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  • The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in eleven caves along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea between the years 1947 and 1956. The area is 13 miles east of Jerusalem.

  • The mostly fragmented texts, are numbered according to the cave that they came out of. 19 copies of the Book of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy and 30 copies of the Psalms

  • The Scrolls are for the most part, written in Hebrew, but there are many written in Aramaic. (there are a few texts written in Greek); most likely written by the Essenes during the period from about 200 B.C. to 68 C.E./A.D

The scholars discovered that the Hebrew manuscript copies of the most authoritative Hebrew text, Textus Recepticus, used by the King James translators in 1611, were virtually identical to these ancient Dead Sea Scrolls. Aside from a tiny number of spelling variations, not a single word was altered from the original scrolls.

 

Rule of the Community [1QS] III

Point 1: In the same Dead Sea Scroll there is a citation of Isaiah 40:3
Point 2: The verse is interpreted as describing the Qumran way of life; they are to separate themselves from the outside world, retreating into the desert and preparing the way of the LORD by their study of the Law. In all four Gospels Isaiah 40:3 is cited with reference to the ministry of John the Baptist
Point 3: When the word of the Lord came to John the Baptist in the wilderness he realized that Isaiah's prophecy did not describe studying the Law in isolation but proclaiming the arrival of God's chosen Messiah.


-John baptized Jesus the Spirit descended on Jesus (Matthew, Mark, and Luke, said the Spirit descended like a dove on him after he came up out of the water.)
-Scholars have suggested that this may be an allusion to the creation account in Genesis 1:2
-A recently released Qumran Scroll from Cave 4 called "the Messianic Apocalypse” states:
  "Over the Meek will His Spirit hover."
-The Spirit would hover over the Meek in the new creation just as it had hovered over the waters in the original creation


We know from the preaching of John the Baptist that he expected the Messiah/began to doubt whether Jesus really was the Messiah:
Point 1: Matt. 11:2-6
Isaiah: 29:18 and 19; 35:5,6, and 61:1. These Old Testament verses describe the deaf hearing, the blind seeing, the lame walking, and the poor receiving good news
Point 2: doctrine of resurrection, barely mentioned in the Old Testament, is clearly described in Daniel 12:2 and Isaiah 26:19 (NOWHERE does the OT state that the Messiah would be the one to raise the dead)
Point 3: Where, outside of the New Testament, can we find any evidence that people expected the Messiah to raise the dead? In the very same Dead Sea Scroll from Qumran cave 4 [scroll states that when the Messiah comes then "he will heal the sick, resurrect the dead, and to the poor announce glad tidings."]
Point 4: Miracles appears in both Luke 7:21–22 of the New Testament and the Dead Sea Scroll known as the Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521)

The "Son of God" Scroll (4Q246):
"He shall be called the son of God, and they shall designate [call] him son of the Most High. Like the appearance of comets, so shall be their kingdom. For brief years they shall reign over the earth and shall trample on all; one people shall trample on another and one province on another until the people of God shall rise and all shall rest from the sword."
(see Luke 1:32 and 35)
[arguably Scroll 7Q5 = Mark 6:52-53)

The War Scroll (1QM):

  • The War Rule - depicts an allegorical battle between good and evil,

  • The War Rule - referred to a Messiah who was either "Pierced" or "Piercing."
    (Ps. 22:16/Lk. 23:33)

Dead Sea Scroll on stone
(Gabriel’s Revelation):
3ft. tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew- lines 19-21 of the tablet — “In three days you will know that evil will be defeated by justice”- line 80, begins clearly with the words “L’shloshet yamin,” meaning “in three days.”(next word of the line/partially illegible - “hayeh,” or “live”)* In three days you shall live, I, Gabriel, command you.”To whom is the archangel speaking? The next line says “Sar hasarin,” or prince of princes. Since the Book of Daniel, one of the primary sources for the Gabriel text, speaks of Gabriel and of “a prince of princes,”

Christ is found prophesied in the Dead Sea Scrolls, just like he is in the OT & Apocrypha…

OLD TESTAMENT

  • Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12; tell stories that perfectly parallel the life of Christ
     

  • Psalm 22 predicted 11 separate things about Jesus’ crucifixion aprox. 1,000 years before they happened

    *David (the author of Psalm 22) lived about 1043-973 BC and Isaiah lived about 740-680 BC.

 

APOCRYPHA

  • Wisdom of Solomon 2:12-20 = suffering servant Messiah

    *Wisdom 13 is also used by Paul in his writings in Romans 1:18-23
     

  • Baruch 3:35, Wisdom of Solomon 18:14-15 = Messiah as the incarnate Torah

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