JERUSALEM, Israel – Just as the Jewish people were on the verge of returning to their ancient homeland nearly eighty years ago, an ancient biblical treasure was emerging from the Judean Desert: scrolls hidden for nearly two thousand years. CBN News had an opportunity to see the Great Isaiah Scroll on display in Jerusalem and take in the remarkable timing connecting the Dead Sea Scrolls to the birth of modern Israel.
For the first time since 1968. The Great Isaiah Scroll is on full display in Jerusalem. The scroll is the centerpiece of a voice from the desert, marking the 60th anniversary of the Israel Museum and the Shrine of the Book.
Curator Hagit Maoz believes it’s very special.
She told CBN News, “It was a great opportunity to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Shrine of the Book and the Israel Museum, and this is the jewel of the crown of the collection of the museum.”
Today, the ancient scrolls are preserved in a building designed specifically to tell their story.
The Shrine of the Book is where the Dead Sea Scrolls now live, here at the Israel Museum. The building itself was modeled after the top of the clay jars that held the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Great Isaiah Scroll is a marvel to behold.
Maoz explained, “The scroll is seven meters and 17centimeters, dated back to the end of the second century, which means around 120/ 125 B.C..It has all the 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah we have today at home.”
Seventeen sheets of animal skin stitched together with linen thread carry 54 columns of ancient Hebrew.
This scroll is a worldwide heritage object, and that’s why we wish to show it as much as we can,” she noted. “On the other hand, we have to protect it.”
The story begins in 1947 with one of the 20th century’s greatest archeological discoveries. A Bedouin shepherd found jars holding ancient scrolls in a cave near Qumran, along the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Among the first manuscripts found in cave one was the Great Isaiah Scroll.
Maoz pointed to two jars, saying, “These are actually the two jars that the Bedouin took out from the cave at the first visit.”
As the scrolls emerged from the desert, the story collided with a pivotal moment in the return of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland.
Maoz recalled, “November 29th (1947), Professor Sukenik went to Bethlehem, risked himself, and bought two scrolls and two jars. And at night, there was the (United Nations) declaration of splitting the land into two nations and establishing the State of Israel
As a modern Jewish state approached rebirth, an ancient testimony to the Jewish people’s biblical heritage was emerging from the desert.
In 1947, Marathanasius Samuel, head of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, acquired four of the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls, including the Great Isaiah Scroll.
A year later, as Israel was reborn and war came to Jerusalem, Samuel took them out of the region and eventually to the United States. Several years later, he offered them for sale in an unlikely place: an edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“Yeah, the original Wall Street Journal from June 1st, 1954. And in the middle you can see that between (ads for) agricultural machines, washing machines, cars, and a small ad (for the scrolls),” Maoz explained.
We responded, “For some of the most valuable artifacts in history.”
She replied, “Well, yes. Four Dead Sea Scrolls for sale. Professor Sukenik died in 1953. A year later, his son, archeologist Yigael Yadin, was in New York when he learned of the ad. Yadin secretly arranged to purchase the four scrolls for Israel.”
She added, “And he’s writing ‘Emergency!’ And you can see ‘top secret’ for this is (the) scroll for sale, and look here, including (the) Isaiah scroll, and he got a little bit sweaty, maybe from excitement.”
Seven years after its discovery in the Judean Desert, the Great Isaiah Scroll and three other scrolls made their way back home to Israel. And the words it carried were already more than 2,000 years old.
Here are the words from Isaiah, Chapter 2: “A nation shall not fight a nation, and they won’t learn war anymore.”
For Christians, the scroll preserves some of the most familiar prophetic passages in scripture. Moros read, “Look, the young woman is about to give birth to a son. Let his name be Emmanuel.”
We responded, “Isaiah seems to still be relevant.”
Maoz replied, “Absolutely.”
The exhibition takes its name from Isaiah’s voice calling in the wilderness, a voice Maoz says still speaks today.
“This scroll survived 2000 years in a cave, in a jar, and we still have its voice coming from the desert,” she remarked with wonder.
