You are exactly right!!!! Only those that conform to modern politically correct Biblical knowledge are released to the public. Many of these scrolls have yet to be translated. I have a book in my library that I bought decades ago published in 1991, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception which covers many issues as to why the scrolls are being slow walked in their translation and why some are being held from the public. Its true that some of these scrolls are so disintegrated that they have to piece them all together like a puzzle then translate them, which takes a lot of time. Funny thing however, is that they have had a difficult time deciphering the so-called Copper Scroll because it is written in true ancient Hebrew which was lost after the Babylonian captivity and none of the scholars that control the scrolls today can read ancient Hebrew. I only know of two historians that can read ancient Hebrew and they have been maligned by the academe to shut them up. They did cut the Copper Scroll up in pieces with a diamond saw instead of unrolling it because they said is was too fragile, but I have yet to see what the whole text looks like. Photos of it have always only shown some of the text but never the whole thing. When Nehemiah and Ezra returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, Ezra bemoaned that fact that his people no longer understood the old Hebrew language. Ezra had to verbally translate from the books of the prophets and speak in the Chaldee for the congregation to understand. What people call Hebrew today is really only modern Hebrew which is actually Eastern Aramaic or Chaldee and was only introduced by the Babylonian scribes that came with Ezra at Jerusalem. The Babylonian scribes then introduced a new system of writting called quadratic script which they still use today. This script is nowhere near what the true ancient Hebrew looks like. My two cents.
Quite right. As you stated the original Hebrew (paleo-Hebrew) was already lost to antiquity for over a thousand years.
Look up "Hebrew" and even Wikipedia tells us that the written Hebrew of modern times (neo-Hebrew) is not paleo-Hebrew. Paleo-Hebrew is the original writings of the books of the Old Testament (OT).
Modern written Hebrew is based on the work by the Masoretes in 900 AD. Who are the Masoretes? They are Pharisaic Jews (Pharisees), who recreated a new written 'Hebrew' from Afroasiatic language family (Arabic) and Aramaic to successful 'revive' a dead language. Even Wikipedia admits to modern Hebrew as being a revived dead language (Albeit, you might have to use the Wayback Machine to see earlier postings). The original written Hebrew had only consonants and it depended on an oral tradition of learned scholars to know what the words meant. The Masoretes created a new written 'Hebrew' that had vowel points. These are any of a group of auxiliary symbols, as small lines and dots, placed above or below consonant symbols to indicate vowels in a writing system. Arabic uses vowel points. The Masoretes finished translating the New Hebrew version from the Septuagint in the 10th Century AD. The Masoretic Text, as it is called, was accepted as being the basis of all Protestant Bibles. In the same period, it was used as a source, along with later Greek Texts (such as the Miniscules, etc.) as the basis for the Textus Receptus. From the Masoretic Text, the King James Version was transliterated.
The oldest Bible OT there is the Septuagint, which was transliterated from the original paleo-Hebrew into koine Greek in circa 285 BC. As you mention from Ezra's time, the original Hebrew written language was in trouble and it only got worse under the Hellenic influence and was becoming extinct.
According to tradition, it was Ptolemy Philadelphus, who purchased the freedom of Israelites in his territories, arranged for 6 scholars from each of the 12 tribes to translate the first 5 books of the Old Testament from paleo-Hebrew into Greek around 285 BC. By this time a practical knowledge of the Hebrew written language was all but lost.
The original written Hebrew consisted only of consonants and relied on an oral knowledge to decipher the consonant-only words. Think of the English word 'cat' and remove the vowel. It becomes 'ct'. Without the vowel, the word 'ct' could be cat, cot, cut, cute, acute, coat, etc. An individual of knowledge would be required to orally teach others what the word 'ct' was. This is how the priestly class taught and passed on the writings of the bible. The paleo-Hebrew writings were designed for deciphering the bible using scribes trained to it. The written paleo-Hebrew was dependent on an individual trained in understanding it. This is how the Hebrew written language was passed down generation after generation. It was central to understanding the bible.
With the written Hebrew language being greatly eclipsed and dominated by the very popular Greek language, which was the international language of the day, Hebrew was in great peril of being lost forever. Ptolemy gathered together 72 scholars and in a short period of time they completed the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch is from Greek pentáteuchos and is the first five books of the Old Testament. The Latin name 'Septuagint' means 70, and was later applied to the translation in circa 1555 AD, for there was approximately 70 translators. This is also the reason why the abbreviation 'LXX' is used for this reason. After the first 5 books were finished, the translators set out to work on the rest of the OT. The exact date this was accomplished is not known, but it is certain the complete OT was finished within 100 years and it is likely it was completed within a few years by the same translators.
Great overview Tewdryg! Its so nice to hear from someone that also knows the truth of things. Its also important to note that it was from the Septuagint that Yashua/Jesus Christ drew His teachings from, and NOT from the Babylonian Talmud, better known as the Tradition of the Elders now known as the religion of JUDAISM which is practiced to this day by modern Jewry. That is why I always cringe when I hear the term Judeo-Christian from ignorant Christians that have no clue as to what they are saying. The term Judeo-Christian is an oxymoron, it is of two opposites. Our Christian Bible is derived from HEBRAISM not Judaism. Hebraic-Christian is an acceptable term. As such, we can also say that the Septuagint is based on HEBRAISM not from Babylonian Judaism. Therefore, Christ only drew His teachings from the Hebraic writings which made the Pharisee serpents squirm. I love the entire chapter of John 8 where Jesus exposes Pharisees as to whom they really are including their seedline. Best wishes.
My understanding is that a lot of the Qumran scrolls have not been seen by the public and kept under wraps.
To my understanding some of the Qumran papyii are not accessible to the public, so not all are available.......
You are exactly right!!!! Only those that conform to modern politically correct Biblical knowledge are released to the public. Many of these scrolls have yet to be translated. I have a book in my library that I bought decades ago published in 1991, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception which covers many issues as to why the scrolls are being slow walked in their translation and why some are being held from the public. Its true that some of these scrolls are so disintegrated that they have to piece them all together like a puzzle then translate them, which takes a lot of time. Funny thing however, is that they have had a difficult time deciphering the so-called Copper Scroll because it is written in true ancient Hebrew which was lost after the Babylonian captivity and none of the scholars that control the scrolls today can read ancient Hebrew. I only know of two historians that can read ancient Hebrew and they have been maligned by the academe to shut them up. They did cut the Copper Scroll up in pieces with a diamond saw instead of unrolling it because they said is was too fragile, but I have yet to see what the whole text looks like. Photos of it have always only shown some of the text but never the whole thing. When Nehemiah and Ezra returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, Ezra bemoaned that fact that his people no longer understood the old Hebrew language. Ezra had to verbally translate from the books of the prophets and speak in the Chaldee for the congregation to understand. What people call Hebrew today is really only modern Hebrew which is actually Eastern Aramaic or Chaldee and was only introduced by the Babylonian scribes that came with Ezra at Jerusalem. The Babylonian scribes then introduced a new system of writting called quadratic script which they still use today. This script is nowhere near what the true ancient Hebrew looks like. My two cents.
Quite right. As you stated the original Hebrew (paleo-Hebrew) was already lost to antiquity for over a thousand years.
Look up "Hebrew" and even Wikipedia tells us that the written Hebrew of modern times (neo-Hebrew) is not paleo-Hebrew. Paleo-Hebrew is the original writings of the books of the Old Testament (OT).
Modern written Hebrew is based on the work by the Masoretes in 900 AD. Who are the Masoretes? They are Pharisaic Jews (Pharisees), who recreated a new written 'Hebrew' from Afroasiatic language family (Arabic) and Aramaic to successful 'revive' a dead language. Even Wikipedia admits to modern Hebrew as being a revived dead language (Albeit, you might have to use the Wayback Machine to see earlier postings). The original written Hebrew had only consonants and it depended on an oral tradition of learned scholars to know what the words meant. The Masoretes created a new written 'Hebrew' that had vowel points. These are any of a group of auxiliary symbols, as small lines and dots, placed above or below consonant symbols to indicate vowels in a writing system. Arabic uses vowel points. The Masoretes finished translating the New Hebrew version from the Septuagint in the 10th Century AD. The Masoretic Text, as it is called, was accepted as being the basis of all Protestant Bibles. In the same period, it was used as a source, along with later Greek Texts (such as the Miniscules, etc.) as the basis for the Textus Receptus. From the Masoretic Text, the King James Version was transliterated.
The oldest Bible OT there is the Septuagint, which was transliterated from the original paleo-Hebrew into koine Greek in circa 285 BC. As you mention from Ezra's time, the original Hebrew written language was in trouble and it only got worse under the Hellenic influence and was becoming extinct.
According to tradition, it was Ptolemy Philadelphus, who purchased the freedom of Israelites in his territories, arranged for 6 scholars from each of the 12 tribes to translate the first 5 books of the Old Testament from paleo-Hebrew into Greek around 285 BC. By this time a practical knowledge of the Hebrew written language was all but lost.
The original written Hebrew consisted only of consonants and relied on an oral knowledge to decipher the consonant-only words. Think of the English word 'cat' and remove the vowel. It becomes 'ct'. Without the vowel, the word 'ct' could be cat, cot, cut, cute, acute, coat, etc. An individual of knowledge would be required to orally teach others what the word 'ct' was. This is how the priestly class taught and passed on the writings of the bible. The paleo-Hebrew writings were designed for deciphering the bible using scribes trained to it. The written paleo-Hebrew was dependent on an individual trained in understanding it. This is how the Hebrew written language was passed down generation after generation. It was central to understanding the bible.
With the written Hebrew language being greatly eclipsed and dominated by the very popular Greek language, which was the international language of the day, Hebrew was in great peril of being lost forever. Ptolemy gathered together 72 scholars and in a short period of time they completed the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch is from Greek pentáteuchos and is the first five books of the Old Testament. The Latin name 'Septuagint' means 70, and was later applied to the translation in circa 1555 AD, for there was approximately 70 translators. This is also the reason why the abbreviation 'LXX' is used for this reason. After the first 5 books were finished, the translators set out to work on the rest of the OT. The exact date this was accomplished is not known, but it is certain the complete OT was finished within 100 years and it is likely it was completed within a few years by the same translators.
Great overview Tewdryg! Its so nice to hear from someone that also knows the truth of things. Its also important to note that it was from the Septuagint that Yashua/Jesus Christ drew His teachings from, and NOT from the Babylonian Talmud, better known as the Tradition of the Elders now known as the religion of JUDAISM which is practiced to this day by modern Jewry. That is why I always cringe when I hear the term Judeo-Christian from ignorant Christians that have no clue as to what they are saying. The term Judeo-Christian is an oxymoron, it is of two opposites. Our Christian Bible is derived from HEBRAISM not Judaism. Hebraic-Christian is an acceptable term. As such, we can also say that the Septuagint is based on HEBRAISM not from Babylonian Judaism. Therefore, Christ only drew His teachings from the Hebraic writings which made the Pharisee serpents squirm. I love the entire chapter of John 8 where Jesus exposes Pharisees as to whom they really are including their seedline. Best wishes.