Manuscripts From the time the canon of the Old Testament books was finalized (c. 400 B.C.) and until about A.D. 100, (when the Old Testament text was normalized), we have strong evidence that the desire save this

Qumran excavations and the problem of the origin of Christianity On the coast of the Dead Sea during the last decade, a large number of material and written monuments related to the life and ideology of Essen have been found. The whole settlement of Essen has been excavated

KUMRAN TEXTS ancient manuscripts, prev. * Inter-Testament period found in caves near the Dead Sea. Name K. t. received from the first discoveries made at the "wadi" (dry bed) Qumran. K.T. - the most important source for the biblical, especially for Novozav.

MURABBAAT MANUSCRIPTS fragments of manuscripts of the 1st – 2nd centuries. AD, found in the caves of Wadi Murabbaat, south of * Qumran. The first fragments were delivered in 1951 about. * De Vaux Bedouins. In January 1952 he, together with I. Yadin, took part in an expedition to Wadi-Murabbaat. The search went to

NAG – HAMMADI MANUSCRIPTS Coptic manuscripts of ancient Novozavs. * Apocrypha, found in Egypt. The exact date of their discovery is unknown; in 1946 the Cairo Museum purchased them from an antique dealer. A year later, the French met them. historian and Coptist Jean Dorses. He dated the manuscripts of the 3-4 centuries.

BIBLICAL MANUSCRIPTS Before the era of typography, the Bible was distributed in the form of manuscripts (manuscripts). They took two forms: * scrolls and * codes. From the 5th century. AD appeared * illustrated. Bible editions. The manuscripts were written on papyrus, parchment, leather and paper. Bibl. R.

Revival of the Manuscript The next hero of our plot is the current owner of the manuscript of the Gospel of Judas. This is Frida Chakos-Nussberger, a native of Egypt, Greek by nationality. From an early age, Frida traveled to different countries. She studied at the School of Translation

V. KUMRAN'S FINDINGS No other finds of this kind were attested until 1947. In that year, several Arab shepherds came across the cave, and their find led to what was soon hailed as the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century. A special story

Chapter 4 THE CUMRAN ESSAYS The Essenes living in Qumran were just a small part of the wider Essenes movement in the country. According to Josephus Flavius \u200b\u200band Philo, the number of the Essenes was approximately four thousand. Estimates of how many people could live in the Qumran area,

C. THE CUMRAN ESSAYS AND THEIR PLACE IN JUDAISM It is fun to read a book on late Second Temple Judaism, published before 1947, and compare it to a book containing information on the discovery of the scrolls. There remains a lot of uncertainty about these times, despite the increase

Nikolay Borichevsky

One of the most important questions of all generations is the question of the infallibility and truth of the Bible. Is the Bible "legislation" and "guidance" of God for the inhabitants of planet Earth, or is it just a collection of historical and religious documents written mostly by little-known authors? Are the facts stated in the Bible, the author's personal and private view of the history of his people, or the totality of all sixty-six books of the Bible represents the true and infallible legislation of the Creator?

If the Bible really is the Word of God, then by using God's own claims about the accuracy and infallibility of the Scriptures, critics need to find just a few mistakes to discredit the entire Bible. For example, God in Scripture said the following: "Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who trust in Him" \u200b\u200b(Prov. 30: 5) or "God is not a man to lie to Him, and not a son of man to change Him" \u200b\u200b(Num. 23 :19). Pointing to a high standard of accuracy, can the books of Scripture stand the test of time that has been going on for millennia?

The Bible, or Scripture, was created over 15 centuries by more than forty authors who have held a wide variety of public offices. But not only were they the authors of the books of the Old Testament - also the special influence of the Holy Spirit guaranteed the infallibility of their work. Such influence of God on the work of an individual person is called divine inspiration (Greek theopneustos), and it is expressed in the special guidance of God, but at the same time the individual features of the author's writing are preserved, including the stylistic features of his language, the worldview corresponding to his era, etc. It should be clarified that the divinely inspired, infallible text of the Scriptures are original books, or autographs. An additional difficulty in certifying the accuracy of Bible translations was the fact that autographs did not reach us, but only numerous copies and translations. Most of them appeared much later than the written originals. The question arises of correspondence and error-free translations, preservation of the style and structure of writing. Moreover, a number of religious and anti-religious movements based their dogma on this assumption, arguing that the accuracy of the Bible is lost and only they have a true knowledge of the meaning of Holy Scripture. These include Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and others. Scientists-atheists, in turn, claim that the Bible that exists today and the one that was two thousand years ago are very different from each other and are, in fact, different books. They claim that Bible texts have been rewritten several times depending on the political situation, which has changed frequently over the millennia. A number of scholarly researchers questioned the dates of writing the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and also disputed the authorship of these prophets in favor of their followers, who allegedly wrote these books several centuries after their lives.

Also, the Hebrew language, in which most of the books were written, had its own structural features, which made it difficult to create error-free translations. For example, the Hebrew alphabet had no vowels, only consonants were written, and, moreover, in a continuous order, almost without division into words. The pronunciation of words was transmitted orally. The tradition of correct pronunciation of texts was reliable and stable, but, nevertheless, it left room for individual errors.

An exceptional dedication to the preservation and transmission of the accuracy of Scripture was distinguished by scholars who in the following centuries came to be called Masoretes. They copied the text with the greatest care and, over time, even began to number the verses, words, letters of each book. Their greatest merit was the introduction of "vowels" into the text - signs denoting vowel sounds that followed consonants, which made it easier to read. (Samuel J. Schultz. "The Old Testament Says ...". Spiritual Revival, Moscow, 1997, p. 13.)

In order to respond to skeptics and critics of the Scriptures, as well as to study and deepen knowledge of the meaning of difficult passages of ancient books, textual critics and exegetes needed new confirmation of the truth of the Bible. They subjected the books of the Bible to textual criticism in order to restore as accurately as possible the original meaning of the text.

In 1947, an event occurred that opened a new era in the history and science of biblical research. A fifteen-year-old Bedouin shepherd named Muhammad Ed-Deeb, tending a flock of sheep in the Judean Desert, near the shores of the Dead Sea, thirty-six kilometers east of the city of Jerusalem. In search of the lost sheep, he drew attention to one of the many caves in the steep slopes of limestone cliffs. Throwing a stone at one of them and hearing the sound of a beating vessel, he came to the conclusion that he had found a treasure. Together with his partner, he climbed into this cave and discovered several clay vessels, inside which were scrolls of old leather. At first, the shepherds wanted to use the leather for their own purposes, but it was very dilapidated. Then they noticed that unfamiliar letters were visible on them. Soon the scrolls fell into the hands of archaeological scientists. Thus, the manuscripts of the Qumran caves, which became famous all over the world, were found, from which they got their name - Qumran manuscripts. They are also called the Dead Sea manuscripts, because of the close proximity of the sea to the place of discovery.

After a short time, the search for new scrolls was resumed and the archaeological world accepted the most ancient texts and writings into its treasuries for research. Over the course of several years, from 1952 to 1956, archaeologists recovered from 11 caves of Qumran more than 10 well-preserved scrolls, as well as about 25 thousand fragmentary fragments, some of which are the size of a postage stamp. From these scraps and pieces, through complex analysis and comparison, it was possible to isolate about 900 fragments of ancient texts.

The discovered manuscripts were of the following categories: about 25% of all manuscripts were Old Testament books or fragments thereof, and the rest were divided into: 1) biblical commentaries; 2) Apocrypha of the Old Testament; 3) teaching literature of non-biblical content; 4) statutory documents of an unknown community; 5) letters. Most of the scrolls were written in Hebrew and Aramaic, and very few in Ancient Greek. It is also important to note that parts or fragments of all the books of the Old Testament were found from among the Old Testament manuscripts, with the exception of the book of Esther.

The uniqueness of the found scrolls lies, first of all, in their antiquity. Various methods for determining the date of writing have indicated the age of the manuscripts between 250 BC. and the third quarter of the 1st century AD, when the first Jewish uprising began (66-73 AD). It is no exaggeration to say that this archaeological event divided the biblical textology into two periods - before the Qumran manuscripts and after.

Very often the Bible, as a history book, has been questioned, including historical dates and names. These objections were not easy to resist, as the earliest surviving Bible manuscripts before the Qumran Scrolls date from no earlier than about A.D. 900, namely the British Museum manuscript (A.D. 895) , two manuscripts from the library of the city of St. Petersburg (916 and 1008 AD) and a manuscript from Aleppo (Code of Aaron Ben-Asher) - 10th century AD All other manuscripts date from the 12th-15th centuries A.D. .X. Thus, the biblical manuscripts found in Qumran turned out to be older than those that were known to scientists before, more than a thousand years! The discovery of the Dead Sea manuscripts was the most important and significant event of the 20th century for biblical studies. The ancient scrolls have confirmed that the Bible is historically accurate.

Scientists have put forward several hypotheses as to how such a large cluster of scrolls was collected in one place and to whom they belonged. One of the options says that the settlers of Qumran were members of one of the communities of the Essenes - a religious movement in Palestine between the 3rd century before the birth of Christ and the 1st after his birth. Others argue that all these scrolls did not belong to the Essenes, but to the Temple of Jerusalem, from where they were taken to preserve before destruction in A.D. 70. In support of this theory, its proponents argue that it is unlikely that a small community could own such a large number of scrolls of such a variety of topics.
Another version that Qumran was a "monastery printing house" is also extremely doubtful, since only a few inkpots were found there, and to copy such a huge number of manuscripts, it is necessary to have hundreds of scribes.

Consequently, it was not possible to do such a thing in Qumran, at the location of the hiding places.

The found materials of the pre-Christian period made it possible to make an exegetical analysis of the Old Testament and New Testament books, studying the beliefs of the Jews who lived on the eve of the birth of Christ. One of the highlights is the study of the messianic notions and views of the Jews of that time. The Qumran manuscripts confirm that messianic expectations were common ideas at the time of their writing, i.e. 200 years before the birth of Christ.

For the interpretation of the Old Testament, as well as confirmation of the divinity of Jesus Christ, the term "Son of God" is very important, which indicates the divine nature of the Messiah. In the psalm it is written: "The Lord said to Me: You are My Son, today I have begotten You" (Psalm 2: 7). This proves that Christ is the Son of God. Many critics and skeptics opposed this title of the Lord, claiming that Christianity introduced into Judaism the understanding of the Messiah as the Son of God, which was alien to the Old Testament tradition, allegedly borrowed from Hellenism. Critics argued that at the time of Christ, the Roman emperors were officially proclaimed "gods", "sons of God", therefore, the assignment of this title to Christ is "self-will" of Greek Christians outside Palestine.

The Qumran manuscripts provided an answer to this anti-gospel claim. One of the scrolls found after its study was named "The Son of God". It is about a King who will come to conquer nations and rule with justice. Here is a quote from a scroll found in cave 4: “But Your Son will be great on earth and all nations will be reconciled to Him and will serve Him. For He will be called the Son of the Great God, and He will be called by His name. God, and they will call Him the Son of the Most High ... His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom, and all His ways will be in righteousness. He will judge the earth according to righteousness, and all will be at peace "(4Q246 1: 7b-2: 1, 5-6).

This is compelling evidence that the expression "Son of God" was prevalent in messianic expectations even before the birth of Christ, who would establish an eternal kingdom of peace and justice. This text added to the testimony of the Gospel that the born Jesus "will be called the Son of the Most High" (Luke 1:32).

It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the found Dead Sea manuscripts for biblical studies and textual criticism. In particular, the textual analysis of the texts of Scripture found in Qumran suggests that in the III-I centuries BC. there were several types of Hebrew text. On the basis of one of them, a translation was made, which is the only translation of the Holy Scriptures into Greek and which is well known to us under the name of the Septuagint. It was from this text that the Bible was translated into many languages, including Russian, which was translated into the 9th century by Cyril and Methodius.

Most importantly, this archaeological discovery has confirmed the authenticity and infallibility of the books of the Old Testament. When scientists examined the book of the prophet Isaiah, found in Qumran, and compared the text with the already available version, the coincidence of the text turned out to be incredibly high, as is commonly believed in textual criticism. The text from Qumran and the text of the currently used Standard Bible coincided by more than 95%! The remaining 5% were minor spelling errors. Importantly, there was no semantic discrepancy in both versions. This once again proves the thoroughness and accuracy of the work of the scribes of ancient manuscripts and gives us confidence in the truth and infallibility of the Holy Scriptures.
Without a doubt, the Qumran discovery proves that God saved His Word from mistakes and inaccuracies throughout the centuries, preserving It from disappearance, modification and involuntary errors. The ancient custodians of these manuscripts deliberately hid their invaluable archives, trusting God, about whom they wrote in their documents, not doubting that He would preserve the texts for future generations. And this time turned out to be our era almost 2000 years later!

Who first established their antiquity and published excerpts in 1948-50. (full edition - posthumously in 1954). Four other manuscripts fell into the hands of the Metropolitan of the Syrian Church Samuel Athanasius, and from him - to the United States, where three of them (the First Scroll of Isaiah, the Commentary on Hawakkuk / Habakkuk / and the Charter of the Community) were read by a group of researchers led by M. Burrows and published in 1950–51 These manuscripts were subsequently acquired by the Israeli government (with money donated for this purpose by D.S.Gottesman, 1884-1956), and the last of these seven manuscripts (Apocrypha of Genesis), published in 1956 by N. Avigad, was read in Israel. and I. Yadin. Today, all seven manuscripts are on display in the Temple of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

In 1951, following these findings, systematic excavations and surveys began in Qumran and nearby caves, which were under Jordanian control at that time. The surveys, which uncovered new manuscripts and numerous fragments, were carried out jointly by the Department of Antiquities of the Jordanian Government, the Palestine Archaeological Museum (Rockefeller Museum) and the French Archaeological Bible School; scientific activity was directed by R. de Vaux. With the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, almost all of these finds, concentrated in the Rockefeller Museum, became available to Israeli scientists. In the same year, I. Yadin managed to acquire (with funds allocated by the Wolfson Foundation) another of the well-known large manuscripts - the so-called Temple Scroll. Outside Israel, in Amman, is only one of the significant Dead Sea manuscripts, the Copper Scroll.

general description

The Qumran scrolls are written mainly in Hebrew, partly in Aramaic; there are fragments of Greek translations of biblical texts. Hebrew of non-biblical texts - the literary language of the Second Temple era; some passages are in post-biblical Hebrew. The spelling is usually "full" (the so-called ktiv malé with an especially wide use of the letters vav and iod for the vowels o, y, and). Often, this spelling indicates phonetic and grammatical forms that are different from the extant Tiberian Masorean, but in this respect there is no uniformity in the Dead Sea manuscripts. The predominantly square Hebrew font is used, a direct predecessor to the modern print type. There are two styles of writing - the more archaic (the so-called Hasmonean writing) and the later (the so-called Herodian writing). The Tetragrammaton is usually written in Paleo Hebrew, as is one passage from the book of Exodus. The main writing material is parchment made of goat or sheep skin, occasionally papyrus. Carbon ink (with the only exception of the Genesis Apocrypha). Paleographic data and external evidence allow these manuscripts to be dated to the end of the Second Temple era and to be considered as the remains of the library of the Qumran community. Finds of similar texts at Masada date back to 73 AD. e., the year of the fall of the fortress, as terminus ad quet. Fragments of tefillin were also found on parchment; tefillin are of the pre-modern type.

Qumran manuscripts, written in the period from the 2nd century. BC e. up to 1 century. n. e., represent invaluable historical material, allowing a deeper understanding of the spiritual processes that characterized the Jewish society at the end of the era of the Second Temple, and shedding light on many general issues of Jewish history. The Dead Sea manuscripts are also of particular importance for understanding the origins and ideology of early Christianity. The finds in Qumran led to the emergence of a special area of \u200b\u200bJudaism - Qumran studies, which deals with the study of both the manuscripts themselves and the whole complex of problems associated with them. In 1953, the International Committee for the Publishing of the Dead Sea Manuscripts was created (seven volumes of his publications were published under the title "Discoveries in the Judean Desert", Oxford, 1955–82). The main printed organ of the Qumran scholars is the Revue de Qumran (published in Paris since 1958). Rich Qumran literature exists in Russian (I. Amusin, K.B. Starkova and others).

Biblical texts

Among the Qumran finds, about 180 copies (mostly fragmentary) of biblical books have been identified. Of the 24 books of the canonical Hebrew Bible, only one is not represented - the book of Esther, which, perhaps, is not accidental. Along with the Hebrew texts, fragments of the Greek Septuagint (from the books of Leviticus, Numbers, Exodus) were discovered. Of the targums (Aramaic translations of the Bible), the Targum of the Book of Job is of the greatest interest, serving as an independent evidence of the existence of a written Targum of this book, which, according to the order of Rabban Gamliel I, was seized and walled up in the Temple and under the name "The Syrian Book" is mentioned in the supplement to the book of Job in the Septuagint. Fragments of the targum of the book of Leviticus have also been found. The Apocrypha of the Book of Genesis is, apparently, the oldest targum of the Pentateuch created in Eretz Yisrael. Another type of biblical material is the verbatim quoted verses in the Qumran commentaries (see below).

The Dead Sea Manuscripts reflect multiple textual versions of the Bible. Apparently, in the 70-130 years. the biblical text was standardized by Rabbi Akiva and his companions. Among the textual variants found in Qumran, along with the proto-Masoretic (see Masorah), there are types that were previously hypothetically assumed as the basis of the Septuagint and are close to the Samaritan Bible, but without the sectarian tendencies of the latter (see Samaritans), as well as types attested only in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Thus, lists of the book of Numbers were found, which occupy an intermediate position between the Samaritan version and the Septuagint, and lists of the book of Samuel, the textual tradition of which, apparently, is better than that which formed the basis of the Masoretic text and the text of the Septuagint, etc. In general, however, comparative the study of textual variants shows that the proto-Masoretic reading established by Rabbi Akiva and his companions, as a rule, is based on the selection of the best textual traditions.

Apocrypha and pseudo-epigraph

Along with the Greek text of the Epistle of Jeremiah, the Apocrypha are represented by fragments of the book of Tobit (three fragments in Aramaic and one in Hebrew) and Ben-Sira of Wisdom (in Hebrew). Among the pseudo-epigraphic works are the Book of Jubilees (about 10 Hebrew copies) and the Book of Enoch (9 Aramaic copies; see also Hanoch). Fragments of the last book represent all the main sections with the exception of the second (chapters 37–71 - the so-called Allegories), the absence of which is especially remarkable, since here the image of the "son of man" appears (development of the image from Daniel 7:13). The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (several fragments of Levi's Testament in Aramaic and Naftali's Testament in Hebrew) are also pseudo-epigraphs, works preserved in the Greek Christianized version. Fragments of the Testaments found at Qumran are longer than the corresponding passages of the Greek text. Also found is part of the Epistle of Jeremiah (usually included in the book of Baruch). Among the previously unknown pseudo-epigraphs are the Speeches of Moses, The Vision of Amram (Father of Moses), Psalms of Ie xoshua bin Nuna, several passages from the Daniel cycle, including the Prayer of Nabonidus (a version of Daniel 4), and the Book of Mysteries.

Literature of the Qumran Community

Section 5: 1–9: 25, in an often biblical style, sets out the community's ethical ideals (truthfulness, humility, obedience, love, and so on). The community is metaphorically described as a spiritual temple, consisting of Aaron and Israel, that is, of priests and laity, whose members, thanks to the perfection of their lives, are able to atone for human sins (5: 6; 8: 3; 10; 9: 4). Then there are the rules on the organization of the community and its daily life, the punishable offenses are listed (blasphemy, lies, insubordination, loud laughter, spitting in the meeting, etc.). The section ends with a listing of the virtues of the ideal, "intelligent" member of the sect (maskil). Three hymns, similar in every respect to those found in the Hymnbook (see below), complete the manuscript (10: 1-8 a; 10: 86-11: 15 a; 11: 156-22).

Scroll of hymns

Scroll of Hymns ( Megillat xand- xodayote; 18 more or less complete columns of text and 66 fragments) contains about 35 psalms; the manuscript dates back to the 1st century. BC e. Most of the psalms begin with the formula "Thank You, Lord", the smaller part - "Bless you, Lord." The content of the hymns is thanksgiving to God for the salvation of mankind. Man is described as being sinful in nature; it is made of clay mixed with water (1:21; 3:21) and returns to dust (10: 4; 12:36); man is a creature of the flesh (15:21; 18:23), born of a woman (13:14). Sin pervades the entire human being, affecting even the spirit (3:21; 7:27). Man has no justification before God (7:28; 9:14 ff), is incapable of knowing His essence and His glory (12:30), since the human heart and ears are unclean and "uncircumcised" (18: 4, 20 , 24). Human destiny is entirely in the hands of God (10: 5ff.). Unlike man, God is an almighty creator (1:13 onwards; 15:13 onwards), who gave predestination to man (15:13 and on) and determined even his thoughts (9:12, 30). The wisdom of God is infinite (9:17) and beyond the reach of man (10: 2). Only those to whom God has revealed himself are able to comprehend His secrets (12:20), devote themselves to Him (11:10 onwards) and glorify His name (11:25). These chosen ones are not identical with the people of Israel (the word "Israel" is never mentioned in the extant text), but they are those who received the revelation - not by their own will, but by the design of God (6: 8) - and were cleared of their guilt God (3:21).

Humanity, therefore, is divided into two parts: the elect, who belong to God and for whom there is hope (2:13; 6: 6), and the wicked, who are far from God (14:21) and who are allies of Blya'al (2 : 22) in his struggle with the righteous (5: 7; 9, 25). Salvation is possible only for the elect and, which is very characteristic, is considered as already taking place (2:20, 5:18): acceptance into the community is salvation in itself (7:19 ff; 18:24, 28) and therefore it is not surprising that there is no clear distinction between community entry and eschatological salvation.

The idea of \u200b\u200bthe resurrection of the righteous is present (6:34), but it does not play an essential role. Eschatological salvation does not consist in the deliverance of the righteous, but in the final destruction of wickedness. The Psalms reveal a literary dependence on the Bible, primarily on the biblical psalms, as well as on prophetic books (see Prophets and Prophecy), especially Isaiah, and are full of numerous allusions to biblical passages. Philological research reveals significant stylistic, phraseological and lexical differences between the psalms, which suggests that they belong to different authors. Although the manuscript dates from the 1st century. BC BC, the discovery of fragments of these psalms in another cave suggests that the Scroll of Hymns is not the original, but a copy of an earlier manuscript.

Damascus Document

Damascus Document ( Sefer Brit Dammesek - The Book of the Damascus Testament), an essay that presents the views of a sect that left Judea and moved to the "land of Damascus" (if you take this name literally). The existence of the work has been known since 1896 from two fragments found in the Cairo geniza. Significant fragments of this work have been found in Qumran, allowing to get an idea of \u200b\u200bits structure and content. The Qumran version is an epitomized version of a longer prototype.

The introductory part contains admonitions and warnings addressed to members of the sect, and polemics with its opponents. It also contains some historical information about the sect itself. After 390 years (cf. Jeh. 4: 5) from the day of the destruction of the First Temple “from Israel and Aaron” a “planted seed” sprouted, that is, a sect arose, and 20 years later a Teacher of Righteousness appeared (1:11; at 20 : 14 he's named sea xa-yahid - `the only teacher` or` teacher of the one`; or, if you read xa-yahad - `teacher / of the Qumran / community`), who united those who accepted his teaching into a" new covenant ". At the same time, the Preacher of lies, the "mocker" appeared, leading Israel along the wrong path, as a result of which many members of the community abandoned the "new covenant" and left it. When the influence of the apostates and opponents of the sect increased, those who remained faithful to the covenant left the holy city and fled to the "land of Damascus." Their leader was the "lawgiver setting forth the Torah" who established the laws of life for those who "entered into the new covenant in the land of Damascus." These laws are valid until the appearance of the "Teacher of Righteousness at the End of Days." By "people of ridicule" who followed the Preacher of Lies, apparently, they mean the Pharisees who "made a fence for the Torah." Initially, the Torah was inaccessible: it was sealed and hidden in the Ark of the Covenant until the time of the high priest Zadok, whose descendants were “elected in Israel,” that is, they have an indisputable right to the high priesthood. Now the Temple is desecrated, and therefore those who entered into the "new covenant" should not even approach it. "People of ridicule" profaned the Temple, do not observe the laws of ritual purity prescribed by the Torah, and rebel against the commands of God.

The second part of the essay is devoted to the laws of the sect and its structure. The laws include regulations on the Sabbath, altar, place of prayer, "temple city", idolatry, ritual purity, etc. Some of the laws correspond to generally accepted Jewish, others are opposite to them and are similar to those adopted by the Karaites and Samaritans, with a pronounced general tendency to rigism. The organization of the sect is characterized by the division of members into four classes: priests, Levites, the rest of Israel, and proselytes. The names of the members of the sect must be entered on special lists. The sect is divided into "camps", each of which is headed by a priest, followed by the rank of "overseer" ( xa-mevakker), whose function is to guide and instruct members of the sect. There seems to be a distinction between those living in the “camps” as actual members of the community and those “living in camps under the law of the land,” which possibly means members of the community living in villages.

The essay is written in biblical Hebrew, free from Aramaic. The sermons and teachings are composed in the spirit of the ancient Midrashim. The images of the Teacher of Righteousness and the Preacher of Lies are found in a number of other works of Qumran literature. It is possible that the sect described here was an offshoot of the Qumran one and that the work reflects later events than the charter of the community. On the other hand, "Damascus" can be understood metaphorically to refer to the deserts of Judea (cf. Amos 5:27). If the name Damascus is taken literally, then the event of the flight could refer only to the time when Jerusalem and Damascus were not under the rule of one ruler, that is, to the time of the Hasmoneans: in this case, the most probable is the reign of Alexander Jannes (103–76 BC). BC), during which, after the defeat in the civil war, Alexander's opponents and many of the Pharisees and those close to them fled from Judea.

Temple scroll

Temple scroll ( Megillat xa-Mikdash), one of the most important Qumran finds, is the longest discovered manuscript (8.6 m, 66 columns of text) and dates from the 2nd - 1st centuries. BC e. The work claims to be a part of the Torah given by God to Moses: God appears here in the first person, and the Tetragrammaton is always written in full form and in the same square font that the Qumran scribes used only when writing biblical texts. The essay deals with four themes: halachic decrees (see Halakha), religious holidays, the structure of the Temple, and regulations regarding the king. The halachic section contains a significant number of regulations, which are not only arranged in a different order than in the Torah, but also include additional laws, often of a sectarian and polemical nature, as well as regulations similar to those of the Mishnai (see Mishnah), but often diverging from them. Numerous laws on ritual purity show a much more rigorous approach than that adopted in the Mishna. In the section on holidays, along with detailed prescriptions related to the holidays of the traditional Jewish calendar, there are prescriptions for two additional holidays - New Wine and New Oil (the latter is also known from other Dead Sea manuscripts), which should be celebrated 50 and 100 days after the holiday, respectively. Shavu'ot.

The section on the Temple is written in the style of the chapters of the book of Exodus (chap. 35 et seq.) Dealing with the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, and, in all likelihood, is intended to serve as a replenishment of the "lost" instructions for the construction of the Temple given by God to David (I Chr. 28: 11 et seq.). The temple is interpreted as a man-made structure that must exist until God erects His not-made Temple. The plan of the Temple, the ritual of sacrifice, festive ceremonies and the rules of ritual purity in the Temple and in Jerusalem as a whole are interpreted in detail. In the last section, the number of the royal guard is established (twelve thousand people, one thousand from each tribe of Israel); the task of this guard is to protect the king from an external enemy; it should be composed of "people of truth, fearing God and loathing self-interest" (cf. Ex. 18:21). Further, mobilization plans are established depending on the degree of threat to the state from the outside.

Commentary on Havakkuk

The manuscripts found in the caves of wadi Murabba'at include texts dating back to the 8th and 7th centuries. BC e. and up to the Arab period. The oldest written monument is a papyrus palimpsest (double-used sheet), which originally was, apparently, a letter (`... [name] tells you: I am sending a greeting to your family. Now, do not believe the words that tell you .. .`), on top of the washed out text of which a list of four lines is applied, each of which contains a personal name and numbers (apparently, the amount of the tax paid); the document is written in Phoenician (Paleo Hebrew) script.

The most numerous and interesting materials belong to the Roman period, when the caves served as a refuge for the participants of the Bar Kokhba uprising. The caves seem to have been the last refuge of the rebels who perished here at the hands of the Romans; some of the manuscripts were damaged by the invasion of the enemy. Among the manuscripts from this period are parchment fragments of Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah. Biblical fragments belong to the proto-Masoretic text. Among the finds is tefillin of the type that became accepted since the beginning of the 2nd century. n. BC, in contrast to the fragments of the earlier type, which included the Ten Commandments, which were found at Qumran. Fragments of a liturgical character in Hebrew and a literary character in Greek were found. A significant part of the handwritten material is made up of business documents (contracts and deeds of sale) in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, for the most part relating to the years preceding the Bar-Kokhba uprising and the years of the uprising. Of particular interest are the letters of the rebels, among which are two letters in Hebrew signed by the leader of the uprising, Shim'on bin Koseva (that is, Bar-Kokhba). One of the letters reads: “From Shim'don ben Koseva Ie xoshua ben Galgole [apparently the leader of the local rebels] and the people of his fortress [?] - peace! I call heaven to witness that if any Galilean with you is mistreated, I will bind your feet in shackles ... S. b. K. in his own person. " Second letter: "From Shimmoyon Ie xoshua Ben Galgole - Peace! Know that you must prepare five cows of grain to send through [the members of] my farm. So prepare a place for each of them. Let them stay with you all Saturday. Make sure that the hearts of each of them are filled with contentment. Be brave and maintain courage among the locals. Shalom! I have commanded that those who give you their grain bring it the next day after Saturday. "

One of the early Aramaic documents (55 or 56 AD) contains the name of the emperor Nero, written in this way (נרון קסר) to make the apocalyptic number 666 (see Gematria).

The manuscript materials of the Murabba''ata caves indicate that the population of Judea of \u200b\u200bthis period, as in the Herodian period, was trilingual, using Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek with equal ease.

Other finds

In Khirbet Mirda, as a result of excavations (1952–53), fragments of the New Testament and Apocryphal literature, business documents, fragments of the tragedy of Euripides and other manuscripts were found, mainly in Greek and Syriac, as well as in Arabic (4–8 centuries) ...

A number of important manuscripts (biblical fragments, letters of Bar Kokhba) have also been found in Nahal Khever, Nahal Mishmar and Nahal Tseelim (see Bar Kokhba revolt; Judean desert caves).

KEE, volume: 5.
Col .: 267-279.
Published: 1990.

They are Jewish religious texts. To this day, no one dared to talk about the Qumran scrolls. Sometimes they say that everything that happens to them is the result of a combination of happy accidents, almost miracles, which, perhaps, happen according to a plan unknown to us. There are too many mysterious events and coincidences around these relics since the discovery of the scrolls ...

In 1947, he accidentally discovered in the rock the entrance to the cave, which was much higher than his height. Thinking that the missing animal could have taken refuge in this cave, he threw a stone into its hole, but instead of the goat bleating, he heard the sound of broken pottery. Having hardly climbed the rock and penetrated inside the cave, the young man discovered ancient clay vessels with leather scrolls in them.

Once in 1947, the Bedouin boy Mohammed Ed-Din from the nomadic Taamire tribe, after a long tedious search for the missing goat, sat down to rest in the shade, began to amuse himself by throwing pebbles into the darkness. And suddenly I heard a ringing. Out of curiosity, the teenager went deeper into the cave and saw a broken jug, from which pieces of good leather were sticking out. He took them for himself and after a while sold them to a shoemaker in Bethlehem. He immediately realized that the thing he liked was worthwhile, and put the parchments in the window of his shop. There they were seen by a certain antiquarian, who reported about a rare find to his friend, professor at the University of Jerusalem Eliezer Sukenik. Three texts fell into his hands - "Thanksgiving Hymns", "War of the Sons of Light" and the so-called short text of Isaiah.

In the Greco-Roman era, there was a settlement here, destroyed in 31 BC. powerful earthquake. In the years 1-4 A.D. the settlement was rebuilt and fortified anew, but destroyed by the Romans in 68. From 70 to 90 years there was a Roman garrison, and during the Bar-Kokhba uprising, the rebels turned Khirbat-Qumran into one of their bases.

In 1956, about ten more caves were found and explored in Qumran. By that time, the scientists had almost nine whole scrolls at their disposal. After 1967, when, as a result of the Six Day War, this territory came under the jurisdiction of Israel, several expeditions constantly worked in the area. Their efforts led to the discovery of about 14 thousand manuscripts, of which only one and a half thousand are well preserved.

Thus, the manuscripts of the Wadi Qumran caves that became famous all over the world were found, from which they received the name Qumran manuscripts or the Dead Sea manuscripts, which was located near this place. The Qumran find turned out to be a sensation for both Science and the Church, since before that the most ancient manuscripts of the Bible were: a manuscript of the British Museum (895 AD), two manuscripts of the Leningrad Public Library (916 and 1008 AD). ) and a manuscript from Aleppo (Code of Aaron Ben-Asher) - 10th century AD. e. All other manuscripts date from the 12-15th centuries AD. Therefore, when archaeologists announced that the Qumran manuscripts and settlement date back to the 4th century BC. - 1 c. A.D., the tension in the scientific world has increased, because if scientists really get hold of the ancient Biblical texts, almost 1000 years older than any of the originals that have survived to this day, then by comparison it will be possible to find changes in the Bible - and in general to discover a lot of new things about events that period.

500 m east of the Qumran caves, at a place called Khirbet Qumran, the researchers discovered the remains of a stone building, apparently a monastery, with a large number of halls, where there were many cisterns and pools, a mill, a pantry for pottery with a pottery furnace and granaries. In one of the interior rooms, table-like structures of plaster with low benches and inkpots of ceramics and bronze were found; some of them have some ink residues. It was probably a scriptorium, i.e. the writing room where many of the found texts were created. To the east of the building there was a cemetery with over 1,000 graves. It is noteworthy that no items were found in any of the excavated graves.

A huge number of shards were found, and in the caves there are many biblical, apocryphal and liturgical manuscripts in Hebrew and Aramaic (tens of thousands of fragments that were included in more than 600 books). The excavations were already drawing to a close when two unique copper scrolls were found with Hebrew text engraved on them. The copper oxidized to such an extent that it was extremely difficult to unfold the scrolls (later they had to be sawed). The initial assumption that they contained lists of treasures, in particular gold and silver, probably hidden from the Romans, indicating the location of the treasure, began to be confirmed after reading the texts, but there is still no consensus regarding their content.

Considering in the aggregate all the available information, primarily the coins found, scientists are trying to restore the history of the community to which the Dead Sea Scrolls belonged. Apparently, the foundation of the Qumran settlement dates back to the era of the Maccabees, possibly to the time of King John Hyrcanus of Judea, since the earliest coins date back to the period of his reign (135-104 BC). The discovered series of coins covers the entire period of Hasmonean rule up to 37 BC, after which there is a break until 4 BC, when the building was probably uninhabited. This is most likely due to the earthquake, which, according to Josephus, occurred in 31 BC; traces of damage are also noticeable on the structure itself.

Another series of coins covers the period from 4 BC. to 68 AD Historical sources speak about the reason for its sudden termination. In 68 A.D. Vespasian suppressed the 1st Jewish uprising. Flavius \u200b\u200bJosephus reports that that year Vespasian and his Tenth Legion set out to Jericho and the Dead Sea. The building may have been taken by storm, as all the rooms are littered with iron arrowheads, and layers of ash indicate a fire. Indeed, one coin bears the inscription Legio X Fretensis, which speaks of the presence of the warriors of the Tenth Legion. However, the inhabitants most likely received a warning about the approach of the Romans and hid the library in the surrounding caves. The ruins remained uninhabited from 68 to 132 AD, after which the coins reappear. This is the period of the 2nd Jewish Revolt led by Bar Kokhba (132-135 AD)

The fact that the ruins were used during this time is indicated by one of the most remarkable manuscripts - a letter written by Bar Kokhba himself, "the prince of Israel." The rebels were defeated and the building was finally abandoned. The value of the scrolls and their fragments found is enormous. If the complete scroll of Isaiah reveals minor discrepancies with the accepted text of the Bible, then its fragments correspond almost completely to it and, thus, confirm the reliability of the later Jewish texts. Even more important, however, are non-biblical manuscripts that reflect a previously little-known aspect of Jewish thought of that era. They tell about people who lived and were buried in Qumran who called themselves the Community of the Covenant.

Tens of thousands of fragments found in the Qumran caves were once about 600 books. Of these, only twelve scrolls from the 1st and 11th caves have survived in full or in their significant part. All other books came in the form of fragments of different sizes, down to the smallest scraps, on which individual signs are barely distinguishable. Most of the fragments found - the remainder of about 400 books - are found in the 4th cave, which was artificially created and was, apparently, the main repository of books of the Qumran community.

Manuscripts can be roughly divided into four categories. The former mainly contain "technical information" concerning, for example, grain harvesting. The second group - liturgical manuscripts. This is followed by philosophical works (in particular, about the battle of the sons of Light with the sons of Darkness, which describes the famous Armageddon). In addition, this also includes the manuscripts that belonged to the pen of the founder of the sect - the Teacher of Righteousness. In particular, the so-called Temple manuscript is, by and large, a squabble between the author and the then king of Judea, who was also the temple high priest. There was only one such person in history - this is Alexander Yannay, and it was this consideration that made it possible to approximately date the manuscript - 103-76 BC. In this manuscript, the author conceals Yannaya with the last words, but at the same time expresses deep philosophical thoughts. For example, it contains almost literally the text that would later be included in the New Testament under the title of Christ's Sermon on the Mount. Which is interesting in itself, since this text was written long before the birth of Jesus.

And finally, the fourth category of manuscripts, or rather, this is the one and only manuscript considered to be the most valuable - the so-called Copper Scroll. It is now housed in the Amman Archaeological Museum, unlike the rest of the scrolls in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. This scroll was found in the form of three copper tubes. From what has already been read, for example, it was possible to understand that the Qumranites were either fatalists or seers. They write about the impending destruction of Jerusalem, that the Jews will go into exile for two thousand years, and only when they can return back, their manuscripts will be found. And so it happened - the scrolls were found in the year of the UN decision to create the state of Israel.

An absolutely fantastic coincidence! And the description of Armageddon: is this fateful hour long in the past or is it still ahead? Finally, the Copper Scroll states that the valuable temple utensils from Jerusalem, as well as at least 200 tons of gold and silver hidden in the mountains, will be found when the Third Temple appears in Jerusalem. And here's what is strange: as if in a mockery, the scroll even describes some caves where values \u200b\u200bare hidden. For example, from the Bear cave a hundred steps to the left, then two hundred steps up - and you will come to the treasury. But what is this cave - Bear? Where is she? The coast of the Dead Sea in the area where the Qumranites lived and where the manuscripts were found, researchers have climbed up and down for many years. It would seem that all the caves in the area that could be found have been explored. But there are no treasures in sight. Maybe the clue lies in the unread fragments of the manuscripts?

It is believed that the manuscripts prove the existence of John the Baptist. Perhaps it was he who was the very ideologue of the sect, but here's the problem - it turns out that he lived in the II-I century BC. e. If we take into account that the age difference between John the Baptist and Jesus was, as is commonly believed, 6 months, then it turns out that the latter lived more than a century earlier ... So the Qumranite manuscripts require not only careful handling, but also careful interpretation. And it is not surprising that so many hypotheses and guesses arise around manuscripts written in several languages.

The longest discovered scroll, the Temple Scroll, is one of the most important finds in Qumran. Four themes are reflected in the essay: halachic decrees, religious holidays, the structure of the Temple and decrees regarding the king. The halachic section contains a large number of decrees, which are not only arranged in a different order than in the Torah, but also include additional halachic laws. In the section on holidays, in addition to the well-known prescriptions about traditional ones, there is information about two additional holidays - New Wine and New Oil. These holidays occurred 50 and 100 days after Shavuot. The description of the Temple is quite consistent with the chapters of the book "Exodus", but also serves as a replenishment of the "lost" instructions on the construction of the Temple, given by Gd to David. The last section establishes the number of the royal guard - 12,000 people, 1,000 from each tribe of Israel. The task of this guard is to protect the king from an external enemy. The Guard should be composed of "God-fearing people who hate greed."

The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness is a description of a forty-year war that will end with the victory of the righteousness embodied in the sons of light over the prophet carried by the sons of darkness. The composition is a midrash to Daniel 11:45.

Their importance was realized immediately after their discovery, and back in 1953 an international committee was created to publish them. Ten years later, much was published in the form of a seven-volume Oxford series "Discoveries in the Judean Desert", but there were still several thousand fragments in private hands, which were scraps of about a hundred manuscripts, and now their publication was for some unknown reason suspended, and access was limited to a narrow circle people, it included about twenty people, no more. For many years these people published individual fragments, often without even serious analysis. All calls to publish all the material in its entirety remained unheard, and the unworthy squabble of scientists around the Dead Sea Scrolls continued until the very beginning of the 90s. The proponents of the open source then took a drastic, albeit unprecedented, step. Herschel Shanks, publisher of the most important biblical journal Biblical Archeology Review (BAR), somehow got hold of photographs of the unpublished fragments and, with the help of Californian professors R. Eisenman and D. Robinson, arbitrarily published them in the form of a two-volume Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Thus, they all finally became available for wide scientific study.

It must be said that the very first scrolls found in the caves around Qumran surprised historians. In addition to two copies of the book of the prophet Isaiah and some previously unknown versions of the book of Genesis and the book of Psalms, there were also documents of a ritual nature, which later received the name of the “Rule of the Community” by specialists. They described the rules of conduct for members of a certain religious community, which in many respects fundamentally differed from the then Jewish community, but in some way anticipated the community and the principles of early Christianity, as they are set forth in the New Testament.

The famous Israeli historian Professor Sukenik was the first, back in 1953, to suggest that the Qumran community was made up of the Essenes - a small sect in the then Judaism, known from the descriptions of Philo of Alexandria and Josephus Flavius, as well as the Greek historian Pliny the Elder. According to Flavius, the community at that time numbered no more than four thousand people throughout Israel, was scattered throughout the country and was distinguished by a sharply critical attitude towards the then leaders of the Temple, emphasized by the desire for almost monastic asceticism, purity and a deep interest in the "secrets of the Torah." Pliny, unlike Flavius, reported that the Essenes live mainly on the western shore of the Dead Sea, not far from Ein Gedi.

So, with the light hand of Sukenik, de Vaux, Yigal Yadin and other authoritative researchers, the opinion was established that Qumran is the central Essene settlement in ancient Palestine, and, accordingly, all Qumran manuscripts are part of the library of this settlement, and since some Qumran texts , as already mentioned, contained a semblance of early Christian ideas, then the Essenes were soon declared the direct predecessors of the first Christians. This idea (in the form of a hypothesis) was first expressed in 1955 by the American literary critic Edmund Wilson in his book "The Dead Sea Scrolls"; later it became almost canonical.

However, this "canonical" interpretation is rife with contradictions. For example, during excavations in Qumran, a cemetery was found, where more than a thousand people were buried, which is too much for a secluded "monastic" community. It is even stranger that a good half of these burials belonged to women, which does not at all fit into the idea of \u200b\u200ban ascetic sect, whose members, as Pliny claimed, took a vow of celibacy.

And how can one explain that in the ruins of Qumran there were thousands of the same type of clay plates and jugs, as if made for sale or for use in some large farm? Or a large, clearly serf-like tower? Or the lack of living quarters with many pottery workshops, iron casting furnaces, animal stables? There are a lot of such examples of strangeness and inconsistencies, and for each of them the “canonical” version was forced to look for a separate - often very tense - explanation.

Researchers have tried in vain to firmly link the Qumran problem with the problem of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Meanwhile, scrolls similar to those of Qumran, as well as different from them, but also containing ancient texts and simply documents of that ancient era (letters, notes, promissory notes), which are not in Qumran, have been found in many other places around the Dead Sea. This huge paleographic heritage reflects the spiritual and everyday reality of Judea at the turn of the millennium, and many scientists began to understand that the Dead Sea Scrolls should be studied against this background, and not in the blinkers of the "proto-Christian" approach. And then the Qumran problem will appear in a completely different light. This was the first to speak about it - back in 1984 by Professor Norman Golb. In his opinion, the famous Qumran scrolls are not of Essene origin, Qumran was not a "monastery of the Essenes".

Most recently, the sensational excavations of Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg, who have been conducting research in Qumran for ten years, have further complicated the problem. They found precious jewelry in the ruins of Qumran, the remains of obviously imported glass vessels, stone bottles for exquisite cosmetics, ornately decorated combs, in other words - luxury items that clearly have no place in an Essenes monastery. But if Qumran was not a settlement or monastery of the Essenes, then what is the origin of the Qumran scrolls?

Norman Golb stated that at least 150 scribes participated in the writing of the scrolls - there were fewer within the Qumran community. Palaeographic analysis of the Qumran manuscripts also showed that these texts do not have that way of writing letters - a specific semi-italic - that was characteristic of the 1st century. This was also confirmed by the radiocarbon dating method. Perhaps the dating of the Qumran manuscripts to the 1st century was dictated by a subconscious desire to prove the historicity of Jesus Christ. Be that as it may, Greg Doudna, in his review article "The Transformation of the Qumran Scrolls", concludes that all the data available today lead to a decisive conclusion: the Qumran scrolls were written no later than the end of the 1st century BC.

A more accurate date is suggested by Michael Weisz, who analyzed the hidden hints in the text of these scrolls. As a result, he found that six of these hints refer to people and events that existed in the 2nd century BC, twenty six - to people and events of the 1st century BC, and there is none that belonged to a time later than 37 BC. ... On this basis, Weisz concludes that “almost 90 percent of all“ Essential ”Qumran manuscripts were written (or rewritten) in the 1st century BC, with 52 percent of them in the decade between 45 and 35 BC ... Then this lesson ends. There is no doubt some mystery lurks here. "

Dudna writes in her review: “Without conflicting with all the data available today, one can think that the main, or at least a significant part of these texts was imported into Qumran, that is, delivered from the outside, while some, indeed, could have been compiled on the spot ... As for their discovery in caves, there can be three explanations. That could be a permanent storage, from where the scrolls were not planned to be taken - they were simply folded there, because these were sacred texts that the Jews, even outdated or worn out, are not destroyed, but kept in a special room. Or it was a kind of functioning book depository, which was used until war or other disaster disrupted the old order of life and forced it to be abandoned. Or, finally, the scrolls could have been hidden there during the same war, and the people who had hidden them could no longer return for them, because they were killed or deported. Or it is possible that each of these explanations applies to different caves. "

The most radical explanation of the riddle of the Qumran scrolls was proposed by Norman Golb, and it is this explanation that is gaining more and more supporters. Today, many reputable archaeologists and historians working on Qumran speak in its favor. According to Golb, the Dead Sea Scrolls had nothing to do with Qumran at all, regardless of whether there was some kind of sectarian (Essene?) Community there or not. The wide range of these documents, reflecting the most diverse currents and approaches in the then Judaism, can be explained, - says Golb, - only by the assumption that they all originally belonged either to the Temple Library, or, rather, to a wide variety of groups and individuals. In this case, they could be in the caves for the simplest reason - the owners hid them there when they fled from Jerusalem from the Romans, at the end of the "First Uprising".

Itzhak Magen repeats the same thought: “They could have been brought here by anyone, including refugees fleeing from the Romans. Some of them took with them precious scrolls, but later, crossing the Judean Hills and having to make their way along the seashore, did not want to carry them with them and decided to hide them. Thus, these are not sectarian scriptures, Essenes, Sadducees or temples, they are the literature of Judaism in general, the literature of Judaism from the time of the Second Temple. It belongs to the entire Jewish people. "

Developing this "escape hypothesis," Norman Golb published an article "Small Texts, Big Questions," in which he offered a detailed possible picture of such an escape. In the book of Josephus Flavius, - recalls Golb in his article, - it is said that the Jews who fled from Jerusalem, captured by the Romans in 70 AD, headed along two main routes - to the south and to the east. Golb believes that the purpose of the first stream, which went through Beitlehem (Bethlehem), Herodium and Wadi Ein Gedi, was Masada, while the second stream of refugees going eastward moved towards another mountain fortress - Makerus, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea , in Trans Jordan. This stream could branch out - some people circled the Dead Sea by land, from the north, while others wade or swim in the nearest convenient place.

This "nearest convenient place" turns out to be Qumran. And therefore, it was here, preparing to continue their journey on the water, that the fugitives parted with the precious burden they had seized from Jerusalem - each with his own scrolls, which he did not want to leave for the desecration of the Romans. Hence the unusual accumulation of these scrolls in the Qumran caves. Some of the fugitives continued on their way to Makerus, others remained in Qumran. These latter soon perished at the hands of the Romans, who followed in their footsteps and destroyed the Qumran fortress. At one time, those who hoped to take refuge in Makerus also perished, as the defenders of Masada later perished. And the scrolls remained.

Perhaps the most mysterious is the two and a half meters long "copper scroll" written on three plates of soft copper alloy. It is dated between 30-135 AD. The content of the scroll is a detailed inventory of all the treasures with their burial places. The document contains many place names of Judea of \u200b\u200bthose years and allows them to be compared with other references in ancient texts. The total weight of gold and silver indicated on the scroll must be between 140 and 200 tons. If these treasures are real, then it can be assumed that the scroll reports on treasures from the Temple and other places saved by the defenders of Jerusalem during the final stage of the war against the Romans. Among the treasures are incense, precious woods, tithe jugs, etc. The use of such an expensive material as copper for recording allows us to hope that the described treasures are real. Perhaps the scroll does not belong to the Qumran community, but belonged to the Zealots, who hid it here when the Roman troops approached.

But the most interesting thing is what is contained in the scrolls themselves. Namely: they mention a story about a certain Teacher (obviously not Jesus Christ), who preached among his supporters, then was betrayed by one of them and executed, and then rose from death. The first researchers of the scrolls drew attention to this story, which seemed strange: in this case, it turned out that the story of Jesus simply repeats in detail what happened earlier. At first, the official Church was silent, and then actively joined the discussion of the topic, trying with all efforts to make scientists believe that the Qumran scrolls describe precisely the events of the life of Jesus Christ and belong to Essential Christians.

Thus, the Church's angry accusations against the "heretic scholars" who studied the Qumran scrolls were replaced by enthusiastic articles by theologians, in which they frankly fantasized, passing them off as "vivid and convincing evidence of the historicity of the Gospel Events." For example, this is how the Qumran scrolls still appear in Orthodox encyclopedias to this day - as supposedly "scientific proof of the life of Jesus." However, the new conclusions of scientists put Christian theologians in the most absurd position: as it turned out, the scrolls were not written by Christians at all, but by Jews. And they were written a century before the Gospel Events. It turns out that the Church, hastily recognizing the authenticity of the scrolls and their spiritual value, has driven itself into a dead end.

None of the extant Qumran manuscripts has a date of its creation and correspondence. Meanwhile, to understand the content of manuscripts and their relationship, you need to know. when the works were created, when the lists that have come down to us were written and when they were hidden in caves. This put science in front of the most difficult problems, the final solution of which has not yet been achieved, although much has been done.

Biblical manuscripts from Qumran brought to the disposal of science various versions of the biblical text - the Hebrew original of the Septuagint, Proto-Samaritan and Samaritan, Proto-Masoretic and close to Masoretic, as well as intermediate and varying versions. This opens up perspectives in the study of the extremely complex problem of the history of the biblical text, in the reconstruction of various branches of the biblical tradition and their relationships.

The most valuable thing that can be in the Qumran manuscripts is the biblical stories and descriptions of the life of the Qumranites, the ideology of their community. The Dead Sea Scrolls are 90 percent read and the most important information is already known. However, there is a Copper Scroll, which is still waiting in the wings. What may be there is unknown. It should be noted that thanks to the scrolls it became obvious that the Bible that has come down to our days is poorer in plots and has other traditions of the text.

All manuscripts have been published, so nothing new can be learned from them. The most important knowledge that the manuscripts presented is that they shed new light on early Christianity, and, as it turned out, there is no chasm between it and Judaism.