Vertical News: Newly Discovered Dead Sea Scrolls

article by Amanda Stiver

New scrolls from the famous Dead Sea collection shed light on life at the time of Christ.

Source: sxc.hu/HenrikB

A scholar from Ariel University has discovered more scrolls from the famous Dead Sea Scrolls collection that had not previously been analyzed. These new scrolls are actually from within phylacteries, called “tefillin” in Hebrew. Phylacteries are worn on the forehead and wrists by religious Jews, following their understanding of Deuteronomy 6:8. Though they are interesting and give insight into Jewish worship during the period of the Second Temple, they do not seem to be out of the ordinary historically or religiously.

The phylacteries contain fragments of tiny scrolls with excerpts from the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. Dr. Yonatan Adler of Ariel University made the discovery in the storage facility at the Israel Museum and then a team of curators from the Israel Antiquities Authority took over the restoration. With the complex history of the scrolls, researchers aren’t surprised that such documents might have gone undiscovered for so long a time. The date of the phylacteries and their contents, though not yet radiocarbon dated, is believed to be from the last century B.C. and the first century A.D., just as is much of the other contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls collection.

The Bible speaks…

Much of the conflict that Jesus Christ had with the religious leadership of the Jewish Pharisees centered around practices that had shifted from the spiritual intent to merely a physical manifestation of righteousness.

Christ addressed the wearing of phylacteries, as well as other inconsistencies:

“ The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, butdo not do according to their works ; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men.

“They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.’ But you, do not be called 'Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren ,” (Matthew 23:2-8, NKJV, emphasis added).

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