History/Origin

The account of the initial discovery of ancient manuscripts in 1947 in the vicinity of the Dead Sea has been recounted numerous times. In February or March 1947, two Bedouin shepherds accidentally discovered what later came to be known as Qumran Cave 1. In this cave, they found several jars, most of which were broken, containing leather scrolls wrapped in linen. A total of eleven scrolls were found in this initial discovery. Five subsequently came into the possession of Archbishop Samuel of the Syrian Orthodox Monastery of St. Mark, while the others were eventually purchased by Professor Eleazar L. Sukenik of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Burrows, 1955, 5-6, 19).

The initial find of eleven scrolls represented seven different manuscripts of six different works. Most important were two different manuscripts of the book of Isaiah. The first, called the St. Mark’s Isaiah Scroll and later designated as 1QIsaa, is a complete copy of the book of Isaiah. The Great Isaiah Scroll is about 24 feet long with a width between 9.5 and 10.5 inches. The 54 columns of text are included on 17 sheets of leather sewn together to form the scroll. A second copy of the book of Isaiah, acquired by the Hebrew University, is an incomplete manuscript (1QIsab). It is poorly preserved and contains portions of chapters 10, 13, 16, 19–30, and 35–66. A third biblical scroll found in Cave 1 is a commentary (pesher) on Hab. 1–2 (1QpHab). It contains the biblical text interspersed with commentary that relates the prophecy to events contemporary with the date of the commentary’s composition. The other manuscripts found in Qumran Cave 1 were all nonbiblical scrolls. The first, initially called the Manual of Discipline by Millar Burrows (now called the Rule of the Community), was found on two different scroll portions (separated prior to discovery). This scroll, now designated as 1QS, preserves 11 columns of text on a scroll 6.5 feet long by 10 inches wide. An Aramaic scroll was also found in Cave 1, but its condition did not allow it to be unrolled until later. It was called the Lamech Scroll by Burrows, but subsequently it became known as the Genesis Apocryphon. A third work discovered in Cave 1 is known as the War Scroll (1QM). It describes a pitched battle between the “Sons of Light” and the “Sons of Darkness.” The final major work found in the initial discovery is known as the Hodayot or Thanksgiving Psalms (1QH).

Since the excavation of Cave 1 in 1949, a total of eleven caves, numbered in the order of their discovery, have been found to contain biblical manuscripts and fragments (see the attached map). The caves are all located in the vicinity of Khirbet Qumran, a site of ancient ruins on the western shore of the Dead Sea, about eight miles south of Jericho. The climate there is hot and dry, and the location is isolated, which explains how the scrolls were able to survive. The scrolls come from the third century BCE to the first century CE. Thus many of them are over two thousand years old.

From the time of the discovery of the scrolls, there has been a vigorous debate among scholars concerning the origin of the scrolls, the identity of those who created and used them, and their relationship to the Khirbet Qumran site. While some have argued that Khirbet Qumran was a military fortress guarding the eastern border of Judea, most scholars have maintained that the site was inhabited by a religious sect. The classic view is that there had been a military fort at the site in the late Iron Age. In the mid-second century BCE, a religious group rebuilt the site and settled there as a religious community. After an interruption in the late first century BCE, during which the site was uninhabited, it was reoccupied by that same community until it was finally destroyed by the Romans in the first century CE (Lim and Collins, 2012, 4).

Who was this religious group? The earliest suggestion was that the inhabitants were Essenes. Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), a Roman author, described an Essene community that lived along the western shore of the Dead Sea “above” Ein Gedi. In addition, a sectarian document found in the caves called the Rule of the Community describes common ownership and a commitment to celibacy, which corresponds to known Essene distinctives. Not all scholars accept that it was Essenes who lived at Qumran, but most scholars today still follow this identification (Vermes, 1999, 3).

The identification of Khirbet Qumran with Essenes is somewhat dependent on the conclusion that the caves and the settlement are related to each other, but this too has been the subject of debate. None of the 800–900 scrolls from the area were actually found at the site itself. Some scholars have suggested that the scrolls were not created or stored by the inhabitants of the site, but were brought from elsewhere, perhaps the Jerusalem temple, and hidden for safekeeping. However, Cave 4, where the majority of the biblical scrolls were found, lies just below the settlement. Most scholars feel that the proximity of the caves and the settlement cannot be coincidental, and they must be related (Lim and Collins, 2012, 2). In summary, the prevailing view is that Khirbet Qumran was inhabited by members of the Essene sect of Judaism. They formed a kind of “monastic” community, copying biblical texts and creating their own sectarian documents. Perhaps they hid the scrolls in the surrounding caves in a last-ditch effort to keep them from the Romans, who came and destroyed the settlement in 70 CE.

The Biblical Manuscripts from Qumran

The Qumran caves have yielded a rich collection of biblical manuscripts, providing invaluable insights into the textual history of the Hebrew Bible. These manuscripts include complete scrolls, substantial fragments, and smaller pieces, covering almost the entire Hebrew Bible. Among the most significant finds are the following:

The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa)

The Great Isaiah Scroll, designated 1QIsaa, is one of the most well-preserved and complete manuscripts discovered at Qumran. It dates to around 150–100 BCE and contains the entire book of Isaiah. This scroll has been crucial for scholars studying the textual transmission of the Hebrew Bible, as it predates the previously known Masoretic Text (MT) by over a thousand years. The Great Isaiah Scroll shows remarkable consistency with the MT, although it also contains some unique readings and orthographic variations.

The Minor Prophets Scroll (8HevXII gr)

The Minor Prophets Scroll, found in Nahal Hever (another site in the Judean Desert), dates to the first century CE. This scroll contains portions of the twelve minor prophets in Greek. It provides important evidence of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and its use among Jewish communities during this period.

The Psalms Scroll (11QPs)

The Psalms Scroll, designated 11QPs, is a significant manuscript from Cave 11. It contains a collection of psalms, some of which differ in order and content from the MT. This scroll also includes non-canonical psalms, providing insights into the liturgical and devotional practices of the Qumran community.

The Temple Scroll (11QTa)

The Temple Scroll, one of the longest scrolls found at Qumran, is a sectarian text that includes extensive regulations for temple worship. While not a biblical text per se, it is heavily based on the Torah and provides valuable context for understanding the religious practices and beliefs of the Qumran community.

The Textual Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has had a profound impact on the study of the Hebrew Bible, particularly in the field of textual criticism. These ancient manuscripts provide a snapshot of the textual diversity and fluidity that existed in the Second Temple period. Key areas of significance include:

Textual Variants

The Dead Sea Scrolls contain numerous textual variants that illuminate the development and transmission of the Hebrew Bible. These variants can be categorized into several types:

• Orthographic Variants: Differences in spelling and orthography are common in the scrolls. These variants often reflect regional or chronological spelling conventions.
• Grammatical Variants: Variations in grammar and syntax are also evident. These differences can shed light on the linguistic evolution of Hebrew.
• Content Variants: Some scrolls contain additional or alternative readings that differ from the MT. These content variants can include differences in wording, the inclusion or exclusion of passages, and alternative arrangements of text.

The Proto-Masoretic Text

Many of the biblical scrolls from Qumran show a close affinity with the MT, indicating that the proto-Masoretic Text was already in existence and considered authoritative by some Jewish communities. However, the presence of other textual traditions at Qumran, such as those reflected in the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch, suggests a more complex and diverse textual landscape.

Theological and Sectarian Insights

The sectarian texts found alongside the biblical manuscripts provide valuable context for understanding the religious beliefs and practices of the Qumran community. These texts include commentaries (pesharim), rulebooks, and hymns that reveal the community’s interpretation of Scripture and their expectations for the future.

The Preservation and Impact of the Scrolls

The preservation of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been a monumental task, involving careful conservation and restoration efforts. The scrolls’ fragile condition requires ongoing maintenance to ensure their longevity for future generations of scholars and the public.

Scholarly Research and Publications

Since their discovery, the Dead Sea Scrolls have been the subject of extensive scholarly research and numerous publications. Scholars from various disciplines, including paleography, linguistics, and theology, have contributed to the study of the scrolls. Key publications include critical editions of the texts, translations, and commentaries.

Public Access and Digital Projects

Efforts have been made to make the Dead Sea Scrolls accessible to a broader audience. Digital projects, such as the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, provide high-resolution images of the scrolls, allowing scholars and the public to study these ancient texts in detail.

Character

At least fragments of all the Old Testament books, except for the book of Esther, have been discovered at Qumran. The eleven caves have provided the scholarly world with fragments of about six hundred books in total. Of these, approximately one-quarter are biblical manuscripts. The caves also contained apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings as well as sectarian documents. Vermes writes that the collection “comprises rule books, Bible interpretation of various kinds, religious poetry, wisdom compositions in prose and in verse, sectarian calendars and liturgical texts” (Vermes, Introduction, 9-10).

The Qumran biblical manuscripts are varied in their textual characteristics. A significant majority are written in the square script, while a minority are written in the Paleo-Hebrew script. Judith Sanderson notes there are sixteen Paleo-Hebrew scrolls known from the Qumran caves: twelve of the Torah, one of Job, one nonbiblical scroll, and two still unidentified (Sanderson, “The Contributions of 4QpaleoExodm to Textual Criticism,” Revue de Qumran 13, 1988, 547).

The Qumran biblical scrolls do not present a uniform text type. The largest group of biblical scrolls essentially reflects the text that later came to be known as the Masoretic Text; these are called protomasoretic. A second group of Qumran texts is very close to what later became known as the Samaritan Pentateuch. Once called proto-Samaritan, these should be more correctly referred to as pre-Samaritan. A third grouping of Qumran manuscripts reflects a text that is close to the presumed Hebrew source of the Septuagint. The pre-Samaritan and Septuagint-type manuscripts at Qumran together account for about 5 percent of the biblical manuscripts. There are additional manuscripts among the Dead Sea biblical scrolls that are nonaligned (i.e., of mixed text type) (Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed., 2012, 108).

A significant number of the texts from Qumran share distinctive scribal features and idiosyncratic orthography and morphology, indicating that they were all copied by the same group of scribes. Furthermore, this group includes virtually all of the sectarian (nonbiblical) religious documents found at Qumran. Emanuel Tov calls this the “Qumran Scribal Practice” (QSP) and argues that these documents (at least) were copied at Qumran rather than brought from elsewhere (Tov, Textual Criticism, 100). Tov identifies 167 texts with these characteristics, including biblical and nonbiblical texts. The biblical texts do not all share the same textual typology (e.g., protomasoretic or pre-Samaritan).

Evaluation of Usefulness

The Qumran documents have significantly influenced the study of the Old Testament canon, the development of Hebrew and Aramaic dialects, and textual criticism. The significance of the Qumran documents for textual criticism can be summarized in three propositions. First and foremost, the Dead Sea Scrolls take the textual scholar back around one thousand years earlier than previously known Hebrew manuscript evidence. Prior to the Qumran discoveries, the earliest complete copies of Old Testament books dated from about the early tenth century CE. The earliest complete copy of the entire Old Testament dated from the early eleventh century CE. The Qumran manuscripts thus give much earlier evidence for the text of the Old Testament than anything that was previously known. Ronald Hendel writes, “The biblical texts from Qumran are our oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, dating from the mid-third century BCE through the first century CE, with the terminus the destruction of Qumran in 68 CE … with the discovery of these manuscripts, our understanding of the history of the biblical text has been utterly transformed” (Hendel, “Assessing the Text-Critical Theories of the Hebrew Bible after Qumran,” in Lim and Collins, Oxford Handbook, 281).

A related issue concerns the overall relationship between the relatively late masoretic manuscripts and the texts discovered at Qumran. While there are many small differences between the Masoretic Text and the various Qumran documents, the overall agreement between them is striking. Burrows wrote the following in regard to the complete Isaiah scroll:

“The conspicuous differences in spelling and grammatical forms between the St. Mark’s manuscript and the Masoretic text make their substantial agreement in the words of the text all the more remarkable.… It is a matter for wonder that through something like a thousand years the text underwent so little alteration. As I said in my first article on the scroll, ‘Herein lies its chief importance, supporting the fidelity of the Masoretic tradition'” (Burrows, Dead Sea Scrolls, 304).

Thus the Qumran scrolls, while being much earlier than the Masoretic Text, generally support the accuracy with which the Masoretic Text was copied. At the same time, the scrolls have provided us with previously unknown readings and given us a greater understanding of the variant readings which we already had in other texts and versions. By giving us a “snapshot” of the condition of the biblical text at the turn of the era, we are in a better position to explain the relationship between the various witnesses. Tov writes that the scrolls have “taught us no longer to posit [the MT] at the center of our textual thinking” (Tov, “Hebrew Biblical Manuscripts from the Judaean Desert: Their Contribution to Textual Criticism,” Journal of Jewish Studies 39, no. 1, 1988, 7). Before the finds in the Judean Desert, text critics could only work with the state of the text indirectly, that is, by suggesting an alternate form of the Hebrew text that was used by the translators of the versions. The finds at Qumran have provided actual manuscripts with which the text critic can work. It is fair to say that the Qumran finds have revolutionized the field of textual criticism.

Editions

Discoveries in the Judaean Desert. 40 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955–2008. The Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series (DJD) serves as the editio princeps and official publication of the Qumran texts (biblical and nonbiblical). There are forty volumes total, and volume 39, edited by Emanuel Tov, contains an introduction and indexes to the series. Each volume contains the printed text, a critical apparatus comparing variants in the Masoretic Text and versions, and photographs of the scroll fragments.

Ulrich, Eugene, ed. The Biblical Qumran Scrolls. 3 vols. Boston: Brill, 2012. Eugene Ulrich has published three volumes that present only the biblical texts from Qumran. These volumes are much less expensive than DJD, and the reader does not have to sort through all of the extrabiblical and noncanonical texts to find the biblical fragments. Like DJD, these volumes contain a textual apparatus comparing Qumran scroll readings to the other witnesses, such as the Greek Septuagint and the Masoretic Text. These volumes do not have any plates.

Biblical Books Represented at Qumran

Table 3.1 provides a survey of the representation of Old Testament books at Qumran:

Biblical Books	Number of Manuscripts	Including Manuscripts of Uncertain Identity
Genesis	20	(21)
Exodus	16
Leviticus	12	(13)
Numbers	6	(7)
Deuteronomy	30	(32)
Joshua	3
Judges	4
1-2 Samuel	4
1-2 Kings	3
Isaiah	21
Jeremiah	6
Ezekiel	6
Twelve Prophets	8
Psalms	34	(36)
Job	4
Proverbs	4
Ruth	4
Song of Songs	4
Ecclesiastes	2
Lamentations	4
Esther	0
Daniel	8
Ezra	1
Nehemiah	1
1-2 Chronicles	1

Source: Adapted from James C. VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 48.

Based on the documentary method and the weight given to the Masoretic Text, the original reading of the Hebrew Scriptures is best represented by the MT. The textual evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and other sources supports the MT as the most reliable witness to the original text. The advancements in textual criticism, the discovery of ancient manuscripts, and the development of modern translations have all contributed to the accurate transmission and preservation of the Hebrew Scriptures from the Qumran period to the present.

Bibliography

Books and Edited Volumes:

• Burrows, Millar. The Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Viking, 1955.
• Cargill, Robert. Qumran through Real Time: A Virtual Reconstruction of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2009.
• Eshel, Hanan. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hasmonean State. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
• Grayzel, Solomon. A History of the Jews, rev. ed. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1968.
• Lim, Timothy H., and John J. Collins, eds. The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
• Muraoka, T., and J. F. Elwolde, eds. Diggers at the Well: Proceedings of a Third International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira. Boston: Brill, 2000.
• Sanders, J. A. The Dead Sea Psalms Scroll. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1967.
• Talmon, Shemaryahu. “The Crystallization of the ‘Canon of Hebrew Scriptures’ in the Light of Biblical Scrolls from Qumran.” In The Bible as Book: The Hebrew Bible and the Judaean Desert Discoveries, edited by Edward D. Herbert and Emanuel Tov, 5–20. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll, 2002.
• Taylor, Joan E. “The Classical Sources on the Essenes and the Scrolls Communities.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins, 173–99. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
• Ulrich, Eugene, ed. The Biblical Qumran Scrolls. 3 vols. Boston: Brill, 2012.
• VanderKam, James C. The Dead Sea Scrolls Today. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.
• Vermes, Geza. An Introduction to the Complete Dead Sea Scrolls. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1999.
• Wise, Michael. “The Origins and History of the Teacher’s Movement.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins, 92–122. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Articles:

• Hendel, Ronald S. “Assessing the Text-Critical Theories of the Hebrew Bible after Qumran.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins, 281–302. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
• Sanderson, Judith E. “The Contributions of 4QpaleoExodm to Textual Criticism.” Revue de Qumran 13 (1988): 547.
• Tov, Emanuel. “Hebrew Biblical Manuscripts from the Judaean Desert: Their Contribution to Textual Criticism.” Journal of Jewish Studies 39, no. 1 (1988): 7.
• Tov, Emanuel. Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. 3rd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012.
• Lim, Timothy H., and John J. Collins. “Introduction: Current Issues in Dead Sea Scrolls Research.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins, 1–11. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
• Meyers, Eric M. “Khirbet Qumran and Its Environs.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins, 21–33. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

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