The Modern Scholar: The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Truth behind the Mystique

The Modern Scholar: The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Truth behind the Mystique by Lawrence H. Schiffman

There is as much mythology as fact involved with the Dead Sea Scrolls. There was some knowledge of the scrolls before they came to light. A boy did discover them when exploring will wandering in the area - however, he was of a family of relic hunters. The scrolls do have early Jewish history with Messianic prophecies. However, there is no identification of the New Testament data there. The "scrolls" are actually primarily fragments in various conditions.

The Dead Sea Scrolls do give us a view of a Jewish sect from a few millennia ago. They had many of the same records of the Old Testament. The condition was fairly similar to what we have today. They also had their own commentary and historical views. The scrolls allow us to view the society as they saw themselves back then without the interference of historical change. This provides interesting insights that are interesting to Jews and Christians. The professor in these lectures is clearly excited about the scrolls and presents a "big picture" view of some of the scrolls and what they can tell us, without going into excessive detail.