The Dead Sea Scrolls Community
The Essenes
The Essenes
 WHO:
 Strict Jewish sect
 1st century BCE – 68 CE
 messianic
 WHERE
 Qumran, Jerusalem, throughout Israel
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The Essenes & the Dead Sea
Scrolls
 WHY IMPORTANT
 Oldest known biblical manuscripts
 Significant firsthand glimpse into a 1st century BCE & 1st century CE Jewish
community
 OTHER JEWISH GROUPS besides the Essenes
 Sadducees
 Pharisees – forerunners of the rabbis
 Zealots
 (1st century CE) Jesus and his first followers
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1. WHERE
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Qumran
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Qumran - THEN
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Qumran - NOW
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Qumran - Views
The watchtower
Looking south, along the shores
of the Dead Sea, towards
Masada
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Qumran Views – Writing room
inkwells
“the Scriptorium” or
Writing Room
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2. WHEN
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BCE
150
1. Originated
here? After
Antiochus
Epiphanes’
persecution
CE
60
1
68 70
68 Qumran destroyed
70 Jerusalem destroyed
3. Originated here?
Reign of Queen
Salome
2. Originated
earlier?
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5 BCE – 30 CE: Jesus
30 – 62 CE: James
Mid 30’s – mid 60’s: Paul
70 – Destruction of Jerusalem
After 70: rabbinic Judaism
After 70: first gospels
The Teacher of Righteousness
 Led by the Teacher of
Righteousness
 A community of priests,
laypeople
 Went into the wilderness
Violent men have sought my
life
Because I have clung to Thy
Covenant.
I thank Thee, O Lord,
For Thou hast fastened Thine
eye upon me.
Thou has saved me from the
zeal
Of lying interpreters,
And from the congregation of
those
Who seek smooth things.
A few facts
 The community existed for almost 200 years
 In 68 CE, Qumran destroyed, along with all its




inhabitants.
Prior to the Roman conquest, they deposited their
scrolls in jars and hid them in caves.
These were discovered in 1947, 1948.
Over 800 scrolls have been found.
First scholars to work on the scrolls were Christian,
largely Roman Catholic
A Sensational Find
The Dead Sea Scrolls –
The most important
biblical archeological find
of the 20th century
Why all the excitement ??
Jewish
Christian
 Earliest biblical
 Messianic Jewish community
manuscripts
 New Jewish writings
 No writings from other
groups -- except
 Led by an inspired teacher
 Philo – 1st century CE
 Josephus – 70/80 CE
 Talmud –
2nd
century
reflecting earlier traditions
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 Strict Torah-observance
 Purification ritual
 Meal of bread and wine
 Terminology – Community
of the Way; New Covenant
3. WHY
DID THEY FORM
THIS COMMUNITY?
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Why? ?
 To create a congregation of the righteous
 To be ready for God’s messianic kingdom
 World is evil – worst time in human history
 God has to intervene soon to create a better
world
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What did they Expect Would Happen?
 Restoration of the Davidic monarchy
 Jerusalem will be the pre-eminent city
 Israel the pre-eminent state
 Rule of the righteous
 Righteous will triumph – eternal life
 Righteous dead will be resurrected
 The unrighteous will be killed – eternal death
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What did they Expect Would Happen?
 Universal implications
 God will be worshipped by
all humanity
 Universal peace
 ….and best of all …
Eternal life for the righteous
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How would this come about?
 They were actively preparing for such a world
“In the wilderness,
prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God”
(Isaiah 40:3)
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How would this come about ?
 Some thought God would do it directly.
ZAP!
 Others thought that a “messiah” would help God
achieve this new state of affairs
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So… What’s a messiah?
What’s a Messiah?
A Messiah is a human being who
appears at the end time, when God
recreates the world.
becomes the Davidic king over a restored
Israel
assists God in eliminating all the
unrighteous people and rulers, rewarding
the righteous with eternal life.
In sum, a messiah is a world-transformer
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It will be a time of unparalleled peace.
4. HOW
WERE THE SCROLLS
DISCOVERED?
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Scrolls – found in Large Jars
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1
Some Key Players
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The Scrolls – Some in Fragments; Some Whole
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The Scroll Team
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“The Scrollery”
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5. WHAT
DO THE SCROLLS
SAY?
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The Scrolls
 Books of the Hebrew Bible – except Esther –
OLDEST BIBLICAL MANUSCRIPTS
 Own writings:
 Community Rule
 Copper Scroll
 Temple Scroll
 War Scroll
 Hymns
 Messianic texts
 Damascus Scroll
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Year I
•Vow to uphold Torah as interpreted by the
community
•Vow to separate
•Studies Torah
Year II
•Examined; admitted conditionally into
the community, the new covenant
•Property held in escrow
Year III
•Full acceptance into the Community
•Property reverts to the community
•Admitted to the pure meal
•Allowed to participate in discussions
From the Community Rule
What awaits the righteous…
…It shall be healing, great peace in a long life, and
fruitfulness, together with every everlasting blessing
and eternal joy in life without end, a crown of glory and
a garment of majesty
in unending light.
From the War Scroll
 This shall be a time of salvation for the
people of God, an age of dominion for all the members of
His company and everlasting destruction for all the
company of Belial [=Satan]…The dominion of the Kittim
[=Romans] shall come to an end and iniquity shall be
vanished, leaving no remnant; for the sons of darkness
there shall be no escape.
 The sons of righteousness shall shine over all the ends of
the earth; they shall go on shining until all the seasons of
darkness are consumed and, at the season appointed by
God, His exalted greatness shall shine eternally to the
peace, blessing, glory, joy, and long life of all the sons of
light.
From the Copper Scroll
 In the vale of Achor under the stairs




which go eastwards 40 cubits, a box
filled with silver weighing in all 17 talents
In the tomb of …the third, 100 gold bars.
In the great cistern which is in the courtyard of the little
colonnade, at its very bottom, closed with sediment, 900
talents.
In the cistern of the esplanade which is under the stairs, 42
talents
In the cave of the old Washer’s House, on the third platform,
65 gold bars.
From the Thanksgiving Psalms
Violent men have sought my life
Because I have clung to Thy Covenant.
I thank Thee, O Lord,
For Thou hast fastened Thine eye upon me.
Thou has saved me from the zeal
Of lying interpreters,
And from the congregation of those
Who seek smooth things.
From Psalms attached to the
Community Rule
My eyes have gazed
On that which is eternal,
On wisdom concealed from men
On knowledge and wise design
Hidden from the sons of men
Significant Similarities
Jesus’ First Followers
DSS Community
 Messianic
 Messianic
 Torah-observant
 Torah-observant
 Inspired teacher: Jesus
 Inspired teacher: the
 Baptism
 Communal meal
 Opponents
 Paul
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 Sadducees/Temple priests
Teacher of Righteousness
 Water ritual – purification
 Communal meal
 Opponents
 The Liar
 Sadducees/Temple priests
Why Important?
Oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible
First-hand Glimpse into 1st century Judaism
1st Century BCE & 1st century CE
Helps us understand Jesus’ First Followers in Jerusalem
who shared many of their beliefs and practices
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York at Qumran
Barrie lecturing at Qumran
to 29 York/Atkinson
Students - 2001