Dead Sea scroll

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Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea scrolls, were discovered between 1946 and 1956 in the. They are scene as ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period written by Essenes from Qumran.

4QMMT

4QMMT[1] was composed of small pieces of parchment script that were numbered from 4Q394 to 4Q399 with 4Q398 on Papyrus.

These fragments were painstakingly pieced together and translated and then interpreted by scholars with a wide variety of results.

Professor Emeritus John Strugnell of the Harvard Divinity School and Elisha Qimron  a professor in the Department of Hebrew Language at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Israel worked on the puzzle of these fragments which were kept almost secret fore decades.

Hershel Shanks, of the Biblical Archaeology Society, decided to publish what he thought should be made available to hundreds of scholars since the piecing of fragments would create scientific debate and was to valuable tu public academia to exclude since most of the work could be done from detailed photos.

Elisha Qimron would eventually sued the publishers of the 4QMMT because 40% of the published text was his intellectual property since it was fabricated by his attempt to fill in the gaps present in the fragmented manuscripts.

To be saved

John Strugnell and Elisha Qimron saw the text as a part of the Pauline theology. This has spaund a heated religious debate as to the power and potential questions yet to be answered.

To be saved by the works of the law or not to be saved.

By keeping the discovery hidden from the academic careers of hundreds of scholars the would stir a more heated and controversially ďebated topics and conclusions.

Robert Eisenman would eventually make use of the Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, published by the Biblical Archaeology Society but would come to a drastically different interpritation.

Eisenman sees the 4QMMT (Halakhic Letter) [1] from Cave 4 of the Quamran as a parallel to the teachings of James of what some call the Ebionite Jesus movement.

He identifies the Teacher of righteousness as James the Just and Paul as the false teacher or "wicked priest" orspouter of lies who says we are to love our enemy.

Those who remained in the Dead Sea scroll community saw this false teacher as an enemy.

Other place the scrolls over a hundred years earlier. Others enterpret the Teacher of righteousness as John the Baptist and Jesus as the false teacher.

Eisenman depends on the recognitions of Clementine for his analysis. He sees Clement as the second or third Pope after Peter who supposedly did not give a good account of Paul who is only identified as the hostile enemy compared to James the Just.

Proffessor Charlesworth sees Paul as removing the 600+ laws of the Torah from the Ebionite Jesus movement.

It should be clear that Jesus and Paul as well as Peter and James only removed the false teachings of the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Zealots about the nature of the statutes of Moses.

Did the statutes require circumcision of the flesh or the heart, no leaven of yeast or of oppression? Did Jesus come to free the land that men walk on or free the men who walk upon the land? Didn't Jesus say that all laws hinge on two? Were the 613 statutes merely written judgements jumpstarting a list of precedents for the people's courts set up by Moses.

The rush to hide the scrolls

The insurrection brought Roman troops to the Dead Sea area.

While under the emperor's patronage, Josephus wrote that after the Roman Legio X Fretensis, accompanied by Vespasian, destroyed Jericho on 21 June 68, Vespasian took a group of Jews who could not swim (possibly Essenes from Qumran), fettered them, and threw them into the Dead Sea to test the sea's legendary buoyancy. Indeed, the victims bobbed up to the surface after being thrown in the water from the boats.

Contradictions

Some will say that “The Dead Sea Scrolls have eroded the notion of the Masoretic Text as the sole authoritative rendition of the Hebrew Bible.” There were sources for the Masoretic Text which were some times contradictory to the final rendition but it was accepted as a valiant attempt to produce a version that would be generally acceptable.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are another source but often it is the private interpretations that are the strongest misleaders of the people. James D. Tabor professes that there are “thousands of variations” with some “very significant differences.” But is James correct in his interpretations of the intent and meaning of the authors.

Some draw a conclusion that the Bible was originally polytheistic because of the differences in the versions of Deuteronomy 32:8-9 and the Bible’s table of nations found in Genesis 10-11 where the El of Elohim and the seventy sons become seventy gods. They see "Yahweh began as a tribal god subordinate to the supreme god El."[2]

This is because people do not understand the Hebrew words el[3] and elohim[4] and how they are meant to be used. The Bible talks about Gods many and Jesus say ye also are gods.[5] A god is a ruling judge and each of us as men may rule over something and may be ruled over by others. But the God of Creation rules over all that dwells in His creation. He is Infinite we are finite.[6]

If you deny the singularity of that God of Creation, that Unmoved Mover, you will become polytheistic with gods many, with hierarchies of authority, with mystery Babylon.


  1. Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 The preliminary text was published as 4QMishnique but finally designated as Miqsat Ma’ase ha-Torah or 4QMMT, translated "Some Precepts of the Torah" or "Some Rulings Pertaining to the Torah"
  2. THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS, by Michael R. Burch
  3. 0410 ^לא^ ‘el \@ale\@ shortened from 0352, Greek 2241 ~ηλι~ and 1664 ~ελιουδ~; n m; AV-God 213, god 16, power 4, mighty 5, goodly 1, great 1, idols 1, Immanuel + 06005 2, might 1, strong 1; 245
    1) god, god-like one, mighty one
    1a) mighty men, men of rank, mighty heroes
    1b) angels
    1c) god, false god, (demons, imaginations)
    1d) God, the one true God, Jehovah
    2) mighty things in nature
    3) strength, power
  4. 0430 םיהלא AlefLamedHeyYodMem ‘elohiym el-o-heem’ plural of 0433 אֱלוֹהַּ‎ ‘elowahh from 0410 אֵל‎ ‘el; n m p; {See TWOT on 93 @@ "93c" } AV-God 2346, god 244, judge 5, GOD 1, goddess 2, great 2, mighty 2, angels 1, exceeding 1, God-ward + 04136 1, godly 1; 2606
    1) (plural)
    1a) rulers, judges
    1b) divine ones
    1c) angels
    1d) gods
    2) (plural intensive-singular meaning)
    2a) god, goddess
    2b) godlike one
    2c) works or special possessions of God
    2d) the (true) God
    2e) God
    • א Alef Father-Son- begin- The Paradox: God and Man - (ox bull) [strength, leader, first] (Numeric value: 1)
    • ל Lamed means Aspiration of the Heart or to learn or even direct like a shepherd. It has to do with what the Hand produces, [hand is די YodDalet] or directs with staff, whip... like the tongue may direct. (Numeric value: 30)
    • ה Hey Expression, Thought, Speech, Action. Manifest seeds of thought and life. [Emphasize, jubilation, window, fence] (Numeric value: 5)
    • י Yod The Infinite Point of essential good. Divine spark hidden in the ט Tet. Spark of spirit. [closed hand... Deed, work, to make] (Numeric value: 10)
    • מ ם Mem Fountain of water, a flow, a fountain of the Divine Wisdom [massive, overpower chaos] (Numeric value: 40)
    • See also 03068 יְהוָֹה‎ Yëhovah and 0136 אֲדֹנָי‎ ‘Adonay Genesis 15:2
  5. John 10:34 "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?"
  6. Psalms 82:1 "A Psalm of Asaph. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods."
    Psalms 82:6 "I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High. 7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes."