description Temple Scroll (Dead Sea) Overview
The Temple Scroll is the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls, surviving in a manuscript approximately eight metres long that was recovered from Cave 11 near Qumran. Written in Hebrew on thin animal skin, it presents laws concerning ritual purity, sacrifices, festivals, kingship, and an idealized Temple complex. The text reworks material found in the Torah and is important for studying Jewish law and religious thought during the Second Temple period.
help Temple Scroll (Dead Sea) FAQ
Why is the Temple Scroll called 11Q19?
The label identifies it as manuscript 19 cataloged from Qumran Cave 11. It is the best-preserved copy of the work, though fragments of additional copies were also found.
Does the Temple Scroll describe Solomon's Temple?
Not directly. It presents an ideal temple complex and its laws as divine instruction, expanding and rearranging material found in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Why does the Temple Scroll sometimes sound as if God is speaking?
The writer recasts biblical law in the first person, placing commands directly in God's voice. This gives the scroll an authority beyond that of an ordinary commentary on the Torah.
How large was the temple envisioned in the scroll?
The plan uses three concentric courts, with the outer court forming an enormous square around the sacred center. Its dimensions would make the imagined complex far larger than the surviving platform traditionally associated with the Second Temple.
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