Scholar claims lost parchment discarded as fake is in fact oldest biblical text in history: it could have belonged to Moses

The Shapira Scroll, an ancient manuscript first discovered in 1883 and believed to be false and discarded at the time, could be “In fact, the oldest known biblical script”, says a new study in a German academic journal.

This manuscript was originally discovered by Jerusalem antiques dealer Moses Willhelm Shapira, who said he found 15 similar fragments in a cave near the Dead Sea.

The Paleo-Hebrew writing on the manuscript pieces was almost illegible, as they had been blackened with a pitch-like substance, but Shapira claimed that they were the “original” book of Deuteronomy, possibly even the copy of Moses himself.

Shapira donated the pieces to the British Museum for £ 1million at the time (which would equate to around $ 120million today). However, the experts who analyzed them declared them fake, after which they were auctioned for a much smaller number. From there, his trail was lost.

However, in a new book, Israeli-American scholar Idan Dershowitz claims to have archival, linguistic, and literary evidence proving the manuscript to be real.

After studying the text – original 19th century transcriptions and drawings – Dershowitz claims that the pieces date back to the time of the first temple in Jerusalem – dating from 957 BC. C and was destroyed by the Babylonians some 400 years later, making them the oldest biblical artifacts ever discovered.

When Shapira first announced her discovery, Bible research was a relatively new area of ​​academic research. For example, the concept that the first five books of the Bible were not all written by Moses was just being accepted.

This is why the 19th century was plagued by biblical forgeries from Jerusalem and elsewhere due to the demand for coins.

Shapira had already sold some 260 “authentic” pieces of Hebrew manuscripts to the British Museum when he announced the fragments of Deuteronomy in 1883.

The museum exhibited two pieces to the public and visitors, including then Prime Minister William Gladstone, flocked to view ancient biblical texts.

However, the emotion did not last long, as the French archaeologist and “enemy” of Shapira, Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau, visited the museum to see the fragments on display and quickly declared them false.

Experts at the museum were studying the remaining pieces and shortly after Clermont-Ganneau handed down his conviction, they ruled in the same direction.

However, the question of its authenticity has remained unknown given its rapid disappearance. After the incident, Shapira’s reputation was shattered. The man left London and committed suicide six months later.

Now Dershowitz, an academic from the German city of Potsdam, is looking to prove the coins were real. If he is right, the manuscript would become a “unprecedented window ”on the origin and evolution of the Bible, since it dates from the first days of the work.

Dershowitz said the rejection of the manuscripts 140 years ago was a “Tragedy”, both for Shapira and for “the whole existence of the discipline of Bible studies”.

In statements to New York Times, Dershowitz said: “It is amazing that for most of the existence of the discipline of Bible studies this text has not been part of the conversation.”

Dershowitz calls the fragments of Shapira “the farewell to Moses.” According to Shimon Gesudheit of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the text may be older than Deuteronomy – a precursor to the book – because it does not contain divine laws and it would be “hard to believe that someone erased them. “in a reproduction of this text, or in a later version.

Even the Ten Commandments, as Shapira’s version shows, are different: they are spoken in the first person, as God spoke them, rather than in the third.

Among the peculiarities of the manuscript is a eleventh commandment: “You will not hate your brother in your heart: I am God your God”.

Dershowitz said he didn’t think it was possible that the works were a fake, as it was something that couldn’t be possible during this time, and that many forgeries had too many features that aligned with later discoveries on the evolution of the Bible.

These discoveries were not made, or even theorized, until decades later with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.

Dershowitz traveled the world in search of the authenticity of the parchment, including reading the manuscripts of Shapira in Berlin. He also discovered handwritten leaves showing that Shapira had attempted to decipher the fragments. “It’s amazing because it gives you a window into her mind”, Said Dershowitz.

“If he forged them or was part of a conspiracy, it doesn’t make sense for him to be sitting there trying to guess what the text is and making mistakes while doing it.”, he concludes.

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