Dead Sea Scrolls – the Library of Congress Exhibition

By Joel Comm February 11, 2006 1 Comment   

In 1947, goatherds looking for a missing animal stepped into a cave in Qumran, near the Dead Sea. In it, they found, not a missing goat, but an amazing array of jars filled with scrolls.
The scrolls looked old. Archaeologists examined them and discovered, to their astonishment, that they dated from the 3rd century B.C.E to the 1st century C.E.! What they found would turn the world of archaeology on its ear. The discovery, added to by more discoveries in other nearby caves, came to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Included in the vast amount of knowledge gleaned from the scrolls’ discovery was this: the obsessive copyists faithfully preserved the original words of the scriptures. The book of Isaiah, in particular, was found to be essentially unchanged after 1000 years of copying! This would prove remarkable to scientists, and faith-strengthening to those who choose to believe in the Bible’s message.

Today’s FamilyFirst site outlines the Dead Sea Scrolls that are housed at the Library of Congress. The artifacts include portions of the books of Psalms, Hosea, and Leviticus, as well as the apocryphal book of Enoch. There are also scrolls featuring a prayer for a king that was purported to be an enemy of the creators of the scrolls, raising the possibility of some sort of ancient intrigue.
Besides scrolls, the exhibit contains other ancient artifacts like an inkwell, a wooden comb, bowls, and other ancient items of day-to-day life.
So enjoy this FamilyFirst site, which details a particularly amazing archaeological discovery.


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