The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a famous discovery but we know less about them than we may think. Most of them are more like confetti than a book. They do give independent confirmation that the contents of the modern Hebrew Bible are consist with the fragments preserved in the Scrolls. The Scrolls are most likely associated with the Qumran-Essene community on the north-western heights above the Dead Sea. The Scrolls most likely reflect the focus of Jewish sects such as the Essenes and early Christians on writings that were not part of the streams that formed the later rabbinic Judaism.