In the spring of 1947 Bedouin goat-herds, searching the cliffs along the
Dead Sea for a lost goat (or for treasure, depending on who is telling
the story), came upon a cave containing jars filled with manuscripts.
That find caused a sensation when it was released to the world, and
continues to fascinate the scholarly community and the public to this
day.
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The Qumran site and the Dead Sea.
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The first discoveries came to the attention of scholars in 1948, when
seven of the scrolls were sold by the Bedouin to a cobbler and
antiquities dealer called Kando. He in turn sold three of the scrolls
to Eleazar L. Sukenik of Hebrew University, and four to Metropolitan Mar
Athanasius Yeshue Samuel of the Syrian Orthodox monastery of St. Mark.
Mar Athanasius in turn brought his four to the American School of
Oriental Research, where they came to the attention of American and
European scholars.
It was not until 1949 that the site of the find was identified as the
cave now known as Qumran Cave 1. It was that identification that led to
further explorations and excavations of the area of Khirbet Qumran.
Further search of Cave 1 revealed archaeological finds of pottery, cloth
and wood, as well as a number of additional manuscript fragments. It
was these discoveries that proved decisively that the scrolls were
indeed ancient and authentic.
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Qumran Cave 4.
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Between 1949 and 1956, in what became a race between the Bedouin and the
archaeologists, ten additional caves were found in the hills around
Qumran, caves that yielded several more scrolls, as well as thousands of
fragments of scrolls: the remnants of approximately 800 manuscripts
dating from approximately 200 B.C.E. to 68 C.E.
The manuscripts of the Qumran caves include early copies of biblical
books in Hebrew and Aramaic, hymns, prayers, Jewish writings known as
pseudepigrapha (because they are attributed to ancient biblical
characters such as Enoch or the patriarchs), and texts that seem to
represent the beliefs of a particular Jewish group that may have lived
at the site of Qumran. Most scholars believe that the Qumran community
was very similar to the Essenes, one of four Jewish "philosophies"
described by Josephus, a first century C.E. Jewish historian. Some have
pointed to similarities with other Jewish groups mentioned by Josephus:
the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Zealots.
We do not know precisely who wrote those sectarian scrolls, but we can
say that the authors seemed to be connected to the priesthood, were led
by priests, disapproved of the Jerusalem priesthood, encouraged a strict
and pious way of life, and expected an imminent confrontation between
the forces of good and evil.
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The Qumran archaeological site.
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The Qumran library has proven to be enormously informative. From these
texts we have increased our understanding of the transmission of the
Bible, we have learned more about the development of early Judaism, and
we have gained insight into the culture out of which emerged both
Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.
Photographs by Bruce and Kenneth Zuckerman, West Semitic Research.
Commentary by Marilyn J. Lundberg.
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