Judean Desert Texts: What is their significance?

The Dead Sea Scrolls have been called the largest jigsaw puzzle in the world. But it’s not just a regular jigsaw puzzle of some 80,000 pieces. Rather, imagine opening a box with a real jigsaw puzzle inside, throwing away the majority of the pieces, and then trying to put the puzzle together. That’s the task that scholars have been working on since the initial discoveries of manuscripts at Qumran and other sites in the Judean Desert. Imagine, therefore, the thrill of Dead Sea Scrolls scholars when new pieces of the puzzle are discovered that can be put into their rightful place in a document some 2,000 years old. This, indeed, is why the latest manuscript discovery has been so widely celebrated. Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists, engaged in a systematic re-exploration of all of the Judean Desert caves, have reported finding additional fragments, filling in gaps in a manuscript containing a Greek translation of the Twelve Prophets.

Read the full article at the Jerusalem Report.

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