Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls

Craig A. Evans

• Publisher: Holman Reference
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780805448528
• eBook ISBN: 9781433670411
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Book seven in a greatly successful, visually-driven yet content-rich reference series, the Holman QuickSource™ Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls gives the reader a strong overview and understanding of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their importance for Christianity as outlined by esteemed professor and author Craig A. Evans.

Topics covered will include the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, notes on the Dead Sea region, the contents and dates of the Scrolls, who wrote and gathered them, first and second generation scholars of the Scrolls, and more.

Part I

---

Discovery and Importance:

Basic Facts About

the Scrolls

Chapter 1

Lost

---

“The able-bodied fled, the feeble perished, and everything left was consigned to the flames.”

—Josephus, War 4.489, in reference to the Roman capture of Gerasa in AD 68

Date: AD 73

Place: Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Salt (or Dead Sea)

It was early morning. There was a haze over the blue waters of the Sea of Salt to the southeast. Inside the compound Eleazar, the chief scribe, looked wistfully upon the rows of neatly organized scrolls. Hunched over their writing boards, his younger colleagues Yehudah and Yehohanan labored away making fresh copies of Scripture. Dipping into the inkwells and scratching away on the smooth leather skins. Another Isaiah scroll and another copy of Genesis. But these faithful scribes would not complete their task. They did not know this yet, but Eleazar did.

He had learned from the overseer what everyone had feared: the Romans were approaching. It was to be expected. The last rebel stronghold was atop Masada, Herod’s mountain fortress and palace. To reach it the Romans would have to march south, right past the compound at Qumran. Nothing in their path would be safe. Eleazar loved the community, and now he feared for it. The Romans had showed no pity when they took Gerasa and nearby Jericho five years ago. Why would they now? The Romans had fought a long and bitter war and now were filled with thoughts of final revenge.

Roman camp near Masada. Photo: Ester Inbar.

Eleazar believed with all his heart that someday God would raise up his Messiah, who with the community’s faithful high priest would defeat the Romans and subdue the ungodly of Israel. Israel would once again be exalted among the nations. There had been talk of this among the rebels, of course. The riots in Jerusalem over debt had given the rebels and zealots the opportunity that they had longed for. They gained control of Jerusalem, and soon all of Israel was seething in revolt. They restruck coins so that they now declared “year one of the liberation of Israel.” Eleazar had seen some of these coins. But after “year two” and the Roman advance south, no more of these coins found their way to the community.

Eleazar had had no confidence in the integrity and righteousness of the rebels. From the beginning they were divided, at each other’s throats, and their armed followers were scarcely more than disorganized mobs. No, the salvation of God would not come through these men. And indeed it had not. In short order the Romans had subdued Galilee, Samaria, and parts of Judea. The enemy had established camps in nearby Jericho to the east and Haditheh to the west. Jerusalem had been hemmed in, awaiting the inevitable siege. Rome’s great general Vespasian was ready to march against the Holy City.

The death of Rome’s wicked emperor had delayed the final advance. One emperor after another seized power. Even the faithful at Qumran, so mindful of the shortcomings and worldliness of the rebels, could not help but wonder at times if the rebellion was truly of God after all. Would the wicked empire crumble? Alas, no. When Vespasian became the new emperor, the war was quickly and decisively resumed. Within a few months Jerusalem had been surrounded, and in the summer of “year five” of the self-proclaimed Jewish liberation, Jerusalem had been captured, her temple destroyed, and her people enslaved or put to the sword. The few stragglers who evacuated to the Qumran compound reported these things.

The Triumph of Titus by Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Titus was also called vespasian.

As Eleazar stepped outside, he was met by the overseer. “Eleazar, we have little time. Elisha has just returned and tells me the Roman dogs are almost within sight. Gather up our books and hide them, some here and others farther away.”

Eleazar did as he was instructed. He had Yehudah and Yehohanan gather as many scrolls as they could carry and take them over to the storage room that had been carved out of the sandstone many years ago. He had others take up holy Scripture and some of the community’s precious books of interpretation and rules and take them to caves far away from the compound, caves that could not be easily seen from the road.

Photo: Hoyasmeg.

The young men readily complied but looked worried and perplexed. “Don’t grieve, my friends,” Eleazar assured them. “We shall return when the danger passes. We shall collect our books and continue our study. Wrap the books in linen and place them in the jars. This will make your work all the heavier, but it is important to protect our library.” They did as instructed.

The overseer and some of the community evacuated; others remained behind, including Eleazar and Yehudah, willing to show the Romans a measure of hospitality, hoping to keep the theft and vandalism to a minimum. In the afternoon a mounted Roman patrol approached. When they saw a few unarmed men milling around in the compound, they signaled to the main body behind them.

The skirmish was brief. The brothers stood before the Romans, some calling on God to send fire from heaven to consume them and others simply standing in silence. The ones who called for God’s wrath were felled by arrows. The Romans also hacked to death anyone who attempted to flee or offer any hint of resistance. Eleazar and the dozen others who stood still and unflinching were spared. It seems even Roman soldiers found cold-blooded murder distasteful.

The travel-weary Romans took possession of the compound, making free with the food and drawing water from the pools and reservoirs. Eleazar was disgusted at this defilement but said nothing. The soldiers were speaking Greek, that much he knew, but exactly what he was not sure. In peacetime the Romans had shown the Jews some respect, not flaunting their most offensive, pagan standards and images but taking some care with respect to their behavior. Not this time. Not after years of bloody, costly war. Feeling for the leather strap wound around his arm, Eleazar softly recited the Shema, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. . . .”

The Romans relieved themselves wherever they wished. Stripped naked, they flung themselves into the water, laughing and making obscene gestures. They freely ransacked and pilfered the community’s goods. Unclean lips tasted pure food. One book that Eleazar’s men had overlooked was picked up, held upside down, stared at with mock interest, and then with a laugh was torn and thrown into the fire. Yehudah jumped up and tried to save the book, but a soldier rushed forward and pierced the young Jew’s body with a sword. Nearby one of the other soldiers discovered one of the storage caves. Eleazar groaned when he saw him dragging books out from the cave, tearing them to pieces and casting them to the wind. He uttered a prayer that the other caves and the books within them would remain hidden.

Photo: Teqoah.

Once they were refreshed, the Romans forced a few survivors of the community to carry whatever plunder had been gathered for the army’s use. And so Eleazar and his colleagues began their march, a march that they knew would end either in slavery or death. Looking back, he saw the flames and smoke. The despoiled and defiled compound would soon be rubble. A soldier roughly shoved Eleazar and warned him of the consequences if he continued to look back at the sacked compound. Eleazar barely heard the threat; he was lost in questions about the future. Would he ever return here? Would the community ever reassemble? He doubted it. And what of Israel? Another exile for God’s people? As they marched, he noticed that som...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Part I—Discovery and Importance: Basic Facts About the Scrolls
• Part II—The Science of the Scrolls
• Part III—Historical Context of the Scrolls
• Part IV—From Cave to Publication: Bringing History to Light
• Part V—Who Were the Essenes?
• Part VI—Faith and Practices According to the Scrolls
• Part VII—The Scrolls and the Old Testament
• Part VIII—The Scrolls and Jesus
• Part IX—The Scrolls and the New Testament
• Part X—Conclusion
• Appendix 1 Major Scrolls Publications
• Appendix 2 Major Scrolls Players