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Qumran


By Dr. Randall Smith
Courtesy of Christian Travel Study Programs, Ltd.

There had been small settlements in the desert regions of Qumran during the Israelite period, until the Babylonian conquest. But in the second century BC a Jewish sect called the Essenes moved to the area according to many historians. They led communal lives, and practiced an ascetic life as they waited for the Messiah. The site was eventually abandoned about two thousand years ago. In 1947 a young Bedouin boy who was chasing after a goat entered a cave.

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By Dr. Randall Smith
Courtesy of Christian Travel Study Programs, Ltd.

There had been small settlements in the desert regions of Qumran during the Israelite period, until the Babylonian conquest. But in the second century BC a Jewish sect called the Essenes moved to the area according to many historians. They led communal lives, and practiced an ascetic life as they waited for the Messiah. The site was eventually abandoned about two thousand years ago. In 1947 a young Bedouin boy who was chasing after a goat entered a cave. Here he discovered jars containing scrolls which scholars date all the way back to the Essenes.

The scrolls give an excellent picture of life in the community, which is augmented by archeological finds. Excavations have uncovered the ritual baths of the community (mikvaot), rooms used by scribes who wrote the scrolls, the refectory and other public buildings.

© Christian Travel Study Programs, Ltd.

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