Fragments of Biblical Texts Uncovered in the “Cave of Horror” in the Judean Desert

March 17 2021

Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s, looters have sought to make similar finds in the many caves near in Qumran, leading to a recent push by archaeologists to conduct a thorough expedition in search of ancient artifacts. Investigating a remote cliffside cavern, they recently came across dozens of pieces of two-millennia-old manuscripts. Amanda Borschel-Dan writes:

Most of the newly discovered scroll fragments—the first such finds in 60 years—are Greek translations of the books of Zechariah and Nahum from the Twelve Minor Prophets, and are written in two scribal hands. Only the name of God is written in Hebrew in the texts. The fragments from the prophets have been identified as coming from a larger scroll that was found in the 1950s, in the same “Cave of Horror” in Naḥal Ḥever, which is some 260 feet below a cliff top. According to an Israel Antiquities Authority press release, the cave is “flanked by gorges and can only be reached by rappelling precariously down the sheer cliff.”

Along with the “new” biblical scroll fragments, . . . the team excavated a huge 10,500-year-old perfectly preserved woven basket—the oldest complete basket in the world—and a 6,000-year-old mummified skeleton of a child, tucked into its blanket for a final sleep.

Several of the [nearby] caves offered random finds left behind by Jewish rebels who fled to the caves at the end of the Bar Kokhba Revolt [against Roman rule, around 135 CE], including a cache of coins that were overstruck with Jewish rebels’ symbols such as a harp and a date palm, an array of arrowheads and spearheads, pieces of woven fabric, sandals, and lice combs, which illustrated the everyday items taken by the fleeing Jews.

Read more at Times of Israel

More about: Archaeology, Bar-Kokhba, Dead Sea Scrolls, Hebrew Bible

The Mass Expulsion of Palestinians Is No Solution. Neither Are Any of the Usual Plans for Gaza

Examining the Trump administration’s proposals for the people of Gaza, Danielle Pletka writes:

I do not believe that the forced cleansing of Gaza—a repetition of what every Arab country did to the hundreds of thousands of Arab Jews in 1948— is a “solution.” I don’t think Donald Trump views that as a permanent solution either (read his statement), though I could be wrong. My take is that he believes Gaza must be rebuilt under new management, with only those who wish to live there resettling the land.

The time has long since come for us to recognize that the establishment doesn’t have the faintest clue what to do about Gaza. Egypt doesn’t want it. Jordan doesn’t want it. Iran wants it, but only as cannon fodder. The UN wants it, but only to further its anti-Semitic agenda and continue milking cash from the West. Jordanians, Lebanese, and Syrians blame Palestinians for destroying their countries.

Negotiations with Hamas have not worked. Efforts to subsume Gaza under the Palestinian Authority have not worked. Rebuilding has not worked. Destruction will not work. A “two-state solution” has not arrived, and will not work.

So what’s to be done? If you live in Washington, New York, London, Paris, or Berlin, your view is that the same answers should definitely be tried again, but this time we mean it. This time will be different. . . . What could possibly make you believe this other than ideological laziness?

Read more at What the Hell Is Going On?

More about: Donald Trump, Gaza Strip, Palestinians