The Dead Sea Scrolls were portions of the Old Testament written down by a Jewish sect called the Essenes (Sp?) in the first century AD, probably during the time of Masada, or the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem...
They were found hidden in a cave in the late 1940’s.
They contained the book of Isaiah, the Psalms, and I can't recall what other books of the Bible...
They are vastly important because they confirm our modern translations of the Bible down to a single word.
Meaning, there were no mistakes made in our modern translations of these books! Especially when one considers how much of the New Testament story is contained in Isaiah and the Psalms, the Dead Sea Scrolls take on an even more important place in history. (Isaiah 53 is a prophecy about the birth of Christ, Psalms is filled with messianic prophecies fulfilled in the coming of Jesus...)
Since the Bible was always a hand copied text until the advent of the printing press in the 11 century, the evidence that the Bible we have is reliable, (at least those books of the OT that were in the Dead Sea Scrolls) the discovery of the Scrolls is a wonderful find for Jews and Christians alike.
I could be remembering some of the above incorrectly, but this is I believe a good overview.
I think you pretty well nailed it and yes, those scrolls do confirm that our Bible translations, especially the King James, was right on the money.
Constantine had an army long before the Council of Nicaea (which took place after he conquered the eastern half of the empire from Licinius). The Council of Nicaea has nothing to do with the Apostles' Creed. Even the so-called Nicene Creed is not actually the creed adopted in 325 but dates to the second ecumenical council in 381 (the two creeds are similar but some of the A.D. 325 wording is absent from the Nicene Creed still read in churches).
Not to quibble here, but Gutenberg was 15th century. The 11th was still the dreaded Middle Ages. The printing press might have been invented in China at that point, but not in the west.
Thank you, TLG!
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain parts of every book of the Old Testament except for the book of Esther. They also contain other texts from ancient Hebrew life. They are not limited to the Scriptures.
There is a considerable academic debate as to who actually wrote them. However, the accuracy of translation of these texts establishes Holy Scripture as reliable.