User:Kyoko/Genesis Apocryphon

The Genesis Apocryphon is one of the Dead Sea scrolls, found in the caves near Qumran. It was one of the first of these scrolls to come to the attention of modern archeologists. Written in Aramaic, this manuscript takes its name from its content, which retells certain sections from the Biblical book of Genesis, largely in the first person. The document is also referred to as 1QapGen from its provenance: 1 from Cave 1, Q for Qumran, ap for apocryphon, and Gen from the Book of Genesis that inspired it.

Discovery

Main article: Dead Sea scrolls § Discovery

There are differing accounts of the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls, though 1947 has become accepted as to when they were found. When three Bedouin shepherds were tending their flock near the Dead Sea, one of them happened to notice some openings in the nearby cliffs. The shepherd threw a rock into one of them — perhaps out of curiosity, or in order to find a lost animal — and heard the sound of something shattering. Due to the late hour and failing light, the shepherds decided to wait for another day to investigate the source of the sound. One of them, Muhammud Ahmed el-Hamed, thought that there might be hidden treasure and decided to explore the cliff opening by himself. There he discovered several ancient jars containing scrolls wrapped in linen. A total of seven scrolls were found in the cave, which later became known as Cave 1.

These scrolls were brought to various antiquities dealers, then eventually to Mar Samuel, a Metropolitan bishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church and its highest representative in Jerusalem at the time. Four of the scrolls came into his possession, including the Genesis Apocryphon. Later on, these and other scrolls were obtained by archeologists.

Origins

Eleazar Sukenik first proposed that the Dead Sea scrolls were written by the Essenes, a Jewish religious group that flourished from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. This came to be known as the Qumran-Essene hypothesis. According to this belief, the scrolls were composed at Qumran,

Father Roland de Vaux, leader of the international team of scholars who first studied the scrolls, believed that the Genesis Apocryphon dated back to what he calls Phase II of the settlement history of Qumran. This corresponds to a period from approximately 4 BCE to 68 CE.

De Vaux believed that the Genesis Apocryphon and other Dead Sea scrolls

Although the Qumran-Essene hypothesis is widely accepted, a number of alternative theories exist, including

Frank, Harry T. (1993). Shanks, Hershel (ed.). Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Reader from the Biblical Archaeology Review. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-74445-2.

Shanks, Hershel (1993). Understanding the Dead Sea scrolls: a reader from the Biblical archaeology review. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-74445-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

It surfaced in 1947 and came into the possession of Mar Samuel. The scroll was published in 1956 by Yigael Yadin and Nahman Avigad.

Content

The manuscript of the Genesis Apocryphon is incomplete, entirely missing its beginning and lacking some sections of the middle. Archaeologists have been able to deduce its probable original length based on certain indicators at the top of each section. The existing scroll consists of 22 columns of text, written in Aramaic. Its contents are as follows:

• Column I: Missing.
• Column II: Lamech confronts his wife Batenosh, asking if their son Noah was fathered by the Nephilim (from Genesis 6:1–4) and not by him. Batenosh denies the accusation. Uncertain of her answer, Lamech seeks advice from his father, Methuselah, who in turn consults his father, Enoch.
• Column III: This mostly incomplete column appears to be written from the perspective of Enoch, who mentions his father Jared.
• Column IV: A very fragmentary text.
• Column V: This column is written in the first person, though the narrator changes midway. In the first section of the surviving text, Enoch affirms that Noah was fathered by Lamech and not the Nephilim. Other parts of the manuscript are narrated by Lamech and Noah.
• Column VI: In an expansion of Genesis 6:5–13, Noah speaks of his living a life of virtue, of his children, and of receiving a divine message in a vision.
• Column VII: A very incomplete text in which God promises to reward Noah.
• Column VIII: Contains only fragments of text.
• Column IX: Missing.
  
• Column X: Noah's Ark lands on one of the Mountains of Ararat, where Noah makes a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. This text is analogous to Genesis.
• Column XI:
• Column XII:
• Column XIII:
• Column XIV:
• Column XV:
• Column XVI:
• Column XVII:
• Column XVIII:
• Column XIX:
• Column XX:
• Column XXI:
• Column XXII:

Abram Sarai

External links

• A translation of the Genesis Apocryphon
• A paraphrase of the Genesis Apocryphon with notes

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Category:Dead Sea scrolls Category:Essene texts Category:Hebrew manuscripts