Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient texts stored in earthen jars and hidden in desert caves for centuries until discovered in 1947. A great apocalyptic scroll found among the Dead Sea library is called the War Scroll. It depicts, in a prophetic way, great conflict between the forces of good (the Sons of Light) and the forces of evil (the Sons of Darkness) at the end of the age. While a series of fierce battles is predicted, the battles themselves are not actually described. Instead, the bulk of the document is a vivid description of liturgical praise. At the heart of it there is no fighting at all, but participation in a great liturgical ceremony, with trumpets, standards, and shining armor. In the final analysis, the battle is won by praise, by personal purity, by a noble state of mind. The longest of all the texts in the Dead Sea library is The Temple Scroll. The Temple Scroll represents the dream of a new spiritual center, in the heart of Jerusalem, beaming light to all the world, yet existing, for the time-being, only in minds of the sect called the Essenes.

The Gnostic Library - Dead Sea Scrolls

Library of Congress exhibition - Scrolls From the Dead Sea: The Ancient Library of Qumran