Subject: Isaiah Scroll and Jesus (fwd)

From: Julian Goldberg <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 1996 12:57:16 -0500 (EST)

Hi.  One of the best preserved Dead Sea scrolls is the Isaiah scroll (1 Q 
Isa) which is well-known.  There is also another well preserved scroll of
Isaiah (1 Q Isb) which is slightly different from (1 Q Isa).   In Luke
4:18 Jesus is reading from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue.  This
reading is related to Isaiah 61:1 in the Septuagint rather than the 
Masoretic text word for word.  Now if one of the above Dead Sea scrolls
matches this reading as found in the New Testament and the Septuagint
would it not have been perhaps possible that Jesus may have actually
read from this scroll itself?  Of course this could be a matter of 
faith for some people to believe this but my speculation is interesting.
Also, the scroll would have to have been written many years before Jesus
read from it.  Please write back to me when you can.  Thanks.

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 16:13:55 -0500

In a message dated 96-12-09 13:29:13 EST, you write:

 Hi Julian Goldberg:
 
 You wrote:
<< Hi.  One of the best preserved Dead Sea scrolls is the Isaiah scroll (1 Q 
 read from it.  Please write back to me when you can.  Thanks.>>

Of course that is possible, but textual scholars think that Matthew merely
used the Septuagint text to enter this passage into his Greek Gospel rather
than translate from the Hebrew. However, if Matthew's words match those in
one of the Dead Sea scrolls it is likely that the Hebrew text Jesus was
reading was a copy of a master text like the one used by the Septuagint
translators. It is not likely that Jesus read the same manuscript that the
Septuagint translators used. The Septuagint was translated in the 3rd century
BC in Egypt. Jesus read a synagog scroll in the small town of Nazareth,
whereas the master scrolls would have been kept in the temple in Jerusalem.
Sincerely,
James D. Price