AI and the Great Isaiah Scroll
A 2021 report from the journal PLOS One tells how researchers from the University of Groningen used AI technology to detect very minute differences in the style, curvature, and shape of letters in the Great Isaiah Scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DDS). Scholars have dated the scroll to the second century BCE (before the common era, or BC before the birth of Christ). The AI scan found two different scribes, one who did the first half and another who finished it.
That does not mean that these two scribes authored the scroll. Scholars argue about how many Isaiahs contributed to the writings of the book. A strong argument could be made for at least two, meaning that one or more of Isaiah’s followers or disciples may have written in his name. Critics, of course, will say all so-called “prophecies” are just reports after an event has happened. The trouble with all of that historical critique is that there are incredibly specific prophecies of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, in both the early part of the book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible, and also in the second part attributed to a different author. However many authors there were, he/they were all inspired and were privileged to see some of the clearest visions of the coming of the Savior. (e.g., Isa. 9:1-7; Isa. 53)
Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls are written on parchment, which is animal skin prepared for writing. Technicians today can actually examine the parchment to see what kind of animal it came from, and this ability is helpful when several documents are in pieces that need to be matched. The Great Isaiah Scroll has a mineral coating that includes evaporative sulfate salts. This coating, plus the hot, dry weather of the desert, may have helped to preserve the scrolls for over 2,000 years. The first of the scrolls were found by a Bedouin boy in 1947.
The source for this article is “Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?” from BAS staff. I feel this title gives the wrong impression that a couple of copiers authored the scroll. You can read the article from Biblical Archaeology Society, Bible History Daily at https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/dead-sea-scrolls/who-wrote-the-dead-sea-scrolls-2/?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=BHDA%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=7_25_25_Martin_Scorsese_and_a_Sicilian_Shipwreck
This article can also be seen at https://theologylighthouse.substack.com/p/bible-tidbit-ai-and-the-great-isaiah.
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