The Jeselsohn Stone – "Gabriel's Revelation": From the collection of Dr. David and Jemima Jeselsohn, Zurich

The largest temporary exhibit ever produced by the Milwaukee Public Museum, Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible explores the history of the Holy Land during the era in which the scrolls were written, from the third century BCE through the first century CE, then leaps forward over two millennia to the discovery of the first scrolls in the 1940s. Actual Dead Sea Scrolls, including a fragment of the unique Copper Scroll, will be exhibited alongside the only known scroll-type manuscript on stone, the recently discovered Jeselsohn Stone - “Gabriel’s Revelation,” and a full-size reproduction of the 24-foot long Great Isaiah Scroll, one of the earliest and most complete scrolls found.

In addition to examples of Dead Sea Scrolls, the exhibit features some of the oldest Greek New Testament papyri, pages from rare handcopied medieval Bibles – including the oldest manuscript of part of the Masoretic Text or traditional Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) – and early and modern printed Bibles.

Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible also includes a section containing more than 160 archaeological objects that highlight what was happening in the region at the time the scrolls were written. Curatorship and the loan of the artifacts in this section, titled “History, Archaeology and Memory: Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls,” are courtesy The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Materials in the exhibition are also on loan from the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church for the Eastern USA, Dr. David and Jemima Jeselsohn of Zurich, École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem, The British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Saint John’s Abbey and University, in Collegeville, MN and the University of Michigan Library at Ann Arbor, as well as local institutions. Dr. Weston Fields, executive director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation, and the staff of the San Diego Natural History Museum assisted in the development of Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible.