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March 28, 2007 - David Cloud http://www.wayoflife.org - The following is excerpted from our book The Bible Version Question-Answer Database: Answering the Myths Promoted by Modern Version Defenders, copyright 2005, available from Way of Life Literature: The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in eleven caves near Khirbet (meaning ruins) Qumran by the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in the 1940s and 1950s. They were deposited there in earthen jars and survived through the centuries because of the dry climate of that region and the remoteness and difficult accessibility of the caves. As of 2004, there were 13 theories about who lived nearby and who deposited the manuscripts. One prominent theory is that the scrolls were owned by a Jewish cult called the Essenes who lived in the nearby community. The manuscripts were probably stored in haste as the community fled the approaching Roman Army, which was in Judea to put down the Jewish revolt between A.D. 66-70. Approximately 930 different original manuscripts have been identified (representing copies of roughly 350 titles), but most have survived only in fragments. In fact only about 12 scrolls are more or less intact; the others were discovered in some 25,000 fragments. Most of the scrolls are in Hebrew, but about 25% are in Arabic and a few are in Greek. The scrolls are generally thought to date from about 250 B.C. to 100 A.D., though this is not certain. Dating of manuscripts is not an exact science and there are conflicting opinions among scholars. In the early 1950s the ruins of Qumran, located near the caves, was excavated and the remnant of an Essenes community was discovered. The first batch of Dead Sea Scrolls was discovered in 1947 by an Arab youth who was following his goat that had wandered away. In 1955 all of these scrolls became the possession of the state of Israel. They include the following: (1) Isaiah A, an almost complete copy of Isaiah in Hebrew, thought to date back to the second century before Christ; written on leather pieces sewn together and extending to about 24 feet in length; (2) Isaiah B, another copy of Isaiah in Hebrew, reasonably complete from chapter 41 onwards but containing only fragments of earlier chapters; (3) a copy in Hebrew of the first two chapters of Habakkuk with a verse-by-verse commentary also in Hebrew; (4) the Rule of the Community, a code of rules written in Hebrew; (5) a collection of hymns in Hebrew; (6) the Rule of War, a description in Hebrew of ancient warfare; (7) an Aramaic paraphrase of Genesis 5 to 15 (Edward Hills, The King James Version Defended, p. 101). Other batches of scrolls were subsequently found in the same area between 1952 and 1956. Cave 4 contained some 15,000 scroll fragments, identified eventually as the remains of 574 separate manuscripts, including fragments of every Old Testament book except Esther. The manuscripts are in a greatly deteriorated condition and most of the legible fragments are very small. About 200 of the 800 manuscripts are books of the Hebrew Bible. This includes 39 copies of Psalms, 36 of Deuteronomy, 22 of Isaiah, 17 of Exodus, 15 of Genesis, 13 of Leviticus, and 8 of Numbers (most in fragmentary condition). Though there were different groups of Essenes and there was a variety of doctrine and practice, most of the Essenes were celibate and did not have children. Separate communities were formed for women and men. "They repudiate marriage because they look on woman as a selfish creature and specially addicted to jealousy and hypocrisy, thus likely to dissolve their brotherhood. A man bound to a woman is hampered by his affection, is no longer a free man but a slave" (Philo as quoted by Eusebius). Those who entered the cult were required to give up private possessions and personal wealth. Property was held in common and all wages were turned over to the general manager of the community. They were ascetic, abstaining from common pleasures such as warm baths. They adopted a common style of dress (all in white when not working) and lived regimented lives, rising, eating, working, and sleeping at appointed times. They had to swear that they would keep the societies' doctrines secret from outsiders. Some were pacifists. They rejected the blood sacrifice of animals. They were known for their visions and predictions of future events and the interpretation of dreams. Pliny wrote of the Essenes in his Natural History, saying that they dwelt on the west side of the Dead Sea, which is where the scrolls were found, and describing them as "a wonderful race without women, without money, associates of the palms" (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia). They held an extreme view of the sovereignty of God that led to fatalism. Some have theorized that the apocryphal books such as Esdras and The Assumption of Moses were written by the Essenes, because they are the product of a school that professed to have secret sacred books and for other reasons. They were looking for three messiahs rather than one. They believed there would be a prophet messiah, a priest messiah, and a prince messiah, not understanding that the One Messiah is prophet, priest, and king. Isaiah A and Isaiah B from the first Dead Sea cave contain the traditional Masoretic Hebrew text. In fact, the Isaiah A scroll, which possibly dates to about 150 B.C., matches the 10th century Aleppo Codex word for word! "Of the 166 words in Isaiah 53, there are only seventeen letters in question. Ten of these letters are simply a matter of spelling, which does not affect the sense. Four more letters are minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions. The remaining three letters comprise the word 'light', which is added in verse 11, and does not affect the meaning greatly. ... Thus, in one chapter of 166 words, there is only one word (three letters) in question after a thousand years of transmission -- and this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage" (Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell). Scrolls that were found in other caves, though, contain variations from the Masoretic text. F.M. Cross divides the text types into "Egyptian, Palestinian, and Proto-Masoretic varieties" (Edward Hills, The King James Version Defended, p. 102). We should also note that much of this type of scholarship falls into the category of guesswork because of the paucity of resources that scholars possess from that era. It is these variations that are used by modern textual critics to "correct" the Masoretic Text. ANSWER: 1. The doctrine of preservation tells us that the Dead Sea Scrolls should not be used to correct the Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament. The Dead Sea Scrolls that differ from the Masoretic Text should not be used to modify the Masoretic Text because they are curious texts only discovered in modern times. Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s, no Hebrew manuscripts were known to exist other than the Masoretic. For 1900 years these manuscripts lay hidden away in their remote caves. They were not used by the Albigenses or the Waldenses, nor by the Lollards or Hussites or the Anabaptists; they were not used by the editors of the great Greek and Hebrew printed texts of the Reformation era. They were not used by the translators of the great missionary Bibles that were broadcast to the ends of the earth from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Modern textual critics would have us believe that the preserved Word of God was hidden in the sands of Egypt and in strange monasteries and in the Pope's library and in remote caves, but Bible believers know better than this. 2. The conflicting opinions of the scholars tell us that the Dead Sea Scrolls should not be used to correct the Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament. The textual scholars do not agree on hardly anything when it comes to the Dead Sea Scrolls. They don't agree on their date, with some claiming that they were written in the 2nd century before Christ and others claiming with equal vehemence that they were written in the first and second centuries after Christ. G.R. Driver, for example, believes the scrolls date to the first and early second century A.D. Scholars also don't agree on how many textual varieties are represented by the scrolls or on the source of those varieties. "Thus we see that, despite the new discoveries, our confidence in the trustworthiness of the Old Testament text must rest on some more solid foundation than the opinions of naturalistic scholars. For as the Qumran studies demonstrate, these scholars disagree with one another. What one scholar grants another takes away. Instead of depending on such inconstant allies, Bible-believing Christians should develop their own type of Old Testament textual criticism, a textual criticism which takes its stand on the teachings of the Old Testament itself and views the evidence in the light of these teachings. Such a believing textual criticism leads us to full confidence in the Masoretic (Traditional) Hebrew text which was preserved by the divinely appointed Old Testament priesthood and the scribes and scholars grouped around it" (Hills, The King James Version Defended, p. 102). 3. The heretical nature of the Essenes tells us that the Dead Sea Scrolls should not be used to correct the Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament. Dr. Donald Waite observes: "These Essenes left the Hebrew synagogue in Jerusalem. They left the Jewish beliefs their fathers had. They were an offshoot and a false, heretical cult. There are two reasons for questioning these Dead Sea Scrolls where they might differ with the Masoretic Hebrew text: (1) They might have had corrupt Hebrew texts that they began with, at least in some places; (2) They might have been careless in the transmission of these texts. These are both unknown, hence, they should never be used to replace the Masoretic Hebrew text. They could have changed the text in a hundred different ways. I don't know why any version should take a Dead Sea Scroll reading over the Masoretic traditional text, the historical text which had been guarded so meticulously. Yet in some instances this is done" (Waite, Defending the King James Bible). [Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. 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