The Dead Sea Scrolls
For labor day weekend I went over to sunny San Diego for a quick vacation. In addition to the mandatory beach time, my fiancée and I went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Scrolls will be on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum until December 31, 2007.
:: San Diego Sunset ::
In 1947, Juma, a Bedouin (nomadic Arab) shepherd, threw some rocks into a cave and heard some pottery break. Pretty amazing what you will find just throwing rocks into caves! The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been called the greatest manuscript discovery of modern times. Over the span of 9 years, from 11 different caves, over 800 separate Scrolls were discovered.
:: One of the caves where the Scrolls were found ::
The Scrolls contain both biblical and non-biblical texts. Fragments from every single book (except Esther) of the Old Testament were included in the Scrolls found. There were 19 copies of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy, and 30 copies of the Psalms! The Isaiah scroll, found relatively intact, is 1000 years older than any previously known copy. The Scrolls are the oldest group of Old Testament manuscripts ever found.
:: One of many of the Scroll fragments ::
It took Alina and me almost 3 hours to go through the exhibit (and we were rushed at the end cause they were closing). The museum did a great job of displaying the artifacts. There was plenty of information and what was really neat was they gave you a hand-held speaker that you would hold up to your ear to listen to different talks as you went through. Here are some interesting facts about the Scrolls that we learned:
- According to the Scrolls, the height of Goliath was 6'-6'', not 9'-6''
- The city of Qumran was thought to be a part of the prophecy of Ezekiel 47
- The story of Abraham includes an explanation as to why God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
- It wasn't until 1991 that people could view photographs of the Scrolls
- Some of the scroll fragments went up for sale in the Wall Street Journal
- Most of the Scrolls were written on animal skin, a few on papyrus, and one on copper
- The book of Psalms had a different chapter order
:: Archaeological site of the city of Qumran ::
Getting to see the Scrolls was definitely a neat experience. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed. At one point in the exhibit, above one of the Scrolls displaying some Psalms, a caption read ''There have been no significant changes to the book of Psalms in over 2000 years''.
:: Map of the Dead Sea showing the location of Qumran and the caves ::
The exhibit will be open until December 31, 2007. If you are able to go, I highly recommend seeing the Scrolls. It might be your only chance. For more information, check out these links: