What were the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in 1947 in caves along the banks of the Dead Sea near where the Essene community was founded, contained a number of different documents. Many thousands of fragments have actually been discovered. But basically, [there are] three key types … . First, copies of all of the biblical texts from the Hebrew scriptures, including text of First Enoch and other apocalyptic literature of this period. In most cases, these manuscripts are our oldest known copies of all the ancient biblical literature. Secondly, it contains commentaries on these texts. And a particular type of commentary, the Essene style of commentary called [pesharim]. It’s from the word which mean, “this is interpreted.” The pesher is a way of doing commentary where they take passages from older scriptures and say how they are to be interpreted for the present day. … The third type of literature that we have among the Dead Sea scrolls is what is usually referred to as their sectaria
