Yahweh's The Dead Sea Scrolls

It was the most mysterious Qumran text, written on a copper scroll and broken in two. It discusses sixty-four locations where significant quantities of gold, silver, coins, scrolls, and priest garments were hidden. Locations are said to be under an architectural or natural structure such as a cave, cistern, monument, etc. It also discusses the hiding place of that list. The treasures, however, were never found. If the treasures were real they may have been recovered or ransacked a long time ago. The copper scroll presented a serious problem. It was impossible to unroll them. The two copper scrolls, property of the Jordan Government were loaned to the University of Manchester. In February, 1956 they were dissected and the inscriptions were deciphered. “The method adopted was the passing of a spindle through the scrolls, then spraying them with aircraft glue and baking them hard, which allowed them to be sawed by an exceedingly fine circular saw across their rolled-up length (which would be their width, if unrolled), and the resulting strips were available to be photographed.” (Davies, 18). It was a very long and tedious process, but the contents of the scroll were too important. The Copper Scrolls were written in Mishnaic Hebrew the “earliest known extensive text in that dialect.” (Zeitlin). Engraving on copper required experience and labor. Only governments engraved documents on copper, so it is believed the people found this document to be highly important and of value. Although no treasure was found the scroll was one of the most fascinating to

     Throughout history the Jewish people have been scapegoats; whenever something was not going right they were the ones to blame. From Biblical times through to the Shakespearean Era, all the way to the Middle East Crisis and the creation of Israel, the Jews have been persecuted and blamed for the problems of the world. The most horrifying account of Jewish persecution is the holocaust, which took place in Europe from 1933 to 1945 when Adolf Hitler tried to eliminate all the people that he thought were inferior to the Germans, namely the Jews, because he wanted a pure Aryan State.

When reading and interpreting biblical law, there are several important features to consider. First, there should be an understanding of the nature of law (“Lecture 1,” 2015). Torah, or תּוֹרָה, is the Hebrew word translated for “law” (Vogt, 2009). Its meaning refers to ‘instruction” or “teaching,” much different than the contemporary world defines the law. Moreover, it carries a “theologically centered” (Vogt, 2009, p. 26) teaching, providing for the ancient Israelites guidance in how to live in such a way that is pleasing to God (Vogt, 2009). Rather than looking at the law from a legalistic approach as is common today, it is important to understand that the Israelites received the law as a gift from God (Psalm 119:111, NIV) upon their deliverance from Egypt.

meditation. Proper use of this path lead to a balanced and moderate life were the people would

Describe changes and continuities in the political structure of the Middle East from 1400 to 1750.

Centralized Government made to establish rules and maintain order; as well as handle diplomatic matters.

In effect the Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts consisting of"… HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_manuscripts" o "Biblical manuscripts"biblical manuscripts from what is now known as the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible" o "Hebrew Bible"Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1946 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea" o "Dead Sea"Dead Sea". ( Dead Sea Scrolls) As will be discussed, their importance lies in the fact that they are the earliest known copies

Although it is argued that rabbis began work on compiling the oral histories prior to the fall of the Second Temple, there was a definite resurgence in documentation of the important history and moral laws of Judaism after the fall. The most important of these written documents in the Jewish faith is the Hebrew Bible. This bible is comprised of the Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim, these three components combine to make up the Tanakh. The Torah is the core of the Hebrew Bible and contains the story of creation, as well as directions on daily conduct and religious rituals. The Nevi’im contains the stories of prophets. The prophets were people that spoke on behalf of God to the Jewish people. Lastly, the Ketuvim is comprised of mostly imaginative literature such as psalms, proverbs and poetry (Molloy, 294). Shifting the focus from priests and temple to a written work that is accessible to all regardless of location was the main adaptation of Judaism and certainly saved the faith. Although the historical accuracy of the Hebrew Bible is debatable, as some stories may have morphed from their origination to when they were assembled in writing, the bible still remains at the core of Judaism today.

This was arguably Professor Albright’s greatest achievement in verifying the authenticity of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Professor Albright, “There is no doubt in my mind that the script is more archaic than that of the Nash papyrus (a very small portion of the Old Testament dated between the second century b.c. and first century a.d.)… I would prefer a date around 100 b.c.…” Inside the archaeological community and the general public, Albright received critical acclaim.

In both books, religious truth allows readers to perceive what they read differently. Especially comparing it to The Bible. The Bible is a very large symbol that both books use to delineate a deeper understanding of religious truth.

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, and with good reason. For the stories written in it have changed the way many think and even believe when it comes to the power greater than this world. The Bible holds very specific opinions on things such as slavery, who humans should treat each other, and ultimately social justice. It has been one of the most important foundations for allowing social reform to occur in modern day history as well as the history of the whole world. However, it is forgotten in history class how prominent the ancient texts have changed the people. When looking at the history, it is discovered to be the strength of great people who have used its wisdom to bring about a change for those who could not do it on

Once a faith centered on priesthood, sacrificial rituals, communal gatherings and oral traditions, the people of the Jewish religion decided to restructure the faith around written scripture. Although it is argued that rabbis began work on compiling the oral histories prior to the fall of the Second Temple, there was a marked resurgence in documentation of the important history and moral laws of Judaism after the fall (Molloy, 291). The Jewish people felt a sense of urgency to finish the written works. They believed the incorporation of written word into Judaism would help to solidify their place in the religious world, as well as make the faith easier to correctly interpret among their own vastly dispersed people (BBC, 2009).

Most believe that although a human wrote it, that the Bible is the words of God, and they therefore must pay it the utmost respect. They see it as very special, and of more importance than any other book.

From my reading, I have realized that The Laws of God and His established commands of the Old Testament were not given to restrict or enchain man, but to reveal to man God’s own true and righteous character. It was a way for God’s people to be identified with Him, and though they were forever falling short, they were identified and forever learning from the holy and righteous glimpse of God their creator through the Law. The entire Old Testament was one continuous story of God faithfully reaching for fallen man, and as man would repent and turn to God as their one and only God, He would deliver beyond mans’ deserves with blessing, victory, and hope for salvation.

Wisdom Tradition is a term applied to the Old Testament books of Proverbs, Job, Sirach, Wisdom of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. Wisdom Tradition books all share characteristics and points of view that are somewhat different than other biblical books. Wisdom tradition has very prominent characteristics from other books in the Old Testament such as a search for the goal of life, how to master it and questioning the problems of life, showing interest to human experiences that affect all people, joy of creativity and creation, and very little interest in the great acts of divine salvation. These qualities appear in a few books in the Old Testament. All of them show wisdom, but only some show both wisdom and tradition. Books such as Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes values the beauty of creation and the confidence of human life and nature. This was a new concept to Israel. They learned about wisdom tradition through other nations. They were influenced from Mesopotamian literature and took their ideas of meditations of sufferings and God’s justice into their Old Testament Books. Suffering can be seen in Job, but in the next essay and upcoming classes, we will be relating this to women suffering. The wisdom perspectives did not replace the other two major strands of thought in Ancient Israel, that of prophets and priests. It was simply a different focus that was complementary with the other perspectives presented in the Bible.