Christianity and Qumran Scrolls

Scholars have stressed the similarities between certain thoughts and practices discovered in the documents of Qumran and those that were practiced by the early Christians. From the similar points, we find the rituals of baptism, property, and communal meals. Another very interesting factor is the fact that the people were divided into twelve groups, and each group had a leader or a chief. This reminds us, in a way, of how the apostles of Jesus Christ were twelve and that they would be seated on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The fact that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written during the beginning of Christianity and during an extremely significant period in the history of Judaism gives them a central meaning and an important value.

The scrolls have enabled us to find important information. Some Apocryphal or Pseudepigraphic texts were found in the caves, this includes texts that were already known such as Tobit, Sirach, a Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch 6), Psalm 151, Enoch (1 Enoch), Jubilees, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. The description of the Qumran library is very significant for us to understand what happened inside Judaism years after the Temple had been destroyed and after the end of the occupation of the land.

The Dead Sea Scrolls created a debate on whether to consider all the scriptures the authentic words of God. Some believe that scriptures were simply an attempt to cope with the different times and to state clearly to everyone what the divine word of God was, in its essence more than what it is literally. Anyway, the Dead Sea Scrolls have had a huge amount of positive effects on the study of Judaism, the Jewish scriptures, and the Jewish history.