THE TEMPLE SCROLL

MS 5095/1
MS Short Title THE TEMPLE SCROLL
Text THE TEMPLE SCROLL, COLUMNS 2 AND 3
Description MS in Hebrew on vellum, Qumran, late 1st c. BC - 68 AD, 12 fragments, 5,5x2,9 cm, 3,8x2,0 cm, 4,3x1,3 cm and smaller, part of columns 2 and 3, parts of up to 4 lines each on 2 or more layers sticking together, in a developed formal Herodian Hebrew book script by scribe A, from a scroll of 67 columns, 19 membranes, total length 9 m., Linen cloth from the wrapper sticking to most of the fragments. A piece of linen from the wrapper, 1,2x2,0 cm. 3 fragments with modern thick paper sticking.
Context The Temple Scroll, with the fragments MSS 5095/1 and 5095/4, the scroll's linen wrapper MS 5095/2, and a palm leaf pen, MS 5095/3, were found together in a large jar with lid (still in Kando's shop in Jerusalem), in Cave 11 in 1956. The Temple Scroll is now in Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum.
Provenance 1. Community of the Essenes, Qumran (early 1st c. - 68 AD); 2. Qumran Cave 11 (68-1956); 3. Bedouins of the Ta'amireh tribe, Judaean desert (1956); 4. Khalil Iskander Shahin ("Kando"), Bethlehem (1956-1961); 5. Private collection, Switzerland (gift from Kando) (1961-1980) and heirs.
Commentary The Temple Scroll is the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls, with its 9 m. The text was originally written ca. 150 BC, and purports to be the second Torah of the Community of Essenes, giving particularly attention to the way the Temple is to be reconstructed. The purpose of the scroll is to be a New Deuteronomy, a law for the remnant of Israel in the future. With the Manual of Discipline, the most important of the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls.
Place of origin Qumran
Dates late 1c BC - 68 AD