The ancient scroll

Today my eyes were blessed to gaze upon the original more than 2000-year-old Isaiah scroll discovered in a cave by the Dead Sea in 1947. Now temporarily displayed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, this is the first time the original scroll has been shown publicly in 60 years. Due to preservation issues, we are given only ten minutes in the climatized room to view the document.

The seven meter long scroll of goatskin parchment lay rolled inside a clay jar in that dry cave for more than 2000 years, preserved in the dryness of the below-sea level desert. It was discovered there by a Bedouin shepherd who brought it to Bethlehem to sell to merchants there. When the word of its discovery reached the ears of Jewish archaeologists it was eventually purchased for a large sum and finally brought to Jerusalem.

The Biblical book of Isaiah is one of the most elevated pieces of literature in existence, describing a time of divine peace between nations when justice and beauty reigns in all creation, and evil is permanently judged and removed. At the heart and center of this scroll is Jerusalem, and the promise that the nation of Israel shall be again restored to its land:

“Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD. “Or will I who deliver close the womb?” says your God.” - Isaiah 66

In an historic response to that prophecy, within a year of the scroll’s discovery, the nation of Israel was born in a day, on May 14th, 1948.

Then in 1967, twenty years after the discovery of the Isaiah scroll, Jerusalem was captured by Israel n the Six Day War. Then Jews were able to enter and excavate the two millennia of soil that had piled up on the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, and in so doing uncovered that same passage from Isaiah, quoted at the top of this article, carved into the limestone wall: “‘When your eyes see this, your heart will rejoice and your bones will flourish like grass.”

Since that time the irreplaceable manuscript has been hidden and protected through Israel’s many wars. Finally, the beautiful Shrine of the Book was constructed to house a copy of the scroll, and the many scrolls and ancient Israelite items later found in the Dead Sea caves at Qumran, which may be seen by all. It is object evidence in the Controversy of Zion being layed out that demands a verdict.