The Dead Sea is not a sea, but an inland lake between Israel and Jordan. It is 80km long, 0/8km wide and 415m deep. The Jordan River flows northward, and a small Lissan Peninsula divides the Dead Sea into two parts of different sizes in the east. Anyone with a little knowledge of geography knows that the most magical thing about the Dead Sea is its high salt content and high density, so people can float freely on the water, even those who can't swim will not be in danger. The Dead Sea is actually an "immortal sea". On the other hand, because of the high salt content, it is difficult for animals and plants to survive here or in the surrounding areas, so the Dead Sea is indeed a veritable "sea of death". The salt content of the Dead Sea is almost 10 times that of ordinary seawater, reaching 23% ~ 25%. Such a high concentration of salt content is mainly due to the fact that the water in the Dead Sea enters and does not exit, and it is located in the desert, with dry climate and scarce rainfall. The amount of water injected into the Jordan River is about 540 million cubic meters per year, which is the same as the evaporation of the Dead Sea. So over time, the natural water body with the highest salinity in the world has been formed.
Another reason people pay attention to the Dead Sea is that it is located in a prominent position in the Middle East. 1 1 century BC, Israel Moses founded Judaism. In the 20th century BC/KLOC-0, the Israelites entered Canaan (Palestine) according to God's instructions, established the Kingdom of Israel, made Jerusalem its capital, and built a temple. Then it was divided into two countries: southern Judea and northern Israel. In 722 BC, Israel died in Assyria, and in 586 BC, Jews died in Babylon. In the process of displacement, Jews gradually formed the tradition of Jewish prophets who worshipped the only true God and paid attention to inner beliefs and moral precepts, and absorbed the religious concepts of people of all ethnic groups, forming a complete theoretical system. The Zionist movement was restored in 538 BC, but around A.D., the Roman Empire became strong and Jews were trapped under the brutal rule of the Romans. In 70 AD, the Roman Empire captured Jerusalem, the temple was burned down again, and the Jews were scattered everywhere again. In this autumn of declining population and national crisis, Jews made different choices. The elites tried to reinterpret the law, serve the new rulers and safeguard their status and reputation. No large-scale sacrificial ceremonies can be held in the temple, and the auditorium will gradually become the center of religious activities; Teaching puts more emphasis on social ethics, religious etiquette and legal study. However, among the slaves of the lower class, the urban poor and craftsmen, the voices and movements against Roman rule are growing, and the traditional teachings can no longer meet their requirements for unity and struggle. As a result, the Protestant Christianity represented by Jesus rose and developed on a large scale, and its momentum overshadowed the original Judaism.
Wailing wall In this legendary historical play, the temple in Jerusalem is the best witness. However, in the Dead Sea not far from the story center, it has been quietly watched for thousands of years. According to Jewish legend, in ancient times, sinful human beings were punished by God. God decided that they could not get land or fresh water, so they flooded human villages and fields. This is the Dead Sea. But there was a god-fearing man named Root, so God asked the prophet to tell him to leave early and never look back no matter what happened behind him. Root walked forward obediently, but his wife couldn't help looking back to see what had happened. As a result, she was turned into a stone and stood on the shore of the Dead Sea. This legend confirms the historical process that Israel fled to Egypt because of disaster and famine before Moses, and also shows that the Dead Sea was closely related to Judaism in ancient times. Therefore, it is not surprising that 1947 accidentally found two young shepherds on the dead sea.
Be surprised to find that
Our story begins in Gumran, a small town on the northwest coast of the Dead Sea. It is said that this is the place where a group of Jewish ascetics hid from the Romans and compiled Jewish classics from the 3rd century BC to the 10th century AD/KLOC-0. In 70 AD, the Romans captured Jerusalem and slaughtered Jews. This small town, which is only 16 or 17 miles away from the holy city, is doomed to destruction. Jews were taken away or fled, but the traces of their lives have been preserved to this day. People have long been accustomed to this, and no one expected that there would be any amazing discoveries here. This is a daily - happened thing. "Ordinary" is a prominent manifestation of the dullness of human observation and creativity. In the eyes of children, there is nothing but freshness and excitement. They don't have a common concept, some are always endless curiosity, and the mysterious treasure seems to love those naive children more.
1947 On a vibrant spring day in Jerusalem, two Bedouin children living on the shores of the Dead Sea came to a cave near the site of Gumran to look for a lost goat. Their curiosity about the cave made them forget to look for a sheep. They wandered around the mouth of the cave for a long time, tentatively threw a few stones in, and finally couldn't help sneaking in. The cave is not deep and spacious, the air is still fresh, and the two children grope their way forward in the dim light. Suddenly, a child's hand touched a smooth object on a sunken cave wall. When he carefully held it out, it turned out to be an earthenware pot, the mouth of which was sealed with mud, but the mud had broken. When he reached in and hoped to pull out something interesting or valuable, he only pulled out a roll of rotten parchment. He was about to throw it away, but his companion stopped him. "This is called an antique. Maybe you can change some money. " He said smartly, while searching the surrounding cave walls. Sure enough, he found some identical jars and scrolls, so the two children returned to town excitedly and exchanged some money for candy for a week in an antique shop.
ascetic monk
As it happens, when the two children led others to find more ancient pottery scrolls from the cave and sell them to antique shops, it was known by Atanasiu Samuel, Archbishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church in St. Kyle Abbey. He bought some scrolls specially, but was surprised to find that the Bible was written in Hebrew and Aramaic. At this time, Professor Sujinik, an archaeologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, also got the news and managed to collect some scrolls. After that, the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls spread all over the world, and religious scholars and archaeologists were very excited and came to find out. 1948, Harding, an official of Jordan's cultural relics department, and Roland Devo, the headmaster of Jerusalem Bible School, presided over the first large-scale excavation, and then carried out many excavation activities in the 1950s. * * * Found 1 1 Tibetan Sutra Cave, with more than 500 ancient scrolls, including all Hebrew books except Esther. The fourth cave with the largest number of manuscripts was discovered by other Bedouins in 1955.
New discoveries have brought new explorations, and people have speculated about the origin of these parchments. First of all, when are these ancient scrolls documents? Why did they appear in this remote cave? Who tidied up and kept these ancient scrolls?
According to the language form and grammatical rules of the words used in the literature, experts infer that this is a relic around BC 100; Later, after scientific appraisal, it was determined that the specific time range was from the 2nd century BC to 70 AD, and some older documents should have been brought from other places by the residents here. This is earlier than the earliest existing Bible manuscript 1000 years! Experts have made a detailed comparative study of ancient scrolls and modern editions, proving that they are basically the same, but the evolution of individual languages has brought differences, which makes people have to admire the rigor of biblical scholars.
Since the 2nd century BC to 70 AD was the period of the Roman Empire, Judaism split before the powerful Roman Empire, and Christians reinterpreted the classics to adapt to the new social and political environment, including a group of ascetic monks. The ascetic monks, dissatisfied with some blasphemous behaviors in Judaism at that time, pretended to be "sacred volunteers" and retired from Gumran, leading a poor and obedient life. Over time, an independent community has formed here. With the increasingly cruel Roman rule, the ascetic monks at that time may have participated in revolutionary resistance activities, so they were suppressed by the Roman army. After the Roman army captured Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Jews were scattered in the Gumran community.
1947 The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered by these ascetics were arranged and preserved. At that time, in the era of war, Christians were divided, and their teachings were misinterpreted by the upper nobility and elders. The ascetic monks were expelled for demanding pure Christians and doctrines, but their rigorous attitude towards the interpretation of classics is still admirable, and this precious wealth they left to future generations is always commendable.
Real classics
The Dead Sea Scrolls not only let people know the life and thoughts of ascetic monks hidden in history, but more importantly, it provides an irrefutable basis for people to understand the relationship between Christianity and Judaism and the authenticity and reliability of the Bible today.
According to historical records, the exact name of the ascetic Sect is the Esseni Sect, which is an expelled reformist in Judaism. They believe in doomsday theory and call themselves "sons of sunshine" They will fight tenaciously with the "children of hell" to prepare for the coming of the end of the world and God's final defeat of the devil. They advocate celibacy, choose to break away from social life, formulate perfect and harsh laws and implement property ownership. They have been looking forward to the arrival of the righteous master Messiah, who will eventually perfect everything. According to scholars' research, these are inextricably linked with early Christian thought, and even Jesus can be considered as a teacher of justice waiting for the Essenes. Although Christianity is not consistent with the Essenes on specific issues such as celibacy, people still think that they have the same roots or goals in terms of ideological essence and spiritual outlook.
Criticism and suspicion of the Bible is also the common attitude of rational scholars and people after Darwin's theory of evolution in history. People think that the Bible has been corrupted after more than 2000 years of handwritten praise, especially the prophecy, which may have been added after historical events. The research results of the Dead Sea Scrolls show that except for the evolution of language and writing and a few clerical errors, the old testament of the Bible was completely consistent in the copying in 2000. The ancient scrolls also provide a more reliable basis for the interpretation of the New Testament, because many later developed Christian meanings in the New Testament must be understood according to Jewish teachings in the Old Testament. If, as previous scholars thought, the Old Testament should be doubted, the meaning of the New Testament would be blurred, but this deadlock was completely broken in 2002. At that time, after more than half a century of excavation and research, the arrangement and translation of the Dead Sea scrolls were finally completed and published to the world. Oxford University publishes 39 volumes of complete works, and people's understanding of the Bible will be more real and profound.
Circuitous propagation
The collection and research of each ancient scroll has gone through a series of twists and turns. Such a precious treasure makes people with different interests have different abacus. 1954, one of the original collectors of ancient scrolls, Atana Hugh hamill, came to the United States and published an advertisement for selling ancient scrolls in the Wall Street Journal. Although he is a devout Orthodox Christian, he is neither a scholar nor a collector, so he would rather resell these precious cultural relics and earn a few small money himself. Of course, at that time, scrolls could not be bought for a week with candy money, and Samuel's asking price was not too harsh: $250,000. Coincidentally, Iger Aden, the son of Professor Sujinik and then a general of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, saw this news, so he entrusted an intermediary to raise huge sums of money, bought the ancient scrolls and gave them to his father to hide in the museum of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
When Harding and Roland Devo jointly excavated a large number of scrolls, they were hidden in a specially built Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem because the excavation activities were supported by the famous Rockefeller Financial Group. 1In June, 967, the third Middle East war ended in Israel's victory. All the scrolls of death are owned by Israel, and only a few are scattered in western university libraries or museums. From 65438 to 0969, the Israeli government allocated a huge sum of money to build the Museum of the Dead Sea Scrolls, showing people a few originals and photos of the Dead Sea Scrolls, because most of the originals are still in the research rooms of experts and scholars.