The Dead Sea Scrolls: Treasure of the Caves

[Music] [Music] ancient scribes sacred scrolls hidden in desert caves discovered by bedouin shepherds nearly 2 000 years later who wrote them why were they hidden [Music] and what vital message do they have for us today [Music] [Music] in the first century a.d about 70 years after the birth of christ members of a mysterious religious sect hid a collection of over 900 sacred scrolls in caves in the judean desert bordering the dead sea the chance discovery of the ancient scrolls 2000 years later by bedouin shepherds was considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time and sent shock waves through the world of bible scholarship who wrote them why were they hidden and why are they so important to us today join me as we travel to qumran in search of answers [Music] buried treasure hordes of it yes i know where there is enough hidden wealth to boggle the imagination there are boxes of precious incense and vast quantities of gold and silver all told 200 tons of the stuff worth over a billion dollars lying five to six meters under the ground all buried in the desert by a strange religious sect [Music] to get the breathtaking details i've come to the middle east to visit one of the most inhospitable places in all the world but one that has captured the imagination of people everywhere and popularized the science of archaeology to get there we've got to leave the sacred city of jerusalem and travel east through the judean desert here the mountainous landscape plummets dramatically 1200 meters to the blistering hot basin of the dead sea on the way we passed the sea level sign however we still haven't reached the sea although the plaque says sea level we still have to keep going down and down we're on our way to the lowest place on earth the dead sea is 400 meters or 1312 feet below sea level it's the lowest place on planet earth's land surface so we've still got a long way to go [Music] the dead sea is 50 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide and reaches a depth of 400 meters it covers an area of 605 square kilometers virtually all of its water comes from the jordan river which flows into it from the north the dead sea is no outlet in hebrew it's called the sea of salt it's the world's saltiest body of water 10 times more salty than sea water in fact nearly a third of it consists of dissolved salt and other minerals its super saline waters makes floating easy it's so salty you can't sink you can float in the dead sea and read a book without fear of thinking the dead sea has attracted visitors for thousands of years it was one of the world's first health resorts for herod the great and it has been a supplier of a wide variety of products from asphalt for egyptian mummification to potash and fertilizers people also use the salt and minerals from the dead sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets [Music] it rarely rains here and summer temperatures often reach 45 degrees celsius it's a harsh and inhospitable environment near the northwestern shore of the dead sea in a wilderness of terrible beauty is a hillside that is honeycombed with caves this is the site of one of the most exciting discoveries of all time [Music] many archaeologists are convinced that the treasure found in this area is more valuable than all the golden wealth found in the ancient tombs of kings and pharaohs the discovery here happened by accident one day in 1947 a bedouin boy called muhammad the wolf was minding some goats near these cliffs along the shores of the dead sea now these goats are very agile and are able to climb incredible heights in search of the tender green tufts of grass that grow in springtime among the pebbles and sand of this desert region one of the shaggy goats that muhammad the wolf was minding chance to stray from the rest of the flock while searching for this aggravating animal he noticed a small cave in the rocky cliffs that he hadn't noticed before thinking that his goat may have taken shelter in the cave from the blistering summer heat muhammad picked up a stone and threw it into the cave but the sound that came back to him was not the familiar echo of stone striking stone he was startled to hear the strange echoing sound of shattering pottery panic-stricken he rushed away in fear of evil spirits but was it an evil spirit or was it gold now muhammad the wolf belonged to a group of smugglers from the tamara tribe who were trying to get their livestock and other goods out of jordan and into palestine they were on their way to bethlehem to sell their goods on the black market they detoured far south to the northern shores of the dead sea to avoid crossing the jordan bridge which customs officers guarded with guns and they'd set up camp at ainfashka the desert oasis near the ancient ruins of qumran [Music] these nomadic arab people inhabit the vast desert regions of the middle east and have a culture of herding camels and goats these animals comprise their livelihood and are used for meat dairy products and wool the better one travel from place to place looking for water and grazing for their animals because they have to be mobile they carry all their worldly possessions with them as they travel they live in large tents that they pitch when they find a suitable location the tents are made by hand of goat and sheep hair and provide ideal shelter in the desert it's loosely woven material lets air come in and the smoke out so the tent is pleasant in summer however on rare occasions when it rains the fiber gets swollen and the tent becomes waterproof so these grand desert tents are ideal for the bedouins nomadic lifestyle and function well in all conditions that night as muhammad the wolf sat in the family tent he told his cousin of his experience the boys were intrigued by possibilities of what the cave may contain what was in there what secrets lay hidden in its dark interior [Music] the next morning found the boys on the mountainside at the cave dreaming of a trove of hidden treasure the boys squeezed through the narrow opening and dropped into the cave to their amazement they discovered that there was a collection of large dust-covered pottery jars standing on the floor of the cave eagerly the boys removed the lids imagine their disappointment when they discovered that the jars contained only rolls of old leather covered with strange writing all carefully wrapped in cloth and blackened by age they had hoped to find a horde of treasure of gold and silver but instead they found brittle old scrolls that were not much use for anything they were deeply disappointed but actually they had found treasure even though they didn't know it they had found the treasures now known as the dead sea scrolls on that legendary day not realizing their value or significance the disappointed bedouin boys stuffed the three scrolls into their shirts and took them back to camp hoping they might get a bit of money for them in bethlehem during the next couple of weeks the boys discovered four more scrolls in the cave and a couple of unbroken scroll jars [Music] over the next few months the scrolls hung from the tent poles in the bedouin camp eventually the bedouin took the scrolls and two jars to a shopkeeper and cobbler friend in bethlehem by the name of kando at first no one was interested in the dirty old scrolls an employee of the department of antiquities called them worthless kando decided to buy four of the ancient scrolls he felt that if nothing else they may have some uses leather for shoe repairs the remaining three scrolls were sold to an antiquities dealer named salahi kando then resold the four scrolls he had to archbishop samuel head of the syrian orthodox monastery of saint mark's in jerusalem the journey of the scrolls then becomes stranger than fiction truly amazing a hebrew university professor eliza sukhanig heard about the scrolls and set out to investigate the significance of the discoveries it was extremely dangerous arab jewish tensions were high as the modern state of israel was emerging sukanek was prepared to risk everything for the scrolls he traveled to meet an armenian antiquities dealer at the british divided military zone on the jerusalem border in this clandestine meeting the dealer held up a fragment of leather for the jewish professor to examine as such peered through the barbed wire he immediately recognized the ancient hebrew writing eager to see more sukunik traveled with the dealer to arab bethlehem to see salahi who had the first three scrolls he was amazed to see the hebrew scrolls and agreed to purchase three of them it was the first time the scrolls had been read for two thousand years as tensions in the middle east burst into war the archbishop smuggled the remaining four scrolls from jerusalem to america and there he advertised them in a wall street journal classified in a strange twist of fate yigayadin professor sukunik's son and an israeli war hero bought all four of the scrolls through a front man the first seven original scrolls were united again in israel well when used that the scrolls were very valuable reached the bedouin and their friends hundreds of treasure hunters rushed to the area near the dead sea they searched every conceivable crevice rock formation and hillside cave that might possibly hide more of the precious scrolls in ten new caves they found the remains of over 900 scrolls one cave k4 once had 500 scrolls hidden in it most of these scrolls had been broken into small pieces altogether about 40 000 pieces came from k-4 each one had to be bought from the arabs who found them at an average price of four dollars per square centimeter these thousands of fragments were brought to the rockefeller museum in jerusalem they were laid out in the courtyard and sorted then specialists began the long and tedious task of piecing the scrolls back together again and deciphering the strange writing an ancient form of hebrew [Music] archaeologists returned to the rugged dead sea shoreline and re-explored the area their efforts were rewarded when they found a cave that contained a most unusual scroll they discovered three strips of finely beaten copper that had been inscribed and rolled up into a scroll as the archaeologists searched the caves and found more fragments they realized that these scrolls had been part of a large library but who wrote them and why did they hide them in the desert well the answer lay 100 meters from k-4 where they found the largest cache of scroll fragments here in some old ruins that had been on maps for decades these qumran ruins were mistakenly assumed to be the remains of an old roman fort now archaeologists began excavations which revealed that the ruins had been a monastery of the jewish sect the essenes around the time of christ the excavations revealed a lot about the community that lived here there was a large kitchen and dining room which contained thousands of plates and bowls clearly a large number of people ate together here they had large systems for containing water the region is very dry and in order to obtain water the people made a canal to draw rainwater from the hills behind the systems are big enough to supply the needs of hundreds of people there are storage rooms where they kept their produce and supplies they had workshops for potters and laundrymen a large watchtower ensured they had ample warning of approaching danger nearly every phase of the life of these remarkable people has been pieced together by the scholars who unearth this self-sufficient community but why did these people choose to live in such an uncomfortable isolated place the nearby cliffs are rugged and bare the plateau is flat dry and barren the sun beats down mercilessly in summer and makes the rocks so hot it's impossible to stand still on one spot for more than a few seconds there are no trees to give shade it's bleak dusty hot and unpleasant [Music] yet these people built quite an elaborate settlement here why why would anyone want to live here well the answer lies right here this room was the nerve center of the asean community they came to this inhospitable region to live in seclusion and spent their lives copping out the bible this room is the scriptorium or writing room originally it was a two-story building that housed a library in a writing area here the essenes worked carefully copying out the scriptures commentaries and other works their whole lives revolved around this work they had copies of the hebrew scriptures or the old testament part of the bible and they spent their time carefully copying it out archaeologists made an amazing discovery here in this very room where the copying of the scriptures was done they found desks inkwells and quills their scenes used more inkwells were found here than at any other site from this period the inkwells still had dried ink in them and here's what's truly amazing when they analyzed the ink in these ink wells and compared it to the ink on some of the dead sea scrolls they were found to be identical they also found pottery jars that are identical to those found in the caves which contained the dead sea scrolls but in june of 1868 death came to qumran and all writing here ended forever that was the time of the first jewish revolt against rome on their way to attack jerusalem the roman legions destroyed the essene settlement at qumran [Music] those residents that did escape just had enough time to hide the sacred scrolls they couldn't carry in these cliffside caves before they fled the romans they hoped that when the romans had gone the scrolls could be rescued however they didn't live to return some of the scrolls were lost in landslides or through dampness [Music] but many survived and lay undisturbed in the desert caves for almost 2 000 years to become the greatest manuscript discovery in history as the experts pieced together and deciphered the scrolls they discovered some very interesting things for example the copper scroll was an inventory of 61 hordes of treasure gold silver incense and the like this treasure according to the scroll had been hidden in a number of secret places near the dead sea in jerusalem it hasn't been found yet so if you'd like to join the treasure hunt you can there's nearly 200 tons of treasure with over a billion dollars buried five to six meters under the ground somewhere near here it's believed to be treasure from the temple at jerusalem that was hidden away for safe keeping but what interested scholars most was the true treasure you see the majority of the scrolls were biblical manuscripts copies of books of the bible the hebrew bible also known as the old testament in fact all the books of the old testament were discovered at qumran with the exception of esther now the question naturally arises why are the dead sea scrolls considered such great treasure why are they so important and what vital message do they have for us today [Music] well the question is often asked how can we know that our bible today is accurate just as the prophets originally wrote it how can we know that it speaks the same message that it did thousands of years ago when the prophets wrote it how can we know that it wasn't changed or that mistakes didn't creep in down through the centuries well this is where the dead sea scrolls fit in and this is what makes them so important to us today [Music] before the discovery of these scrolls in 1947 the oldest manuscripts of the old testament the hebrew scriptures that anybody had came from the 9th century a.d 900 years after the time of christ nothing even approaching an original was available to us the best we could expect was only a copy of a copy no one knows how many copies and there was always the reoccurring question what may have happened to the accuracy of the text through all the centuries of copying but as scholars examine and decipher the dead sea scrolls they confirmed that they were written before or at the time of christ so the dead sea scrolls are 1 000 years older than any complete biblical manuscript in existence it's the age of these scrolls that makes them so valuable in one stroke we are brought one thousand years nearer to the original writings of the bible prophets and when these ancient scrolls were compared with the words of our bible today they were found to be virtually identical professor burroughs of yale university who worked on the scroll said there is nothing which can be called a major addition or a mission do you see what this means it means that we can know that our bible today is virtually the same as when it came from the hands of the prophets you can trust the bible the dead sea scrolls allow us to be certain that our bible has been miraculously preserved down through the ages and more importantly in this age of modern scientific discovery it challenges us to seriously consider the bible and its claims the bible claims to be special and unique it claims to be god's word it claims to contain vital information for us today [Music] the story of the dead sea scrolls and their amazing discovery has captivated and inspired people all over the world these ancient scrolls demonstrate that the bible has been miraculously preserved down through the centuries the dead sea scrolls challenge us to seriously consider the bible and its claims the bible claims to be special and unique it claims to be god's word it claims to contain vital information for us today it claims to hold the key to true inner peace and happiness if you'd like to consider the claims of the bible if you're looking for peace and happiness then i'd like to recommend the free gift we have for all our viewers today it's our new booklet secrets of the dead sea scrolls [Music] this booklet will explain why the scrolls are worth millions of dollars why they are so relevant to us today and it will also provide practical tips on how to read the bible this booklet is our gift to you and is absolutely free i guarantee there are no costs or obligations whatsoever so make the most of this wonderful opportunity to receive the gift we have for you today here's the information you need phone or text 0436 triple three triple five in australia or o20422 2042 in new zealand or visit our website tij.tv or simply scan the qr code on your screen to request today's free offer and we'll send it to you totally free of charge and with no obligation so don't delay call text or visit our website or simply scan the qr code on your screen and we'll send you today's free offer totally free of charge and with no obligation write to us at gpo box 274 sydney new south wales 2001 australia or p.o box 76673 manukau auckland 2241 new zealand don't delay call or text us now [Music] if you've enjoyed today's journey to ancient qumran and our reflections on the dead sea scrolls and their message for us today then be sure to join us again next week when we will share another of life's journeys together until then why not make a decision to seriously consider the bible and its claims why not make a decision to check it out to give it a try right now as we pray dear heavenly father thank you for your word the bible we are so grateful that you have miraculously preserved it down through the centuries we thank you for the message of the bible a message centered around jesus and the peace and happiness that he provides we want to experience that peace and happiness in our lives please granted to us we ask this in jesus name amen [Music] you

Channel: The Incredible Journey

Views: 33,847

Keywords: dead sea scrolls, jesus christ, history documentary, dead sea documentary, dead sea scrolls documentary, the dead sea documentary, biblical documentaries, dead sea scroll, bible prophecy, dead sea scrolls explained, dead sea scrolls bible, Old Testament Dead sea scrolls, gary kent, the incredible journey, prophecy, heaven, salvation, bible lesson, bible, who discovered the dead sea scrolls?, where was the dead sea scrolls found?, What year was the dead sea scrolls discovered?

Id: fZ4kvsWo0EM

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 05 2021