• don's Dead Sea Scrolls Lesson Plan
  • don@donredding.com
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      1. DSS stands for
        1. Duke Sea Scrolls
        2. Dead Sea Scrolls
        3. Distinct Scripture Secrets
        4. Don’s Short Summary
      2. Today, what is our subject, purpose, and plan
        1. We will not analyze the failings of the 2000-2001 UNC basketball team
        2. We will try to learn what DSS is, why it is important, why we should even care, and see evidences of it in our present day
        3. Become a DSS certified apprentice
      3. Wall Street Journal June 1, 1954
      4. “The Dead Sea Scrolls. Biblical Manuscripts dating back to at least 200 BC are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an educational or religious institution by an individual or group. Box F, The Wall Street Journal.”
      6. Why are DSS important and why do we want to even know about them. here are some reasons given:
        1. Answers question of Jesus missing years
        2. Oldest written copy of many of the Old Testament Books
        3. Includes what is thought to be parts of the New Testament
        4. Confirms much of the Old Testament
        5. Adds to Old Testament
        6. As little really is known of the day-to-day life around date of Christ's birth, provides valuable insight to that time.
        7. I have always heard about them and do not understand why they are such a big deal
        8. Maybe John the Baptist read them
        9. Includes references to the Messiah
        10. Led to revisions in later Bibles including the New Revised Standard
        11. Explains where John the Baptist was “in the desert.” (mark T or F or M for maybe)
      7. If you leave here with only one thing remembered about Don’s Short Summary, it should be
      8. What then are the Dead Sea Scrolls (select three)
        1. A bunch of old writings
        2. Found in 1947
        3. Considered the greatest find of such material in hundreds of years
        4. A part of the Nag Ham library
      9. DSS were discovered in
        1. Israel
        2. Pakistan
        3. Utah
        4. Masada
      10. Near what city
        1. Palestine
        2. Jerusalem
        3. Moscow
        4. Raleigh
        5. Asheboro
        6. Qumran
        7. Masada
      11. A city in Israel, Qumran, is located
        1. on NW side of the Dead Sea
        2. at place where Jordan River runs into Dead Sea
        3. Near Sea of Galilee
      12. DSS were discovered around
        1. 1907
        2. 1937
        3. 1947
        4. 1997
      13. DSS were found first in
        1. Caves
        2. Jars
        3. Swimming pools
        4. Libraries
        5. Wall Street Journal
      14. The discovery legend/facts include the following (one incorrect)
        1. A “Bedouin” named Mohammed ed-Dhip and friends were watching their goats one day.
        2. One threw a rock into a cave and heard something break
        3. Later when alone ed-Dhip came back and looked in Cave #1 (as it came to be known) and found some big jugs or jars with scrolls in it
        4. He took them home and family used some for building a fire
        5. The date is around 1927, some say 1926 .
      15. Here is ed-Dhip..
      17. el-Dhip found eight jars. How many had something in them?   2, 4, 6, 8
      18. What was in the Jars from the first cave?
        1. Books
        2. Papirica
        3. Computer printouts
      19. The following were the subjects in the first cave jars. Which is Scripture?
        1. Isaiah
        2. Manual of Discipline
        3. Commentary on Habakkuk
        4. Thanksgiving Hymns
        5. War Scroll
        6. Genesis Apocryphon
      20. Some Bibles have been revised to include DSS writings
        1. King James Version
        2. New King James Version
        3. Living Bible
        4. New Revised Standard
      21. Open your Bibles to 1 Samuel 10:27
        1. This is the story of the king of the Ammonites who liked to put out his captives right eyes. Saul came out of a field with his oxen, got mad when he learned about a treaty including the putting out of eyes, and told all his country men they would be slaughtered (perhaps by God) if they did not fight, they did and Saul became a victorious hero in this his first battle.
        2. -- Living Bible 1 Samuel 10:27  There were, however, some bums and loafers who exclaimed, `" How can this man save us?'' And they despised him and refused to bring him presents, but he took no notice. -- Living Bible 1 Samuel 11:1 At this time Nahash led the army of the Ammonites against the Israeli city of Jabesh-gilead. But the citizens of Jabesh asked for peace. `` Leave us alone and we will be your servants,'' they pleaded. -- Living Bible 1 Samuel 11:2 `` All right,'' Nahash said, `` but only on one condition: I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you as a disgrace upon all Israel!''
        3. -- New King James 1 Samuel 10:27 But some rebels said, "How can this man save us?'' So they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace. -- King James 1 Samuel 11:1 Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. -- King James 1 Samuel 11:2 And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel.
        4. -- New Revised Standard with Apocrypha 1 Samuel 10:27 But some worthless fellows said, "How can this man save us?" They despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace. Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead. {Q Ms Compare Josephus, [Antiquities] VI.v.1 (68-71): MT lacks [Now Nahash . . . entered Jabesh-gilead.]}  -- New Revised Standard with Apocrypha 1 Samuel 11:1  About a month later, {Q Ms Gk: MT lacks [About a month later]} Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you." -- New Revised Standard with Apocrypha 1 Samuel 11:2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, "On this condition I will make a treaty with you, namely that I gouge out everyone's right eye, and thus put disgrace upon all Israel."
      22. By the way, if you run yourvarious Bible versions through a word processor checker, what do you think is the Grade Level is for
        1. Living Bible - 6 or 12 grade
        2. New Revised Standard Version 4 or 8 grade
        3. King James Version 4 or 12 grade
      23. Here is what happened to the Scrolls  – a tale of 7 and 4 and 3
        1. El-Dhip and team appear to have split the 7 original scrolls into two groups of 4 and 3
        2. Kando gets 4 and Sukenik gets 3 and then the 3 go to Ohan and then Sukenik
        3. as related below
        4. El--Dhip took to Kando, an antiquities dealer in 3/1947. a member of Syrian Orthodox Church
        5. Kando contacts church member, George Isaiah
        6. who contacts Archbishop Mar Samuel of St Mark’s Monastery in Jerusalem
        7. and deal made to give 2/3 to el-Dhip of $$$ which Kando and Isaiah got for any scrolls
        8. and Archbishop Samuel buys 4 scrolls for $100
        9. el-Dhip also sold some scrolls to a dealer in Bethlehem
        10. and a Eleazar Sukenik then purchase 3 (Eleazar Sukenik of Hebrew University was consulted by Archbishop Samuel; he already had three scrolls from a dealer in Bethlehem and wanted more)
        11. (Eleazar Sukenik tried to buy the 4 from Mar Samuel said no.)
        12. a year later, after contact by Mar Samuel, a John Treyer of American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem photographed scrolls
        13. making American School even more interested and they encouraged more (illegal) exploratory efforts
        14. and had to tell the Syrians how old they were
        15. and American School of Oriental Research issued a press release 4/12/48 but telling as little as possible about location and purposely misleading
        16. so ole Sukenik felt he needed to issue his own more accurate release and did 4/26/48 for New York Times
        17. Later there were tough times in Israel and the Archbishop and Mar Samuel needed funds.
        18. Placed the ad in the Wall Street Journal 6/1/54 and sold for $250,000 to Yigael Yadin
        19. Yigael Yadin then gives the 4 scrolls to the State of Israel
        20. What is strange is that Yigael Yadin is the son of Eleazar Sukenik!
        21. This is awful – IRS ruled $250,000 was personal income not proceeds to Archbishop and Mar Samuel had to pay taxes in US
        22. So with the 4 scrolls from the Wall Street ad all 7 original scrolls were together and were housed in in a special structure called the Shrine of the Book (shaped like the top of a vase in which some of the scrolls were found) at the Israel Museum