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457 lines
24 KiB
Plaintext
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-----=====Earth's Dreamlands=====-----
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(313)558-5024 {14.4} (313)558-5517
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A BBS for text file junkies
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From ralphw@thebox.rain.com Sun Jun 16 02:16:26 1991
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From: ralphw@thebox.rain.com (Ralph Winston)
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Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,talk.politics.mideast,alt.activism,soc.history,soc.misc
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||
Subject: Whatever Happened to the Dead Sea Scrolls? [part 1]
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Date: 12 Jun 91 08:57:28 GMT
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Organization: TheBox - Public Access Xenix
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*** Whatever Happened to the Dead Sea Scrolls? ***
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By Martin A. Larson, Ph.D.
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_____________________________________________________________________
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Dr. Martin A. Larson is the author of 25 books dealing with
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religious history, church-state issues and taxation, and is also a
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financial columnist. This text is taken from Dr. Larson's lecture at
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the 1981 International Revisionist Conference, in Los Angeles. Dr.
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Larson gave an update on the Scrolls at the 1987 Revisionist
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Conference. There has been no change in the situation as described in
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this pamphlet by Dr. Larson.
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_____________________________________________________________________
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Let us first summarize some of the known facts concerning the Dead
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Sea Scrolls and their authors, the religious organization known as the
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Essenes, which existed in Judaea and the nearby desert from about 192
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B.C. to the date of their extinction and destruction in 69 or 70 A.D.,
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when the Roman armies marched through Palestine and finally destroyed
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Jerusalem. Throughout its existence, the Essene sect was opposed to the
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Jewish authorities. Although it accepted the Scriptures which
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constitute the Old Testament, it revised, rewrote, or completely
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reinterpreted them. Also, what is even more significant and important,
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the Essenes gradually absorbed various elements from other sources,
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such as Zoroastrianism and Pythagoreanism. As a result, they prepared
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an entire corpus of original scripture which was not only a definite
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departure from official Judaism, but in basic contradiction to, and a
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repudiation of, this system of doctrine and ritual.
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By 143 B.C., as we learn from Josephus, three distinct groups had
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been fully developed in the Jewish population: they were the Essenes,
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the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, of whom the last represented the
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wealthy, upper-class Jews, who had embraced Epicureanism as their
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philosophy.
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Original Cultic Scriptures
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During the period from 192 to 60 B.C., the Essenes produced a
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great corpus of literature under the inspiration of leaders known from
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generation to generation as The Teacher of Righteousness. He was also
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called the Holy Great One, and was given other titles signifying
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revelatory powers as direct conduits of messages from the Supreme God
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of the Universe, who, by the way, was something quite different from
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Jehovah, the tribal god of the Jews. Extremely interesting is the fact
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that two very important documents - _The Book of Enoch_ and _The
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Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs _ were well known among the early
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Christians and accepted by them as sacred literature of their own.
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Scholars had no suspicion that these, although widely used in later
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periods, were produced by the Essenes until the Scrolls were discovered
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near the Dead Sea in 1947. Since hundreds of fragments of these
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documents were found in the caves, it became obvious that they were
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among the very important scriptures composed and used by the Essenes
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themselves.
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Persecution and Separation
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Whatever else we may consider as firmly established, it is certain
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that under the reign of Hyrcanus, who was affiliated with the Pharisees
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previous to 104 B.C., there was persistent persecution of the Essenes,
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partly because of doctrinal deviations but perhaps even more because of
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their condemnations of the Jewish authorities, who frequently invaded
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neighboring territories and forced people there to accept Judaism and
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circumcision on pain of persecution and even death. Thus it was that
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about 104 B.C., as we learn from Josephus, the Essenes became an
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esoteric mystery-cult with its own communes, its own code of laws,
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discipline, and organization, which included a total withdrawal and
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separation from all public activity. As a result, it became the
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depository of total religious comitment, living in expectation of the
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day, not very far in the future, when an all-powerful divine personage
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would appear, send all of their Jewish persecutors into everlasting
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torture in hellish dungeons under the surface of the earth, and
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establish the kingdom of the saints, (the Sons of Light) with its
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capital in Jerusalem.
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Under Alexander Jannaeus, who ruled from 103-78 B.C., this
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hostility and persecution intensified. The Essene documents written
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during this period are filled with the fiercest denunciations of the
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Jewish priests and authorities, who not only raided the communes of the
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Holy Ones and decimated their membership, but were also guilty of
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constant acts of aggression against their innocent and unoffending
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neighbors. The documents in our posession which contain this material
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are _The Habakkuk Commentary_, Parts IV and V of the _Book of Enoch_,
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and various statements found in _The Testaments of the Twelve
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Patriarchs_, the original portions of which were composed while
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Hyrcanus was king.
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The Essenes became a secret brotherhood in 104 in order to avoid
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total extermination; in spite of this, however, their persecution
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continued; with their members under solemn vows of secrecy, their
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organization survived and, in time, grew, especially under the
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comparatively mild regimen which followed the conquest of Judaea by
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Pompey in 64.
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The Execution and Deification of the Teacher
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The climactic event in Essene history occurred in 70 or 69 B.C. At
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that time, the Teacher of Righteousness - that is, the Essene leader -
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went boldy into Jerusalem and there, in the very temple itself, he
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proclaimed and condemned the lawless corruption and aggressions of the
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priests and authorities who ruled in Israel. He was therefore seized
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and executed, by what means is not certain, but some scholars believe
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that he was crucified.
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Shortly thereafter, the persuasion developed among his followers -
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until it became actual dogma - that he was the Most High God of the
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Universe Himself who had appeared for a time as a man among men; that
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he died a sacrifical death for the redemption of sinners; that he had
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risen from the grave on the third day; that he had returned to his
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throne in heaven; and that, before the end of the then existing
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generation, he would send a representative to the earth.
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The Essene Revelations Completed
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Except for a few original documents written after 69 B.C., and the
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final interpolations added to _The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs_
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at the same time, the cult seems at this point to have considered its
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corpus of literature and revelation complete. The members studied their
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scriptures in the various communes scattered about Palestine.
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The Secret Esoteric Order
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Between 60 B.C. and 69 A.D., the communes, which increased to
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4,000 male members, continued with little alteration, while awaiting
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the coming of the Redeemer. However, as the Romans subjugated Galilee
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on their southward march toward Jerusalem, they came across various
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Essene communes and, suspecting the cultists of being a secret and
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conspiratorial society planning the overthrow of Roman rule, tortured
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members under interrogation to reveal their secret doctrines. However,
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as Josephus tells us, they died, smiling, rather than violate their
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sacred oaths to never, no never, reveal their beliefs to anyone, no
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matter what the provocation might be.
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Secreting the Scrolls
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Then an extraordinary event occurred. As the Romans approached the
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Dead Sea headquarters at Qumran, the Essenes placed their sacred
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writings in hundreds of earthen jars, sealed them carefully, and
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secreted them in various caves located in the rugged terrain. We
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believe that they expected to return in the not-too-distant future to
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resume their long-practiced way of life. But, of course, they never
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did.
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Was Jesus an Essene?
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The existence of the Essene cult has long been known from the
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extensive references to, and descriptions of, them in Josephus, Pliny,
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and Philo Judaeus. Interestingly enough, Thomas De Quincey, a famous
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English essayist, declared about 1825 that there never was a separate
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Essene organization; that the so-called Essenes were simply Christians
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gone underground; that otherwise we would have to accept the
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blasphemous conclusion that there were two independent, yet almost
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identical, revelations at the same time and in the same place.
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There are scholars who believe that Jesus had been a full-fledged
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member of the Order; that he was persuaded that He was the personage
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foretold in their scriptures who would be empowered to establish the
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Kingdom of Righteousness, and that, therefore, he broke his vow of
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secrecy and preached the doctrines of the Order in the highways and
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byways of Galilee. Some scholars are also convinced that not only John
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the Baptist but also the original core of men who established
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Christianity had been members of the Order. Some believe in addition
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that when their communes and headquarters were destroyed by the Romans,
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many of the Essenes became an integral and decisive element in the
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formation of the Christian movement. There was, in particular, one
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segment known as the Ebionites, or the Poor Men, who recreated in
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detail in their own literature, the doctrines, teachings, and
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discipline of the Essene communities. Actually, the three Synoptic
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Gospels, and especially Luke, are studded with statements in complete
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harmony with the cultic teachings, as is the so-called Sermon on the
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Mount, found in Matthew. The more we study the Dead Sea Scrolls and the
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early canonical Christian Scriptures, the more striking are the
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parallels which become evident. We have alredy noted that two important
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Essene documents were widely accepted by the early Christian converts
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as genuine scriptures of their own. Perhaps these converts had
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previously been Essenes.
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The Great Discovery
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In 1947, an event of world-shaking significance occured. An Arab
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shepherd-boy, following a stray goat, entered an aperture on the side
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of a cliff and stumbled into a cave where the Essenes had secreted a
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number of jars containing Scrolls. However, few of these were intact;
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most had been broken, and their contents scattered about the floor,
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much of the material torn into shreds. Obviously, the caves had been
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invaded, perhaps several times, with damage which cannot easily be
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assessed. After the Arabs had recovered two virtually complete
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manuscripts of _Isaiah_, a copy of the _Manual of Discipline_, _The
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Thanksgiving Psalms_, _The Habakkuk Commentary_, the _Damascus
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Document_, and the _War_ Scroll, they sold these to a group in New
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York; and, in a short time, they were made available to the world in
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translations by Millar Burrows, Dupont-Sommer, Gaza Vermes, and
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Theodore Gaster.
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Many More Scrolls Discovered
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Then began an archeological search without parallel in religious
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history. One expedition after another went to the Dead Sea area in
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search of more Scrolls. One team was headed by Millar Burrows, who
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states in his _Dead Sea Scrolls_ that material sufficient to fill three
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large volumes was found in a single cave, cave four, in which
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two-thirds was original Essene scripture and the remainder consisted of
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Jewish canonical books. After these were placed in the Jordanian Museum
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in Jerusalem, an international team of eight scholars was selected to
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collect, piece together, and prepare for publication this incomparable
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treasure of source material; of these, four were Roman Catholics; three
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had Protestant affiliations; and only one, John Marco Allegro, was
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without personal religious commitment. Without much delay, Allegro
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translated and published everything committed to him, including the
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delicate _Copper Scroll_, which listed precious metals and jewels worth
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millions of dollars secreted somewhere in the desert - where they still
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remain. However, after he declared in an interview that the Teacher of
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Righteousness may have been crucified in 70 or 69 B.C., by the Jewish
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authorities, he was thereafter denied all access to the Scrolls and was
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not even permitted to visit the Jordanian Museum in which they were
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kept. He complained bitterly that after years of delay not one line of
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the Scrolls, in addition to his, were translated and published; and
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this in spite of the fact that no less than 400 separate documents had
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been pieced together by 1965 and could just as easily have been given
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to the world, as were the four or five published shortly after the
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original discovery.
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_The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs_ contained a great many
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passages which had always been considered of Christian origin because
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they depict a personage in many respects similar to, or almost
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identical with, the character and mission attributed to Jesus in the
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New Testament. However, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls,
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this theory became untenable as fragments of the _Testaments_ written
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nearly a century before the emergence of Christianity were found
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scattered about the caves which contained the very statements which had
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always been believed to be Christian interpolations.
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The Fate of the Scrolls
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Over the years, until his death, I corresponded with Millar
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Burrows, who had written a sympathetic review of my book, _The Essene
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Heritage_, published in 1967. He refused to admit that there was any
|
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attempt to delay or prevent the publication of the Scrolls. Once he
|
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even declared that the Oxford Press was on the verge of releasing a
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large volume of this material; but the publishers stated to me in a
|
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letter that they had no such project under consideration.
|
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Thus, year after year, I kept prodding Burrows on the subject, and
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his replies became more and more evasive until they ceased altogether.
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[Continued...]
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--
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||
TheBox Public Access Xenix - Gresham OR +1 503-669-7291 +1 503-669-7395
|
||
|
||
:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:
|
||
-----=====Earth's Dreamlands=====-----
|
||
(313)558-5024 {14.4} (313)558-5517
|
||
A BBS for text file junkies
|
||
RPGNet GM File Archive Site
|
||
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.
|
||
|
||
From ralphw@thebox.rain.com Sun Jun 16 02:16:43 1991
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From: ralphw@thebox.rain.com (Ralph Winston)
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||
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,talk.politics.mideast,alt.activism,soc.history,soc.misc
|
||
Subject: Whatever Happened to the Dead Sea Scrolls? [part 2]
|
||
Date: 12 Jun 91 08:59:59 GMT
|
||
Organization: TheBox - Public Access Xenix
|
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One question continued to occupy my interest; what had become of
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the Scrolls? Why were none of them published for so many years?
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Sometimes I wondered whether they would survive or ever be made
|
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available to the public. However, we should note that even in the
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custody of the Jordanians, they were held in the strictest secrecy -
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and why? I could only surmise that extreme pressure has been exerted by
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both Christian and Jewish sources: from the former, because it would
|
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not be beneficial to them should it be established that this faith grew
|
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out of a Jewish cult and was, therefore, not an original revelation;
|
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nor would the Israelis wish the Scrolls released, since they were
|
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filled with fierce denunciation of Jewish religious leaders and civil
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authorities.
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It is my considered opinion and my sad conclusion that the Dead
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Sea Scrolls will never be given to the world unless basic changes
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occur: first, they must be removed from the custody of the Israeli
|
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government and, second, we must establish an intellectual climate in
|
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the western world in which scholars and ministers can discuss religious
|
||
subjects without fear or reprisals, in the form of lost prestige,
|
||
removal from lucrative positions, loss of salaries or other sanctions
|
||
which can be enforced against anyone who dares interfere with the
|
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emoluments or the powers of those who are most powerful and influential
|
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in society.
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I think it is as simple as that. And at the back of my mind
|
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lingers a gnawing fear that instead of being translated and published,
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the leather or parchment on which the Scrolls are inscribed may be
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physically destroyed or become undecipherable before anything is done
|
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to release them. And it is highly significant that for several years
|
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there has been little or no discussion anywhere concerning the Scrolls.
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It seems that by ignoring the whole subject, its significance will die
|
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in the public consciousness.
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The Future of the Scrolls
|
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I can think of no possible valid reason why the Scrolls have been
|
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withheld now for nearly thirty years. If they could not be prepared for
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publication in that length of time, would a century or two centuries be
|
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enough? It seems to me that unless we can rescue them from their
|
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present custody and also achieve a new and different intellectual world
|
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climate, there is little hope that anyone now living will ever see any
|
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translation of these Scrolls.
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I consider what has happened and is continuing to occur in the
|
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matter of the Scrolls the greatest cover-up of important historical
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material that has occurred in modern history.
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_____________________________________________________________________
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Conclusion
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1. We know from the Scrolls, as well as from many passages in the
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New Testament, that both the Essenes and Jesus were bitterly opposed to
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the Jewish authorities, especially the religious. There can be little
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doubt that the Scrolls now crumbling into dust include many passages in
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which the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Scribes are excoriated in the
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most bitter terms and that the tyranny exercised by them over the
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dissident Essenes is described in full detail.
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2. John Allegro, mentioned earlier, states that the Scrolls: "pose
|
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questions too hot for the scholars' liking - that has been the trouble
|
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with the Scrolls; they impinge so much on Judaism and on
|
||
Christianity... they became a political football when the Israelis
|
||
marched in and seized Jerusalem from the Jordanians in the war of 1967.
|
||
They are now in Israeli custody and are still, so far as I am aware,
|
||
locked up in cabinets in the basements of the museum in Jerusalem,
|
||
where one bomb could destroy them anytime."
|
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3. There is a general conspiracy to conceal the contents of the
|
||
remaining Scrolls, and, if possible, to hasten their destruction.
|
||
_____________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
The IHR has people available for lectures, debates, and radio and
|
||
TV interviews who can come to your area. Write to the director at the
|
||
address below for more information.
|
||
|
||
10 copies: $2.00
|
||
50 copies: $5.00
|
||
100 copies or more: 8 cents each
|
||
|
||
THE INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL REVIEW
|
||
1822 1/2 Newport Blvd., Suite 191
|
||
Costa Mesa, California 92627
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
If you found this interesting, read the Dead Sea Scrolls update, next
|
||
message.
|
||
|
||
Ralph Winston
|
||
|
||
|
||
--
|
||
TheBox Public Access Xenix - Gresham OR +1 503-669-7291 +1 503-669-7395
|
||
|
||
:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:
|
||
-----=====Earth's Dreamlands=====-----
|
||
(313)558-5024 {14.4} (313)558-5517
|
||
A BBS for text file junkies
|
||
RPGNet GM File Archive Site
|
||
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.
|
||
|
||
From ralphw@thebox.rain.com Sun Jun 16 02:17:30 1991
|
||
From: ralphw@thebox.rain.com (Ralph Winston)
|
||
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,talk.politics.mideast,alt.activism,soc.history,soc.misc
|
||
Subject: Dead Sea Scrolls Update!
|
||
Date: 12 Jun 91 09:02:15 GMT
|
||
Organization: TheBox - Public Access Xenix
|
||
|
||
|
||
From the _IHR Newsletter_, January 1991:
|
||
|
||
THE SCROLLS: THE PLOT THICKENS
|
||
|
||
The _IHR Newsletter_ and _The Journal of Historical Review_ have
|
||
reported on previous evidences that translation and publication of the
|
||
famous Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in Palestine in 1947, has been
|
||
delayed by Christian and Jewish authorities which have controlled
|
||
access to them since their discovery. A growing chorus of criticism
|
||
>from biblical scholars -- Jewish, Christian, and agnostic -- has echoed
|
||
the charges that IHR Editorial Advisor Dr. Martin Larson first raised
|
||
in his seminal paper delivered to the IHR's International Revisionist
|
||
Conference in 1981, printed in the Summer 1982 issue of the _Journal of
|
||
Historical Review_ and thereafter issued as a pamphlet, that there is
|
||
in fact a "conspiracy to keep [the] Scrolls secret," as Hershel Shanks,
|
||
editor of the _Biblical Archeology Review_, charged in that journal
|
||
(July/August 1989).
|
||
|
||
The latest and most bizarre fillip to the scandal of the Dead Sea
|
||
Scrolls has been the dismissal of Dr. John Strugnell, the Harvard
|
||
Divinity School professor who had been chief editor of the project, by
|
||
the Israeli Antiquities Authority, which gained control of the Scrolls
|
||
following the Zionist seizure of East Jerusalem and the West Bank in
|
||
1967. According to press reports, Strugnell told an Israeli reporter
|
||
last November that he regarded "Judaism" as "originally racist" and "a
|
||
horrible religion" and that the state of Israel "is founded on a lie."
|
||
|
||
In the past, Dr. Strugnell, one of the original editors of the
|
||
Scrolls, had himself been a target of critics of the snail's pace of
|
||
the Scrolls' publication. In November, however, Strugnell told a
|
||
reporter from the _Boston Herald_ that he had been confined to a mental
|
||
hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts for a leg injury, because "various
|
||
people here and in Israel are trying to get rid of me and keep me from
|
||
publishing the Scrolls" ("Scrolls Prof: People Trying to Get Rid of
|
||
Me," December 14, 1990). Allegations of "decades" of "mental health"
|
||
and "drinking problems" attributed to his former colleagues ("Biblical
|
||
Scholars Sort Issues behind Editor's Dismissal," _Orange County [CA]
|
||
Register_, December 24, 1990) leave unanswered the question of how such
|
||
a situation, if it existed, could be tolerated, particularly when
|
||
Strugnell was so swiftly dispatched for voicing, however combatively, a
|
||
few home truths about how certain influential Jewish opinion makers,
|
||
ancient and modern, see their Gentile neighbors.
|
||
|
||
The solution to the scandal of the Dead Sea Scrolls remains what
|
||
Dr. Larson urged a decade ago: ". . .first, they must be removed from
|
||
the custody of the Israeli government, and second, we must establish an
|
||
intellectual climate in the western world in which scholars and
|
||
ministers can discuss religious subjects without feear of reprisals. .
|
||
."
|
||
|
||
[An updated version of Dr. Larson's 1982 article "Whatever Happened to
|
||
the Dead Sea Scrolls?" is available in leaflet form. Order 10 copies
|
||
for $2, 50 copies for $5, 100 or more copies for 8 cents each from:
|
||
IHR, 1922 1/2 Newport Blvd., Suite 191, Costa Mesa, CA 92627.]
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
I hope this gives those who are interested some valuable and
|
||
interesting information concerning the fate of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.
|
||
|
||
Ralph Winston
|
||
|
||
|
||
--
|
||
TheBox Public Access Xenix - Gresham OR +1 503-669-7291 +1 503-669-7395
|
||
|
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