DEAD SEA SCROLLS

In April 1947, Mohammed el-Dib, a young Bedouin from the Ta'amireh tribe, by chance discovered a number of manuscript scrolls in a grotto near the Qumran ruins, an Essenian site around 30 kilometers from Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Three of these scrolls were purchased by Professor E. L. Sukenik on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and four others by the Syrian Jacobite Convent of Saint Mark, also in Jerusalem. The latter were transported to the United States. In February 1949, Count Lippens, United Nations observer in Israel, opened the way to the exploration of the Qumran site. Father Roland de Vaux, head of the French Biblical and Archeological School of Jerusalem, and G. Lankester Harding, in charge of Jordanian antiquities, were named to direct the digs. Between 1949 and 1958, nearly 800 manuscripts were exhumed, and Jordanian authorities appealed to the international community to finance a study of the documents. On its side, the Vatican entrusted Father de Vaux with deciphering the documents, which were placed in the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem, under Jordanian control. In 1961, the Jordanian state declared all the manuscripts in the Palestinian Archeological Museum of Jerusalem to be national property. Five years later, the entire museum became national property of Jordan.

In the 1967 Arab-Israel War, the Israeli army occupied East Jerusalem, taking over the museum and its holdings. From then on, Israeli authorities administered the Palestinian Archeological Museum. The team of Father de Vaux was authorized to continue its research but limited other scholars' access to the manuscripts, provoking ire in the international scientific community. Photos of original documents were sent to the United States (Claremont and Cincinnati) and to Great Britain. Ten years later, a portion of the documents kept at Claremont were entrusted to the Huntington Library in Virginia, where they remained for years without being studied seriously. There was some conjecture that access to the manuscripts was being limited because they contained information on Jesus and his adherence to the sect of Essenians, which would raise questions about his divine nature. For Father de Vaux, however, the "Master of Justice" described in these manuscripts had nothing to do with Jesus.

The international scientific community was shocked that translations of the texts, whose study had been underway for many years, had not yet been published. According to a former member of the committee, John Marco Allegro, some of the manuscripts, particularly the Copper Scroll, intimated the existence of a fabulous treasure, that of the Temple of Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Tables of the Law, which would lead to censure on the part of Israeli authorities. On 22 September 1991, the Huntington Library, in Virginia, decided to make all the copies of the manuscripts in its keeping available to the public and to publish a photocopy edition. During the following October, Israeli authorities permitted access to all manuscripts in its collections, including the unpublished ones.

SEE ALSO Arab-Israel War (1967);Essenes;Jesus.