Sun, Surf, And Scrolls

[J Green]

I just spent the last week with my family on Coronado, San Diego. On Saturday I left them all boogie and skim boarding while I went to the DSS exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in Balboa Park. What a remarkable chance to see some of the scrolls, including the Copper Scroll, the Damascus Document, War Scroll, etc. Bought the obligatory copy of "The Bible at Qumran: Text, Shape, and Interpretation" signed by Peter Flint. Good stuff.

On the other hand, I came back to the board this morning ready for a dozen or so new threads on 'adoring' history and was severely dissapointed to find none. I guess it's back to my book.

Cheers

[LoudmouthMormon]

We had someone who had worked on the DSS project for years, come speak to our stake. It was wonderful - even if he didn't bring any scrolls with him. He did show slides though.

One Isaiah scroll was about a dozen feet long. The first 3 feet were very aged and worn - the rest of the scroll was in much better repair, as if it rarely was unrolled. The speculation was, this scroll was routinely used during the sabbath, where it would be unrolled the length of the table it was put on.

The presentation brought new light to Luke 4:

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor..."

You just don't get a scroll handed to you, unroll it to the right place, and manage to find your scripture. Not with those ancient scrolls. No pages, no paragraphs, no verse numbering.

LM

[J Green]

On the other hand, I came back to the board this morning ready for a dozen or so new threads on 'adoring' history and was severely dissapointed to find none. I guess it's back to my book.

I see on second glance that the 'adoring' history posts have merely morphed into the JS sealings posts. That's what you get for missing a whole week.

[J Green]

The presentation brought new light to Luke 4:

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor..."

You just don't get a scroll handed to you, unroll it to the right place, and manage to find your scripture. Not with those ancient scrolls. No pages, no paragraphs, no verse numbering.

Nice idea, LM. I had similar thoughts as I was looking at 4Q56 (Isaiah 5:15-28). Even though it wasn't even near the same part of Isaiah that the Savior read, I was imagining him unrolling a similar scroll and reading it aloud. Good stuff.

By the way, also included in the exhibit was Papyrus Bar Kokhba 44 (the Alma Scroll), found in mudstone caves outside the Qumran community. It has been referenced by several scholars over the years because of the use of the name Alma in Hebrew as a male name. The offical DSS program actually includes the following paragraph on the plaque by the scroll:

Latter-day Saints find this scroll of particular interest, because it specifies "Alma son of Judah" as one of the people involved in the agreement on the fourth line and at the bottom of the document. This text contains the oldest known occurrence of the name "Alma" outside of the Book of Mormon

I thought that was interesting.

[Ron Beron]

I just spent the last week with my family on Coronado, San Diego. On Saturday I left them all boogie and skim boarding while I went to the DSS exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in Balboa Park. What a remarkable chance to see some of the scrolls, including the Copper Scroll, the Damascus Document, War Scroll, etc. Bought the obligatory copy of "The Bible at Qumran: Text, Shape, and Interpretation" signed by Peter Flint. Good stuff.

On the other hand, I came back to the board this morning ready for a dozen or so new threads on 'adoring' history and was severely dissapointed to find none. I guess it's back to my book.

Cheers

I was planning on going in the next couple of weeks and I was wondering if you walked right in or did you get advance tickets?

[J Green]

I was planning on going in the next couple of weeks and I was wondering if you walked right in or did you get advance tickets?

Hi, Enemy Ace

The tour is self-guided, but start times are staggered by ticket. If you are going on a weekend, I would suggest buying the ticket prior to that day to get the start time you need (you can buy tickets here). However, if you're going on a week day, the staff member I talked to said that you can usually walk right in at the time of purchase.

Regards

[e=mc2]

J. Green:

Bought the obligatory copy of "The Bible at Qumran: Text, Shape, and Interpretation" signed by Peter Flint. Good stuff.

Hey that IS good stuff! I was quite interested in that book by Flint. I bought it when he was here in my home town lecturing to us on the scrolls a few months back. Had him sign it too, so my copy is worth more than your copy so NYAH!

[Gervin]

By the way, also included in the exhibit was Papyrus Bar Kokhba 44 (the Alma Scroll), found in mudstone caves outside the Qumran community. It has been referenced by several scholars over the years because of the use of the name Alma in Hebrew as a male name. The offical DSS program actually includes the following paragraph on the plaque by the scroll:

Latter-day Saints find this scroll of particular interest, because it specifies "Alma son of Judah" as one of the people involved in the agreement on the fourth line and at the bottom of the document. This text contains the oldest known occurrence of the name "Alma" outside of the Book of Mormon

I was in LA for a few weeks this summer and went down to SD and saw the exhibit. I was amused to see the Book of Mormon reference associated with the DSS "Alma" scroll; a connection that is really no connection at all, in my estimation. (btw, I thought the actual display said that the connection was "significant" but I didn't purchase the program)

[e=mc2]

The obvious connection is that there is now perfect archaeological connection that ancient male Jews really did name their children with the name Alma. Surely even you can see the point? What used to be a ludicrous and laugh getting situation in the BofM (Joseph Smith obviously blew it with this rather FEMALE name, and NO THINKING JEW would ever name their kid with it) is now a bonafide archaeological discovery of some significance. The old anti-Mormon criticism is dead on this issue. Alma is a legitimate ancient Jewish male name.

[gtaggart]

The obvious connection is that there is now perfect archaeological connection that ancient male Jews really did name their children with the name Alma. Surely even you can see the point? What used to be a ludicrous and laugh getting situation in the BofM (Joseph Smith obviously blew it with this rather FEMALE name, and NO THINKING JEW would ever name their kid with it) is now a bonafide archaeological discovery of some significance. The old anti-Mormon criticism is dead on this issue. Alma is a legitimate ancient Jewish male name.

Geeze Kerry, don't you understand? The Alma

connection . . . is really no connection at all, in [his] estimation

Point, set, match, nuff said!

[J Green]

J. Green:

Hey that IS good stuff! I was quite interested in that book by Flint. I bought it when he was here in my home town lecturing to us on the scrolls a few months back. Had him sign it too, so my copy is worth more than your copy so NYAH!

But did you get a tie? Ha! (No, I didn't either)

[SolarPowered]

At the Museum of Man, which I believe is more-or-less next door to museum with the DSSs, these is an exhibit called "Journey to the Copper Age" that looks like it should be very interesting.

Link

[Ron Beron]

At the Museum of Man, which I believe is more-or-less next door to museum with the DSSs, these is an exhibit called "Journey to the Copper Age" that looks like it should be very interesting.

Link

I was able to go to that exhibit. It is interesting only to show that the copper age in Israel was similar to other cultures which exhibit a polytheistic approach to religion. Especially interesting were the scepters and other copper works. Also unique were the ossuaries.

[e=mc2]

J Green:

But did you get a tie? Ha! (No, I didn't either)

Alas, I lost the opportunity. However, I did get a handshake, does that count?