A Voice of Light in the Darkness: Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

While in Israel we viewed the Dead Sea Scrolls at a museum in Jerusalem and on a different day toured the place where they were discovered, located not far from the northern shores of the Dead Sea in a place called Qumran. A description of the scrolls taken from the Bible Dictionary is found below:

“In 1947 in an area known as Qumran, near the northwest corner of the Dead Sea, some significant rolls of leather and a few copper manuscripts were found preserved in earthen jars in some dark caves. They were found quite by accident by goat herders. As a result of further searches in the area, many documents have been discovered and translated. The languages are Hebrew and Aramaic. Some are dated as early as 200 B.C.; others a century or so A.D. Complete copies or fragments of every book of the Old Testament have been found except the book of Esther. Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Psalms are the most numerous. Books of regulations and “manuals of discipline” produced by the people who made the scrolls have also been located.

The cave in which the scrolls were found.

The contents of the scrolls are interesting to historians, textual critics, and readers of the Bible. The full impact may not yet be realized. However, the most significant fact may be that the scrolls give solid evidence that there was a highly literary people in the Jerusalem area, in the period just preceding and following the time of Christ, who were writing and preserving their records. The implications of this for the early dating of the New Testament books are significant.

Replicas of the type of pottery that the scrolls were found in inside the cave.

The finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls stimulated considerable interest among scholars of the antiquities. Not all the answers are in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but they constitute one of the most important archaeological discoveries of modern times. If discoveries continue, we may learn many things about the ancient people that will give us clearer historical insights. It is to be expected that such discoveries will support and supplement many principles and ideas that are already known to us through latter-day revelation.”

We watched two short movies about the scrolls and toured the ruins of the community near the caves. The museum also had several artifacts found in the excavation of the ruins. It was all very interesting.