Archaeology and the bible 30 : The Nash Papyrus

About the Nash Papyrus

*The Nash Papyrus is a collection of four papyrus fragments acquired in Egypt in 1898 by W. L. Nash and subsequently presented to Cambridge University Library. They were first described by Stanley A. Cook in 1903.

*Though dated by Stanley Cook to the 2nd century AD, subsequent assesments have pushed the date of the fragments back to about 150-100 BCE.

*The papyrus was by far the oldest Hebrew manuscript fragment known at that time, before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.

*Twenty four lines long, with a few letters missing at each edge, , the papyrus contains the Ten Commandments in Hebrew, followed by the start of the Shema Yisrael prayer.

TRANSLATION by F.C. Burkitt

1 [ . I am Jalhwe thy God that [brought] thee out of
the land of E[gypt:]
2 [thou shalt not hav]e other gods be[fore] me. Thou
shalt not make [for thyself an image]
3 [or any form] that is in the heavens above, or that is in
the earth [beneath,]
4 [or that is in the waters beneath the earth. Thou shalt
not bow down to them [nor]
5 [serve them, for] I am Jahwe thy God, a jealous God
visiting the iniquity]
6 [of fathers upon sons to the third and to the fourth
generation unto them that hate me, [and doing]
7 [kindness unto thousands] unto them that love me and
keep my commandments. Thou shalt [not]
8 [take up the name of Jahwe] thy God in vain, for Jahwe
will not hold guiltless [him that]
9 [taketh up his name in vain. Remember the day of the
Sabbath [to hallow it:]
10 [six days thou shalt work and do all thy business, and
on the [seventh day,]
11 a Sabbath for Jahwe] thy God, thou shalt not do therein
any business, [thou]
12 [and thy son and thy daughter,] thy slave and thy
handmaid, thy ox and thy ass and all thy [cattle,]
13 [and thy stranger that is] in thy gates. For six days
did Ja[hwe make]
14 [the heaven]s and the earth, the sea and all th[at is
therein,]
15 and he rested [on the] seventh day; therefore Jahwe
blessed [the]
16 seventh day and hallowed it. Honour thy father and
thy mother, that]
17 it may be well with thee and that thy days may be long
upon the ground [that]
18 Jahwe thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not do adultery.
Thou shalt not do murder. Thou shalt [not]
19 [st]eal. Thou shalt not [bear] against thy neighbour
vain witness. Thou shalt not covet [the]
20 [wife of thy neighbour. Thou shalt] not desire the house
of thy neighbour, his field, or his slave,]
21 [or his handmaid, or his o]x, or his ass, or anything that
is thy neighbour's. [Blank]
22 [(?) And these are the statutes and the judgements that
Moses commanded the [sons of]
23 [Israel] in the wilderness, when they went forth from
the land of Egypt. Hea[r]
24 [0 Isra]el: Jahwe our God, Jahwe is one; and thou
shalt love]
25 [Jahwe thy G]o[d with al]1 t[hy heart ... . ].

Archaeology & Bible 26: The Dead Sea Scrolls

QUICK FACTS

*Discovered between 1947 and 1956 by Jordanian bedouins in eleven caves along the Northwest shore of the dead sea

*13 miles east of Jerusalem and 1,300 feet below sea level

*The Scrolls appear to be the library of a Jewish sect (most likely the essenes*) which was hidden away in caves around the outbreak of the Jewish-Roman War (66 C.E.). Archaeological evidence indicates the settlement had been inhabited since about 150 B.C.E.

*comprised of the remains of approximately 825 to 870 separate scrolls, represented by tens of thousands of fragments

*The texts are most commonly made of animal skins, but also papyrus and one of copper

*Most of the texts are written in Hebrew and Aramaic, with a few in Greek.

Biblical manuscripts:

*Frangments of every book of the old testament except Esther

*Virtually complete Isaiah scroll which has been referred to as the "Great Isaiah scroll". Has been carbon dated to a range of 335 BC-107 BC.

Other Material

*Commetaries on the Hebrew scriptures

*Community rules

*Apocryphal texts

*Psalm like material of the community

*Commnity wisdom texts

Significance

*Perhaps the literature of the essene commuity

*Shows hightened messianic expectaions in the 1st century BCE and early first century, and interpretations of books such as Isaiah

*Shows the book of Daniel to have been in wide circulation in the 1st Century BCE. A wide circulation by this time leads credance to an early composition date


* Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible were Masoretic texts dating to 9th century.The biblical manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls push that date back to the 2nd century BCE.

Useful Links
http://www.physics.arizona.edu/physics/public/dead-sea.html

Archaeology Series 11: The two silver Scrolls

Several seasons of excavation were carried out between 1975 and 1995 on Ketef Hinnom (Hebrew for "shoulder of Hinnom") a hill overlooking the Hinnom Valley, southwest of the Old City of Jerusalem. In the area next to St. Andrew's Church, finds dating from the Iron Age to the Ottoman period were uncovered.

The major discovery of the Ketef Hinnom excavations were several rock-hewn burial caves dating from the end of the First Temple period (7th century BCE), which contained an abundance of small artifacts, though the caves had been plundered and damaged in the past. The burial chambers have wide rock-cut benches, some with a raised headrest, on which bodies were laid. Space hewn beneath the benches served as repositories of bones for secondary burial, making room for burial of other family members.

One of the larger tombs, which probably belonged to a wealthy family, was found almost intact, with over a thousand objects in it: many small pottery vessels; artifacts of iron and bronze including arrowheads, needles and pins; bone and ivory objects; glass bottles; and jewelry, including earrings of gold and silver. The tomb was in use for several generations towards the end of the First Temple period and for some time after the destruction of 587-6 BCE.

The most important of all the objects found in this tomb are two small silver scrolls. They were somewhat damaged - small wonder, since they were placed in the tomb in the 7th century BCE. Carefully unrolled by experts at the Israel Museum laboratories, they were found to be covered with ancient Hebrew script on the obverse, which was deciphered with some difficulty.

The larger of the two plaques measures 97 x 27 mm., the smaller only 39 x 11 mm. The larger plaque contains 18 lines of writing, mostly legible. Both plaques contain benediction formulas in paleo-Hebrew script, almost identical to the biblical Priestly Blessing in Numbers 6:24-26.

This biblical text, dated to the 7th century BCE, is the oldest known to date and pre-dates the texts found in the Dead Sea area by about 500 years. The word yhwh (the name of the Lord in Hebrew) appears in writing for the first time ever. The benediction quoted from the Book of Numbers was recited by the Temple priests when blessing the congregation; here it is found in writing and for individual use. The tiny silver scrolls were probably worn as amulets around the neck.
The excavations were directed by G. Barkay on behalf of Tel Aviv University.

Num 6:22 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 6:23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel: ye shall say unto them,
Num 6:24 Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee:
Num 6:25 Jehovah make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
Num 6:26 Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
Num 6:27 so shall they put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.