If you haven’t yet visited or haven’t decided to do so, allow me to urge you to go to the Israel Museum and spend a few minutes at the A Voice from the Desert exhibit. The Great Isaiah Scroll, all 7.17 meters of it, is on display, curated by Hagit Maoz, at least until mid-September, at the Bella and Harry Wexner Gallery right at the entrance in the main building.
Pre-registration is required after purchasing an entrance ticket, and entry to the display room is limited to 10 minutes. This is the first time since 1968 that it can be seen in its entirety, and a few more decades will probably pass before it will be seen by the public again.
The scroll, found in a Dead Sea cave near Qumran, is the oldest known manuscript of a complete biblical book. Due to conservation considerations, only a small part of it is usually viewable.
Before entering the room where the scroll can be seen close up, there is a small hall with panels, computers, and a film that provide information regarding not only the scroll, but how it was found and eventually obtained, and also elements of the Hebrew text and other technical aspects, including Isaiah’s prominence in the New Testament as in Luke 4:17-19.
Besides the story of how it was found, removed, sold to the Syrian Archbishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, and then secretly purchased in New York, there is much more to be learned about the history of the Hebrew nation, its literature, and even geography.
For example, if you look up the Wikipedia entry on the scroll and read it carefully, you will learn that Khalil Iskander Shahin, an antiques dealer known as Kando, obtained it from Bedouins and then sold it to the Syrian Archbishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church “in East Jerusalem.”
Was there an “East Jerusalem” in 1947? Or did a Wikipedia edit instead pervert historical facts?
No, in 1947 there was no East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem as a geopolitical term appeared after the illegal Jordanian conquest of part of the city in 1948, its occupation and then, in April 1950, its annexation to the Hashemite Kingdom in contravention of the United Nations resolutions as well as international law.
In the words of Greg Bouwer, a territory had been “linguistically subordinated to the conqueror’s geography” as those neighborhoods of the city lay to the east of Israel. Moreover, since the regions of Judea and Samaria, so known even to the United Nations which employed those terms in its boundary description in the 1947 Partition Plan, lay west of the occupying Kingdom of Jordan, they became overnight the “West Bank.”
Of course, reading Isaiah, that invidious terminology perversion becomes immediately apparent: chapter one, verse one begins, “The vision concerning Judah (Yehuda) and Jerusalem.” That is, Judea and Jerusalem – no West Bank and no East Jerusalem. In chapter 8:7, the term Samaria (Shomron) is found, and it is not the only time it is mentioned.
In the Wall Street Journal, Masada Siegel published an op-ed on June 6, very correctly noting that the term West Bank “is a colonial imposition” and that the indigenous names Judea and Samaria “recognize the places’ connection to history.” The colonialism spoken about is the Arab Muslim colonialism that began in the 7th century CE.
Isaiah’s directions, geographical, historical, and spiritual, as well as his linguistic terminology, are very clear. We need to learn from them.
Isaiah, the Temple Mount, and peace
The second chapter of Isaiah provides insight into another contentious issue – that of the Temple Mount. We read, “In the days to come, The Mount of God’s House shall stand firm above the mountains… And the many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the Mount of God.’”
As we know, of those many peoples that do come now, only Muslims have virtually unlimited access, both day and night and through all the 10 gates. Jews and Christians are forced to tolerate restrictions as to time and where they may visit.
While Jews have gained rights of prostration and limited prayer over the years, the Waqf authority falsely accuses them of “storming” into the compound and both the mufti and the president of the Palestinian Authority still refer to the “presumed Temple” that existed there.
Perhaps they should take themselves to the Israel Museum and see the scroll?
To return to Isaiah’s second chapter, we learn that God will judge among the nations and “they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” And then, they will “not take up sword against each other” and “never again shall war be known.”
That is a message from 2,200 years ago that the world needs to hear. Israel does not engage in “genocide,” nor does it promote “starvation” or “famine.” It fights a legitimate military campaign against enemies seeking our elimination. We are not pacifists in our defense. And still, we read Isaiah and put his words on display for all to see.
We do so because we know that Isaiah, in addition to his hopes for peace, will not ignore threats to Israel’s existence. In 42:12, we read that “The Lord will go forth as a mighty man, He will stir up jealousy like a man of war… He will prove Himself mighty against His enemies.”
Entering the inner room for the too-short allotted time to see Hebrew script two millennia old, containing the words we read today in the same language, is exciting and satisfying. Do go and visit.
The writer is a researcher, analyst, and commentator on political, cultural, and media issues.