Dr. Michael Wise on the Dead Sea Scrolls

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a lecture at Northwestern College here in Minneapolis with my good friend Shaun Tabatt. It was “An Evening with Dr. Michael Wise” — a very informative and enjoyable presentation on the history and nature of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS).

Dr. Wise is best known for coauthoring The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation with Martin Abegg and Edward Cook (published by Harper San Francisco, 1986). The book was the first translation intended for the public and included many scrolls that had not previously been published. Dr. Wise is proficient in 9 ancient languages and is a true scholar. His ability to read and pronounce Hebrew and Aramaic was certainly on display last night, as was his extensive knowledge of the DSS.

His presentation followed along the lines of a brief article in the NWC college magazine entitled: Christians, Questions and Ancient Mysteries, also by Dr. Wise. I wasn’t able to find the presentation online, and so I will only be able to highlight the parts I remember.

Background

At least some of the DSS were likely removed from the temple and other areas before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. They were secretly stashed in the caves on the north western edge of the Dead Sea near the site of Qumran. Dr. Wise described the scrolls as being more like the “Dead Sea Scraps”, with some being no larger than a thumbnail. But all told, there are 931 manuscripts found in the 11 caves of Qumran, and some of them include entire biblical and non-biblical books. These scrolls represented a substantial monetary value as the production of books was quite expensive in antiquity. Materials were so scarce, that many of the DSS were written on gazelle skins (an unclean animal).

Most of the DSS were in Hebrew (5/6), some were in Aramaic (1/6) and 20 were in Greek. About 1/3 of the scrolls were Biblical texts (225 or so), and the rest were religious texts some of which scholars believe were sectarian in nature (about 115 by his count). The sectarian aspect in Wise’s view attaches to texts about the “Teacher of Righteousness”, a messianic type figure from abut 100 years or more before Christ. Wise has some views on that figure that are not widely held among scholars, see this article in the New York Times for more.

Where Wise really shined was in drawing out the significance of the find. By all accounts it is one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time. Dr. Wise showed how both the Biblical and non-Biblical texts both have revolutionized our understanding in many key ways.

Significance of Biblical Scrolls

The Biblical manuscripts (which represent every OT book except for Esther), have moved our earliest copies of individual books of the OT up more than 1,000 years from what we had before. There was some understandable apprehension among scholars when the scrolls were first found. Would they show that our copies of the Bible were extremely flawed? Dr. Wise showed a picture of the Aleppo Codex from A.D. 954 the earliest mostly complete Hebrew Bible we had before the discovery of the DSS. Then he showed a picture of 4QDeutM, a manuscript dating to 150 B.C. (1100 years older than the Aleppo Codex). The passage contains the 10 Commandments from Deuteronomy and is identical — word perfect — to the Aleppo Codex! The accuracy level generally of the Hebrew text of our Bibles has been proven to be very high.

The scrolls also helped correct minor faults with the later copies that we have. He pointed out two cases in Isaiah 53 where letters were mis-copied resulting in unique and difficult readings. One of the largest scrolls found is a copy of the entire book of Isaiah (all 66 chapters), and that scroll corrects those readings that were handed down imperfectly by the Masoretes who gave us the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT). He also showed where a paragraph in 1 Samuel was found in one of the scrolls that had completely dropped out of the MT.

New questions have also been raised by these biblical texts, however. A Hebrew text that follows the Greek LXX of Jeremiah for instance, was discovered in 2 scrolls. We used to think the Greek was a late corruption, but now there is evidence that two competing Hebrew forms of the book of Jeremiah were to be found in Jesus’ day. It is now known that two or three editions of most books of the Old Testament existed and were current at the time of Jesus. This is an area biblical scholars are now focusing on, the development of the Hebrew canon of Old Testament Scripture. Dr. Wise thinks we shouldn’t be afraid of this kind of inquiry, as all truth is God’s truth. He compared the differences between the editions to the sometimes widely differing English translations of the Bible available today.

Significance of Non-Biblical Scrolls

The non-biblical texts illumine the world of Jesus’ day for us like never before. There are commentaries on the biblical books which help us understand the methods of interpretation which were in vogue in the years before the New Testament authors published their interpretation of the Old Testament. We find a great degree of similarity between the methods used by second Temple Judaism and the authors of the New Testament, according to Dr. Wise. The texts also reveal the kind of ideas and themes which were common in religious thought of the day. Several scrolls reveal a great emphasis on the obscure Biblical character Melchizedek. He is viewed as a heavenly priest just one notch below Jehovah God in status. It is no wonder then that the New Testament book of Hebrews addresses how Jesus compares with Melchizedek.

Perhaps the most fascinating non-biblical find is the presence of a description declaring that the Messiah will “cause the dead to live” (or raise the dead). Nowhere in the canonical Hebrew Bible do we find a description of the Messiah raising the dead. Yet in Luke 7:22, Jesus tells the followers of John the Baptist how they can be certain that he (Jesus) is the Messiah. He lists off the things he is doing, healing the sick, proclaiming good news to the poor, restoring sight to the blind, and raising the dead. Jesus knew it was a current belief in the thought of his day that the Messiah would raise the dead. This Dead Sea Scroll (the Messianic Apocalypse) testifies to that widespread belief as well.

Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit at the MN Science Museum

The event ended with Dr. Wise encouraging us to go see the Scrolls on display at the Science Museum of Minnesota. I blogged about my visit to the exhibit before. I would add my recommendation to go see the Dead Sea Scrolls while they are here (through October 24). It is a chance to view and appreciate a piece of history, and share in the wonder of the Bible itself.