13 DECEMBER 1969, Page 20

War and peace

DAVID PRYCE-JONES

The Dead Sea Scrolls 1947-1969 Edmun Wilson (W. H. Allen 35s) On the night of 14 May, 1967, Edmu Wilson was among the crowd in the ne Jerusalem stadium watching the tats which celebrated Israel's nineteenth year independence. He was in the country I prepare for this second edition of his b on the Dead Sea scrolls, and his sense of t ing had not let him down. Within the ne few days the Russian ambassador ha refused the invitation to check for himse that there was no Israeli mobilisation nr. the Syrian border, and Nasser had taken t first of the steps leading to the closure of Tiran Straits. In the ten days before M Wilson left for home, the June war h become unavoidable.

This background of continuing viole belongs to the drama of the scrolls. Th discovery was announced to the world ea in 1948 as Jews and Arabs came to grips the end of the ,Mandate. The scrolls h been found accidentally by a Bedouin Qumran, and were the remains of the libra collected by the Essenes, a sect of visiona Jews contemporary with Jesus. The Roma had sacked the monastery at Qumran, befo capturing the Zealot fortress of Masada. t complete the conquest of Judaea. On the d and desolaie Dead Sea shore these scro have survived the centuries: a sign of futility of war, and of the defiance of

spirit. .

In this part of the world war has fuelled by religion. The scrolls are pole tially explosive. The personality who figs chiefly in the Essene documents is known the Teacher of Righteousness. How close this Teacher of Righteousness can be id tified with Jesus—as a-Messiah prophesied' earlier documents, in outlook and even personal history—is the subject un discussion. A conflict is established beta free-thinkers and orthodox believers who not care for textual examination of what supposed to be divinely inspired. The da of the Essene heyday and of the scr becomes crucial. Mr Wilson supports view which closely links Jesus to Essenes.

The War of the Children of Light tuti the Children of Darkness: the title of su.r. scroll suggests the emotion that today c.tn invested in it. Those scrolls purchased Israel have been edited and placed in museum known as the Shrine of the Bow On the Arab side of Jerusalem, Rockefeller Museum houses the scrolls a fragments which come to it under the lo nian law concerning antiquities. A tear international scholars headed by Pere Vaux of the Ecole Biblique has been 0' ing on them. Until 1967, therefore, groups of specialists on the same sub' the same city could not meet. Allega were made that the Catholics were s wn the studies because the uniqueness of us might be called into question. Mr ilson considers that friction is beginning decrease as scholarship replaces doctrine. ere is no better guide than Mr Wilson a difficult controversy. Neither a Christian a Jew, his own qualifications are a ebrew course one winter at the Princeton eological Seminary, a forceful and general dition, and a gift for synthesis. As he ys, he is eager to harass pretentious holars, for the sake of clarity—poor Pro- or Driver of Oxford and the anonymous ant to whom a whole nose-rubbing ap- ndix is given; a deadly fairness is shown to r John Allegro who talks of the 'readable, rry tales of this rabbi, Jesus, and his Mum Dad.'

Mr Wilson's updating coincided with the overy of what is known as the Temple roll. During the June fighting the Israeli y took over the Rockefeller museum. On tractions from Yigael Yadin, the Israeli haeologist and authority on scrolls, five n were sent at the same time to the house Kando, an Assyrian dealer who has acted intermediary for the Bedouin combing all every desert cave, and the buyers, lading Israel. Kando had a scroll hidden er the floorboards and for several years been playing ofl the museums. Kando not read or write, but his language brings k echoes of Haroun al-Rashid.

hen I saw Kando in his smart Jerusalem re, his scroll had been confiscated. He ke off the talk about it to unlock his safe brandish a wad of international cur- cy. The principal fear in his mind was t Israel might hand back the West Bank Jordan, in which event he would be ac- of more than defying laws about an- ties. It was obvious that he would get d for his scroll, and so he has been, in lars. Meanwhile Yadin is editing the 011, which deals with logistics including mobilisation of the King's armies against enemies of Israel. Yadin becomes almost tical speaking about it.

first Pere de Vaux was chagrined that team at the Rockefeller lost the scroll, he was ready to resign if the Israelis rfered in the museum. Yadin's interest aver, was to speed up publication; a rking arrangement was easily reached. scrolls, it will be seen, share Mr Wilson's ural instinct for a symbolic story, or at , in his words, they leave us in touch one of the greatest human forces for the city and authority of our race.