LDS Perspectives On The Dead Sea Scrolls (LDS Caucus)

Latter-day Saints love ancient religious records. We have already received the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Pearl of Great Price, and we look forward with anticipation to receiving the "words of the lost tribes of Israel" (2 Nephi 29:13), to the unsealing of a large portion of the golden plates, and to the restoration of other ancient texts authored by Adam, Enoch, Joseph, and others.

It was no wonder, then, that since the 1947 discovery of ancient scrolls hidden in caves along the shores of the Dead Sea, many Latter-day Saints have been fascinated by the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Although these scrolls do not contain the records we await, they do help answer some important questions related to the gospel: How has the Bible been transmitted to our day? What did the Jews believe in the years between the end of the Old Testament and the time of Christ? How much of the full gospel was known by these people before the coming of Christ?

The essays in this collection help to answer these and other questions. They give an overview of the history of the scrolls, compare the scrolls and their writers to the Book of Mormon and its authors, and discuss what the scrolls teach about topics like the Messiah and the plan of salvation. The collection also includes a description of how high technology is aiding in all aspects of the translation of the scrolls, from DNA analysis to computerization. The essays are written by BYU faculty who are members of the international team of scroll editors, world-

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Thank you for your respect!

Hmm.................. Wonder how long it will take to "disover" original documentation Jos. Smith used to write Book of Mormon and re-write sections of the Holy Bible?

That would truly be a significant find to the rest of the world, wouldn't they?

As the Dead Sea Scrolls have been kept hidden and protected by God until time to authenticate them and protect them became available for the first time in history

Hmm.................. Wonder how long it will take to "disover" original documentation Jos. Smith used to write Book of Mormon and re-write sections of the Holy Bible?

Do you mean the Golden Plates? The angel Moroni took them back.

That would truly be a significant find to the rest of the world, wouldn't they?

You might think so, but I have my doubts. Most likely, scholars would spend the next hundred years arguing over their significance, if any.

As the Dead Sea Scrolls have been kept hidden and protected by God until time to authenticate them and protect them became available for the first time in history

An interesting point of view. But I wonder: Have the Dead Sea Scrolls caused anyone to have faith in God?

"An interesting point of view. But I wonder: Have the Dead Sea Scrolls caused anyone to have faith in God?"

Actually, yes they have....many have been lead to God after years of believing that the Holy Bible was written by mortals, subject to mortal errors.

After witnessing the exact same thing written thousands of years before, kept safe for centuries and only "found" by some mere shepherds at a time when there was knowledge and technology (though not enough to prevent some deterioration) to preserve, study and confirm their existence by nonbelievers, their authentication has been a revelation to many and led many to God/Christ.

I doubt that God will provide any kind of conclusive proof of the BoM before the second coming. He wants us to learn to develop faith, and that can’t happen when there is absolute proof. Same applies with the Bible, there is no solid proof that Christ rose from the dead and that he was more than a good moral teacher.

Neal A Maxwell spoke at a mission conf. when I was a missioanry. He spoke of all the scripture there was yet to come, records from 10 more tribes testifying of Christ, the completion of the JST and restoration of the lost books, the remaining 2/3 of the gold plates that were sealed. We will have a lot of reading to do.

Thank you for the post. That was a very interesting program with lots of great information. I was surprised that they took the assumption that it was the Sons of Light who fought the Romans and that they met a cataclysmic end, hence the scrolls were left behind and there was no sign of battle or struggle near the community. This was to suggest that they sought the Romans with “abandon” and then were hunted down before such a stand could be made. Here is what I would hypothesize: the scriptures tell the faithful that when the abomination of desolation should appear that they should remove themselves. This, the faithful of God had done before. I don’t believe they would have committed themselves to the defense of a society they had already deemed to be wayward. Moreover, Josephus’ account of those times and what was transpiring in Jerusalem at the time paints a very graphic picture of a place such men of purity would not have gone to AT ALL. They clearly did not believe the Temple was accepted by Father.
I submit the following:

JS-M 1: 12, 32
12 When you, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, then you shall stand in the holy place; whoso readeth let him understand.
• • •
32 And again shall the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, be fulfilled.

Matt. 24: 15
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Mark 13: 14
14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:

Section 88 then tells us in this day of what to expect and what to do when the abomination of desolation should again show itself. I would prefer to think that the Sons of Light, like Lehi, like the faithful who followed Jeremiah’s council, did as the Lord had proscribed and went into the wilderness to wait the sign of the coming of the Son of God. I was aghast that the interviewee should not “know” what signs they had waited to see for 200 years. Could these not be the Maggi? I give them more credit than the “scholars” do.

Actually BYU has had great opportunities to translate the Dead Sea Scrolls. It seems one problem with the different "scholars" was that different denominations would translate them differently to support their own theology (intentionaly or not) what we belive words mean affects the translation process. Mormon scholars at BYU have been good because they let the chips fall where they may. If it agress with LDS doctrine great, If apocryphal or post biblical writings don't agree it is due to apostacy and loss of the truth.

BYU Contributions to Scroll Scholarship

Led and supported by the Brigham Young University Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (ISPART), Latter-day Saint scholars are making significant contributions to scroll scholarship. One prime example is an important research database, the Dead Sea Scrolls on CD-ROM: the FARMS Electronic Database, released in 1999 through Brill Academic Publishers. This scholarly research tool contains fully indexed and cross-linked digitized images of the nonbiblical scrolls, corresponding transcriptions and translations, and reference material in an easily searchable and viewable format. The FARMS database functions primarily as a comprehensive concordance providing instantaneous and comprehensive searches of all the included texts.....

Other recent Latter-day Saint contributions to work on the Dead Sea Scrolls include the following...

believing that the Holy Bible was written by mortals, subject to mortal errors.

the exact same thing written thousands of years before

I am not sure if I am taking issue with you on this point. It may just be a matter of semantics. Here is my understanding of the Dead Sea Scrolls study. It was in fact mortal men who wrote under the influence of revelation. There were mortal men who followed and in turn did make errors, substitutions, and omissions that have been demonstrated by this work on the Scrolls (the passage struck from the opening of the Book of Samuel for instance). It has also confirmed that as with the lost books of the Bible (those that are referenced and cited but not found within the current canon) that it is amazing that the scriptures have been preserved as well as they have from the original authorship. Of course, the scrolls themselves are much closer to New Testament writings than to Isaiah for instance by many hundred years. It is impossible to calculate what may have been lost or changed during that span, not to mention we have only a number of pages that deal with the beginning of creation to Israel's captivity in Egypt. That is a long time. Many would suggest that God did not care for us to have that knowledge, but I disagree. Their ambivalence to what is revealed or "found" and to its significance will forever remain unchanged. They are comfortable where they are at and as Jesus described trying to pour new doctrine into old wine skins, they stop their ears and their minds, because if it gets poured in...they burst. It will always be the case with those who say, "So far has God revealed, but no more." Sigh.

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