[squirt]

admittedly, there is an allure to archaeology, ancient tombs, cryptic inscriptions etched in stone or scratched onto papyrus, bits of broken pottery, worn coins - they're tantalizing clues for an inveterate investigator, but few vestiges of the past have generated as much intrigue as the Dead Sea Scrolls, hundreds of manuscripts dating from 250 AC to AD 68 that were found in caves twenty miles east of Jerusalem in 1947, they apparently had been hidden by a strict sect of Jews called the Essenes before the Romans destroyed their settlement, some bizarre claims have been made about the scrolls, including John Marco Allegro's absurd book in which he theorized that Christianity emerged from a fertility cult in which adherents tripped out on hallucinogenic mushrooms! in a more legitimate but nevertheless much questioned assertion, papyri expert Jose O'Callaghan said one Dead Sea fragment is part of the earliest manuscript ever found of the gospel of Mark, dating back to a mere 17-20 years after Jesus was crucified, however, many scholars continue to be skeptical of his interpretation, in any event, no inquiry into the archaeology of the 1st century would be complete without asking about the scrolls, do they tell us anything directly about Jesus? no, Jesus isn't specifically mentioned in any of the scrolls, primarily these documents give us insights into Jewish life and customs, although there is one very interesting development involving a manuscript called 4Q521 that could tell us something about who Jesus was claiming to be, the gospel of Matthew describes how John the Baptist, imprisoned and wrestling with lingering doubts about Jesus' identity, sent his followers to ask Jesus this monumental question: "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Matt. 11:3) he was seeking a straight answer about whether Jesus really was the long-awaited Messiah, through the centuries, Christians have wondered about Jesus' rather enigmatic answer, instead of answering yes or no, Jesus replied, "go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor" (Matt. 11:4-5), Jesus' response was an allusion to Isaiah 61, but for some reason Jesus included the phrase "the dead are raised" which is conspiculously absent from the Old Testament text, this is where 4Q521 comes in, this nonbiblical manuscript from the Dead Sea collection, written in Hebrew, dates back to 30 years before Jesus was born, it contains a version of Isaiah 61 that does include this missing phrase, "the dead are raised", [Scroll scholar Craig] Evans has pointed out that this phrase in 4Q521 is unquestionably embedded in a messianiac context, it refers to the wonders that the Messiah will do when he comes and when heaven and earth will obey him, so when Jesus gave his response to John, he was not being ambiguous at all, John would have instantly recognized his words as a distinct claim that Jesus was the Messiah, 4Q521 makes it clear that Jesus' appeal to Isaiah 61 is indeed messianic, in essence, Jesus is telling John through his messengers, that messianic things are happening, so that answers John's question: Yes, he is the one who is to come