Originally posted by ]{arao]{e:
I agree with Melon on what the Dead See Scrolls are...but he failed to discuss the finer points. For instance, what did the scrolls REVEAL about the translations of modern Bible books that were in the dead sea?
What bible books were in the dead sea and which were not?
When were the dead sea scrolls written?
Thanks for the honest inquiry. I will try and answer them.
1) What was revealed was that the "newer" texts (written after the Dead Sea Scrolls) had more instances of "legalism" than the Dead Sea Scrolls. What this suggests is that the Old Testament has never been a fixed text. I have a feeling that if we found a text older than the Dead Sea Scrolls, it would be different from these texts as well.
What is very likely, in my opinion, is that when Jewish religious leaders made additional copies of the text (remember, this was the days before the printing press), they put in their added/revised laws. The idea that the Bible was the "true" and "unchangeable" "word of God" only really occurred with the Gnostics of A.D. 100-300 and with the rise of Protestantism in 1520 onwards. History does not support this claim.
2) To answer this question, I must first say that Judaism, at this time, was not wholly centralized (and still isn't). Just as Catholicism and Protestantism have different books in their Bibles, it is probably likely that different Jewish sects valued certain books over others. These are the books that the sect at Qum'ran valued, at the very minimum. Chronicles, for instance, was not a popular book with many Jewish sects, due to the more pro-Greek stances it has.
In 1999, a "Dead Sea Scrolls Bible" was published. Obviously, with the full translation of the scrolls only in 2001, revisions are due. However, here are the books that they listed in the table of contents:
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Jubilees
Prophets
Joshua
Judges
Samuel
Kings
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
The Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
1 Enoch
Daniel
Other Books
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Ben Sira (Sirach)
Ruth
The Song of Songs (Canticles)
Qohelet (Ecclesiastes)
Lamentations
The Epistle of Jeremiah
Esther
Chronicles
Ezra-Nehemiah
Tobit
What you will notice is that books labelled "apocryphal" by Martin Luther during the Reformation are in this book. This is certainly not a slight to Luther's intentions; he discounted their divinity, due to the fact that original texts did not exist in his time--and did not "exist" until our lifetimes! I do believe that this does answer Luther's unending question after all.
Another thing to mention is the place of "inclusive language." To use more inclusive language is actually correct, rather than the patriarchal "he" in many instances (but not all). What English lacks, unfortunately, is an acceptable gender-neutral pronoun to refer to people. So, historically, "he" was designated the gender-neutral pronoun to make up for this fact. Unfortunately, this fact was glossed over in the modern era, instead incorrectly stating that the Bible was written wholly male. Beings like the Holy Spirit, for instance, are actually gender neutral, neither male nor female.
3) The scrolls were written from approximately the third century B.C. to A.D. 68, predating all previous existing versions of the Old Testament by 1000 years. It is surmised that, due to the close proximity of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 that this is why the scrolls were hidden in the caves. However, this is only a hypothesis; there really could have been any number of reasons why they were put there.
And, yes, these dates were verified using radiocarbon dating.
Please, by all means, I suggest doing your own research if you find this to be interesting. I always feel that self-teaching always makes one's faith stronger.
Melon
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"Still, I never understood the elevation of greed as a political credo. Why would anyone want to base a political programme on bottomless dissatisfaction and the impossibility of happiness? Perhaps that was its appeal: the promise of luxury that in fact promoted endless work." - Hanif Kureishi, Intimacy
[This message has been edited by melon (edited 05-07-2002).]
