The Dead Sea Scrolls
Sunday, January 13, 2013 at 10:09PM After church, Mike and I took the kids to Fort Worth in order to get a glimpse of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments exhibit that has been at the seminary there for several months.
We were all very excited, and since it was the final day of the exhibit, we knew that it was exceedingly likely that the crowd would be great.
We were not wrong.
The line just to get into the first part of the exhibit (ancient artifacts and pictures of the Dead Sea area and the Qumran community) was huge. There were a few things that stood outside of the official entryway of the exhibit, like this pottery that had been pieced back together, an example of what archaeologists do.
Looking at this pottery makes me think of how God takes our broken pieces and lovingly and painstakingly puts them back together. Once it's done, the cracks are still visible, but it's okay. The pottery has been restored, and is beautiful even though no longer perfect.
We stood in the first line for about an hour in order to see the artifacts and the replicas of some of the longer scrolls (Isaiah...so amazing), and then after a short video we stood in another line for about two hours before seeing the actual fragments that they had on display. At some point in all the standing, Eliana looked at me and tried to communicate that she was hungry and thirsty.
Poor girl. She was such a trooper, as were the other two kids. A woman in front of us, who had been in front of us for the final two hours of line-standing/walking, turned just before we entered the fragment hall and told us how very good the kids had been and how wonderful that was. That was quite a compliment.
No photographs were allowed once inside the exhibit, so we just walked through and took it all in. It's an amazing experience to walk through a place that is housing such old, ancient even, items that are in excellent condition. What care the archaeologists must take! The kids were surprisingly interested in a lot of what was written, and they were exceptionally patient!
During the video that we saw (over and over and over and over again, since our two-hour line was in the same room that the video was playing), what stood out to me was how, in such a barren and seemingly desolate place, these scrolls were kept from completely decaying for thousands of years. In God's wisdom and timing, they were discovered at just the right time in history...for purposes that he alone knows fully. Isaiah 40:8 reads
"The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a tangible representation of how this has been true. There are other things mulling around in my head, but it's late and I have stuff to prepare for tomorrow. I'll have to revisit these ideas another time...
Reader Comments (2)
So great that your kids got to experience that! Great use of Isaiah 40. :)
Your entryway is gorgeous and you are a better mama than I to stand in a two hour line with your kids to look at old paper.