From Cave Number I came a commentary on Habakkuk (shown here, compare with photo of caves of QumraÆn), written in square Hebrew script. In this column of text, the name Habakkuk appears in the first line, and the name “teacher of righteousness” appears in the fourth line.
Scholars have been studying the QumraÆn scrolls since their discovery nearly 40 years ago. The author compared the QumraÆn manuscripts to biblical manuscripts found at sites along the Dead Sea south of QumraÆn. Cross concludes that the QumraÆn Bible manuscripts, dating between about 250 B.C. and 68 A.D., reflect a time when different versions of biblical books were circulating widely, whereas later southern manuscripts are evidence that by the second century A.D. the text had become fixed and the canon adopted.
