Hebrew Voices #80 – Fake Dead Sea Scrolls Explained
In this episode of Hebrew Voices, Fake Dead Sea Scrolls Explained, find out what led the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. to announce this week that its “ancient” fragments were actually modern forgeries. Nehemia Gordon speaks with top … Continue reading →
In this episode of Hebrew Voices, Fake Dead Sea Scrolls Explained, find out what led the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. to announce this week that its “ancient” fragments were actually modern forgeries. Nehemia Gordon speaks with top Dead Sea Scroll expert Prof. Eibert Tigchelaar about how even specialists can easily be duped and some of the scientific methods used to determine whether a scroll is authentic. Gordon and Tigchelaar also discuss how a rogue scholar may have conspired with international smugglers to fabricate theology-changing Dead Sea Scroll-like fragments.
Eibert Tigchelaar is a leading authority and author on the subject of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Tigchelaar formerly held the position of research associate at the Qumran Institute at the University of Groningen, and was appointed to a professorship at Florida State University, before becoming a research professor at Katholieke University in Leuven Belgium.
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Hebrew Voices #80 – Fake Dead Sea Scrolls Explained
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Eibert: Because from that point on, we were quite confident that many of the fragments that came on the market have problems, and I’m stating it very cautiously, “having problems” means that most of us think that some or all of them – I don’t know whether all, but many of them – are forgeries.
Benjamin Netanyahu: Le ma’an Zion lo ekhesheh, u’l’ma’an Yerushalayim lo eshkhot.
Nehemia: Shalom, this is Nehemia Gordon with Hebrew Voices, and I am here today with one of the foremost experts on the paleography of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Professor Eibert Tigchelaar, who is a Research Professor in Biblical Studies within the Faculty of Religious Studies at Leuven University. Shalom, Professor Tigchelaar.
Eibert: Shalom.
Nehemia: Hey, so I heard about you a few weeks ago. I was in Helsinki, Finland at the International Society of Biblical Literature Conference, and there was a session there where they were talking about something they called “fishy fragments”, and your name kept coming up. And your article was the basis of everything they were talking about during this session on the Dead Sea Scrolls, and I was kind of blown away. I almost felt like I was this innocent scholar whose innocence had been shattered when I found out that a lot of what we look to as the Dead Sea Scrolls are fake. Can you talk to us about this?
Eibert: Yeah.
Nehemia: And then restore my confidence in the Dead Sea Scrolls at the end, please.
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Comments
It was suspicious when one fragment talking about wine read: “ מנישביץ “.
Did Americans honestly think we (Israel) would send y’all the real ones? Almost all are hidden in a special climate and temperature controlled safe (place) and nobody gets to see them (with very rare exception).
Are These fake fragments writings trying to confirm Christianity ?
I would say the copper-scroll is “fishy”.
Are there additional fragments found/available for the missing text in the war (1QM) scroll? Can anyone share links to either websites or books (if available)?
Agreed, but that desire or ‘WANT’ you speak of is initiated by the Father, who shows no partiality. We can only respond according to understanding given to us by His spirit.
1John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us.
Prov 20:12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye, Yehovah has made them both.
Ex 4:11 … “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, Yehovah?”
Matt 13:16-18 “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear… many prophets and righteous men have desired to see and did not, and hear and did not… Therefore hear the parable of the sower:…
This discussion was very interesting. I guess I’m impatient for a new cache to be found, perhaps in a better state of preservation. So many theological questions could be solved if earlier, older scrolls would turn up. I also find it hard to believe that at least a few originals of the Epistles are not extant—but I suspect they would have been concealed in the bowels of the Vatican Library, never to see the light of day, much less be published.
One of my own interests (since I am a singer) would be in finding some sort of musical notation that would give us the original tunes used to perform the Psalms, i.e., “According to Lilies” and “According to Do Not Destroy.” I devoutly hope you—as one who has access to the original scrolls—will keep your eyes open for anything that could be indications of how they were performed.
I also have my own idea of the meaning of “Selah” in the Psalms. I do NOT think it indicates a pause. If you write back to me I will tell you my own idea concerning what it does mean.
Thanks for your ministry; it is intellectually stimulating as well as supportive of belief in the truth of the Bible.
I just find it quite interesting that this came to my e-mail this week, and not having TV media availability,, (by choice), I had not heard this before… but my BFF and I are studying a book, “Understanding The Difficult Words Of Jesus” with new Insights from Hebraic Perspective, by David Bivin and Roy Blizzard, Jr.
We are on chapter 3 this week and it starts out talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls.
I have to admit, until watching or listening to your postings and reading books such as the one mentioned above, I never realized how much is paid attention to the details of such findings as the DSS’s, how many departments research and examine, etc. are needed to authenticate items. But to me it all points to the intelligence of the minds, the gifts and talents Yehovah has created.
I do not believe in co-incidences… but I do believe in God-incidences and I always am fascinated by the things found in archaeology digs or cave findings, or the bottom of the Red Sea findings, etc… which continue to verify that The Word Of Yehovah is true and not made up stories to entertain the children, or to manipulate the masses into rules obedience…. but that Yehovah IS and has always been active in the world, in the lives of those who WANT to have a relationship with Him and not settling for mere ‘religion’… it’s there for those who are willing to have eyes to see and ears to hear and experience it in the heart. .
I am appreciative of sources such as NW and BFA International for up to date information.
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