Jewish commandment not to destroy God's name + Dead Sea Scrolls (Deuteronomy, beliefs)

[A4B4]

Does anyone else think that the Jewish commandment to not destroy or deface anything with the name of God on it might be the reason we have the Dead Sea Scrolls and the other non-Canonical books today?

I was just thinking about this, and it's pretty simple and without consequence either way, but I thought it was interesting. Just wanted to see what others said.

[nutshell]

Originally Posted by A4B4

Does anyone else think that the Jewish commandment to not destroy or deface anything with the name of God on it might be the reason we have the Dead Sea Scrolls and the other non-Canonical books today?

I was just thinking about this, and it's pretty simple and without consequence either way, but I thought it was interesting. Just wanted to see what others said.

I'm not sure I understand - can you explain further please?

[A4B4]

Of course, Jews won't destroy anything with the written name of God upon it. Likewise, the earliest Christians didn't either.

Many scholars say the Dead Sea Scrolls were not written by mainstream Jews at the time, but I'm thinking that even mainstream Jews at that time didn't destroy or deface the Dead Sea Scrolls for fear of breaking their own law--even if the Dead Sea Scrolls were not consistent with their beliefs.

Likewise, early Christians may not have destroyed the gnostic texts, again for fear of breaking the Jewish law.

Therefore, I'm thinking the Dead Sea Scrolls and other non-Canonical texts outside of mainstream Judaism and Christianity were not destroyed, and thus preserved until today, because of this law.

I just think this is interesting. If so, one might say that God's law was intended to keep these books in-tact, which should give more credence to them.

But I don't know; this is just a thought of mine, and that's why I wanted to see what others said about it.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by A4B4

Does anyone else think that the Jewish commandment to not destroy or deface anything with the name of God on it might be the reason we have the Dead Sea Scrolls and the other non-Canonical books today?

I was just thinking about this, and it's pretty simple and without consequence either way, but I thought it was interesting. Just wanted to see what others said.

I can't imagine why anyone would think this...

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by A4B4

Of course, Jews won't destroy anything with the written name of God upon it. Likewise, the earliest Christians didn't either.

Many scholars say the Dead Sea Scrolls were not written by mainstream Jews at the time, but I'm thinking that even mainstream Jews at that time didn't destroy or deface the Dead Sea Scrolls for fear of breaking their own law--even if the Dead Sea Scrolls were not consistent with their beliefs.

Likewise, early Christians may not have destroyed the gnostic texts, again for fear of breaking the Jewish law.

Therefore, I'm thinking the Dead Sea Scrolls and other non-Canonical texts outside of mainstream Judaism and Christianity were not destroyed, and thus preserved until today, because of this law.

I just think this is interesting. If so, one might say that God's law was intended to keep these books in-tact, which should give more credence to them.

But I don't know; this is just a thought of mine, and that's why I wanted to see what others said about it.

No one knew the name of God except for the high preist, and it was uttered only once a year in the holy of holies. It was considered too holy to be written down, so there would be no issue concerning its destruction from copied manuscripts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God_in_Judaism

In awe at the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for them, the scribes of sacred texts took pause before copying them, and used terms of reverence so as to keep the true name of God concealed.

[nutshell]

What is the "name of God" for this thread?

Is it "God" or "Elohim" or "Jehovah" or something else? What was the Jewish law actually prohibiting?

[A4B4]

Originally Posted by nutshell

What is the "name of God" for this thread?

Is it "God" or "Elohim" or "Jehovah" or something else? What was the Jewish law actually prohibiting?

Well, that's a good question! Depends who you ask, although many Jews take it as far as to write G-d instead of God. Still, when proper care is taken, and His name (or title) is written on a permanent medium, it is okay.

The only real fear with writing His name (or title) is that it will be written on a medium that is destroyed. The process of being destroyed is what the commandment prohibits. (This comes from Deuteronomy 12:3-4; see http://www.jewfaq.org/name.htm for more information.)

Therefore with this prohibition it makes sense to me that Jews, even if they did not agree with the Dead Sea Scrolls, or early Christians even if they did not agree with the non-Canonical texts, would not destroy the texts since they speak of the same God... right?

If not for this prohibition, then it seems Jews and early Christians might otherwise have destroyed these books, and so we would no longer have them.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by A4B4

Many scholars say the Dead Sea Scrolls were not written by mainstream Jews at the time, ...

That is not the position of people like Emanuel Tov or any other scholar of note that I can call to mind.

Originally Posted by A4B4

... I'm thinking that even mainstream Jews at that time didn't destroy or deface the Dead Sea Scrolls for fear of breaking their own law--even if the Dead Sea Scrolls were not consistent with their beliefs.

While the proscription arising from Deuteronomy 12:3 was (and is) deemed important, the DSS can more easily be explained by the more general desire of a people to save their written works from Roman desecration and destruction.

[may]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

It was considered too holy to be written down,

not writing the name of God down was not the right thing to do , God wanted his name to be made known , the right thing to do was to bring that name to the fore not to push it into the background .Gods name is in the inspired scriptures over 7,000 times and that is where God put it . but the traditions of man pushed it into the background . the bible did not tell us to stop putting Gods name in the bible . i dont know the things that satan has influenced men to do. but no worries there is a bible that i am using and it has put back Gods name where it rightly belongs ............... and i should thinK so too,JEHOVAH HAS MADE SURE THAT IN THIS TIME OF THE END HIS NAME WILL BE PUT ON HIGH .

That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah,

You alone are the Most High over all the earth. PSALM 83;18 but the influence of the great opposer satan the devil , does not like that Name to be made known . yes the great oposser has influenced many many people down through the centuries and the oposition goes on .

[MisterBible]

I think we would have them regardless. Whether or not the name of God were on them you still only have so many types of people.

1. People who respect the work (belief or otherwise). These people wouldn't destroy it anyways.
2. People who are indifferent. These people won't destroy the book unless they have a compelling reason to do so.
3. People who do not respect the work and want it destroyed. These people wont care that it has god' name in it and will destroy it anyways.

Now this is a generalization. There are other factors that play into it. Like rulers who would want to suppress the Jews but feel a sense of duty to preserve the artifacts of their culture in some way. Or artists who want to destroy the work as some kind of political or religious statement, though that seems almost too modern.

In short, I would think the vast majority of the people who would want it destroyed probably wouldn't care if it had God's name in it, and people who didn't want it destroyed would preserve it regardless.

So in other words. No, I don't think it would be a very big factor in the number of books we have today... but then I haven't done any research on it. It could very well be. These are just my initial thoughts.