THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS (Jewish, 3rd century BCE to 1st century CE)
Around the time of Jesus, and not far from the Dead Sea, a Jewish sect, probably the Essenes, established a community of men dedicated to voluntary poverty, daily "baptism," and asceticism. Fast-forward to 1946/47 when a Bedouin shepherd tossed a rock into a cave and hear something go "CLINK!" He had broken a jar, that turned out to contain two-thousand-year-old manuscripts that, once they came to the attention of scholars, changed our understanding of the Bible forever. About 40% are texts from the Hebrew Scriptures; 30% from extra-Biblical texts like Enoch, Jubilees, Tobit, etc.; 30% are sectarian texts (rules, rituals, etc.). Research into the content and significance of the scrolls continues.
- 981 different manuscripts have been discovered in 11 caves.
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