On Tuesday, archaeologists announced the discovery of NEVER BEFORE SEEN Dead Sea Scroll fragments.
After an almost four-year excavation, the discovery included scroll pieces containing lines from the biblical books of Zechariah and Nahum and a woven-reed basket that is incredibly historic in its own right. I’ll explain that later.
The find was made just outside the Dead Sea in the ancient city of Qumran, which became a safe-haven for Jewish refugees, thousands of years ago.
Experts are calling this the most significant discovery in the area since 1946, when the Dead Sea Scrolls were initially found.
This is SO COOL!
After the Jewish revolt against Rome, many Jews fled to the desert and buried their sacred texts in caves. The revolt happened 1,900 years ago and occurred right after the death of Jesus Christ.
In the 1940s and 1950s, archaeologists discovered the first batch of scrolls in the desert. The scrolls they found outlined biblical evidence for the existence of God and it included texts that are found in the common Bible.
A MONUMENTAL moment for Judeo-Christians.
That discovery helped proved the authenticity of both Judaism and Christianity and became a HUGE piece of evidence of how Israel’s country belonged to the Jewish people.
The area excavated is full of tough terrain and was SO difficult to access that the archaeologists had to REPEL down a cliff to get into the cave the scrolls were found in…
It sounds like something out of Indiana Jones to me…
This cave’s excavation began in 2017 and since then has been dubbed the ‘Cave of Horror.’
Like I mentioned, besides finding these ancient old scrolls, they uncovered a basket.
Wow, exciting… a basket.
Not so fast, this basket may be the oldest one in EXISTENCE!
The basket is woven with reeds and even came with a lid. Scholars believe the basket could be 10,500 YEARS OLD due to carbon dating technology.
While all of these discoveries are spectacular, what really shocked the world was the specific biblical text found in these spooky caves.
The new texts were written in ancient Greek text and included both books, Zechariah and Nahum, minor prophets in the biblical canon.
What makes this so significant is The Israel Antiquities Authority has predated them to second century A.D., which means they COULD provide more context to the life of Jesus in that area and Judaism’s past.
I don’t know about you, but I am VERY excited to see what these brilliant men and women can decipher from these ancient texts.
Until then, I will be on the edge of my seat.
