Qumran Caves - Dead Sea Scrolls

We took our last breaths of cool air conditioning while touring the little Qumran Museum (see below) that gave a short presentation outlining the history and orienting us to the caves where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls.

A replica of one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the Qumran Caves

Then we ventured out into the desert (in the heat of the day, no less) to get a closer look at the actual caves scattered in the face of the craggy mountain. (See Below)

Above you can see the entrances to several of the Qumran Caves

At first I was not enthralled with this place. There was the blinding glare from the sun, it was take-your-breath-away hot and skin-shriveling dry. (I should have bought some of that Ahava Skin Cream!) I felt overwhelmed and ready to cut this venture short.

Under the partial shade of an awning, the group gathered to hear further explanation of the Essenes

Then, as I listened to our guide, Hanna, I began to imagine the Essenes who lived here several thousand years ago.  Her words took me back to the ancient monastic life-style of the Essenes and those mountains filled with caves came alive with mystery. Who lived here and why?

The Essenes were a Jewish religious group that flourished from the 200 BC to 100 AD. Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees (the other two major sects at the time) the Essenes lived in various cities but congregated in a communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty, daily baptisms, and abstinence from worldly pleasures, including marriage.  


Josephus recorded that the Essenes existed in large numbers throughout Judea.  The Essenes believed they were the last generation of the last generations and anticipated a Teacher of Righteousness, Aaronic High Priest, and High Guard Messiah, similar to the Prophet, Priest and King expectations of the Pharisees. Some historians believe that John the Baptist may have lived with these Essenes for a time.

Ritual Baths used for the Essenes' daily "baptisms"

We saw ruins of their ritual baths where they "baptized" themselves daily because of their desire to remain pure.  We heard about their lifestyle and of their religious devotion that drove them to asceticism, and lives of poverty and sacrifice.  


Certainly, God's Law was important to the Essenes and it is believed that they hid the Scrolls in the Qumran Caves attempting to preserve God's Word when the Romans invaded Israel, and destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem (11 miles away) between 67 and 73 AD.  

In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd boy, looking for a lost goat, stumbled upon a cave.  The "story" is that he was afraid to go into the cave to search for his goat, so he tossed a rock into the cave to flush the goat out.  Apparently, the rock struck something interesting and hearing the sound of breaking pottery, he ventured into the cave to investigate. There he found an earthen jar containing seven scrolls.

These scrolls were significant archaeological finds and are some of the oldest manuscripts of Biblical writings.  Because the antique dealers in Jerusalem were eager to get their hands on more, the Bedouins began a frantic search of the caves near Qumran.  In all, over a period of 10 years, they found more than 11 caves containing Biblical and religious scrolls.  Many of the scrolls were delivered in tiny fragments to the antique dealers, who would pay for each piece.  It is thought that the Bedouin shepherds, realizing the value of the scrolls, possibly tore some of them into pieces to collect more of a reward.

 Qumran Cave  4

Cave 4 (above) is the most famous of the Qumran Caves and it held the most significant of finds.  As many as 15,000 fragments from 200 different books were found in this particular cave. 122 biblical scrolls or fragments of scrolls were found in Cave 4.  When you combine all the scrolls from the 11 Qumran Caves, each book of the Old Testament is represented except Esther!

The only intact scrolls were found in Caves 1 and 11.  Some manuscripts were found in duplicate! There were 34 copies of Psalms, 27 copies of Deuteronomy, 24 copies of Isaiah,  and 20 copies of Genesis.

Interesting... In Cave 3 they found a copper scroll which listed hiding places for the sacred treasures of the temple in Jerusalem.  (Sounds like Raiders of the Lost Ark or National Treasure!)  The archeologists had to develop a special cutting tool just to open that copper scroll.

A Very Happy Bible Teacher!

Throughout the past 50 plus years, scholars have been working to carefully piece together these ancient scrolls.  Many modern skeptics waited with anticipation to see if they would find new portions of the Law, or inconsistencies with the older texts, but the scholars have found the books of the Old Testament to be word for word the same as that which we read today.  God's inherent, infallible Word is preserved through the ages.  Praise the Lord!

The hot, barren desert even testifies to God's amazing plan.  This dry, parched land became more and more beautiful to me as I stood among these wonders.

For Perspective:  If you turn your back to the Qumran mountains and caves, you can look across the flat lands of the desert and see the Dead Sea's shore which lies approximately one mile in the distance.