Wadi Murabba'at
Wadi Murabba'at, also known as Nahal Darga, is a ravine cut by a seasonal stream which runs from the
Discovery and analysis of the caves
When the
Remains were discovered that reflected habitation, usually temporary, during the
The Murabba'at area was surveyed by Pessah Bar-Adon in 1968 leading to the discovery of a fifth cave. In 1993 Hanan Eshel and Z. Greenhut discovered a cemetery which resembles that at Qumran.[5]
Textual materials
From the Roman period there is an inventory of about 120 documents which cover the decades leading up to the Bar Kochba revolt. Many of these are legal documents including deeds of land sale, marriage contracts, a debt acknowledgement and a writ of divorce. Fragments of biblical texts including
List of manuscripts from Cave 1
Fragment or Scroll Identifier | Fragment or Scroll Name | Alternative Identifier | English Bible Association | Language | Date/Script | Description | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wadi Murabba'at Cave 1 | |||||||
Mur1 | Pentateuch? | Mur1 | Genesis 32:4–5, 30, 33–33:1; 34:5–7, 30–35:1, 4–7
Exodus 6:5–11 |
Hebrew | Roman | Parts of Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers. | [7] |
MurDeut | Deuteronomy | Mur2 | Deuteronomy 10:1–3 | Hebrew | 20–84 CE
Roman |
[8][9] | |
MurIsa | Isaiah | Mur3 | Hebrew | Roman | [10] | ||
MurPhyl | Phylacteries | Mur4 | Contains Exodus 13:1–16
Deuteronomy 11:13–21; 6:4–9 |
Hebrew | Roman | [8][11] | |
MurMez | Mezuzah | Mur5 | Contains Exodus 13:1–16
Deuteronomy 11:13–21; 6:4–9 |
Hebrew | Roman | [8][12] | |
Mur6 | Unidentified literary text | Mur6 | [13] | ||||
MurXII | Minor Prophets | Mur88 | Hebrew | Roman (Square script) | [14] |
Letter from Simon Bar Kochba
The following letter, translated by John Allegro, is addressed to Joshua ben Galgola, who was the military commander of the Herodium fortress, which lay between Wadi Murabba'at and Jerusalem. The letter provides Bar Kochba's real name.
- Simon ben Kosebah to Joshua ben Galgola and the men of thy company; greetings. I call heaven to bear witness against me: if any one of the Galileans whom you have protected (or, delivered) cause trou[ble], I shall put fetters on your feet as I did to Ben Aphlul – Simon ben Kosebah (...)[15]
References
- ^ Ben-Yosef (1979), pp. 27–28
- ^ Dare to delve into Nahal Darga
- ^ Allegro, The Dead Sea Scrolls, pp. 35–36.
- ^ Stern 2000, p. 582.
- ^ Stern 2000, pp. 581–582.
- ^ Stern 2000, pp. 583–585.
- ^ MUR1 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
- ^ a b c OakTree Software, Inc. Accordance 10: Bible Software. 2008.
- ^ MUR2 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
- ^ MUR3 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
- ^ MUR4 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
- ^ MUR5 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
- ^ MUR6 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
- ^ MUR88 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
- ^ Translation by John Allegro, The Dead Sea Scrolls, p. 173.
Bibliography
- Allegro, John M., The Dead Sea Scrolls (Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1956)
- Benoit, P., Milik, J.T., and de Vaux, R., Les Grottes de Murabbaat (Oxford: Clarendon, 1961)(for text and photographs)
- OCLC 745203905.
- "Leon Levy Collection". Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library. Israel Antiquities Authority. Retrieved 2015-01-22.
- Stern, Ephraim (Archaeology), Eshel, Hanan (Written material), "Murabba'at, Wadi", in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Schiffman, Lawrence H., VanderKam, James C. (eds.), Vol. 1 (Oxford, 2000), pp. 581–586.