11/30/12 – Qumran, you ran, we all ran

Next, we travelled a short distance down Highway 90 to Qumran, the spot where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947.  Highway 90 is the longest road in Israel and connects the North to the South.  It’s a winding two-lane blacktop with rock faces to the West and a valley floor to the East. I told Dad that I would love to tear it up with a suitable sports car, but for now Shulli was doing a pretty good job with the bus by passing slower cars two and three at a time.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found by a goat herder who was throwing rocks in an attempt to scare his errant flock back together.  One of the stones went into a cave and the resulting sound was that of pottery breaking.  When he went to investigate he found the scrolls.  That started a search of all the caves in the surrounding area and by the end of it, many such scrolls were found in similar pieces of pottery.

Look closely and you'll see the caves

The scrolls were written at the time of Jesus and provide a direct link among the scriptures of the Old Testament with a couple of exceptions.  But almost as important is that they clearly describe life as it existed at the time for the men who had retreated into the desert to be able to pray without distraction.

I didn’t think much about what the scrolls contained, for me the wonder was in the discovery.  That they sat encased in clay pots undisturbed for nearly 2000 years in this harsh and unforgiving landscape only to be found by chance by a peasant herding goats… amazing