Daniel - Introduction, Part 5

© 2008-2017 Tony Garland - contact@SpiritAndTruth.org

COURSE COMMENTARY


Versions

Dead Sea Scrolls

  • Witness to Reliability of Masoretic Text
    Dead Sea Scroll

    Image provided by Daniel Baranek, Dead Sea Scroll - part of Isaiah Scroll (Isa. 57:17-59:9), 1QIsab (ca 100 B.C.). This image is in the public domain.
    The Dead Sea Scroll versions of Daniel attest to the early form of the Hebrew text of Daniel closely matching the Masoretic Text--the basis of our modern translations.

    “[With the advent of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments] we are able to compare for the first time in history the Hebrew and Aramaic of the book of Daniel with manuscripts of the same book that are about 1,000 years older. A comparison between the MT and the earlier manuscripts contained in 1QDana, 1QDanb, and 6QDan, based upon a careful study of the variants and relationships with the MT, reveals that 'the Daniel fragments from Caves 1 and 6 reveal, on the whole, that the later Masoretic text is preserved in a good, hardly changed form. They are thus a valuable witness to the great faithfulness with which the sacred text has been transmitted' (Mertens 1971:31). These textual witnesses demonstrate that the MT was faithfully preserved and confirm that the Hebrew and Aramaic text of Daniel is reliable.”

    -- Gerhard Hasel, "New Light On The Book Of Daniel From The Dead Sea Scrolls," in Bible and Spade, vol. 5 no. 2 (Associates for Biblical Research, Winter 1992), 47.
  • Themes