Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit Opens in DC with Rare Biblical Texts

Rare 1st-Century Dead Sea Scrolls Go on Display in Washington DC

First uncovered in desert caves in 1947, the fragile manuscripts revealed biblical texts dating to the centuries before and during the time of Jesus, offering a rare glimpse into how the Bible existed nearly 2,000 years ago.

Now, several of those ancient fragments are set to go on display next month at the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC, running through September.

A new rotation will feature rare texts, including portions of Isaiah, replacing fragments from Psalms, Numbers and Lamentations that were previously on display.

The rare Isaiah manuscript was copied by scribes around the 1st century AD and written in ancient Hebrew on leather, preserving portions of several chapters from one of the Bible's most influential prophetic books.

The Book of Isaiah is a major prophetic work that warns of judgment against sinful nations while offering promises of restoration and future hope. It also contains passages that Christians believe foreshadow the coming of a future Messiah.

The collection will also showcase other ancient writings, including an apocryphal account of Noah's birth, passages from the Jewish Book of Tobit and fragments of phylactery scrolls once worn during prayer.

Bobby Duke, the museum's chief curatorial officer, described the scrolls as the greatest archaeological discovery of all time.

'Before the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, our best Hebrew manuscripts were from about 1000 A.D.,' he told WORLD. 'These all date back [from the] second century BC to the first century AD, so it shaves off...1,000 years of manuscript transmission.'

First found in the Qumran Caves of the Judaean Desert near the Dead Sea, the scrolls comprise roughly 1,000 ancient manuscripts preserved in thousands of fragments.

They were written on parchment made from animal hide known as vellum, as well as papyrus and thin sheets of metal.

The text on the scrolls appears in four languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Nabataean, the language of the ancient Nabataean people.

However, little is known about the scribes themselves, as they did not sign their work.

Risa Levitt, executive director of Israel's Bible Lands Museum and one of the curators behind the Washington DC exhibit, said the goal is to help visitors better understand the world in which the scrolls were created.

'We want the public to understand place, geography and historical context so that by the time you get to the scrolls themselves, you are able to understand them a little better,' she told Christianity Today.

Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest known copies of Scripture dated to about 1000 AD, meaning the newly uncovered texts pushed scholars more than a millennium closer to the Bible's earliest origins.

'The Dead Sea Scrolls push us back more than a millennium,' Rollston said.

Also included in the exhibit is the Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen), a Dead Sea Scroll that expands on the story of Noah's birth with additional details not found in traditional Scripture.

The writing describes concerns surrounding Noah's unusual appearance and the fears of his father, who questioned the child's origins.

Portions of the Book of Tobit are also part of the rotation, an ancient Jewish text considered part of the Apocrypha that tells a story of faith, healing and divine guidance.

Beyond the scrolls themselves, the museum exhibit features several striking artifacts tied to ancient Jerusalem, including a massive paving stone visitors can walk across, part of the first-century Pilgrim's Road that once carried worshippers from the Pool of Siloam to the temple.

Also on display is the Magdala Stone, an ornately carved platform believed to have supported Torah scrolls inside a synagogue in Mary Magdalene's hometown along the Sea of Galilee. One side of the stone features a detailed carving of the menorah from the temple in Jerusalem.

At the very end of the exhibit, visitors encounter one final relic from Jerusalem, a towering 4,000-pound stone taken from the Temple Mount itself.

Museum officials said structural engineers were brought in to ensure the massive artifact could be safely supported by the building's floors.