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orion Several
1. On the issue of a substantial number of texts being copied just before
some "X" date (for example, the date of deposit), is there any reason to
believe that many scrolls might not have been produced within a very short
period of time, i.e., it would take a good scribe only a few hours (?) or so
to produce a copy of Isaiah or Psalms. If something like Isaiah was a
favorite book, there may have been many copies available. In other words,
why do you need to postulate a whole generation for production of a
substantial part of the material.
2. On the issue of non-retrieval of the DSS, isn't it reasonable to look for
a simple explaination. Many people store things away carefully and never go
back to the attic or basement to retrieve them. All those who don't have
their college notebooks stored someplace, please stand up. Because the DSS
are very important now, isn't there a natural inclination to want them to
have been important then. Perhaps the scrolls just weren't that important in
the overall scheme of things.
3. Would scribes also produce the inscribed strips for phylactery? Would
these be sold? Would, for example, copies of Psalms be sold, etc.? Would
writing scrolls be a way to support a sect?
4. If there was a library of 870 - 1000 or so scrolls, why isn't it
reasonable to assume that before deposit it was probably in Jericho and moved
from there along with many other items into caves in the general area. There
are several events during which a library might have been moved from there,
e.g. (1) when Herod and ten bands of soldiers (5 Roman and 5 or Jewish
origin) came to Jericho only to find that it had been deserted - where did
they go to hide and with what, or (2) when Judas burned down the royal palace
of Jericho in about 6 C.E.
Mark Dunn