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