By
William F. Albright
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) at Qumran in 1949 had
significant effects in corroborating evidence for the Scriptures. The
ancient texts, found hidden in pots in cliff-top caves by a monastic
religious community, confirm the reliability of the Old Testament text.
These texts, which were copied and studied by the Essenes, include one
complete Old Testament book (Isaiah) and thousands of fragments, representing
every Old Testament book except Esther. The manuscripts date from the
third century B.C. to the first century A.D. and give the earliest window
found so far into the texts of the Old Testament books and their predictive
prophecies. The Qumran texts have become an important witness for the
divine origin of the Bible, providing further evidence against the criticism
of such crucial books as Daniel and Isaiah.
Dating the Manuscripts
Carbon-14 dating is a reliable form of scientific dating when applied
to uncontaminated material several thousand years old. Results indicated
an age of 1917 years with a 200-year (10 percent) variant. Paleography
(ancient writing forms) and orthography (spelling) indicated that some
manuscripts were inscribed before 100 B.C. Albright set the date of
the complete Isaiah scroll to around 100 B.C.—"there can
happily not be the slightest doubt in the world about the genuineness
of the manuscript."
Archaeological Dating
Collaborative evidence for an early date came from archaeology. Pottery
accompanying the manuscripts was late Hellenistic (c. 150– 3 B.C.)
and Early Roman (c. 63 B.C. to A.D. 100). Coins found in the monastery
ruins proved by their inscriptions to have been minted between 135 B.C.
and A.D. 135. The weave and pattern of the cloth supported an early
date. There is no reasonable doubt that the Qumran manuscripts came
from the century before Christ and the first century A.D. Significance
of the Dating.
Previous to the DSS, the earliest known manuscript of the Old Testament
was the Masoretic Text (A.D. 900) and two others (dating about A.D.
1000) from which, for example, the King James version of the Old Testament
derived its translation. Perhaps most would have considered the Masoretic
text as a very late text and therefore questioned the reliability of
the Old Testament wholesale. The Dead Sea Scrolls eclipse these texts
by 1,000 years and provide little reason to question their reliability,
and further, present only confidence for the text. The beauty of the
Dead Sea Scrolls lies in the close match they have with the Masoretic
text—demonstrable evidence of reliability and preservation of
the authentic text through the centuries. So the discovery of the DSS
provides evidence for the following:
1) Confirmation of the Hebrew Text
2) Support for the Masoretic Text
3) Support for the Greek translation of the Hebrew Text (the Septuagint).
Since the New Testament often quotes from the Greek Old Testament,
the DSS furnish the reader with further confidence for the Masoretic
texts in this area where it can be tested.
(Generated from Norman Geisler, "Dead Sea Scrolls," Baker
Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics)
1 Peter 1:25
