Connecting the People with the Land for 60 years

March 31, 2008

Tel Zayit Alphabet

In the summer of 2005, excavators at Tel Zayit, southwest of Jerusalem, made an incredible discovery. Embedded within a 10th-century BC wall was a stone tablet. Inscribed on it were the letters of the ancient Hebrew alphabet written out from beginning to end in their traditional sequence. The Tel Zayit alphabet is an early adaptation from Phoenician and is perhaps the oldest of its type that can be reliably dated. It indicates the presence of Hebrew writing during the time of King David, something that has been debated among scholars. Archaeologists have suggested that Tel Zayit was the site of a school for scribes in the royal court in Jerusalem.

Ketef Hinom Amulets

In 1979, Dr. Gabi Barkay led a team of archaeologists excavating at Saint Andrew’s Church in Jerusalem, across the Hinnom Valley from Mount Zion. Two amulets, or very small silver scrolls, were discovered. On one of the scrolls is the oldest known biblical text, dating from around the sixth century BC. The text is the priestly blessing, slightly different from Numbers 6:24–26. Both scrolls contain the name of God, YHWH. The texts were etched onto the silver, but require a magnifying glass to read them in full detail.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

From 1947 to 1956, some 900 scrolls and fragments were discovered in 11 caves near Qumran at the northern end of the Dead Sea. The scrolls consisted of various texts, including biblical writings, community rules, and apocalyptic writings. They were believed to have been written by the Essenes around the mid-second to first century BC. The most famous of the scrolls discovered are the Isaiah Scroll, the Copper Scroll, the Temple Scroll, and the War Scroll, which describes the fight between the “sons of light” and the “sons of darkness.”

Israel scholar Professor Eleazar Sukenik purchased three scrolls for the Hebrew University and brought them to Jerusalem in 1948, just as the War of Independence was beginning. More scrolls were later looted from the Qumran site and put up for sale on the open market, where a third party then purchased several of them for the State of Israel.

Sukenik’s son, famous Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin, won the Israel prize in 1956 for his doctoral thesis on the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls are the oldest known surviving copies of biblical documents.

By Will King, Correspondent, BFP Israel Mosaic Radio

Photo Credit: www.israelimages.com