The Dead Sea Scrolls

2025-06-20

The Dead Sea Scrolls were a group of thousands of manuscripts and fragments found on the northern coast of the Dead Sea. There were portions of every Biblical book found among them except Esther. There were also numerous commentaries and extra-biblical books found.

They were discovered by young Bedouins by accident in 1947. Eleven caves were eventually found. The dating of these manuscripts was from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D. The isolated, hot and dry area in which they were found and the use of clay jars allowed for the preservation of these manuscripts and fragments. The scrolls were written on vellum and wrapped in linen.

Written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the scrolls are supposed to have been produced by a monastic sect of Jews called the Essenes that inhabited the area around that time.

The significance of this discovery cannot be overstated. Previously, the oldest Old Testament manuscripts were about 1,000 years after Christ. This is what the Masoretic Text is based on. With this discovery, when comparing the Dead Sea Scrolls with these manuscripts, we see that there was little change between the Old Testament documents over a 1,000-year period. This shows that the Masoretes who had transcribed the Biblical text had a very successfully meticulous system in copying. However, more importantly, we see that God successfully preserved His Word through endless centuries.

In addition, the one Biblical book that was found in its entirety was the book of Isaiah. There was also another copy of Isaiah that was substantial. Many modern liberal scholars had supposed that Isaiah could be divided into subsections with various authors. One of those sections begins in Isaiah 40, starting a supposed section called “Deutero-Isaiah.” However, there is no such division found in these scrolls of Isaiah, introducing evidence to the contrary.

What are the odds that these scrolls could have been preserved over such a lengthy period? The Lord used the climate of the area and a monastic civilization to preserve His Word in addition to the Masoretes to show the world that He can preserve His word and that it is reliable.