The Dead Sea Scrolls Introduction to the Book of Isaiah A pervasive theme of the book of Isaiah is the creation of an ethical, God-fearing society. The terms mishpat (justice) and sedaqah (righteousness) recur throughout the book, as the Prophet attempts to convey to the people that ethical morality must lie at the foundation of […]
The Dead Sea Scrolls One of the Samuel manuscripts from Qumran, the Samuel B Scroll, has been identified, along with the Jeremiah A Scroll, discussed later, as one of the earliest biblical manuscripts in the collection. The Samuel A Scroll has been dated to about the last quarter of the third century B.C.E., previous to […]
The Dead Sea Scrolls The first biblical texts discovered in the Qumran caves by the Bedouin shepherd were the two Isaiah Scrolls of cave 1 (Isaiah A and Isaiah B). These scrolls came into the possession of the State of Israel, one in each of the two lots of texts acquired from cave 1. The […]
The Dead Sea Scrolls Among the most interesting questions raised by the Qumran corpus is how extensively the Samaritan Torah reflects earlier textual traditions. This question has been asked especially of the Qumran manuscripts copied in the paleo-Hebrew script. This script was used in ancient Israel until the period of the return (sixth to fifth […]
The Book of Jeremiah is preserved only in small fragments of six manuscripts, Jeremiah A through E, and the cave 2 Jeremiah Scroll. Two of these, Jeremiah B and Jeremiah D, are especially significant because they represent a Septuagint text type. These two manuscripts have been dated to the first half of the second century […]
The Dead Sea Scrolls The Biblical Canon The term “canon” is borrowed from debates which took place in the fourth century on the subject of which books should be included in the New Testament. It is a Greek word, derived from Sumerian, meaning “reed” or “rod;” in other words, a rule, standard, or limit. It […]
Jewish Mysticism And on the 10th heaven, Aravoth, I saw the view of the face of the Lord, like iron made burning hot in a fire and brought out, and it emits sparks and is incandescent. Thus even I saw the face of the Lord. But the face of the Lord is not to be […]
Jewish Mysticism And I observed and saw inside it a lofty throne–its appearance was like crystal and its wheels like the shining sun… It was difficult to look at it. And the Great Glory was sitting upon it–as for his gown, which was shining more brightly than the sun, it was whiter than snow. None […]
Greco-Roman Period Lawrence H. Schiffman, Texts and Traditions, Ktav, Hoboken 1998, p.352-354. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs were preserved in a Greek text containing testaments for each of the twelve sons of Israel. Each recounts his life and gives ex eventu (after the fact) prophecy to his children. Only Testaments of Levi and Naphtali […]
Greco-Roman Period Lawrence H. Schiffman, Texts and Traditions, Ktav, Hoboken 1998, p.341-342 and Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Apocrypha, copyright 1957 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. This section is an account of […]