Beginning in 1947, more than 500 ancient documents were found in a cave in the region just west of the Dead Sea. These are collectively known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. They include many of the writings we find in the Bible as well as other nonbiblical texts. About 100 of these scrolls, which are written in Hebrew, contain portions of every Old Testament book except Esther. One of the scrolls contains the complete book of Isaiah. These manuscripts date from the last few centuries B.C. to the early part of the 1st century A.D. The Biblical Archaeologist (May 1948) called this find “the most important discovery ever made in Old Testament manuscripts…”
The primary impact of this discovery is to show how precisely these scrolls duplicate more recent sources of Old Testament Scriptures. For instance, the Isaiah scrolls, which were written 125 years before the birth of Jesus are essentially identical to later copies, transcribed hundreds of years after Christ's birth, from which we have translated modern Bibles. This shows the amazing accuracy and care taken by copyists of the Scriptures. Indeed, God's hand has guided the preservation of the Bible throughout history.
From A Closer Look at the Evidence by Kleiss, October 4.
