The Psalms Scroll with transcription.
It has been said by a noted archeologist’s that The Dead Sea Scrolls probably had the greatest impact on the Holy Bible beyond any other discovery to date. They have provided Old Testament manuscripts almost 1,000 years older than the previous oldest manuscripts. They have reinforced the belief that the Old Testament its self has been accurately communicated. Plus, they provide a wealth of information on the time period leading up to, and during, the life of Jesus Christ.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents, the first of which were stumbled up on by a few young goat herders in January of 1947 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea , from which they obtained their name.
The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include the oldest known surviving copies of Biblical text as well as teachings, concepts, and practices claimed to be supported by or taught in the Bible but which are based on incorrect interpretations (thus said to be extra-biblical).
They are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, primarily on parchment, which is made from animal skins such as calves or goats, but some are written on papyrus which is a thick paper like material deriving from the plant with the same name. These documents generally date during to the period of 150 BC and 70 AD.
In January of 1947, Muhammed edh-Dhib and his cousin (there tribe is referred to as “Bedouin” which is an Arabic term meaning desert dwellers) discovered the caves where they shortly there after found the documents, not far from the ruins of Khirbet Qumran (believed to be an ancient Israeli settlement) that has been known to European explorers since a little before 1851; the scrolls were found there in a total of 11 nearby caves.
The Bedouin (the desert dwelling boys) initially took 3 of the scrolls to a dealer in Bethlehem
The Dead Sea Scrolls eventually went up for sale, in an advertisement in the June 1, 1954 issue of the Wall Street Journal, a copy of which is displayed below:
On July 1, 1954 after delicate negotiations, they were purchased in New York , New York, USA
Just as you would expect in the Middle East , there is now a heated dispute regarding legal ownership of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Here's why: Prior to the “6 day War” in 1967 the ancient Israeli city of Khirbet Qumran, as well as the West Bank of the Dead Sea, was within Jordanian confines, as opposed to Israel; Jordan further alleges that the scrolls were stolen from the Rockefeller Museum, which was operated by Jordan from 1966 until the Six-Day War when advancing Israeli forces took control of the Museum. Jordan , therefore regularly demands their (the scrolls) return and petitions third-party countries that host the scrolls to return them to Jordan instead of to Israel
For example, when the scrolls arrived for a 2009 exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto Ottawa dismissed the demands and the exhibit was enormously successful, with the scrolls returning to Israel Jordan
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