The Dead Sea Scrolls

One of my sister's Christmas gifts to me was a ticket to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Museum of Natural History today. Since it was the day after Christmas and since the exhibit is nearing the end of its time here, there was a huge crowd at the exhibit. I'd like to think that at least some of them were interested in the transmission of Scripture. The man in line ahead of us with a T shirt with John 3:16 printed out on it, probably was.

The exhibit is very comprehensive, covering history,geography, geology, the flora and fauna and water supply of the Qumran area, the social and policical history, the history of the finding of the scrolls, the social attitudes of the Israelis and the Bedouins, the sale and verification of the scrolls and the scholarship that has surrounded their interpretation, translation and preservation. Mostly this was achieved by magnificently done photographs, printed in color in big enlargements. The audio tour, available in both English and Spanish, explains the story behind the story.

Finally, in the last half of the exhibit, which is on a different floor than the first half, one can see the actual scrolls themselves, on loan from the Israeli government. Some of the scrolls are secular documents, others are portions of Genesis, Isaiah and a couple of the minor prophets. Although I don't read Hebrew, I was struck as I looked at these hand written documents, not just at the beauty of the calligraphy, but at one point where the name of God would have been written--and ancient Jews neither wrote or spoke that name--there were four dots....

It was a bit overwhelming to see these very ancient scrolls, most of which are fragments, but others are complete scrolls. One of the things that struck me was the size: these are really small scrolls, witten in a tiny writing. In God's providence, they were stored for about two millenia in a hot, dry climate, mostly in sealed pottery jars, where they would be preserved almost intact. It reminded me that God's Word endures, not just in written form, but the message has been handed down both orally and in written and translated form for all these generations.

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the LORD abides forever."

"Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away."