrew Bible.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are 1000 years older but are in a much fragmentary state but show us just how faithfully the text has been copied over time.

If you wish to know more about the Aleppo Codex see HERE 

Dead Sea Scrolls Historical Connections

One of the first scrolls found was so stuck together that scholars dispaired of unrolling it.
At Hebrew University Professor James E. Bieberkraut soften it by exposing it for months to controlled humidity, slowly peeled it open.  It was a part of Genesis, written in Aramaic, and the earliest document ever found in this ancient language.

 

 Professor Bieberkraut of the Hebrew University opening the Genesis Apocryphon. 

Many of the scrolls were tightly rolled and encrusted in 2000 years of soil, dirt and animal droppings buried in the soil on the floors of the caves. Professor Bieberkraut who worked at the Hebrew University at the time employed his expertise in opening the precious scrolls.

Qumran Settlement - Recreation

Qumran

A recreation of the Settlement at Qumran.
The Scriptorium at Qumran where inkwells, reed pen (made from a palm) and a long plastered table were found.

Reader's Review: Good Historical Fiction

By JBP
I thought that this was a really good book. It weaves together three religious views: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. This is a work of fiction so please don't try to make what happens in the story applicable to you real religion. I have an open mind, but I also can separate fiction from what I consider to be fact.

I enjoyed the characters. They were developed and believable, and got me to care about what happened to them. The facts in the book are historically accurate, for the most part. There were so moments in the book where it went "Oh really." But there were not enough of them to lesson my enjoyment.

As a religious mystery based in part on the Bible and an alternative view of the religions it has spawned, this is a good book. I enjoyed it and I am sure you will too.

Dead Sea Scrolls Historical Connection

Metropolitan Athanasius Yeshue Samuel (1909-1995), was a Metropolitan and Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, as well as a central figure in the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Mar Samuel holding some of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 In 1947, while Metropolitan of Jerusalem of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch (also known as the Syrian Orthodox Church), Mar Samuel received news that some ancient texts had been discovered. Samuel arranged to see the scrolls. After examining them, and suspecting that they were indeed very old, Mar Samuel expressed an interest in purchasing them. All four scrolls that had been then discovered would find their way into his possession, including the now famous Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule, the Habakkuk Persher, and the Genesis Apocryphon. The scrolls were sold to Mar Samuel by Kando, an antiquities dealer.

Following the end of the British mandate over Palestine and Transjordan and the outbreak of hostilities between Arabs and Jews, Mar Samuel relocated to the United States in 1949, and played a major role in the life of the Syriac Orthodox Church in North America. From 1952, he served as Patriarchal Vicar to the United States and Canada, and from 1957, as Archbishop of the newly created Archdiocese of the United States and Canada.

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Reader's Review: My 1st Kindle book and it's a keeper!

By Lisa Kingsbeer 

 
Fast paced with memorable and like able characters. The Eighth Scroll has an intriguing storyline that had me researching online and learning much more about history than I bargained for. Yes the comparisons with The Da Vinci Code are evident but having read both I would say the Eighth Scroll is well worth a read if you are a Da Vinci Code fan OR not. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more Lawrence Brown books and wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

Dead Sea Scrolls Historical Connections

Father Roland de Vaux holding fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Father Roland Guérin de Vaux  (17 December 1903 – 10 September 1971) was a French Dominican priest who led the team that initially worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was the director of the Ecole Biblique, a French Catholic Theological School in East Jerusalem, and he was charged with overseeing research on the scrolls. His team excavated the ancient site of Qumran (1951–1956) as well as several caves near Qumran northwest of the Dead Sea. The excavations were led by Ibrahim El-Assouli, caretaker of the Palestine Archaeological Museum, or what came to be known as the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem. 

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