The Lost Scriptures.

The Genesis Apocryphon

“Then I, Noah, departed and traveled through the land, through its length and its breadth [… … …] abundant with their foliage and their fruit. And all of the land was filled with vegetation, grass, and grain. Then I gave praise to the Lord of Heaven who had acted commendably, for He is eternal and praise is His, and I again gave (Him) praise because He had compassion on the earth, and because He removed and destroyed from it all those who practiced violence, wickedness, and deceit, but had spared a righteous man for [… …] on his/its account. (vacant)

[The Lord] of Heaven appeared to me, spoke with me, and said to me, ‘O Noah, do not be afraid! I will be with you and with your descendants—those who are like you—forever [… … …] the land, and rule over all of them … and its deserts and its mountains and all that is in them. Behold, I give all of it to you and your descendants for eating vegetables and plants (produced) by the land, but any sort of blood you will not eat. Fear of you and terror of you [… … … …] forever [… … … … …] I am yours. When your descendants sleep (?) [… … … … remainder of column, approximately 5 ½ lines, missing …] 
(col. 12)
[…] behold, I have put My bow [in the cloud], and it will be a sign for Me in the cloud and will be [… … …] the earth [… … …] was revealed to me [… … 2 ½ lines missing …] (vacant)

[… …] among the mountains […] a vineyard in the mountains of Ararat. And after this I descended to the lower slopes of that mountain, I, my sons, and my grandchildren [… …] for devastation was great on the earth. [So]ns [and da]ughters were born to [me] after the Flood. [To Shem], my oldest son was born first Arpachshad two years after the Flood, [and] all the sons of Shem, all of them w[ere El]am, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram, as well as five daughters. (vacant) [And the sons of Ham were Kush, Mitzrai]n, Put, and Canaan, as well as seven daughters. (vacant) And the son[s] of Yaphet were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Yavan, Tuval, Meshuk, and Tiras, as well as four daughters. (vacant) And I began together with all my sons to farm the land. I planted a large vineyard on Mount Lubar, and after four years it produced wine for me…”

The Genesis Apocryphon is one of the most important works of the Essene Community of Jews, discovered as part of a library of scrolls discovered in 1947 in caves at Qumrān by the Dead Sea. The scroll, the last of seven scrolls discovered in Cave I, is also the least well-preserved. Examination of the entire scroll showed it to be a collection of apocryphal (questionable) embellishments on leading figures in Genesis. It may or may not be the long lost “Apocalypse of Lamech.” The contents of the scroll contain four major sections: the story of Lamech (columns 1–5), the story of Noah (columns 6–15), the table of the Peoples (columns 16–17), and the story of Abraham (columns 18–22). The Apocryphon presents a narrative about the Genesis patriarchs. For example, the Apocryphon gives a picture of Sarai (Sarah) as a full-blown beautiful woman – a picture that we can deduce from the Genesis stories about her. I think the findings of documents that come to us from the intertestamental period can only help us appreciate both the Old and the New Testaments – for they help us understand the difficulties that arose for early Jewish-Christians.

The full content of the scroll for the Genesis Apocryphon has yet to be published due to the poor condition of the parchments. We can only wait for another discovery or the skill of those restoring the documents to get “the rest of the story.”

Pastor Dave