Class notes - Princeton Theological Seminary

fall 1997
~end things
•
~D RE: Dead Sea Scrolls
~~[ili]~
Sent:
To:
Subject :
File Edit Uiew Insert Format Tools
. .
..
November, 199702:22 a.m.
Late Night Thoughts on the Essenes
Compose
-cwebmasrer»: As you rhink abour the
scrolls, and then abour email or rhe web,
whar do you rhink abour the "perceived"
permanence or longeviry of a piece of
wriring? Whar did that mean to rhe
scroll authors, and whar does thar mean
to us now?
-cscrollrnasrer»: When the Jews living
ar Qumran rhoughr abour the furure,
rhey believed rhey were living in ir.
When they hid the scrolls from the
Roman soldiers in the spring of 68
A.D., rhey probably had mixed feelings.
Some marched our ro meet the enemy
rhinking that rhis was the final barrie,
which would bring an end to all normal
rime. Orhers may well have rhoughr char
someday they would rerum ro recover
the scrolls. They had concealed them
carefully, wrapping each scroll in a linen
clorh (we have some) and then placing it
in a clay jar whose lid would be sealed.
nor be anorher 2,000 years-and
cerrainly no 1947 and 1997.
-cwebmaster»: Can you rell somerhing
abour the people who wrore the scrolls?
Our language, even in rhis email, rells
somerhing abour us, bur it will evaporare
in a few minures ...
cscrollmaster»: When I hold a piece of
learher on which Hebrew was penned
over 2,000 years ago 1 somerimes rhink
abour the person who prepared the skin
for writing, and the one who bent over
and wrore the Hebrew consonants.
Some of rhe scribes srrike me as rarher
old wirh failing eyesighr. There were no
glasses then, and rhe misrakes I see are
the ones I would have made. Words are
erased, crossed our, and somerimes other
words are written above the line. The
humaniry of the anonymous ancienr
scribe comes ro life.
translate ir. Ler me explain.
You and I see from roughly
400 to 700 waves of Iighr.
The new digiral Kodak
camera my colleagues at
Xerox use sees from 100 to
1000 waves insrantaneously.
For example, there is a
copy of Daniel from 100
BCE. Most of rhe letters on
ir are impossible ro read.
Then, click and click-rhe
sound of digirizing and
compurers-in three seconds
I can see, read, and
interpret what no eye has
seen for 2,000 years.
cwebmasrerc-: Thar is
amazing. One lasr quesrion:
what is your hope for technology,
the web, and the
Dead Sea Scrolls?
Neal Magee ('976) is the
webmaster at Princeton
Theological Seminary.
'"
°E
:z: "
c
>
ẹ•
o
o
~ọ
t:
Q.
-cwebrnasrer»: So the grear care rhey
rook in wriring/sroring/preserving the
scrolls had to do wirh cosmological and
rheological reasons as well as pragmaric
prorecrion from the Romans?
-cscrollmaster»: The Qumranires
believed rhar rhey were in rhe wilderness
preparing the Way ofYaweh and living
ar the End of Time. Time was pregnant
wirh meaning. Time had run our.
-cwebmaster»: How do you think rhey
mighr react knowing that we are reading
them now, 2,000 years larer?
-cscrollrnaster»: Such an idea would
never have entered rheir heads. Furure
for rhem was rhe presenr. There would
cwebmasrer»: Now that is inreresring.
I'm jealous of your chance ro hold the
learher manuscriprs. I can't hold much
of anyrhing I write for rhe web. One
inreresring idea is rhar you are here in
the U.S. holding somerhing buried in
rhe Middle East, 2,000 years later, and
ir srill has a srrong sense of purpose and
passion for you. Even rhrough all that
rime and distance, somerhing is transmined.
A "message in a boule," so to
speak. That's jusr been accelerared and
made easy by email-rhere's no real
time-distance barrier any more. How
has rechnology helped you ger deeper
inro the scrolls?
-cscrollmasrer»: Very simply: only rechnology
allows me ro see the ancienr
words. Until I see somerhing, I can nor
-cscrollrnasrerc-:To help the James H. Charlesworth
professors here ar PTS... is the Seminary's
George L. Collord
wirhour rechnology, we Professor of New
can nor prepare the crirical Testament Language
texts and rranslarions of the and Literature.
Dead Sea Scrolls. Equally imporranr
are scholars and assisranrs who dedicare
rhemselves to labor-intensive research.
We can now announce that mosr of the
Bible (OT) has been accurarely rransmined
to us over virrually 2,500 years.
And in those days no one could xerox,
phorograph, digirize, or computerize
rhe dara. Having said that, I srill rip
my har roward the Qumranires. They
knew whar was really important: firm
and roral commirmenr ro God and his
approaching Kingdom (bur then, anether
Jew made such a proclamarion his
central message). I
inSpire. 33