Timothy H. Lim is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Edinburgh. Since the Royal Ontario Museum has been exhibiting the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are many excellent books such as this one available in their bookstore.

As Lim points out, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is regarded as the greatest manuscript discovery of the 20th century. What does that mean?  Why is that the case?Lim makes a profound statement on page 117 of the book:

“It seems to me obvious that the claim of ‘the greatest manuscript discovery’ means one thing to the public and another to the scholar. The public expects by such a characterization something of an ‘earth-shattering’ significance that would over turn our received opinions of the origins of Christianity and Judaism …

This explains in part the sensationalization of the scrolls in relation to the person and work of Jesus and his early followers. Yet claims of this kind have been unfounded or badly misguided and the expectations have been unfulfilled.”

In other words, although the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls significantly pushed back the earliest date on Old Testament manuscripts  they supported what we have know all along in the textus receptus of the Masoretic text.

If you are at all interested in history, by all means pick up Lim’s book and see the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit. Ignore the sensationalism and spin which finds a conspiracy under every stone and instead marvel at the accuracy and preservation of these remarkable Old Testament texts.

Thanks for reading,

Peter