Posted on 02/28/2004 12:26:57 PM PST by blam
'Silver scrolls' are oldest O.T. scripture, archaeologist says
Feb 27, 2004
By Gary D. Myers
Significant scroll
Gabriel Barkay, in silhouette, shows a picture of how one of the silver scrolls looked shortly after it was removed from the tomb at Ketef Hinnom. Scholars determined that the scrolls were inscribed with the ‘priestly blessing’ found in Numbers 6:24-26. Photo by Gary D. Myers
NEW ORLEANS (BP)--While excavating a burial tomb near Jerusalem in 1979, Gabriel Barkay uncovered the oldest known copy of Old Testament scripture. The priestly blessing, recorded in Numbers 6:24-26, was discovered on two small silver scrolls dated to the 7th century B.C.
“This was a discovery of utmost importance,” said Barkay, professor of archaeology at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv. “These verses pre-date the famous Dead Sea Scrolls by approximately four centuries. They are the only biblical verses we have from the time of the First Temple [period].”
Ancient inscription
Gabriel Barkay exhibits an enlarged diagram of the inscription on one of the silver scrolls discovered at Ketef Hinnom. Scholars have dated the inscription to the 7th century B.C. Photo Gary D. Myers "
Barkay spoke of the discovery at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Feb. 18 –- one of only two lectures during a trip to America. His was the inaugural lecture offered the seminary’s new Center for Archaeological Research.
Steven Ortiz, assistant professor of archaeology and biblical studies and director of the Center for Archaeological Research at NOBTS, served as field archaeologist at the Ketef Hinnom site where the scrolls were found. When Ortiz heard that Barkay was coming to America to lecture at Emory University, he convinced his archaeology mentor to come to New Orleans to speak as well. Asking Barkay to deliver the center’s first lecture was an easy decision, Ortiz said.
“He is an excellent and engaging lecturer,” Ortiz said. “I wanted our students to be exposed to one of the top scholars in the field of biblical archaeology.”
“The importance of the Ketef Hinnom inscriptions tends to be overlooked among students and pastors,” Ortiz said. “These scrolls are significant for the dating of the Old Testament. They provide evidence of the antiquity of the Bible.”
The two silver scrolls were discovered by Barkay’s team in a rock-hewn burial cave southwest of the ancient city of Jerusalem. The structure of the tomb was of interest to Barkay because it dated to the First Temple period, but it appeared that over centuries looters had taken all the artifacts. The tomb had last been used for storing Turkish army rifles during the Ottoman period.
However, Barkay and his team discovered that some artifacts had been preserved in a bone repository in the tomb. When a family member died, he or she was placed on a burial bench in the tomb along with personal items such as vases and jewelry, Barkay explained. After the dead body decayed, the bones were collected and placed in a bone repository located in a separate area of the tomb. The practice is referred to in the Old Testament as being “gathered unto his fathers.”
At some point a layer of the repository’s ceiling broke lose and covered the collected bones and personal items. Barkay said that the piece of ceiling appeared to be nothing more than the repository floor. An Israeli schoolboy helping clean the repository during excavations accidentally broke through the layer, revealing many bones and artifacts below.
As the team sifted through the items in repository, they discovered the two scrolls. After the initial discovery in 1979, scholars had the daunting task of unrolling and deciphering the text. They had no idea how important the find would be.
“It took us three years to unroll it [the larger scroll],” Barkay said. “When unrolled, it was covered with very delicately scratched characters. The first word we could decipher was the ‘YHWH’ –- sometimes anglicized as ‘Jehovah.’ This is the name of the Lord in the Hebrew Bible.”
Until this time no inscriptions with the name of God had been found in Jerusalem.
The larger of the two scrolls was only about three inches long when it was unrolled. The smaller one was just over two inches long. Barkay said the thin fragile silver of each scroll was etched with 19 lines of tiny, Hebrew script. It was years before researchers realized that the inscription was an almost exact representation of the priestly blessing found in Numbers. Careful study revealed that the Hebrew characters used were distinctive of the 7th century B.C.
In English the verses read: “The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”
The find is significant because it helps establish the historicity and the age of Old Testament scripture. In the late 1800s German higher critics began questioning the date the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) was composed in written form. Many of these critics argued that this section of scripture was written some time after the Babylonian exile.
According to Barkay, the discovery of this early biblical inscription is an important part of the argument for an early dating of the Old Testament. He acknowledges that the find does not prove that the Pentateuch was written by the 7th century. However, it is strong evidence for that position.
“I can at least say that these verses existed in the 7th century ... the time of the prophet Jeremiah and the time of King Josiah,” Barkay said.
Barkay published a book about the find in 1986, but recent advances in computer technology have helped researchers discover additional verses on the silver scrolls. The new research technique revealed that the scroll contains other verses from the Pentateuch. Barkay has written a manuscript about these other finds and plans to publish it in the near future.
While the silver scrolls were discovered more than 20 years ago, little information about the discovery has been available to the general public. Lectures like this are important because most of the articles about finds like those at Ketef Hinnom are published only in scholarly journals, Ortiz said.
He said he hopes to hold a number of archaeology lectures each year as funding becomes available, and that those lectures will help educate ministerial students and others about important finds that uphold the historicity of the Bible.
Qualified lecturers such as Barkay also bring credibility to the Center of Archaeology Research, Ortiz said, noting that lectures in the field show that NOBTS is serious about biblical archaeology and could help the school secure a site to excavate and research in the future. --30--
I just love this sort of stuff...
May I ask you a question please? What would you say to those people that say that the O.T. and the N.T. are not connected or related to each other? Myself I don't buy that, and I Believe that they are both related and connected to each other. In fact, a lot of O.T. prophesy has been fulfilled in the N.T. hasn't it, and some yet to be fulfilled? What would be the best answer, in your opinion and/or based upon your knowledge of both the O.T. and N.T. to those people who say there is no connection or that there is no relationship to each other. A lot of people today are making those kind of claims.
Could you provide citations for your claims. I've read extensively on the Dead Sea Scrolls and I haven't heard this. I'd like to check it out for myself and add it to my corpus of knowledge should it pan out.
Same to you my friend.
If I were in a foul mood I would say to them that they are brainless dolts wandering around spouting whatever liberal garbage has fallen in their ear!
"Myself I don't buy that, and I Believe that they are both related and connected to each other."
Me either! (Can you tell?) The OT and NT are so inner-twined that, from a Christian perspective, one is almost incomprehensible without the other. The OT is the PROMISE. The NT is the FULFILLMENT.
"What would be the best answer, in your opinion and/or based upon your knowledge of both the O.T. and N.T. to those people who say there is no connection or that there is no relationship to each other."
Well, I would say that there is almost 900 direct quotes or allusions to the OT in the NT
Here is a partial list of citation: http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/quotes.html
and here is a list of parallel passages: http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/pnt/pnt08.html
... and that there are over 300 prophesies give in the OT which are explicitly fulfilled in the NT. You may find a better list, but here is one for your reference: http://www.vojo.com/rev/messianic_prophecies.htm
But in the end many people will not be convinced because they do not want to be convinced. They wouldn't believe even if they saw Jesus rise from the dead with their own eyes because the inconvenient truth of the Lordship of Jesus Christ interferes with their plans for their life. But by His grace some will be persuaded - so keep up your work for the Lord!
Thanks a whole lot for your answer, and I will try to read the extra information, when I have a little more time.
This morning I read II Kings 22 & 23, and saw a direct connection between those chapters and I John 5: 21, which says: Little children keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
In King Josiah's day G-d ended up punishing Israel because they were commiting idolatry all over the place, and/or breaking the first of the 10 commandments: Exodus 20: 3 and Dueteronomy 5: 7. But G-d is the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever, as stated in Hebrews 13: 8, and His attitude and Commandments have (not) changed on the idoltry situation, I'm sure. And, what applies to the Jews also applies to the Gentiles-- even the Christian Gentiles, which I am one of. And, I know that I have to be very careful (not) to commit idolatry too-- even things I was unaware of that was idolatry before. This Easter, the bunny rabbit has nothing to do with Jesus rising from the dead and Santa has nothing to do with the Chrismas message. And, I Believe those to be forms of idolatry, among a million other things going on now, some seemingly innocent, but I Believe are a huge offence to The Lord.
I also fear for our nation because we have been taken into idolatry big time, and G-d is going to punish America just like He did Israel long ago. I can't help but think there are no exceptions to the rule in G-d's Word and His Commandments which says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before ME." "The Love of money" is certainly a big time idol in America, or can be to me or any of us if we're not careful. II Timothy 6: 10.
It's time I and we "all" as a nation and individuals turn back to the One andOnly True and Living G-d before it's forever too late, and time is swiftly running out anyway. "Blessed is the nation whose G-d is The Lord." Genesis 6:3 "And, The L-rd said, My Holy Spirit shall (not) always strive with man."
John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am The Way, The Truth and The Life, no man or person, cometh to The Father but by Me!!!
I'll try to do the best I can in serving The Lord. I fall short many times. But, I sure appreciate your encouragement! But, I especially appreciate H-s Awesome Mercy!!!
Oh yes, and King Josiah commanded his people to continue keeping the Passover, and here we are in the Passover season. I thought that was super exciting.
Maybe so, but they still teach it in colleges.
So do I, r9etb! Thank you for your post!
It'll require comparing the Laurence translation with the subsequent translations all the way through Charlesworth's edition (the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered about midway).
But to give you a flavor of the issues:
Enoch Calendar Testifies of Christ
Modernist scholars have always proposed the hypothesis that is (1) contrary to tradition and (2) least favorable to the acceptance of the Bible as true.
The liberal assertion is that David is a myth, like the story of Arthur Pendragon. No evidence that he had an extensive kingdom with imposing public buildings. But new digs have discovered the foundations of a large palance where the Bible says such a place existed.
Supernatural influences at work. Many scholars are perverse in their view of reality, especially considering the supernatural purity of the Word of God.
Unlike the old pagans, the new pagans deny the existence of the supernatural. Confronted the irrefutable proof that a miraculous healous had occured at Lourdes, Emile Zola wrote a novel mocking such miracles. Even if one had occured before his very eyes he would have denied that it happened.
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I can now say with more assurance that as older and older documents are found they will be the same as what we already have. The notion that the books of the law are a fabrication of the post-exilic person is no more than
a speculation of those hostile to traditional Judaism.
Liberal Christianity simply believes that divine revelation is a delusion. Nothing short of the second coming will change their minds about this.
I think you're right, but in such cases they can date organic material that is found with the non-organic artifact.
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