“Up to the time of this discovery the earliest available Hebrew text of the Bible was the orthodox Jewish Masoretic text dated, 1008 AD. The new finds provide texts written ten centuries or more earlier than this and are a major part of the finds. They are important for the history of the Old Testament Bible and add a thousand years to this history. The scrolls confirm the general integrity of the Masoretic text.”++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
by Noel Fernando
(March 29, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Bible is one of the most widely published books today in many languages and several versions; the complete Bible is available as one book. However, this was not always so. The Bible was a handwritten book in manuscript form for a much longer period of time than it has been a printed book.
Printed books were available only from about 1450 AD onwards. Manuscript books were difficult to produce and required intense labour by skilled scribes to produce a single copy. Bibles were not easily available far reading: most people were acquainted with the Bible at second hand from readings in churches and from paintings and sculpture of Biblical stories. The Bible first appeared in the form of "scroll" books. The Bible actually consists of a "library" of about 70 separate books: it needed several separate scrolls to cover the entire Bible. So reference to the Bible was not as easy as it is today.
These scrolls are of the greatest importance to scholars and readers as they contain the very earliest Bible literature and available scrolls have been subject to intense study. There is also a continuous search for scrolls generally preserved in dry desert areas, ancient monasteries and churches, and in caves.
The Dead Sea scrolls and their significance
One of the most remarkable scroll finds were made in this century since 1947 whenthe first detection was made; about 800 manuscripts were recovered from a complex of eleven caves at Qumran near the Dead Sea in Israel. Among the earliest scrolls found was a complete text of Isaiah. This is the earliest complete Bible text available to us. The material used for most of the scrolls was leather with a few of papyrus. The complex of caves had been occupied by a religious Bible reading community (probably the Essene sect), who occupied this region during periods of the second and first centuries BC and part of the first century AD. The documents had been left in the caves for security when they had to vacate the area in a hurry, probably due to incursions by the Roman power and armies. The scrolls are therefore about twenty centuries old: they have been carefully studied, and work is still in progress.
Up to the time of this discovery the earliest available Hebrew text of the Bible was the orthodox Jewish Masoretic text dated, 1008 AD. The new finds provide texts written ten centuries or more earlier than this and are a major part of the finds. They are important for the history of the Old Testament Bible and add a thousand years to this history. The scrolls confirm the general integrity of the Masoretic text. They also compare well with the Greek Bible called the Septuagint, which was translated from the Hebrew and compiled in Alexandria about the third century BC. They provide evidence that copying of biblical manuscripts was carefully done.
Description of the scroll
The Hebrew language scroll of Isaiah found among the Dead Sea scrolls and dated about 100 BC the earliest complete Biblical scroll available to us. The Bible records in Luke chapter four verses 16,17:
"Jesus went to NazarethÉ and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place...."
What was it like, that scroll from which Jesus read? Scrolls read in synagogues today are big and bulky. Judging by the Dead Sea scrolls they were smaller in the first century. It may have been similar to the particular Isaiah scroll mentioned above. This scroll is 24 1/2 feet long and 10 inches high. Seventeen leather sheets were sewn side by side to make the roll. On the roll were 54 columns each with 29-32 lines of writing: 1,633 lines in all. The reading was done by holding the scroll in both hands and winding or unwinding at each end to reach the desired portion of the book.
The original of this Isaiah scroll is presently housed in a specially designed structure called the "Shrine of the book" which is part of the national museum in Jerusalem.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
by Noel Fernando
(March 29, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Bible is one of the most widely published books today in many languages and several versions; the complete Bible is available as one book. However, this was not always so. The Bible was a handwritten book in manuscript form for a much longer period of time than it has been a printed book.
Printed books were available only from about 1450 AD onwards. Manuscript books were difficult to produce and required intense labour by skilled scribes to produce a single copy. Bibles were not easily available far reading: most people were acquainted with the Bible at second hand from readings in churches and from paintings and sculpture of Biblical stories. The Bible first appeared in the form of "scroll" books. The Bible actually consists of a "library" of about 70 separate books: it needed several separate scrolls to cover the entire Bible. So reference to the Bible was not as easy as it is today.
These scrolls are of the greatest importance to scholars and readers as they contain the very earliest Bible literature and available scrolls have been subject to intense study. There is also a continuous search for scrolls generally preserved in dry desert areas, ancient monasteries and churches, and in caves.
The Dead Sea scrolls and their significance
One of the most remarkable scroll finds were made in this century since 1947 whenthe first detection was made; about 800 manuscripts were recovered from a complex of eleven caves at Qumran near the Dead Sea in Israel. Among the earliest scrolls found was a complete text of Isaiah. This is the earliest complete Bible text available to us. The material used for most of the scrolls was leather with a few of papyrus. The complex of caves had been occupied by a religious Bible reading community (probably the Essene sect), who occupied this region during periods of the second and first centuries BC and part of the first century AD. The documents had been left in the caves for security when they had to vacate the area in a hurry, probably due to incursions by the Roman power and armies. The scrolls are therefore about twenty centuries old: they have been carefully studied, and work is still in progress.
Up to the time of this discovery the earliest available Hebrew text of the Bible was the orthodox Jewish Masoretic text dated, 1008 AD. The new finds provide texts written ten centuries or more earlier than this and are a major part of the finds. They are important for the history of the Old Testament Bible and add a thousand years to this history. The scrolls confirm the general integrity of the Masoretic text. They also compare well with the Greek Bible called the Septuagint, which was translated from the Hebrew and compiled in Alexandria about the third century BC. They provide evidence that copying of biblical manuscripts was carefully done.
Description of the scroll
The Hebrew language scroll of Isaiah found among the Dead Sea scrolls and dated about 100 BC the earliest complete Biblical scroll available to us. The Bible records in Luke chapter four verses 16,17:
"Jesus went to NazarethÉ and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place...."
What was it like, that scroll from which Jesus read? Scrolls read in synagogues today are big and bulky. Judging by the Dead Sea scrolls they were smaller in the first century. It may have been similar to the particular Isaiah scroll mentioned above. This scroll is 24 1/2 feet long and 10 inches high. Seventeen leather sheets were sewn side by side to make the roll. On the roll were 54 columns each with 29-32 lines of writing: 1,633 lines in all. The reading was done by holding the scroll in both hands and winding or unwinding at each end to reach the desired portion of the book.
The original of this Isaiah scroll is presently housed in a specially designed structure called the "Shrine of the book" which is part of the national museum in Jerusalem.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
Thank you "Sri Lanka" Guardian for that marvellous news about the Bible. May God Bless You.
I am little bit cautious here since we all know what happened to the shroud.
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