First Glance

In the second of a two-part series, “New Directions in Dead Sea Scroll Research,” Frank Moore Cross reveals an extraordinary discovery from the famous caves at Qumran. An entire paragraph from the Book of Samuel, missing from the received biblical text, appeared on a scroll fragment retrieved from Cave 4. In 1 Samuel 11, we learn that Nahash the Ammonite laid siege to the Israelite city of Jabesh-Gilead and offered mercy only if the Israelites agreed that their right eyes would be gouged out. But why? The text does not tell us. Now, a first-century B.C. scroll fragment from Qumran supplies the answer.

One of the world’s leading Bible scholars, Cross has studied the famous Qumran documents since 1953 as a member of the International Committee for Editing Dead Sea Scrolls. Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages at Harvard University, Cross was one of the first authors to contribute to our sister magazine, Biblical Archaeology Review; his article, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the People Who Wrote Them,” BAR 03:01, appeared in the March 1977 issue.