Museum Dead Sea Scrolls Revealed to be Fraud, Now What?
Courtesy of Ron Cogswell on Flickr
“The Museum of the Bible is trying to be as transparent as possible. We’re victims—we’re victims of misrepresentation, we’re victims of fraud.” Those were the words of the Washington, D.C. Museum of the Bible’s CEO Harry Hargrave in response to the discovery that the museum’s sixteen fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls were all forgeries.
Earlier this month National Geographic, CNN, USA Today and other news platforms all covered this shocking story. For Christians, this should catch our attention. But the importance of this story can only be understood if you realize just how important the Dead Sea Scrolls are.
What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
In 1946, teenager shepherds were tending their sheep and goats about a mile west of the Dead Sea. Some of the goats climbed too high up one of the cliffs, so one boy went up after them. The boy found himself next to an opening on the side of the cliff and tossed a rock inside. Unexpectedly, the toss was met with cracking sounds. The shepherd boys later decided to enter the cave and found multiple clay jars, some of which contained ancient scrolls. Little did these teenagers know, they had stumbled upon “the greatest archaeological find of modern times,” as described by one of America’s greatest archaeologists, W. F. Albright.
“Little did these teenagers know, they had stumbled upon ‘the greatest archaeological find of modern times’ ”
From 1946 to 1956, no less than 941 scrolls were discovered in eleven different caves. Of the 941, 240 were biblical scrolls while 701 were extra-biblical. Amazingly, every Old Testament book was represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls except for the Book of Esther. Before this discovery, the oldest complete Hebrew Bible dated back to 1008 AD. In contrast, the oldest of the Dead Sea Scrolls date back to 250 BC, and the latest one to 68 AD. This puts scholars and bible-translators much closer to the time of the original texts.
Even more, these roughly 2,000-year-old scrolls affirmed modern translations of the Old Testament. This was massively important as it revealed that over the last 2,000 years, our translation of the Old Testament had largely stayed the same. This adds to the evidence that the Bible is not only a reliable source but the very Word of God that has been passed down from generation to generation (Ps. 12:6-7; Matt. 5:18; 2 Pet. 1:21; Rev 22:18-19).
How Did Forgeries Get in?
After the scrolls were discovered and analyzed, a Bethlehem-based antiquities dealer known as Kando collected many of the scrolls and began selling them around the world. However, in the 1970s, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) along with a new Israeli law on antiquities trade restricted the sale of the scrolls.
Around 2002, this seemed to have changed. Antiquities dealers and biblical scholars began revealing pieces of biblical texts that appeared to be long-lost pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 2009, Steve Green, the president of Hobby Lobby and founder of the D.C. Museum of the Bible, jumped at this opportunity to purchase some of these ancient biblical fragments. Five years later, after having spent a fortune, Green owned a total of 16 Dead Sea Scroll fragments.
From the very beginning, experts were skeptical about the post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll fragments. The Museum of the Bible was aware of this and has funded research into their pieces since its opening in 2017. After sending five fragments to Germany’s Federal Institute for Materials Research, the museum announced the results in 2018 that all five fragments were likely forgeries.
Still not settled, in early 2019 the museum reached out to Colette Loll, founder of Art Fraud Insights, to investigate all sixteen fragments. The museum gave Loll complete independence, allowing her report to be the final report that would be released to the public. “Honestly, I’ve never worked with a museum that was so up-front,” Loll said.
By November 2019, Loll and her team unanimously agreed that all sixteen fragments appeared to be forgeries. Three reasons stuck out. First, these scrolls seemed to have been made of ancient leather, rather than the tanned parchment material of the authentic Dead Sea Scrolls. Second, they were soaked in what seemed to be animal-skin glue, which would have smoothed out the leather and mimicked the glue-like features of the real Scrolls. Last, microscopic analysis showed that the scripture was painted onto already ancient leather, as shiny ink remained in the cracks and torn edges that wouldn’t have been there when the leather was new.
How Should Christians Respond?
Though forgeries made their way in, this certainly does not cast doubt on the thousands of real Dead Sea Scroll fragments that remain in The Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Nonetheless, this is still an embarrassment for D.C.’s Museum of the Bible and for evangelicals as a whole. However, the museum acted honorably and honestly throughout the process, and so should we.
Jeffrey Kloha, the Chief Curatorial Officer of the museum, said in an interview, “Our job as a museum is to help the public understand, and this is a part of the history of the Dead Sea Scrolls now, for better or for worse.” Christians should still remember the amazing discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the testament they are to the preservation and reliability of the Word of God. Still, as saddening as it is, the tale of these forgeries will go down in history books as part of the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
