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At the World Congress of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem last week, General Yadin advanced a new theory relating the scrolls to Christianity. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, he suggested, was addressed to converted members of the Dead Sea sect, the Essenes. Scholars have long wondered who the "Hebrews" of the epistle were, said Yadin. The answer is to be found in the similarities between the theology of the people Paul was addressing (as it can be deduced from Paul's arguments) and the known theology of the Dead Sea sect. The Essenes believed in the ascendancy of the priestly over the royal Messiah, and Paul emphasized Jesus' priestly qualities. The Essenes set great store by the apocalyptic role of the angels, and Paul lays emphasis on Jesus' superiority over angels.
Moreover, said Yadin, the epistle is full of quotations and references to Pentateuch material, mainly in connection with the sojourn in the wilderness and the tabernacle—matters especially dear to the Essenes. For "when we review all the material in the Dead Sea scrolls literature, we cannot help feeling that the Dead Sea sect organized itself in an exact as possible replica of the life of the tribes of Israel in the wilderness . . . considered the 'period of Belial' similar to the 40 years' wandering, and hoped and believed that in the very near future they would 'reenter' the 'new Land of Promise.' There could be no stronger appeal to the hearts and minds of the people descending from the Dead Sea sect than in those metaphors which are so abundant and characteristic of the Epistle to the Hebrews."
*Many Israelis have shed their European names in favor of new Hebrew ones. Yadin means "He will judge."
*Since the Cave I discovery, ten other caves have been found containing scrolls or fragments of scrolls, are now being pieced together and deciphered at the Scrollery in the Palestine Archaeological Museum in the Jordan-occupied Old City of Jerusalem (TIME, April 15).