================================================================== Berman, Tigay, @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@ Gerber, Schaffer @ @ @ @ & XX on @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ Spring Yadin @ @ @ @ 1995 @ @ @ @ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ ================================================================== R E V I E W S ================================================================== Dead Sea Scroll Book Reviews, for Religious Studies 225 University of Pennsylvania, Robert Kraft, Spring Term 1995 Copyright by the respective authors; reproduction with appropriate credits is permitted. [[NOTE: The assignment was to summarize the reviewed book and to compare it especially with the textbooks used in the course, by James VanderKam The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (Eerdmans/SPCK 1994) and Joseph Fitzmyer Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Paulist Press 1992). As with this note, any comments by the course instructor are enclosed in double brackets below.]] ----- Yigael Yadin, The Message of The Scrolls. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957. Pp.1-191. Reviewed by Mark Berman The Message of the Scrolls was written by Yigael Yadin around the time of the tenth anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. His book, therefore, does not contain information about the advances of research. VanderKam's The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, however, was first published in 1994. It covers the major areas of scroll research including the latest information. Fitzmyer's Responses To 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls , is also a recent book containing up to date information. In his preface, VanderKam wrote that his purpose in writing his book was to provide the public with an orderly account of the scrolls including recent occurrences with them. He realized that there has been much hype and controversy surrounding them causing great confusion. VanderKam included a chapter (ch.7) written as a personal account of what has happened, with an emphasis on occurrences since 1989. Yadin had three main purposes in writing his book. His first goal was to provide a straightforward account of all the relevant facts relating to the DSS. He raises many questions and includes many translations of actual text so that the reader can get a true sense of the scrolls' contents and thus draw his own conclusions and theories. Yadin's second goal was to present a full and detailed account of the discovery of the seven complete DSS and their acquisition. The third purpose , and possibly the most important one, was to provide a description of each separate scroll and its contents. Yadin was the first to engage in the research and deciphering of two of the seven scrolls, The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness and The Apocryphal Genesis. His book contains the first publication of a summary of both studies in English. Yadin's father, Elazar L. Sukenik, was the first scholar to recognize the antiquity and significance of the scrolls. He purchased the first three complete manuscripts for the Hebrew University. Yadin saw symbolism in the fact that his father bought the first three scrolls on November 29th 1947, the same day that the United Nations voted for the re-creation of the Jewish state. It had been two thousand years since the scrolls were written, and two thousand years since Israel had lost her independence. E.L. Sukenik, Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, got in touch with an old, Arab antiquities dealer, Feidi Salahi, through a mutual friend. He went into Arab Bethehem, at a time of tension between the Arabs and the Jews, to negotiate and eventually purchase the scroll of The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, The Thanksgiving Scroll, and Isaiah MS2. The Syrian Metropolitan, Mar Athanasius Samuel of the Monastery of St. Mark in the Old City of Jerusalem, bought four scrolls from a second Bethehem antiquities dealer, a Syrian Orthodox Christian, who had bought them from the Bedouin. The Metropolitan smuggled the scrolls to the U.S. where he tried to sell them. He couldn't find a buyer because he had allowed for the publication of the scrolls which subsequently diminished their market value. He put them in a safe-deposit vault and made them the charge of a trust who would control any transactons. Yadin, while on a lecture tour in the U.S. in May 1954, was notified of an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal for the four DSS. Yadin was careful not to reveal his identity while arranging for the purchase because he did not want the Arab states to get involved and prevent the sale of the scrolls to Israel. He negotiated through intermediaries and got a friend of his, Harry Orlinsky, to examine the scrolls for authenticity under the name of Mr. Green. Yadin successfully bought the four DSS of Isaiah, Habakkuk, The Manual of Discipline, and The Lamech Scroll. The major part of the money required was contributed by Mr. Grottesman who as appointed one of the trustees of the Shrine of the Book Trust. The manuscripts were formally named the Grottesman scrolls. Yadin wrote a chapter about the investigation of cave one, first done by Gerald Lancaster Harding and Father R. de Vaux, and the artifacts found, including phylactery cases, lamps, sherds of pottery jars of various types, and of course the hundreds of minute pieces of scroll and some scraps of papyrus. Yadin mentions an interesting investigation done by Mrs. G.M. Crowfoot on the cloth wrappers surrounding the scrolls. We know from Mishnaic sources that it was customary to wrap the holy books in cloth kerchiefs, some of which had designs. The wrappers found were linen and were of a highly complicated weave of interlocked oblongs. Mrs. Crowfoot concluded that the design had significance. She assumed that it signified a building or shrine that was holy to the sect. Carbon 14 testing on these wrappers helped establish the age of the scrolls. After describing the expeditions and discoveries of the other caves, Yadin writes about the communal building of Khirbat Qumran. He writes that the building had four main elements, " a fortress with a corner tower; a group of halls that must have served as prayer-rooms, dining-rooms or writing-rooms; the water pools and a group of service rooms like the cookhouse and workshops" (62). Yadin comes to the same basic conclusions concerning the phases of inhabitance as did VanderKam. Yadin also mentions that the area was probably occupied by rebels of the Second Jewish Revolt. His conclusion is based on coins found from that period. Yadin concludes, as most scholars have, that this discovery has revealed the life of the sect when it inhabited the area and prooved the connection between the scrolls and the buildings in which were found pottery sherds of the type that held the scrolls. A distinct feature of Yadin's book is the inclusion of a full chapter on Wadi Murabba'at and the Archives of Bar-Kochbah. Yadin writes that the site was deserted and not easily accessible and thus presented a natal barrier against an advancing regular army. Fragments of books of the Bible identical with the traditional text were found. The script was different from the Qumran Scrolls and was definitely of a later date. A complete phylactery was also found along with miscellaneous documents and original documents concerning the Bar Kochbah revolt itself. An order written by the leader himself to the commander whose center had been Wadi Murabba'at was found in one of the caves. It contained a direct , short order, demanding absolute discipline. Yadin also discusses the controversy over Bar-Kochbah's real name. In the following chapter Yadin raises the question of whether the scrolls were ever found in the past. It is apparent from his own words that Origen (185-254 C.E.) examined books in a jar near Jericho. Timotheus I, Patriarch of Seleucia (726-819 C.E.), wrote a letter to Sergius, Metropolitan of Elam, in which he mentions books found in a rock dwelling near Jericho. Qirqisani, a famous Karaite writing in the ninth century, refers to a certain sect which he called, "'The Sect of the Cave, because their books were found in a cave'" (77). He noted that they had a separate calendar and that the books dealt with exegesis and discussions of the Bible. In chapters ten through seventeen Yadin discusses each scroll separately. He begins with the two Isaiah texts which are a thousand years older than the oldest Hebrew text known to us. Yadin notes that "the great importance of the antiquity of the DSS, therefore, lies in the fact that they belong to the period in which no standardization of the Holy Scriptures had been effected" (83). Isaiah MS1 was apparently used by the sect for a very long time. It was repaired and had evidence of wear and tear. There are spelling and minor textual variations from the Masoretic text of which Yadin gives a few examples. Isaiah MS2 is closer to the Masoretic text known to us with some of its variations similar to the Septuagint. Yadin next deals with the Habakkuk Commentary, in which its author quotes verse by verse from the Bible book of Habakkuk followed by explanations on them. The significance of this scroll is that it deals with interpretation of the words of the prophet and it attempts to apply them to contemporary events. We learn about the historical situation of Judea of the time, which involved the Kittim, who were expected to come from across the seas and threatened all countries of the universe. We also learn about problems concerning the members of the sect such as the Wicked Priest who was persecuting the Teacher of Righteousness, the leader of the sect. Yadin quotes from the text and presents questions exemplifying for the reader the difficulties and intricacies of evaluating the scrolls. Yadin next deals with the Commentary on the Psalms and the Commentary on Nahum. Yadin provides translations of all the three available fragments at his time, presents more questions, and mentions answers provided by these fragments to previous questions, including the identification of the Kittim. Yadin goes on to write about the Thanksgiving Hymns which he believed were written by the Teacher of Righteousness. In Yadin's words, " this scroll was obviously worked on by two scribes" (105). The Hymns combined the principles of the sect with purely autobiographical details. Yadin summarizes the contents of the Hymns and includes a few translations to demonstrate their character and impact. The next chapter is written on the Manual of Discipline or the Rule of the Community, and the Damascus Covenant. The scroll with the Manual of Discipline was apparently used by the sect over a long period of time. Yadin qoutes excerpts from the Manual of Discipline and explains them. He comments on how some of the description is surprisingly similar to the customs of the Essences as described by Josephus. Yadin writes that, " from these two documents... we learn that the members of the sect... led an organized and special way of life in accordance with their own individual rules, recorded in books written for that very purpose" (127). The importance of the Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness is that comprehensive data on military regulations in the Jewish armies during the late period of the Second Temple are made available for the first time. The scroll also contains beautiful prayers to be recited at the various stages in the war. Many of these prayers were previously unknown. The scroll provides exact details of the names of the various enemies as well as much description of the trumpets and banners, and the organization of the army and its weapons during the battle. The Scroll of the Apocryphal Genesis, written in Aramaic, contains stories based on the Book of Genesis with additional details and previously unknown names. The scroll is written in the first person by Abraham and has an original legend explaining why Abraham counselled Sarah to hide her true identity. Yadin and Dr. Avigad published a book dealing with five columns of this scroll. The Copper Scrolls were discovered in 1952 in cave 3. Yadin describes the difficulties involved in sawing the scrolls into pieces, and, as he does in describing the other scrolls, Yadin gives a physical description of the scrolls. At the time of this book's publication the full contents of the Copper Scrolls had not yet been published but it was apparent that they contained a long list of hiding places of treasures. In his final chapter Yadin asks these two questions, " Who were the people who compiled these books?" and "When did they live " (160)? Yadin approaches each scroll individually and tries to establish their dates by connecting their content with known historical-archeological facts. Yadin writes,"to sum up, then, all archeological and paleographical proofs indicate that the scrolls were copied and hidden during the first century BC or the first half of the first century AD" (173). He finds no means of identifying the Wicked Priest with certainty but pionts out that some scholars believe that he was the Hasmonean King, Alexander Jannaens. Yadin quotes Josephus and infers, from the description of events in Antiquities of the Jews , that the name " Seekers-after-Smooth-Things " actually refers to the Pharisees. Yadin then goes on to analyze who wrote the scrolls. Yadin's father , Sukenik was the first scholar who suggested the identification of the sect with the Essences. Yadin quotes from Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, and Pliny to show the striking similarity between the sect of the DSS and the Essenes. Yadin concludes that ," either the sect of the scrolls is none other than the Essenes themselves; or it was a sect which resembled the Essenes in almost every respect" (185-6). Yadin briefly considers other opinions on the identification of the sect with other historical sects. He writes that any attempt at this stage of research to identify the Dead Sea sect with any other sect of the time is more likely to be based on assumptions than on facts. Yadin concludes his book with an acknowledgement that "research on the scrolls is still in its initial stages"(188) and that "the fruits of continued research on these scrolls will long affect the entire pattern of our knowledge and thought about the books of the Bible, and about the people who shaped their lives to their study" (189). //end Berman review// ---------- Yigael Yadin, The Message of the Scrolls, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957) Reviewed by Chanan B. Tigay 0.1. Yigael Yadin's The Message of the Scrolls, is a fascinating account of the discovery and subsequent research of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is particularly interesting due to the unique vantage point of the author. Not only has Y. published a number of the scrolls (including "The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness" and the "Genesis Apocryphon") and been the main actor on Israel's behalf in obtaining certain other scrolls, but his father, Professor E.L. Sukenik, was the first person to recognize the authenticity and value of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Y., therefore has included in this book excerpts of conversations he had with his father regarding the DSS as well as sections of his father's diary concerning the initial process of recognizing the scrolls' antiquity and subsequently purchasing the original seven scrolls from Cave One. 1.1. Yadin has written this book with two basic goals in mind. First, he wants to explain the discovery of the scrolls; that is, just how they were found, obtained and, later, studied. Second, he wishes to give readers enough information about the scrolls, and the Qumran community, so that they can come to their own conclusions regarding such important questions as how old the scrolls are, who wrote them and who lived at Qumran. Y. writes this book not to convince anyone about the truth or error of any particular theory, but rather to inform readers about all that is known regarding the scrolls so that they can decide for themselves whether a particular theory is true or false. Yadin does all this by first describing how the scrolls were found, then describing archaeological evidence found at the Qumran site, then going into some detail about the original seven scrolls. 2.1. The Message of the Scrolls is extraordinarily well written. Y. obviously has a flair for storytelling and his overflowing excitement about this whole subject is contagious. The way he recounts both his father's and his own acquisition of the scrolls makes readers feel as if they are active participants in the unfolding plot. One story which sticks in my mind is about the discovery of scrolls in a cave near the Dead Sea during medieval times, when a local's dog wandered into a cave. This story parallels the modern discovery in which a Bedouin's goat enters a cave by the Dead Sea and doesn't come out. 2.2. The descriptions of each particular scroll are concise and lucid. Y. quotes at length from the scrolls, allowing readers the opportunity to make their own judgments about whether or not a particular scroll provides proof for a particular theory. The book is also very well organized, giving readers a logical framework within which they can make judgments about a theory's accuracy. 3.1. It is important to realize, however, that this book was published in 1957. It therefore lacks any information regarding the scrolls discovered since then. Most noticeably absent were the Temple Scroll and 4QMMT, each of which has shed important new light on different aspects of the scrolls and the Qumran community. This book also deals with the scroll's contribution to the study of Christianity far less than James C. VanderKam's The Dead Sea Scrolls Today. 00.1. Yadin's book is an excellent way to ease oneself into the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Although readers will not find the answers to all of their questions regarding the DSS in this book, they will certainly learn about all of the issues involved in Dead Sea Scroll study to this day. If one wishes to really answer the difficult questions surrounding the study of the DSS, one must read beyond Yadin's book, especially into more modern sources which contain the latest discoveries about them. //end Tigay review// ----- Yigael Yadin, The Message of the Scrolls. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1957 Reviewed by Matthew Gerber 0.1 First published in 1957, "The Message of the Scrolls" was intended to help mark the tenth anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yigeal Yadin, the author, was a lecturer in archaeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem at the time. He had a very close connection to the scrolls in the first years following their discovery. His father, Elazar Sukenik, a professor of archeology at Hebrew University, was directly involved in purchasing the first three scrolls to be discovered and bringing them to Jerusalem. In addition, he was the first scholar to research and decipher the War Scroll and the Apocryphal Genesis and was involved in the acquisition of four other scrolls for the Hebrew University. 0.2 This book is intended for use by the general reader rather than a specialist. As such, it goes to great lengths to maintain clarity and explain what it means rather than assuming that the reader will already know. 0.3 The book is divided into four parts: the first deals with the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the scrolls, the second deals with a look at the archeological elements surrounding the scrolls and the qumran community, the third deals those scrolls that are biblical, Bible- related, or for the most partnot very sectarian, and the fourth section deals with the very sectarian scrolls and with an attempt to determine the origin of the scrolls. 0.4 These four sections serve to roughly parallel the three purposes that the author states as his reasons for writing the book: to provide an account of the acquisition of the seven complete scrolls, to present "all relevant facts pertaining to the Dead Sea Scrolls in a straightforward manner so that the reader can draw his own conclusions", and to detail the contents of each of the complete scrolls. 1.1 The first part of the book is made up of the first three chapters which chronicle the acquisition of the first seven full Dead Sea Scrolls and their being brought to the Hebrew Univesity. Chapter One deals with the efforts of the author's father, the late Professor Sukenik, to obtain the War Scroll, the Thanksgiving Scroll, and a scroll of Isaiah (later known as Isaiah MS2). Made up almost entirely of excerpts from Sukenik's diary, the first chapter details how these scrolls were found by Bedouins, sold to an antiquities dealer in Bethlehem, and then brought to the attention of Sukenik who then arranged for them to be bought by the Hebrew University. All of this is set against the backdrop of the events and tensions leading up to the establishment of modern Isreal, providing a great deal of drama to the narrative. It also shows how Sukenik was unsuccessful in trying to purchase four other Dead Sea Scrolls before he died; this leads up to Chapter Three in which Sukenik's son, the author, acquires these four other scrolls for the University. Chapter Two details the Syrian Metropolitan's, Mar Athanasius Samuel, exploits surrounding the other four complete scrolls, of how he bought them from an antiquities dealer from Bethlehem, had investigations made to determine their authenticity and value, brought them ("smuggled" is the term that the author refers to at one point) to the United States, and tried, to no avail, to sell them. Then, in Chapter Three, it's recounted how the author happened to be lectureing in the U.S. when he came across an advertisement that the Metropolitan had put in the Wall Street Journal saying that the scrolls were for sale. The rest of the chapter then goes on to tell, with much suspense, how the author and a friend of his arranged to buy the scrolls, collected the money to be able to do so, and eventually brought the scrolls to Jerusalem. 1.2 The second part of the book deals with the archeological proceedings surrounding the Qumran area that had taken place in the first ten years following the discovery of the scrolls. Chapter Four describes the excavation in 1949 of the cave where the Bedouin said they found the scrolls by Gerald Harding and Father de Vaux. This excavation uncovered pottery, minute pieces of scroll, the jars that had held the scrolls, and, most importantly, cloth wrappers that had originally covered and protected the scrolls. These wrappers are important because they have been carbon-14 tested to establish that the scrolls were written, or at least around, between 167 B.C. and A.D. 233. Chapter 5 details how the other caves came to be discovered. It seems that in February 1952, the Bedouin discoverd another cave with scroll fragments in it. This led to archeologists beginning a sytematic dig of the area and in all another 5 caves were discovered. Each of these caves had a great deal of scroll fragments in them but none were complete, as the first seven had been. Chapter 6 deals with a communal building found nearby, the scientific excavations conducted on it, and the hundreds of coins found there. The large building once consisted of four main parts: a fortress with a corner tower, a group of large gathering rooms, the water pools, and various service rooms. The building was the center for public activities for the Dead Sea Scrollers until about A.D. 31, when it was abandoned for a while due to damage created by a large earthquake. It was reinhabited by the sect until about 66-70 A.D. when it was destroyed by war during the revolt against Rome. The building has been connected to the scrolls because it contained pottery similar to that which had held the scrolls. Chapter 7 relates how a cemetary was discovered on a nearby plateau and how this strengthens the argument that the people who wrote the scrolls actually lived there. Chapter 8 recounts how another group of of scrolls, written by non-DSSers, were discovered at Wadi Murabb'at, which is about seventeen kilometers south and eight kilometers west of Qumran. This discovery provides important information about the Jewish world around the time of the second revolt against Rome. 1.3 The third part of the book begins the discussion of the scrolls themselves. Chapter 9 serves to inform the layman on how the scrolls were preserved and on common the practice was. It also describes how the scrolls were written, hanging letters of calligraphy on horizontally lined leather pages and the methods of correction, erasure, writting over, etc. Chapter 10 presents a look at the Isaiah scroll. It does this through a physical description of the scrolls dimensions in centimeters, a critique of the scribes writing style, and a listing of some of the main differences between the text of the Isaiah scroll and the traditional versions of Isaiah in the Masoretic text and the Septuagint. The importance of this scroll lies in how it can help in reconstructing the original text of Isaiah and in how much it reaffirms the Masoretic text. Chapter 11 deals with the Habakkuk commentary. The commentary attempts to apply the words of the prophet to contemporary events. It consists of peshers, interpretations of the prophesies. The significance of the scroll is that it provides text from the book of Habakkuk and it provides insight into the life and problems of the sect. The author provides a summary of the scroll in the context of analyzing the conflict of the sect with the Kittim and the Teacher of Righteousness with the Wicked Priest without yet attempting to identify these people. Chapter 12 looks at the Commentary on Psalms and the Commentary on Nahum. From these it is learned that the Teacher of Righteousness was a priest and that he was hung to death.The chapter is chock full of excerpts which maintain the theme of the sect in battle with its enemies. Chapter 13 deals with the Thanksgiving Hymns which resemble the Psalms in style and expression but are markedly different in content. Yadin maintains that these hymns, because they details many of the sects beliefs along with autobiographical details that have been associated with the sect's leader, to the Teacher of Righteousness. 1.4 The fourth part of the book begins with a consideration of the Manual of discipline and the Damascus Document. Chapter 14 is basically just a summary of the two scrolls. Yadin concludes from these scrolls that the DSSers were a sect of ordinary lay Isrealites that were led by priests who had their own rules and regulations which differed from those of the main body of Judaism at the time and waited upon the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness. Chapter 15 goes on to describe the War scroll which is a look at this war between the Sons of Darkness and the Sons of Light. Yadin begins by describing the physical condition of the scroll and the superior kraftmanship of the scribe who wrote this copy of it before going into a summary of the scrolls contents. The DSSers believed that all of humanity was divided between the Sons of Light (the members of the sect) and the Sons of Darkness (made up of the sects enemies) who will eventually fight each other, a war which, after initial setbacks and hardships, the Sons of Light will win. The scroll contains the method of how they will achieve this victory and the regulations that they must follow. It also contains the different prayers that must be said by the Sons of Light during different parts of the War. Chapter 16 deals with the Apocryphal Genesis. The Apocryphal Genesis deals with legends and other narrative that parallel the biblical book of Genesis but contain material not found in it. This text is important because it provides a look at the Aramaic of the time period. Chapter 17 provides a glimpse at the Copper Scroll. The Copper Scroll talks of how to find various buried treausres but is uncertain whether this is allegorical or actual treasure. Chapter 18 attempts to answer the questions: Who were the people that compiled the scrolls? and When did they live? Yadin states that based on archeological and paleographical proof and carbon-14 dating, it's reasonable to assume that the scrolls wre copied and hidden between the first century B.C. and the first half of the first century A.D. Yadin also identifies the DSSers with the Essenes. He maintains that the DSSers were either "the Essenes themselves or it was a sect which resembled the Essenes in almost every respect." He does back off of this a little though when later he states that any attempt to identify the Dead Sea sect with any other sect of the time is more likely to be based on assumptions than facts. 00.1 Overall, this book is very readable and excels in three main areas: 1.) Providing a first hand look at the events surrounding the acquisition of the first seven scrolls. 2.) Providing an easily understandable, well-rounded, and informative introduction to the scrolls. 3.) Given excellent summaries of the contents of the most important scrolls. 00.2 However, the analysis provided in this book is slim. This is because the book was written in 1957 and a great deal of research has been done since then that has increased our understanding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. So the information and analysis provided in the book, while not wrong, is incomplete and most readers would be better served with a more up to date text. However, for those who are strictly looking for a compelling look at the events surrounding the Hebrew University's acquisition of scrolls or for an excellent summary of the major scrolls, this book is definitely worth a reading. //end Gerber review// --- Yigael Yadin, The Message of the Scrolls. Reviewed by Adam Schaffer Let's face it; everyone loves a good story. When the plot is thick and the suspense is running high, few people can resist turning the page to find out what happens next. Indeed, in his book *Message of the Scrolls*, Yigael Yadin (pronounced yi-gah-EL ya-DEEN) seems to have mastered the art of the storyteller. Unfortunately for Yadin, there is a lot more to the Dead Sea Scrolls than just a story. In Yadin's defense, however, the difficulty with *Message of the Scrolls* is not that it is merely a story devoid of factual content, for it is quite informative. The problem is that the book was written in 1957, and since then, so much new information has come to light regarding the Scrolls that much of Yadin's work is simply outdated. Indeed, the only part of the book which still has substantial value is the first section in which Yadin retells the story of how the scrolls managed to fall into Israeli hands (and it is quite an entertaining tale). Perhaps, then, the one principal advantage that this book has over other Dead Sea Scroll references is that it offers a remarkably unique perspective on the acquisition of the Scrolls. Indeed, Yadin was there when it happened. for it was he who answered the now famous Wall Street Journal classified in which four of the Scrolls were advertised. Moreover, it was Yadin's father, Eleazar Sukenik, who purchased the first three scrolls from the Syrian monk, Metropolitan Samuel. Given his proximity to the situation, it is hardly surprising that Yadin is able to tell the story of the procurement of the scrolls with more drama and flair than any other author. He also had the advantage of having access to his father's diary (of which he makes extensive use in the book). All in al, Yadin's portrait of the story comes off with a much more human feel than other DSS material. Indeed, when one compares his rendition of the story to the versions found in two more modern DSS references, Joseph Fitzmeyer's *Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls* and James C. VanderKam's *The Dead Sea Scrolls Today*, Yadin privileged position truly shows. The advantages for Yadin, however, end there. Once Yadin leaves the realm of storytelling and moves on into the factual information on the Scrolls, he loses a significant amount of his academic value, and sources like VanderKam and Fitzmeyer become much more viable options. One need only look at a few points from Yadin's book to see how truly out of date it is. Perhaps most notably is a passage in the first section in which Yadin quotes a section of his father's diary in which he describes the first three scrolls. One of the scrolls, it seems, "told of a battle between the Sons of Light (the Jews) and the Sons of Darkness (the Edomites, Moabites, Syrians, and other neighboring peoples)" (Sukenik in Yadin, 26, parentheticals Yadin's). This description of what would later be called the War Scroll is far from accurate. While the scroll does certainly detail the war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness, there is hardly such conclusive evidence to definitively suggest that the Sons of Light were the Jews and that the Sons of Darkness were other people. While Yadin is somewhat less forceful on the topic in his chapter on the War Scroll, he still comes to the conclusion that this final war was to be between the Jews and those around them. Such an approach seems to ignore any of the now common alternative hypotheses, including one which suggests that the Qumran community had broken off from other mainstream Jews and that the Sons of Darkness were those with whom they had severed ties. Indeed, while Fitzmeyer and VanderKam offer ideas about who the various Sons might be, they do not go so far as to even suggest which hypothesis is most likely correct, let alone declare one to be decidedly right. In many ways, however, this sort of conclusion-jumping is typical of Yadin's book, and in a lot of ways, it's quite understandable. In order to understand Yadin's research methods, it is imperative to remember the time in which it was written. Indeed, the book was published only ten years after the scrolls were originally found. At that point, few people had even gotten to look at the scrolls, let alone study them. Yadin, as one of the select few who had had the chance to study the Scrolls, was merely beginning many of the debates that have now raged on for more than 50 years. His primary contribution, then, was quite critical; he identified many of the issues and questions that the Scrolls raised. Unfortunately, as later research bore out, he was far better at asking those questions than he was at answering them. On the whole, then, one must look at Yadin's work in the rear view mirror. It is a valuable piece of scholarship not so much for what it tells us about the Scrolls today, but rather for what it tells us about how and why we learned what we did. Indeed, used in conjunction with other sources, the book can prove quite useful. Of course, if nothing else, it's a great story. //end Schaffer review// --- Yigael Yadin, The Message of the Scrolls. Reviewed by XX [[author prefers to be anonymous]] The book I chose is The Message of the Scrolls by Yigael Yadin. It is different from Fitzmyer's book in several ways, the first few having nothing to do with the text it self but instead the following circumstances: Yadin's book was written in 1957. Fitzmyer has the advantage of many more years of research and discovery to make his book a little more in depth. On the other hand, this gives Yadin one decided advantage -- his book is very clear and easy to understand. Part of this is probably due to the fact that he doesn't go too much in depth on any one subject, but rather gives a very good elementary introduction to the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yadin's book is broken up into four sections. The first section consists of three chapters, all dealing with the discovery of the scrolls in modern times. Yadin comments several times on his belief that the timing of the discovery of the scrolls adds to their significance, since he first saw them on the same day the United Nations decided to create Israel. He also tells of the events leading to the Scrolls' finding their way to St. Mark's Monastery. The second section of Yadin's book devotes itself to telling the reader about the circumstances excavations were done under and also gives a layout of the buildings at Qumran. On the site itself, Yadin believes it served different roles in different times in history. The first phase of the building was that it served as a communal spot for the people who inhabited the Qumran area, but did not inhabit the building itself. Yadin says these people lived in huts surrounding the structure and used it for religious gatherings and events pertaining to the community. Cracks in the structure and the writings of other scholars at the time lead Yadin to believe that the first phase of the building was destroyed by a massive earthquake. The second phase of the structure,during which Yadin says it was inhabited by the "Sons of Light" as well, was apparently destroyed by war (most likely the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 70 C.E.). During the third phase of the building, Yadin has it as a military camp, mostly from evidence that the north wall was fortified and the southern part of the building was abandoned, indicating that the inhabitants were readying themselves for attack from the north). He identifies the Romans as the attackers (making them the "Sons of Darkness" in the War Scroll). The fourth phase was the dwelling place of rebels from the Bar Kockbah Revolt in 135 C.E. The third section is devoted to the material of the scrolls themselves. Separate chapters are devoted to 1) a general overview of the scrolls, 2) the Isaiah Scroll, 3) the Habakkuk writings, 4) the Thanksgiving Hymns, 5) the Manual of Discipline, 6) the War Scroll, 7) the Genesis Apocryphon, and 8) the Copper Scroll. In the Habakkuk commentary, Yadin points out that the author of the scroll keeps referring to the "hidden interpretation" in the writings. He also points out that the author has identified the mysterious Kittim with the Chaldeans. The War Scroll and the Manual of Discipline both show the author's community's belief in the separation of people into the Sons of Light ( the members of the sect) and the Sons of Darkness (supposedly the Romans). The final chapter in the book is devoted to identifying the sect that wrote the scrolls. I'm assuming from Yadin's writing that there was, at the time of the book's publication, still a lot of debate about the antiquity of the scrolls, since he finds it necessary to devote a few pages to reassuring the reader that they are in fact very old. Yadin makes a point of trying to distinguish between 1) the date of the compilation of the text, 2) the date the copies were made by the scribes, and 3) the date they were hidden in the caves. The author first tries to identify the Kittim (the Sons of Darkness). In the earlier chapters, he has told us that the sect identifies the Kittim with the Chaldeans, and then later he says they identify the Kittim with the Romans. Later, the author also mentions briefly that the Pharisees may have been one of the Sons of Darkness. Still later we find the Kittim to be used as reference to any group that attacked the sect (except, apparently, the Seleucids, who are mentioned in one passage with the Kittim, but being made distinct from them). Then the author deals with identifying the Wicked Priest. Yadin has no one explanation for this problem and says that he could have been anything, from a Hasmonean king to a priest in Jerusalem. After saying all this the author reminds us to keep in mind that the Wicked Priest and the Teacher of Righteousness are not mentioned in the same scrolls as the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness. The author believes the War Scroll to have been written during Roman and not Hellenistic times, and he does mention that he has a very lengthy explanation for this train of thought. However, he does not share it with us so we are just left taking his word for this conclusion. Finally, Yadin deals with the identification of the people of the sect. He points out that the sect used a different calendar (solar rather than lunar) than the Jews in Jerusalem. The sect was apparently much more orthodox than any other group of Jews at the time. Yadin says members were not opposed to marriage (which I think is not what we learned in class), just very strict about the laws relating to it. They also lived in a communal setting, sharing the wealth they brought with them from outside (indicating that the sect probably attracted wealthy new members to sustain itself) and having no personal possessions. Yadin makes the assertion that the sect was a group of Essenes, and quotes Philo, Josephus, and Pliny in his defence. To compare Yadin's book with Fitzmyer or even Vanderkam is not something I can do with any amount of confidence. As I said before, Yadin's book is very much on an introductory level and does not go in depth on any one topic, such as Fitzmyer does. Yadin has, however, made reference to other books he has written that seem to be more detailed about different matters regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls. I personally feel that I would have understood a lot more of Fitzmyer's book if I had read Yadin first. For the most part, the book is well written and a good resource for the reader who wants an introduction to the matter of the Dead Sea Scrolls. //end anonymous review// //end//