Book of Leviticus Verses Recovered from Burnt Hebrew Bible Scroll
Oldest Hebrew Bible scroll since the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Ein Gedi
A charred Hebrew Bible scroll was discovered in the Torah ark in a Byzantine synagogue at Ein Gedi, Israel. Photo: Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority.
A burnt ancient scroll found in 1970 has finally been deciphered thanks to advanced digital technology. Four and a half decades after its discovery, the scroll was recently revealed to contain a passage from the Book of Leviticus. Excavated from the Torah ark of a Byzantine-period synagogue at Ein Gedi in Israel, the scroll had been victim to a fire that raged through the entire village. The scroll is considered to be the oldest Hebrew Bible scroll discovered since the Dead Sea Scrolls. Furthermore, the discovery represents the first time a Torah scroll has been excavated from an ancient synagogue.
When Merkel Technologies Company, Ltd. Israel performed high-resolution 3D scanning on Dead Sea Scroll fragments and phylactery cases (tefillin) in 2014, the burnt scroll from Ein Gedi was added to the batch. Afterward, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) sent the scans to be analyzed by Dr. Brent Seales, Professor and Chair of Computer Science at the University of Kentucky, who had developed digital imaging software to read the scrolls. The researchers initially discovered that the scroll contained the first eight verses of the Book of Leviticus:*
The Lord summoned Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying: Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When any of you bring an offering of livestock to the Lord, you shall bring your offering from the herd or from the flock.
If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you shall offer a male without blemish; you shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, for acceptance in your behalf before the Lord. You shall lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be acceptable in your behalf as atonement for you. The bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. The burnt offering shall be flayed and cut up into its parts. The sons of the priest Aaron shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the parts, with the head and the suet, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar.
Leviticus 1:1-8 (NRSV)
Using advanced digital technology, the burnt Hebrew Bible scroll from Ein Gedi was virtually unrolled and deciphered. Photo: Seth Parker, University of Kentucky, and Ehud Shor, Jerusalem.
Ein Gedi is an oasis nestled on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Excavations conducted at the site in the 1960s and 1970s were focused on the prominent summit, Tel Goren. The site was inhabited beginning in the Chalcolithic period, but most of the remains at Ein Gedi date from the Iron Age through the Byzantine period. In the Byzantine period, Ein Gedi had a synagogue with a colorful mosaic pavement and a Torah ark.1
In an IAA press release, Yosef Porath, one of the directors of the Ein Gedi excavations in the 1970s, described what happened to the Jewish village in the sixth century:
“The settlement was completely burnt to the ground, and none of its inhabitants ever returned to reside there again, or to pick through the ruins in order to salvage valuable property. In the archaeological excavations of the burnt synagogue, we found in addition to the charred scroll fragments a bronze seven-branched candelabrum (menorah), the community’s money box containing about 3,500 coins, glass and ceramic oil lamps, and vessels that held perfume. We have no information regarding the cause of the fire, but speculation about the destruction ranges from Bedouin raiders from the region east of the Dead Sea to conflicts with the Byzantine government.”
“The deciphering of the scroll, which was a puzzle for us for 45 years,” Porath added, “is very exciting.”
This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on July 21, 2015.
* Update, September 23, 2016: Research on this scroll has been published in “An Early Leviticus Scroll from En-Gedi: Preliminary Publication” by Michael Segal, Emanuel Tov, William Brent Seales, Clifford Seth Parker, Pnina Shor and Yosef Porath with an Appendix by Ada Yardeni in Textus 26 (2016). The researchers now state that verses from the first two chapters of the Book Leviticus have been deciphered on the scroll.
Notes:
1. For more on the excavations at Ein Gedi, see Ephraim Stern, “‘Ein-Gedi,” in Eric M. Meyers, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East vol. 2 (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997), pp. 222–223.
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Is there any reason why the Hebrew name Yahweh the Tetragrammaton was replaced with the term Lord in this translation? It is the will of God that his name is known to all. In London and in the Caribbean islands calypsonians often use the title “Lord” before their names. This translation is defective. Sad.
If God himself rained fire on the community it would explain why no one re-entered after the fire.
That the inhabitants never returned if for nothing else than to salvage personal/community belongings is very curious. If Bedouin raiders or Byzantine authorities did it and simply left afterward, might the people have sneaked back to salvage? If Bedouin raiders did it and stayed, wouldn’t they have looted? If the Byzantines did it and purposefully kept people out, would there be records? If all the people were massacred by either, wouldn’t that have been known?
Actually, you can go to http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/scholars-use-x-rays-to-read-ancient-biblical-text-for-the-first-time/
and see the actual Hebrew text there which is identical with the Hebrew texts we have today. Check it out.
Why won’t this site show the real actual scriptures that were discovered? What is there to hide?Because the scriptures you used in this article are not of Hebrew origin as you know.Please tell me, because as a believer in Yeshua, why not reveal the truth of what was really translated out of that scroll, like the name of Elohim in His original name. People need the Truth of God’s Word, and when I mean God’s word,I mean from its origial context, the Hebrew.
As above.so true.sad they use lord,and not Yahweh or at least Tetragrammaton.every Bible from 1st century and going back in time had gods name.its only second century onward lord is used.still prophecy being fulfilled.Acts 20 ,29&30 and Jeremiah 23 v27
This ancient fragment would obviously contain the tetragrammatton, the four Hebrew consonants spelling the Divine name, which sadly have been replaced in many modern translations by title’s such as “Lord” as in the NRSV translation quoted above. How exciting it was to hear about this fragment of Gods inspired Word faithfully copied by some ancient scribe finally being found and deciphered!
So how old is it?
Animals offered and procedure: Bull, ram, male goat, turtledove, or young pigeon. (Le 1:3, 5, 10, 14) If it was an animal, the offerer laid his hand on the animal’s head (acknowledging the offering as his offering, and for him, in his behalf). (Le 1:4) The animal was slaughtered, the blood was sprinkled round about upon the altar of burnt offering (Le 1:5, 11), the animal was skinned and cut up into its parts, its intestines (no offal was burned on altar) and shanks were washed, the head and other body parts were all put on altar (the officiating priest received the skin; Le 7:8). (Le 1:6-9, 12, 13) If it was a bird, the crop and feathers were removed, and the head and body were burned on the altar. (Le 1:14-17).Scripture Index Leviticus:
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200270003
Two things: I’m amused by the large holes and straps used to hold the pages together. Now they’re sewn almost seamlessly. Also, has anyone yet compared it to modern Torah scroll?
Sort of ironic that a passage that mentions the burnt offering from Leviticus was itself ‘burnt’. I am thankful though that modern technology has been able to reveal to us what this charred ruin contained.
Really shows us the authenticity of the scriptures. Thank God that even mordern technology also confirms scriptures. As ancient as the book of Leviticus is.