ISRA E L L IV E S AGA IN ! Fifth in a Prophetic Series By George T. B. Davis*
D URING our stay in Jerusalem the Hebrew University celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. The celebration was held in the Y.M.C.A., as due to present boundary difficulties, the University’s own beautiful buildings on Mount Scopus are inaccessible. Great throngs attended the cere monies. The most interesting exhibit in connection with the celebration was that of portions of the famous Biblical scrolls, discovered in a cave near the Dead Sea. We had the privilege of seeing parts of these scrolls under glass and two of the large earthen jars in which the scrolls had been found. The manuscripts as a whole constitute the most remarkable and valuable archaeological discovery of our generation. We were so deeply interested in this remarkable Biblical discovery that later we got in touch with Professor E. L. Sukenik, head of the Department of Palestinian Archaeology of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. We told Professor Sukenik that we were writing a book on Israel, and that we desired to include in it the story of the finding of these ancient scrolls of the book of Isaiah. The Professor very kindly and graciously invited us to visit him in his home. When we arrived at his house at the appointed hour, he took us into the study, lined with many shelves of books. We told him that we would like to hear from his own lips the story
of the discovery of the Isaiah manuscripts. We had a most interesting and thrilling hour as he gave us the narrative of the oldest Bible manuscripts in the world today. Professor Sukenik also gave us additional material which he had used during his recent lecture tour in Great Britain where he delivered lectures in various universities in Eng land, Wales, and Ireland and showed pictures of the scrolls. The Professor took one of the scrolls with him to Great Britain and it was on exhibition for several weeks at the British Museum. While in London Professor Sukenik said, “Many miracles have come to pass in Israel in the past two years, and not the least of them is the discovery, in a cave in the Judean hills, of the ancient Hebrew scrolls.” After we were seated in the Professor’s study we asked him to tell us the story of the discovery. In reply he said, “ In the spring of 1947 some Bedouin were camping with their grazing goats near the northwest end of the Dead Sea. The Bedouin saw a cave and went into it. They discovered many large earthen jars and began to examine them. They found that they contained many rolls of old goatskin leather, on which there was some kind of writing. They thought the scrolls might be of value and brought them to some antique dealers in Bethlehem. Part of these scrolls were acquired by an Assyrian Bishop in the Old City of Jerusalem. “ The Bishop did not know what the scrolls were but thought they might be of some value. He showed them to a number of scholars, both Jewish and Christian. They told him that the scrolls were of no value and were not of ancient date. I was in America at this time on sabbatical leave. After I returned to Jerusalem I received a telephone call from an Armenian friend in the Old City, asking for an appointment. Jerusalem then resembled a besieged city, and it was not possible for a Jew to go from the New City of Jerusalem to the Old City without a pass. However we met in No Man’s Land with three feet of barbed wire entanglement between us. I asked the friend what he wanted. He took from his pocket a piece of leather on which there was some Hebrew writing. “ As soon as I saw the inscribed leather or goat’s skin, I realized that the scrolls were of great antiquity and of great importance. I could scarcely believe my eyes. The scrolls were written in beautiful Hebrew. I tried to get a closer look. At first I could not make sense of the Hebrew writing with which I was probably better acquainted than anyone else, for in the past twenty-five years I had excavated about forty tombs which dated back very many centuries. But until that moment I had never seen those ancient letters or characters written with a pen. I had only seen them engraved on stones, obviously by skilled engravers using sharp instru ments. “ I asked my friend where he had obtained the piece of inscribed leather. He told me that a Moslem merchant in Bethlehem had a number of leather scrolls, similar to the piece he showed me, that had been found in some jars in a cave near the Dead Sea. A few days later my friend tele phoned me that he had the scrolls. I obtained a pass to enter the military zone and to go to Bethlehem to examine the scrolls. “ The night I went to Bethlehem to see the scrolls was an historic night. It was the twenty-ninth of November, 1947, the night in which at Lake Success, New York, the United Nations made the far-reaching decision to partition Palestine, and to establish a Jewish State. At this time the tension between the Jews and Arabs was very great. “ When I met my friend in Bethlehem he showed me two scrolls. I tried hard not to betray the interest and excitement I felt, as I examined the scrolls, which were very fragile. I realized that I was being privileged to see books that had not been read by Jews for two thousand years. That night I secured several bundles of scrolls, together with two complete T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Street in the old city of Safad *Executive Secretary of the M illion T estaments C ampaigns . Reprinted from the hook, I srael R eturns H ome A ccording t o P rophecy , obtainable at 1505 Race Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Page Eight
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