In 1947, a young shepherd searching for a lost goat in Qumran, a village northwest of the Dead Sea and about 32km east of Jerusalem, threw a rock into a cave along the cliffs. The rock struck a clay pot that contained scrolls made of animal skins and parchment, revealing manuscripts that were later determined to be almost 20 centuries old.
The Dead Sea Scrolls include portions of most Old Testament books, except the book of Esther. They contain more than 200 scrolls related to the Old Testament and many other works, including extensive expositions on the book of Habakkuk. The scrolls date from around 300 BC to 70 AD, making them some of the oldest documents we have to date.
Over the following years, further exploration led to the discovery of eleven other caves around the Dead Sea, containing tens of thousands of handwritten manuscripts similar to those initially found. These manuscripts, written primarily in Hebrew and Aramaic, with a few in Greek, are part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are not only one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century but also one of the most significant in world history as well.
The Dead Sea Scrolls provide valuable evidence for the reliability, veracity, and consistency of Old Testament manuscripts. They demonstrate how God has preserved His Word over many centuries, protecting it from error or omission as it was copied.
