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Qumran - location profile

Location and Setting

• Qumran is located nine miles south of Jericho, thirteen miles east of Jerusalem, and approximately twenty miles northeast of Engedi. It is situated about one mile west of the road that runs along the western side of the Dead Sea.
• Qumran is located on a small plateau by the Wadi Qumran, with deep ravines to the west and north and the narrow coastal plain of the Dead Sea to the east. The plateau is approximately 150 feet above the shore.
• Qumran is located 1,200 feet below sea level. The spring at Ain Feshkah, one and a half miles to the south, supplied abundant water to irrigate the area.
• Difficult-to-reach caves dot the steep cliffs to the west of the settlement. The Essenes stored their library of scrolls in these caves for safety.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• The City of Salt was one of the frontier posts of the tribal territory of Judah. It was situated ‘in the wilderness’ south of Middin, Secacah, and Nibshan and north of Engedi. The site of this city has been identified as Khirbet Qumran (Josh 15:62).
• Qumran was home to the Essenes, an extreme sect of the Pharisees. Disapproving of religious practices at Jerusalem, they withdrew to Qumran in the wilderness. They lived a communal life and shared their possessions. They practiced frequent baptism and believed the end of the world was imminent. Essenes never married because they wanted to be ritually pure when the Lord returned. Men lived outside in the caves away from the women. Candidates for membership in the sect were required to pass through a two-year probation period. Other Essene communities were located in Judea and Galilee.
• The community was abandoned in 30 B.C. because of an earthquake. It was resettled again in 4 B.C. and continued in existence until about A.D. 68, when the Romans destroyed it and made it a military garrison. The last known inhabitants of Qumran were Roman soldiers stationed there during the Bar Kochba revolt (A.D.132-135).
• In 1947, a Bedouin boy looking for his lost goats, found what would come to be known as the "Dead Sea" scrolls in caves behind the community. The scrolls had been hidden in clay jars for nearly two thousand years, preserved by the arid climate of the area. Fragments were found of all the Old Testament books except the book of Esther. This find at Qumran further evidenced the inspiration and accuracy of our Bible. For instance, the book of Isaiah was copied as one book, not two, as viewed by many critics.

Bibliography

1. Harrison, R.K. "Dead Sea Scrolls" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
2. "Qumran National Park." Israel National Parks Authority: Ramat-Gan, 1997.
3. Rousseau, John J. and Rami Arav. Jesus and His World: An Archaeological and Cultural Dictionary. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995.