By Neil Earle
The present exhibit of parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the San Diego Natural History Museum force the question: What makes them so important? Many reasons. For one, the scrolls allow O.T. text critics to make a comparison between the 1947 discoveries and the Hebrew manuscripts used to produce our English Old Testaments (e.g. the Leningrad Codex of 1000 AD).
The sensational discoveries of 1947 and afterwards gave scholars 15,000 fragments scattered across 11 caves (not all of them OT books) dating back as far as 250 years Before the Common Era (BCE) and going up to 68 AD – just two years before the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem.
The scrolls were written on animal skins and papyrus. The most preserved books were multiple copies of Psalms, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah – particular favorites of the Qumran Community who apparently did the copying. The question was irresistible: How did our English O.T. measure up with the fragments found in the Dead Sea area?
While there has been much disputing about “variations” and alternate readings, the fact remains that the similarities are overwhelming. According to Gleason Archer’s Survey of the Old Testament: Minor spelling variations (e.g. Elijah and Elias) pale before the fact that the Isaiah Scroll “proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95% of the text” (page 19). Norman Geisler and William Nix are even more euphoric: “In one chapter of 166 words (Isa. 53) there is only ONE WORD (3 letters) in question after a thousand years of transmission – and this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage” (General Introduction to the Bible, page 263).
This leads to a key term in the discussion: “MASORETIC TEXT”. The Leningrad Codex, a major source for our English O.T., is a product of the Masoretes (from “massorah” = to hand down). These were carefully selected scribes based around the Sea of Galilee assigned to copy and transcribe the Jewish sacred books from about 500 to 915 AD. The very briefest look at the work and rigid standards of the Masoretes helps understand why the Scrolls and our modern Bibles stack up very well.
The Masoretes were so convinced they had done a BETTER job that the saying went “Age gave no advantage to a manuscript.” No wonder. Note their rules of copying:
The Masoretic skill in copying is evidence that God’s word would not perish. Seeing the veneration for the text held by copiers across the centuries reminds us of Psalm 12:6, “The words of the Lord are pure words…like silver purified seven times.” This is why some argue that the Dead Sea Scrolls should be measured by the Masoretic Text and not vice versa.
For Christians, it is encouraging to know that the O.T. text we hold in our hands follows extremely closely what God’s people have always treasured across time. Though the early church used the Greek Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, there is still a thrill in recognizing that the Nazareth Manifesto Jesus announced so long ago to his local synagogue (”I have come to heal the broken-hearted” – Isaiah 60) speaks to us with binding force today (Luke 4:14-22). The problem, as wise men and women have noted, is not with the text but in doing what the text asks us to do.