Kenneth Hanson on Coast to Coast Radio Show
Dr. Ken Hanson, scholar of Hebrew language and literature, talked about new developments related to the Dead Sea Scrolls. First discovered 75 years ago, the ancient fragments form the basis of the Hebrew Bible, and number in the thousands. Although many of these fragments were looted, lost, or sold by local treasure seekers at the time, Hanson said, Israeli archaeologists moved quickly to collect and preserve what they could. In 2017, Israel’s government oversaw Operation Scroll, an effort to find additional scrolls and study them systematically. About 500 caves were excavated in the operation, including the “Cave of Horror” containing dozens of skeletons and skulls.
All in all, Hanson related, fragments of every book of the Hebrew Bible except one (Esther) have been recovered. He also noted that one particular item would be “the most important Biblical discovery ever found” if authenticated: an ancient scroll fragment (view related image), discovered over a century ago, that is speculated to be the original work of Moses himself.