IT will be remembered that three Bedouin appeared at the door of the Syrian convent in Jerusalem, claiming that they had some ancient scrolls in their possession, but that they were turned away. Father Boulos, who refused them admittance, says that they were rough looking, and that the scrolls which they possessed were dirty and were not written in Syriac, hence he did not permit them entrance into the convent to see the Archbishop.
When these Bedouin left the convent they went into the market place behind the Jaffa Gate at Jerusalem, where a Jewish merchant met them. He offered a large sum of money for the scrolls and asked to be shown where the cave was in which the documents had been found. However, he said that they would have to come to his office to receive the money. It will be remembered that with these Bedouin there was also a Syrian merchant. He advised them not to go with the Jewish merchant for he felt that the offer was a trick which would lead to the arrest of the Bedouin. Two of the Bedouin followed the Syrian merchant back to Bethlehem and left their scrolls in his shop. In the last issue of THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN we saw that these scrolls ultimately found their way into the hands of the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem.
The Hebrew University Scrolls
One, of the Bedouin, however, separated from the other two, taking with him his share of the scrolls. It is said that he took them to the Moslem Sheikh in Bethlehem. At any rate, they finally came into the hands of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It was in July 1947 that the three Bedouin had appeared at the Syrian convent in Jerusalem, only to be refused admittance. In November 1947, Dr. Eleazar Lipa Sukenik, the distinguished archaeologist of the Hebrew University, first learned of the existence of the manuscripts. During this month a Christian merchant from Bethlehem came to the barbed wire barricade at the Hebrew University and showed the fragment of a scroll. Through this man Dr. Sukenik was able to negotiate for the purchase of five scrolls and a bundle of fragments.
The scrolls which Dr. Sukenik was able to obtain comprise three literary works. One of these has apparently not yet been identified. A second work is a collection of hymns of thanksgiving. The third has been entitled by Dr. Sukenik "The War of the Children of Light Against the Children of Darkness.”
After he had been working on these scrolls for some time Dr. Sukenik learned of the five scrolls which were in the possession of the Syrian Archbishop, and by February 1949 he had made arrangements to examine them at the Y.M.C.A. in Jerusalem. Three of these scrolls he took to his home and, apparently against the wishes of the Archbishop, copied out several columns of the Isaiah manuscript, and published the scrolls. To Dr. Sukenik’s credit, however, it may be said, he began work immediately and labored under most trying circumstances. His findings were published in a book written in Hebrew, bearing the title Megillot Genuzot. He thought that the cave in which the Arabs had found the scrolls was a Genizah, i.e., a place of storage for old rolls which were no longer in use. Hence, the name of his book. Megillot is a Hebrew word meaning scrolls, and Genuzot is a Hebrew word which implies that these scrolls had been placed in a Genizah. This conclusion of Sukenik’s, however, is probably not correct.
The Thanksgiving Songs
The document which is now identified as a collection of songs of thanksgiving was written on three sheets of parchment and comprised twelve columns. Much of the writing had been covered by black wax which was evidently used to protect the documents for storage. The columns are sometimes thirteen inches in height and contain as many as thirty-nine lines.
As the heading indicates, the contents of this scroll consist of hymns of thanksgiving to God. Heretofore this work had not been known at all, and even yet, we do not know enough about it to speak with assurance as to its identity. The hymns of which it consists are replete, however, with Biblical thoughts and phrases. The reader may receive an idea of the nature of the work from the following translation, which is given by Dr. Frank M. Cross Jr. in The Biblical Archaeologist.
"I shall praise Thee, my Lord,
For Thou hast redeemed my soul from the Pit,
And from Sheol, the place of perishing
Thou hast lifted me up to the height of eternity,
And I walk to and fro in an unsearchable plain,
And I know that there is hope for him whom Thou didst create from dust
For the eternal assembly.
And the spirit guilty of iniquity
Thou didst cleanse from great transgression,
To be stationed with the host of the holy ones.
And to enter into fellowship with the congregation of the children of heaven,
And Thou hast apportioned to each an eternal destiny with the spirits of knowledge,
To praise Thy Name in unison with them,
And to relate Thy wondrous acts in the presence of all Thy works.
And I, a creature of clay, what am I?
Clay treaded in water, for what am I esteemed?
And what strength do I have?”
Dr. Sukenik's work is difficult to obtain, and the present writer as yet has not been able to procure a copy. A great debt of gratitude, therefore, is due to Dr. Cross for providing this and other tentative translations.
The War Between the Children of Light and the Children of Darkness
At the time of its discovery this scroll, nearly nine and one half inches in length and six and one quarter inches in height, was intact. It deals with the account of a war between the children of light (these are thought to be the Jews) and the children of darkness (the troops of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia and the Kittites of Assyria.)
The scroll contains a detailed description of the army and the battle formation and also says much about the battle flags. One interesting statement is that on the banner which is to go before all the people there shall be written the words "The People of God,” together with the names of Israel and Aaron and the twelve tribes.
Dr. Cross gives a translation of the priest's prayer for the people. It reads as follows:
"Arise, O Warrior,
Take thy captives, O Glorious Man,
And gather thy spoil, Doer of Mighty Deeds.
Put forth thy hand on the neck of thy enemies,
And thy standard on the heaps of the slain.
Smite the nations thy adversaries,
And may thy sword devour guilty flesh.
Fill thy land with glory
And thine inheritance with blessing,
A multitude of cattle in thy fields,
Silver and gold and precious stones in thy palaces.
O Zion, rejoice greatly,
And break forth with joyful song, O Jerusalem,
And let the cities of Judah exult.
Open thy gates forever
That (men) may bring into thee the might of nations,
And their kings serve thee.
All thy oppressors will do obesiance to thee,
And the dust of thy feet shall they lick.
O daughters of my people
Shout aloud with a voice of rejoicing
Deck yourselves with glorious ornaments…”
The reader will not fail to notice how filled with Biblical expressions this prayer is. We await with eagerness a copy of the text of this scroll in the original language.
Other Fragments
In addition to the various scrolls which came into the hands of the Syrian convent and the Hebrew University at Palestine there are several fragments, the importance of which is more and more being recognized. We shall seek briefly to describe these. Pere de Vaux, of the French School of Archaeology at Jerusalem, has examined the cave during February and March of this present year and has announced further discoveries. About these it is as yet impossible to say much, since, I have not yet seen a discussion of his findings. (They were to have appeared in the April number of the Revue Biblique, which I have not yet seen).
At any rate, it appears that there is a fragment of Leviticus among the group, and the script of this fragment is so ancient that some have even suggested it may come from the sixth century B.C. If this were actually the case, it would be such a remarkable discovery that it would tower above almost everything else in significance. The writing of Leviticus is done, not on parchment, but upon leather.
In addition to Leviticus, deVaux claims to have identified parts of Genesis, Deuteronomy, Judges and the book of Jubilees. The present writer has also received the information in a private letter that a second roll of Isaiah (comprising apparently chapters 48-58) is thought to have been found. This, however, as far as I know, has not yet been substantiated.
Important, too, is the fact that among the fragments which found their way into the Syrian Convent there are portions of the book of Daniel. There are three of these portions. Two of them are from the same column and contain the Aramaic text of Daniel 3:23-30. The third has parts of two columns and includes Daniel 1:10-16 and 2:2-6. It thus includes the verse which announces the change of language, i.e., verse four. The names of Daniel, Abed-nego, Shadrach and Meshach all appear upon the fragments.
Conclusions
The reader who has followed the discussion thus far will realize that these manuscript finds are of tremendous importance. But it is as yet too early to speak with positiveness upon the dates to which the various scrolls and fragments should be assigned. There are very competent scholars, most notable of whom is Dr. Solomon Zeitlin, who have termed the scrolls a "hoax," and who refuse to admit that they come from pre-Christian times. The question of the date of these manuscripts is being discussed vigorously. In our third and last article we shall have more to say upon this question of date and also we shall seek to evaluate more fully than we have heretofore been able the importance and significance of these remarkable finds for the study of the Bible.
(For the information contained in this article I am indebted to the discussions found in The Biblical Archaeologist and the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. E.J.Y.)