Many question have been risen when comparing the Scrolls with the New Testament and Jesus Christ.
On discovering the Scrolls many expected the information in the scrolls would change our understanding of Judaism and especially Christianity. Some thought it would turn Christianity upside down. The community at Qumran lived at the time of Christ - just 13 miles from Jerusalem.
Scroll texts that may be related to the New Testament can be constructed differently by different scholars; not all experts agree. During the period of time in which the scrolls from Cave 4 were not published and were hidden from the world, all kinds of "conspiracy" rumors regarding the Vatican were being raised.
There was even a book written in 1991 by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh entitled "The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception."
It turned out there was no conspiracy at all. No fragments were ever destroyed and there was no cover-up from the Vatican on any information contained on the scrolls.
Most scholars believe there is NO mention of Jesus, or any early leaders of Christianity in the Scrolls.
Many stories abound about individuals before and after Jesus doing great works, even some what could be called miracles. You may remember the disciples of Jesus coming to him once being concerned about a man doing healings in the name of Jesus, and the disciples asked Jesus if they should go and stop him. Jesus told them to let him be for no one could speak evil of himself doing great works in His name.
Many people do not realize scholars often do not agree among themselves, and even have biases to fit their conceptions; miss a way of looking at data. Many of the fragments are badly damaged and letters hard to make out; figuring out what the words and sentences say are often a guess at best. The experts do make errors.
The Hebrew language does not contain vowels - the old Hebrew that is. Hence trying to make words from consonants is ..... well up for grabs as we say. Many different words begin and end with the same consonants. So much is guess work and extrapolation. So you could read into these consonants what you would like to read into them to make words and sentences, and so pick words from a certain bias of mind.
THE JESUS CONNECTION
We shall look at a fragment from Cave 7. It concerns the verses in the New Testament of Mark 6:52-53 about Jesus walking on water.
The Dead Sea Scroll 7Q5 version is a follows:
"....understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. And when they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret, and anchored there. And when they got...."
This reconstruction of the Scrolls was advocated by Peter Carsten, who claimed there was evidence of the New Testament in the Scrolls. But critics disagreed on how he reconstructed the words, and accused him of making assumptions as to what the consonants should be in forming words as they could have been other words.......try making words only from consonants, you'll see the difficulty.
Only those taught in Welsh (handed down verbally) can read Welsh, as the Welsh language does not use vowels.
The famous Slain or Pierced Messiah text is another example. The is what 4Q285 is supposed by some to read:
"Isaiah the prophet: [The thickest of the forest] will be cut [down with an axe and Lebanon by a majestic one will f]all. And there shall come forth a soot from the stump of Jesse [...] the Branch of david and they will enter into judgment with [...] and the Prince of the Congregation the Br[anch of david] will kill him [...by strok]es and by wounds. And a Priest [of renown (?) will command {... the s]lai[n] of the Kitt[m...]"
Some then believe this is talking about the slain and dying messiah. Could it be about Jesus Christ? It is still being debated.
The text of the Scrolls containing this are badly mutilated and no clear conclusion can be drawn. Some translators interpret the text as actually the Prince will do the killing and not be killed. So it goes when trying to translate from just consonants with no vowels.
The Scrolls tell us about a "teacher of righteousness" - but does not mention his name, what he looked like, where he was born, how he came to be a leader. Many have tried to acquaint this "teacher" with Jesus or John the Baptist or James the brother of Jesus. But it is purely speculation and guess work.
DeSalvo gives a few more examples in his book concerning how some interpret consonants into words so they would seem to line up with a few New Testament passages in the Gospels. But as we have seen making words from consonants is up for interpretation and such then can be influenced by your bias or as we say "wishful thinking."
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NEXT SOME STRIKING TEACHINGS OF THE SCROLLS WITH THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS.
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