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Abegg used a computer to reconstruct these words, and it was purported to be 80% accurate.
Later that month, the Huntington Library in San Marine, California revealed that it had a
complete set of negatives, from photographs, of photographs of the original scrolls, which had
been given to them in 1987 by Elizabeth Hay Bechtel of the Bechtel Corporation, who had
founded the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center in Claremont, California (who also had a copy).
They made microfilm copies available to any scholar who requested it. The Hebrew Union
College also have a partial set; and the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies in
England has a full set, which had been given to them in May, 1991, by the Israeli Oversight
Committee.
The Qumran texts, written in Hebrew and Aramaic, are believed to have been written
between 250 BC and 68 AD. They have been divided into two groups – Biblical and non-
Biblical. About 20% are Biblical. Copies of every book in the Hebrew Bible have been found,
except for Esther (which, coincidentally, was the only book that didn’t mention the name of
God). In Cave 4, one of the most complete manuscripts which they have been able to reconstruct,
is the First Book of Samuel, which was found to contain passages not contained in our Bible, and
is being used to fill in some of the narrative gaps. The non-Biblical fragments consist of hymns
and psalms, biblical commentaries, legal documents, a letter, apocryphal writings, and an
inventory of the Temple treasure. Of the non-Biblical, there are texts referred to as sectarian
writings, which were produced by a unique sect of Jews who have been identified as the Essenes.
The seven intact scrolls that were found in Cave 1, were quickly published by Israeli and
American scholars, but the fragments collected by de Vaux were a different story. Just in Cave 4,
there was believed to be well over 15,000 fragments (and perhaps as many as 100,000) from 500
different manuscripts. In all, the find was said to represent about 800 manuscripts. Of the
Biblical writings, 25 copies of Deuteronomy were found, 18 copies of Isaiah, and 27 copies of
the Psalter. Among the non-Biblical, 11 copies of the Community Rule, 9 Songs of the Sabbath
Sacrifice, 8 of the Thanksgiving Hymn, and 7 of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness.
Prior to the discovery of the Scrolls, the oldest known Old Testament texts were copies
which dated back to 1100 AD, yet they were nearly identical. Originally, only the linen
surrounding the scrolls were tested with the Carbon-14 dating process, which indicated a date
around the 2nd century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD. In 1991, new tests by a
Swiss laboratory confirmed these results. A palaeographical analysis was done on the script used
in writing the texts which revealed a similarity to styles that were used from 250 - 150 BC, 150 -
30 BC, and 30 BC - 70 AD. Archaeological dating was also done with the help of several
hundred coins which were found in the Qumran complex. The earliest structures were built
between 130 - 110 BC, then rebuilt and enlarged from 110- 40 BC. They discovered evidence of
an earthquake which had been recorded as occurring in 31 BC, after which they rebuilt the
settlement and occupied it until 68 AD when it was destroyed by Vespasian’s Roman legions.
During the Maccabean period, in the 2nd century BC, there were three main Jewish groups,
the Pharisees, the Sadduccees, and the Essenes. The Essenes were known to be the ‘strict’ Order.
Early historians, such as Pliny the Elder (the 1st century Roman writer), Josephus, and Philo,
indicated that the Essenes lived in the area between Jericho and Ein Gedi, on the shores of the
Dead Sea, which is where the Qumran ruins are located.
The Sadducees, whose religious principles differed from the Pharisees, separated from them
after the Maccabean revolt (168-164 BC). A document identified as Miqsat Ma’aseh he-Torah,
or Some Rulings Pertaining to the Torah (also known as the Halakhic Letter), which was found
in Cave 4, contains about 22 religious laws, and appears to be the basis of the Qumran