Wanem Nao Truth Abaotem Olketa Dead Sea Scroll?

Winim 50 year bifor, ston wea wanfala Bedouin shepherd sutim insaed wanfala cave lead go for olketa faendem barava important samting bilong mek-20 century saed long wei for studyim old samting. Datfala Bedouin herem ston brekem wanfala clay botol. Taem hem go luk, hem faendem first wan long olketa Dead Sea Scroll.

OLKETA scroll hia kamap samting for lukluk strong long hem and raoa ovarem midolwan olketa savveman and nius pipol. Pipol konfius and kasem enikaen rong story. Toktok go raon hao olketa haedem tru samting abaotem olketa scroll hia bikos olketa bae showimaot olketa samting wea bae spoelem faith bilong olketa Christian and Jew. Bat wanem nao olketa scroll hia really showimaot? Bihaen winim 50 year, tru samting savve showaot?

Wanem Nao Olketa Dead Sea Scroll?

Olketa Dead Sea Scroll hem olketa oldfala Jew manuscript wea olketa raetem staka long Hebrew, samfala long Aramaic, and tu-thri long Greek languis. Staka long olketa scroll hia and olketa pis bilong hem olketa winim 2,000 year old, diswan hem bifor Jesus hem born. Sevenfala long olketa first scroll wea olketa kasem from olketa Bedouin gogo for nogud. Taem olketa luk insaed moa cave, olketa faendem olketa nara scroll and planti thousand pis bilong scroll. Midolwan 1947 and 1956, olketa faendem total bilong 11-fala cave wea garem scroll klosap long Qumran, saed long Dead Sea.

Evri scroll and pis tugeta hem samting olsem 800 manuscript. Winim 200 manuscript hem olketa part bilong olketa Hebrew Bible text. Olketa nara manuscript olketa bilong Jew raeting wea no join witim Bible, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.a

Samfala scroll wea olketa nating lukim bifor barava kasholem interest bilong olketa savveman. Olketa storyim law bilong olketa Jew, olketa rul for datfala sekson wea bin stap long Qumran, olketa lotu poem and prea, and tu olketa profesi raeting wea showimaot tingting abaotem wei wea olketa Bible profesi and last day fulfill. Olketa spesol toktok abaotem Bible tu stap, barava oldfala example bilong wei for storyim Bible text.

Hu Nao Raetem Olketa Dead Sea Scroll?

Olketa difren wei for markem taem wea olketa raetem scroll showimaot olketa copyim or raetem olketa scroll midolwan mek-thri century B.C.E. and first century C.E. Samfala savveman sei olketa Jew from Jerusalem nao haedem olketa scroll insaed olketa cave bifor temple hem distroe long 70 C.E. Bat, big haf bilong olketa savveman wea studyim olketa scroll sei diswan no fitim toktok insaed olketa scroll seleva. Staka scroll talem tingting and kastom wea againstim olketa bigman bilong religion long Jerusalem. Olketa scroll hia showimaot wanfala pipol wea biliv hao God rejectim olketa priest and temple service long Jerusalem and hao hem tingim worship bilong olketa long desert olsem hem changem temple service. Hem no fitim for sei olketa bigman long temple long Jerusalem bae haedem olketa scroll olsem.

Nomata maet wanfala grup for copyim olketa raeting stap long Qumran, luk olsem olketa wea biliv nao kolektem and tekem kam from difren ples staka long olketa scroll. Olketa Dead Sea Scroll hia olsem wanfala bigfala library. Olsem eni library, kolekson hia maet showimaot planti difren tingting, wea maet no evriwan agree witim religion bilong olketa wea readim. Bat, luk olsem olketa text wea garem staka copy nao olketa text wea hem main interest and biliv bilong datfala sekson.

Waswe, Olketa wea Stap Long Qumran Hem Olketa Essene?

Sapos olketa scroll hia bilong Qumran, hu nao pipol wea stap long there? Professor Eleazar Sukenik, wea kasem thrifala scroll for Hebrew University long Jerusalem long 1947, hem first wan for sei olketa scroll hia bilong wanfala sekson bilong olketa Essene.

Olketa Essene hem wanfala sekson bilong Jew wea olketa man for raet bilong first century, Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, and Pliny the Elder, olketa raet abaotem. Hao olketa hia start hem no mas klia, bat luk olsem olketa start insaed taem bilong trabol bihaen datfala faet bilong olketa Maccabee long mek-tu century B.C.E.b Josephus reportim wei wea olketa stap long datfala taem taem hem storyim hao biliv bilong olketa saed long religion hem difren from olketa Pharisee and Sadducee. Pliny talem hao wanfala sekson bilong Essene stap saed long Dead Sea midolwan Jericho and En-gedi.

Professor James VanderKam, savveman bilong olketa Dead Sea Scroll, hem sei “olketa Essene wea stap long Qumran olketa smol part nomoa bilong bigfala sekson bilong olketa Essene,” wea Josephus sei olketa samting olsem foa thousand. Nomata no evriting barava agree, luk olsem samting wea olketa scroll talem fitim olketa Essene winim eni nara Jew sekson bilong datfala taem.

Samfala sei Christian Wei hem start long Qumran. Nomata olsem, saed long tingting long religion, sekson long Qumran and olketa firstfala Christian barava difren long planti samting. Raeting bilong Qumran showimaot olketa barava hard Sabbath law and wei wea ova tumas saed long kastom for klin. (Matthew 15:1-20; Luke 6:1-11) Diswan hem semsem witim wei wea olketa Essene savve stap separate from community, biliv hao man no savve changem laef bilong hemseleva and hao soul kanduit dae, and olketa mekhae long wei for no marit and olketa idea wea sei olketa share witim olketa angel long worship. Diswan showimaot olketa no agree witim teaching bilong Jesus and bilong olketa first Christian.—Matthew 5:14-16; John 11:23, 24; Colossians 2:18; 1 Timothy 4:1-3.

No Haedem Eniting, No Eni Scroll Haed

Insaed olketa year bihaen olketa faendem olketa Dead Sea Scroll, samfala buk abaotem olketa firstfala scroll wea olketa faendem kamaot. Bat olketa planti thousand pis from wanfala cave, wea olketa kolem Cave 4, hem kosim staka problem. Smol team bilong olketa savveman from olketa difren kantri studyim olketa scroll hia long East Jerusalem (wea part long Jordan bifor) long Palestine Archaeological Museum. No eni Jew or Israeli savveman insaed disfala team.

Disfala grup mekem rul wea no letem eniwan lukim olketa scroll hia go kasem taem olketa pablisim wanem olketa faendem long research bilong olketa. Olketa markem nomoa namba bilong olketa savveman long disfala grup. Taem wanfala team member hem dae, wanfala niu savveman nomoa bae changem hem. Waka wea olketa mas duim needim bigfala grup, and samtaem, olketa wea garem moa savve saed long old Hebrew and Aramaic languis. James VanderKam hem minim olsem: “Staka thousand pis hem tumas waka for eitfala savveman for duim.”

Witim datfala Six-Day War long 1967, East Jerusalem and olketa scroll bilong hem kam anda long paoa bilong Israel, bat olketa no changem eni law bilong datfala scroll research team. Gogo, bihaen ten-twenti year wea olketa no pablisim eniting abaotem olketa scroll bilong Cave 4, samfala savveman start for komplen. Long 1977, Professor Geza Vermes bilong Oxford University kolem diswan nambawan giaman samting saed long savve bilong mek-20 century. Story start for go raon hao Catholic Church min for haedem samting, haedem information from olketa scroll wea bae spoelem Christian Wei.

Insaed ten year bihaen 1980, datfala grup bilong savveman kamap 20. Then, long 1990, anda long lead bilong niufala boss, Emanuel Tov, bilong Hebrew University long Jerusalem, datfala team kamap winim 50 savveman. Olketa wakem schedule for pablisim koment bilong olketa savveman long olketa scroll wea olketa no pablisim yet.

Seknomoa wanfala bigfala savve kamaot long 1991. Firstaem, olketa pablisim A Preliminary Edition of the Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls. Olketa wakem diswan witim help bilong computer wea tekem information from concordance bilong datfala team. Then, Huntington Library long Marino, California, announcem hao olketa savveman savve kasem evri foto bilong olketa scroll. No longtaem bihaen, insaed buk A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, pipol savve lukim nao olketa foto bilong olketa scroll wea olketa no pablisim bifor.

So insaed last tenfala year, evri Dead Sea Scroll stap for pipol studyim. Research showimaot olketa no haedem eniting; no eni scroll hem haed. Bihaen olketa pablisim olketa last part bilong olketa scroll hia, then bae olketa fit for lukim evriwan tugeta. Wanfala niu genereson bilong olketa wea studyim scroll kamap. Bat wanem important samting nao disfala research garem for olketa Bible student?

[Olketa Footnote]

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Samfala long olketa cave klosap long Dead Sea wea olketa faendem olketa oldfala scroll insaed

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Scroll fragment: Page 3, 4, and 6: Courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority

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Courtesy of Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem