Dead Sea Scrolls arrive in Mobile Jan. 20

Seven of the oldest surviving biblical scrolls are in Mobile. After successful shows in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Houston, the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit opens in Mobile’s Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center Jan. 20. 
   
With 12 authentic Dead Sea Scrolls on loan from the Israeli Antiquities Authority, the exhibit will be on display through April 24. New Orleans Seminary is a sponsoring institution for the event.
   
“The highlight [of the exhibit] will be the Deuteronomy scroll that has the entire text of the Ten Commandments,” said Ellen Herron, curator for the exhibit. “This is such a rare opportunity.”
   
In addition to the Deuteronomy scroll, the exhibit includes six other 2,000-year-old biblical scrolls with the oldest surviving texts of Genesis, Leviticus, Numbers, Psalms, Isaiah and Jeremiah. The remaining five scroll fragments are sectarian documents found at the Qumran site in Israel.
   
Discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd boy, the Dead Sea Scrolls are the most famous and important find in the history of biblical archaeology. The discovery, excavations and resulting research has confirmed and helped ensure the reliability of the Old Testament text found in modern translations of the Bible.
   
Visitors will learn about the different types of literature present at Qumran and about the three languages (Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic) represented in the scrolls. 
   
“The scrolls become very personal to you. They are so fragile, but they offer so much for people,” Herron said.
   
The Exploreum is a nonprofit science museum located in downtown Mobile. Founded in 1998, the museum occupies a $21 million facility complete with interactive exhibits and an IMAX theater. 
   
For more information, visit www.thealabamabaptist.org. (BP)