One possible misunderstanding about Qumran

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
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StephenGoranson
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One possible misunderstanding about Qumran

Post by StephenGoranson »

Many have accepted one thing that R. De Vaux asserted but that may be false: that all the Qumran scroll deposits were made all at one time, all circa 68 CE. Some deposits (especially some that were wrapped in linen, placed in capped jars and sealed sealed with bitumen) were likely done earlier, not because of invading Romans but because of earlier objections, in the wilderness like a tabernacle (where Magness argued some, limited, sacrifices were held), against the "impure" Jerusalem temple, awaiting an expected time when the Temple would be run right and some of the mss be retrieved.
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John T
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Re: One possible misunderstanding about Qumran

Post by John T »

The Dead Sea Scrolls were written over a very long period of time (decades perhaps hundreds of years) prior to the Jewish revolt.
14C (carbon 14)testing varies wildly from 400BCE-318CE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_da ... ea_Scrolls

Modern testing of ink and animal parchment show that the scrolls were almost all exclusively created at the shores of the Dead Sea.
No doubt the Essenes looked forward to cleansing of the temple of the Hasmonean/Herodian wicked priests and impure sacrifices and had a plan/ceremony to restore proper order at the temple with a proper Zadok priest.

However, the destruction of the temple of 70 CE made that plan impossible.

Sincerely,

John T
"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into."...Jonathan Swift
Secret Alias
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Re: One possible misunderstanding about Qumran

Post by Secret Alias »

Interested to know where you are getting the evidence to support this assertion:
Modern testing of ink and animal parchment show that the scrolls were almost all exclusively created at the shores of the Dead Sea.
Not that I am expecting any evidence from you. Just seeking further proof of confirmation bias really.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
StephenGoranson
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Re: One possible misunderstanding about Qumran

Post by StephenGoranson »

Ira Rabin and others (in Dead Sea Discoveries journal* and elsewhere) have given evidence that **some** of the mss were produced in the Dead Sea area, based on bromine/chlorine ratio characteristic of that area. Of course, not even F. M. Cross claimed that **all** of the mss were made there, because, for one reason among others, some were likely penned/copied (and of course composed) before Qumran was re-settled circa 100 BCE.

* E.g., On the Origin of the Ink of the Thanksgiving Scroll (1QHodayot)
Author(s): Ira Rabin, Oliver Hahn, Timo Wolff, Admir Masic and Gisela Weinberg
Source: Dead Sea Discoveries, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2009), pp. 97-106
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John T
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Re: One possible misunderstanding about Qumran

Post by John T »

DNA and X-ray fluorescence testing have been conducted on some (but not all) of the Dead Sea Scrolls and artifacts at Qumran.

I am not aware of any labs tests that preclude the Qumran scriptorium from being the main source of the scrolls.

------------------
"In addition, tests by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Sicily, Italy, have suggested that the origin of parchment of select Dead Sea Scroll fragments is from the Qumran area itself, by using X-ray and Particle Induced X-ray emission testing of the water used to make the parchment that were compared with the water from the area around the Qumran site.[67]"...wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_ ... _parchment

Sincerely,
John T
"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into."...Jonathan Swift
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