Among the most prominent hallmarks of the late Prof. Hanan Eshel (1958–2010) were his generosity, passion, and integrative approach. The eighteen essays in this volume were selected by Prof. Eshel shortly before his untimely death, to be printed as a collection aimed at contextualizing the textual finds of the Dead Sea Scrolls within their archaeological settings and within the contours of contemporary scholarship.The Qumran texts that stand at the center of these articles are correlated with archaeological and geographic information and with a variety of textual sources including epigraphic evidence and, especially, the Hebrew Bible, Josephus, and rabbinic texts. The essays are organized according to the provenance of the discovered material, with sections devoted to the Damascus Documentand the scrolls from Caves 1, 3, 4, and 11, as well as a final more general chapter.Half of the essays have been previously published in English, while the other half have been translated from Hebrew here for the first time. The book includes essays that have been co-authored with Esther Eshel, Shlomit Kendi-Harel, Zeev Safrai, and John Strugnell.

In 1946 the first of the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries was made near the site of Qumran, at the northern end of the Dead Sea. Despite the much publicized delays in the publication and editing of the Scrolls, practically all of them had been made public by the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the first discovery. That occasion was marked by a spate of major publications that attempted to sum up the state of scholarship at the end of the twentieth century, including The Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (OUP 2000). These publications produced an authoritative synthesis to which the majority of scholars in the field subscribed, granted disagreements in detail. A decade or so later, The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls has a different objective and character. It seeks to probe the main disputed issues in the study of the Scrolls. Lively debate continues over the archaeology and history of the site, the nature and identity of the sect, and its relation to the broader world of Second Temple Judaism and to later Jewish and Christian tradition. It is the Handbook's intention here to reflect on diverse opinions and viewpoints, highlight the points of disagreement, and point to promising directions for future research.

Unveiling one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, The Dead Sea Scrolls: What Is the Truth About the Dead Sea Scrolls? takes readers on a scholarly journey into the heart of these ancient texts. Discovered in the arid caves near the Dead Sea, these scrolls have captivated the world, offering unparalleled glimpses into a Jewish community from two millennia ago. But what do they truly reveal? Edward D. Andrews, a conservative Evangelical Christian Bible scholar, offers a comprehensive exploration of the Dead Sea Scrolls, meticulously examining their content, context, and significance. This book addresses crucial questions that have intrigued both scholars and believers: How do these scrolls compare with the Hebrew Bible? What insights do they provide into the religious practices and beliefs of their authors? And perhaps most controversially, do they have any connection to the origins of Christianity? Rejecting speculative theories that link the Essenes or the Qumran community with the early Christian movement, this book argues that any similarities between the Dead Sea Scrolls and New Testament teachings stem from their shared foundation in the Old Testament. Andrews carefully analyzes specific scrolls—such as the Great Isaiah Scroll, the War Scroll, and the Temple Scroll—translating and interpreting key passages to uncover their true meaning. The Dead Sea Scrolls: What Is the Truth About the Dead Sea Scrolls? is an essential resource for seminary students, pastors, and churchgoers who seek a deeper understanding of these ancient texts and their place within the broader narrative of biblical history. With rigorous scholarship and a firm commitment to biblical truth, this book provides clarity amidst the complex and often contentious debates surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls. Discover the enduring significance of these ancient manuscripts and their impact on our understanding of the Bible today.

In this book, two of the world's leading experts on the scrolls reveal the complete and fascinating story in all its detail: the amazing discovery, the intense controversies, and the significant revelations. This comprehensive, up-to-date guide is the def

Contains new information about unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls recently brought to light with translations of key passages and recent discovery of the movement behind the Scrolls in their own words.

A large amount of Leviticus material has been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yet there is surprisingly little secondary scholarly analysis of the role of Leviticus in this corpus. The book of Leviticus survives in several manuscripts; it also features in quotations and allusions, so that it seems to be a foundational source for the ideology behind the composition of some of the nonscriptural texts. Indeed this volume argues that the ideology of the Holiness Code persisted in the communities that collected the manuscripts and placed them in the Qumran Caves.

This is the third volume of the projected four-volume history of the Second Temple period, collecting all that is known about the Jews from the period of the Maccabaean revolt to Hasmonean rule and Herod the Great. Based directly on primary sources, the study addresses aspects such as Jewish literary sources, economy, Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Diaspora, causes of the Maccabaen revolt, and the beginning and end of the Hasmonean kingdom and the reign of Herod the Great. Discussed in the context of the wider Hellenistic world and its history, and with an extensive up-to-date secondary bibliography, this volume is an invaluable addition to Lester Grabbe's in-depth study of the history of Judaism.

Charts a new methodological course in Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship by employing memory theory to inform historical research. This is an instructive resource for scholars who are seeking an alternative to currently constructed approaches to the subject, and will be of appeal to those interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls more generally.

In Exploring the Isaiah Scrolls and Their Textual Variants, Donald W. Parry systematically presents, on a verse-by-verse basis, the variants of the Hebrew witnesses of Isaiah (the Masoretic Text and the twenty-one Isaiah Dead Sea Scrolls) and briefly discusses why each variant exists. The Isaiah scrolls have greatly impacted our understanding of the textual history of the Bible, and in recent decades, Bible translation committees have incorporated a number of the variants into their translations; as such, the Isaiah scrolls are important for both academic and popular audiences. Variant characterizations include four categories: (a) accidental errors, e.g., dittography, haplography, metathesis, graphic similarity; (b) intentional changes by scribes and copyists; (c) synonymous readings; (d) scribes’ stylistic approaches and conventions.

This book examines the interpretation of biblical law in the Dead Sea Scrolls and ancient Judaism. It analyzes the interpretive techniques found in the Dead Sea Scrolls to transform the meaning and application of biblical law to meet the needs of new historical and cultural settings.