Truth Be Told: A Blog by Pastor Bill Alderson

The Dead Sea Scrolls are  ancient Jewish  religious  manuscripts  discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the  Qumran Caves  located near  Ein Feshkha  in the  West Bank , on the northern shore of the  Dead Sea . Dating from the 3rd century  BC  to the 1st century AD, the Dead Sea Scrolls may be considered the most significant archaeological find in history for many reasons, not the least of which they include the oldest surviving manuscripts of entire books later included in the  biblical canons . One of the most notable of these is a complete copy of the Book of Isaiah, providing the world with clear evidence that the Scriptures we use today are accurate. Also found are deuterocanonical  and extra-biblical manuscripts, which preserve evidence of the diversity of religious thought in late  Second Temple Judaism . Many of these provide great historical insights into the events covered in Scripture by its writers. At the same time, they cast new insights into the emergence of  Christianity

  Messiah is the special title of the Savior promised to the world through the Jewish race. The Hebrew word, Mashiach, is in every instance of its use (thirty-nine times) rendered in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) by Christos (Anointed One), which becomes so illustrious in the New Testament as the official designation of the Savior. He is introduced in Scripture very early, as part of the curse against the serpent in Genesis 3:15: “ And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel ." The fulfillment of this prophecy is described in Galatians 4:4-5: But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons . To understand the Old Testament perception of Messiah, not one verse can define Him, but rather a holistic view of the entire O

After the return from the Babylonian captivity, the priesthood formed the center of the new religious life, and the pious in Israel who were anxious to practice the commandments of the Lord naturally attached themselves to the divinely - appointed and the time-honored tribe of Levi. The Jews who followed the high priest even when he contradicted the Torah became known as Sadducees. Those committed to following the Torah refused to follow the high priest and became known as the Pharisees (dissenters). The new method of Torah interpretation, called “Derush,” meant that oral tradition would be enforced and binding on all, just as the written Torah had been. This was the religious and political environment at the time the Messiah appeared. At the same time, the high priest stopped being from the lineage of Zadok. The remaining priests of Zadok formed a community in Qumran, located northwest of the Dead Sea. They were known as the Essenes, and their community is likened to the early Chris