Hebrew: Khirbet Qumran

Coordinates: 31°45′27″N, 35°27′31″E / Elevation: -900

The Qumran is best known for what was found in the caves that surround the bluff on which their village was built:  over 900 ancient scrolls from the mid- to latter part of the 1^st century AD, most popularly known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.  While the impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls can never be overstated, the Qumran itself provides great insight into the religious mix of Judea during the period of the Roman occupation. 

The Qumran was a monastery of an ultra-pietistic movement in Judaism known as the Essenes.  Contemporary with the New Testament era, the Essenes believed they lived in a period of unprecedented corruption of the Jewish people.  In particular, they viewed the accommodation of Rome and Gentile influence by the priests of Jerusalem portended the immanent arrival of a Messiah who would lead the spiritually pure (“the sons of light”) in an epic battle between good and evil that would result in the end of the world. 

The Qumran appears to have been an attempt by at least a segment of the Essene movement (not all Essene lived at Qumran; indeed, Josephus says in War 2:124 that most did not) to separate themselves from the corruption that surrounded them. 

According to Josephus, most, but not all, Essene were celibate (War 2:160-161); they were highly educated, extremely dedicated and suffered for their stand against decay in Jewish society.  After two teachers at the Qumran incited students to remove the Roman eagles erected over the entrance to the Temple, Herod the Great had the monastery, with teachers and students inside, burned to the ground in 8 BC.  The community rebuilt.  The community was utterly destroyed by Titus and the 10^th Legion in 70AD.

Why we stopped:  The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 refocused the archaeological world’s attention on the Qumran and the movement associated with it.  The information gathered from the ruins in this place have added immeasurable insight into the themes and events that were part of the New Testament environment.  Any journey to Israel would be incomplete without stopping at this site and considering what it means to take a stand against spiritual corruption.

View the gallery at Qumran: