A letter to the goat herder
The Cave at Qumran
Sir,
I’m writing to you with the utmost curiosity today. I hear you are the man who found clay jars in a cave at Qumran that contain ancient recordings of Scripture! This is one of the greatest discoveries of all time!
The story is told that one of your goats went missing and you began to look everywhere for him. The area is west of the Dead Sea in desert temperatures. The terrain is full of never ending lines of tans, creams, and pale pinks. A goat could easily be camouflaged here. You looked into one of the caves, which I’ve seen are in abundance throughout Israel.
The story continues with you throwing a stone out further into the abyss in hopes to get a sound from the lost goat. Rather, you heard a shattering. You discovered a collection of large jars, some still intact and with their lids firmly attached. Inside the jars were ancient scrolls.
I read that this village of Qumran existed in Jesus’ day. It is believed that a Jewish sect called Essenes lived here and hid their scrolls in pottery jars around AD 68 when the Roman armies were gaining on the Jewish people. The Essenes joined the rebel forces against Rome at Masada, though they intended to return to Qumran. (Fellow sojourners, if you read my continued letter to King David, you would know this next part to be true.) The Jews would have been among those killed at Masada in AD 73.
Find Qumran. Find Masada. Find Jerusalem.
I would have loved to have been a fellow goat herder and heard this firsthand as you returned. You would have had to read it to me since I don’t know Hebrew. This mystery became an overwhelming affirmation by antique dealers, professors and ministers that this was Scriptures from thousands of years ago.
“Bedouins discovered this cave in August of 1952. 14,000 fragments of scrolls were unearthed as they sifted through the dust within. Archeologists who reached the cave later uncovered an additional 1,000 fragments. Scholars believe that a Roman soldier who entered the cave in 68 CE tore the scrolls intentionally and that later ravages by animals and climate inflicted further damage as research proceeded the fragments of these scrolls were pieced together to produce 530 different scrolls. Translation of these scrolls was completed in 2001.” - Storage jars and a scroll (Qumran)
We call them the Dead Sea Scrolls today. These are the oldest known copies of biblical works. A special museum has been built to house them. It’s called the “Shrine of the Book” at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The top of the museum is made to look like the top of the clay jars. Brilliant.
Shrine of the Book (upper) Clay jars found at Cave at Qumran (lower)
I stood outside the Israel Museum just days after seeing the caves at Qumran. I scribed this thought before entering the Shrine of the Book and seeing the scrolls: I had faith that this was true and didn’t need to see this to believe, but what this will do for my faith in the days ahead, I can only slow myself to take it in.
“The Bible contains sixty-six books by forty authors written over 1,500 years in three languages and on three continents - and yet there is one consistent message of salvation by grace through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Only an inspired book could have such unity amidst such diversity.” (Wayne Stiles)
Sir, I don’t know if you believe in God or the Scriptures. Maybe this was enough to convince you. I have read many times what the prophet Isaiah wrote in chapter 40, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” This was one of the many texts found in the jars in the cave that day. I have seen the terrain where grass and flowers don't last for long. I am living in a strange reality in 2020 where we are witnessing how quickly life fades. I can say personally, I am looking for something that will last forever. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. - Isaiah 40:28-31
Curious if you found the goat,
Shauna
(Facts shared come from the Scriptures and from the tour with Insight for Living Ministries. Specific info on the Dead Sea Scrolls found here. Imagination from my own heart.)