Israel-©-MEA-20171122-(1305)-Historical-Landmarks-Qumran-National-Park
Israel’s Historical Landmarks –Qumran National Park
Qumran is an archaeological site dating back to the Iron Age. It is one of the many group of caves along the western shore of the Dead Sea, in which were found the Dead Sea Scrolls—an archaeological discovery of immense importance to scholars, historians, theologians and believers around the world. Historians determined that Qumran was a fortified structure, established in the eighth century BCE and probably accommodated about 200 people. It spans a history from the Babylonian invasion of Judea and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BC, and resettled a couple of hundred years before the time of Messiah Yeshua.
During the time of Messiah, Qumran was inhabited by the Essences, a break-away Gnostic religious group who were largely responsible for writing and storing the Dead Sea Scrolls. After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 AD, the Priesthood and the religious system was disbanded and fragmented, making it almost impossible to carry on any structured religious activity. Hence, it is unclear as to how long the Essenes continued to stay in Qumran and other caves. But the Scrolls remained hidden for 2000 years until a Bedouin shepherd Muhammed Edh-Dhib followed a goat into a cave near Qumran and emerged with 7 ancient scrolls in 1947. The reason for the poor condition and fragmentation of some of the original scrolls found is because the locals ripped off small pieces to sell to tourists and collectors. To date, 929 texts have been found.
The site of ancient Qumran is operated by the Qumran National Park, under the direction of Israel’s National Parks Authority and further history and other useful information can be found on their website.
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