Important Fragments Of Old Testament

Chronicle (Levin), 11 August 1949, Page 5

Important Fragments Of Old Testament

(N.Z.P.A.-

-Reuter.

Copyright)

Eeceived Wednesday, 7 p.m. LONDON, August 10. Fragments of the Old Testament in Hebrew, more than 2000 years old, • found in Palestine, are believed hy British archeological experts to have heen from ancient records hidden hy a lost monastic Jewish sect fighting for its religious and political freedom. The fragments, now under examination in London, are from one of a numher of tattered leather scrolls recovered from a cavern in the foothills of the Dead Sea shores after a chance discovery in 1947 hy a goatherd rounding up his stray animals. The scrolls, identified as texts of Old Testament hooks, are calculated hy experts to have heen part of a lihrary hidden hy the Essenes, one of the three great religious sects of ancient Israel. Experts at the British Museum said the fragments would enahle the Hehrew Bihle to look the Greek translation in the face for the first time in Christian history. Descrihed as the most important confirmation ohtained of the Bihle, the texts are reckoned to he 1100 years older than any previous knoxyn examples and are regarded as cerfcain to takp „precedence over the Greek translations which at present form the hasis of the Bible. British experts said it may he 20 years hefore the texts and their implications are fully digested in relation to the Bihle as it is known today.