♪ [Narrator]Jerusalem, 622 BC. The kingdom of Judah was under the rule of a king named Josiah. The temple lay in ruins, a testament to the kingdom's disarray brought on by rampant idol worship. Josiah, a righteous king, was determined to restore the temple to its former glory. During the reconstruction, his workers returned with an astonishing revelation. We found a book, they announced, presenting an ancient manuscript. This was no ordinary find.
They had unearthed the Lost Book of the Law, a discovery that ignited a profound revival throughout Judah. On today's episode of Revival Radio TV, we delve into the enigma of the discovery of three lost books of Scripture. Could these texts be the key to uncovering a lost history? ♪ In every generation, there have been revivals, massive moves of the Spirit that changed the course of history.
In every revival, there were believers like you who chose to answer the call to become the one in their generation. Discover your call to be the one in your generation. Jerusalem, 1878. (Jewish music) The bustling streets were alive with eager tourists, each driven by a shared dream to walk the sacred paths of the Bible and perhaps bring a piece of the Holy Land back with them. Amidst this growing throng of pilgrims and explorers, one shop stood out in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City.
Among the most prized items were Bibles, lovingly crafted with made-to-order olive wood covers, each one adorned with intricate Hebrew engravings. Shapira's establishment was more than a store. It was a gateway to the ancient world, a place where history and faith intertwined, beckoning visitors to take home a tangible piece of their spiritual journey. ♪ Let me show you something very special that I have here. It's a carved olive wood Bible from Jerusalem, like the one Shapira sold in his shop.
It even has Shapira's logo, the Jerusalem Cross. Another witness to this Bible is the famous writer Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain. And in fact, look at this letter. While he was in Jerusalem, Twain took a piece of stationery with Mediterranean Hotel printed on the top, just above the date, September 24, 1867, and wrote to the local bookbinder on Christian Street in the Old City these instructions.
Fix up the little Bible I selected, the one that has backs made of balsa-wood from the Jordan, oak from Abraham's tree at Hebron, olive wood from the Mount of Olives. Put on it this inscription, "Mrs. Jane Clemens from her son, Mount Calvary, September 24, 1867." Samuel Clemens visited Jerusalem as a part of writing this book, Innocence Abroad.
In it, he wrote his impression of the desolation of Jerusalem as an eyewitness to the fact that Holy Land was a land without a people intended for a people without a land. Moses Shapira, this is the only known photograph we have of him. His story actually begins in the middle of 19th century Ukraine, in the area known as the Pale of Settlement. ♪ Russia, 1855. What drove Moses Shapira from his home to the heart of Jerusalem?
And what unseen hand guided his path on the enigmatic journey of a man whose life was marked by providence and mystery? Moses Shapira's story begins in the middle of the 19th century Ukraine, in the area known as the Pale of Settlement, where the Russian Tsar had mandated that all Jews live in small villages called shtetls, reminiscent of those depicted in Fiddler on the Roof. ♪ Long before Zionism began in the 1890s, a divine stirring began, calling the Jewish people back to the Holy Land.
Among those stirred was Shapira's father, who set out on foot to Jerusalem and was never heard from again. At the age of 25, Shapira left his homeland and kin, embarking on a journey with his grandfather to the land of his ancestors. They arrived in Jerusalem in 1856, where God had plans for the young immigrant. But illness beset Shapira, leading him to a hospital where he was cared for by a German nurse named Rosette. Their bond grew, and on April 23, 1861, Moses married Rosette.
Shortly thereafter, Shapira opened his shop on Christian Street. Over the next decade, his reputation and business flourished. But was it merely chance that brought Shapira to these crossroads, or was there a greater force at work, guiding his steps toward a destiny yet unwritten? This was the golden age of biblical archaeology, and Shapira's story is right in the middle of the famous discoveries that were taking place in 19th century Jerusalem.
It is said that Queen Victoria herself used her own money to promote the quest to uncover the ancient truths of biblical archaeology. Moses Shapira's traditional education, steeped in Hebrew texts, uniquely positioned him to become one of the earliest scholars in the study of Paleo-Hebrew. His deep understanding of these ancient scripts set the stage for his pivotal role in interpreting significant archaeological finds. One such find is the Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone.
This artifact, inscribed in Paleo-Hebrew, was the first of its kind to be discovered. The stele provides crucial historical insights into the Moabites, a people mentioned in biblical texts. Intriguingly, the narrative on the Mesha Stele parallels the account in 2 Kings of the Old Testament, the connection between the Moabite Stone and the biblical narrative. Could this stele be evidence of the accuracy of the Bible? Scholars say yes, but Shapira's scholarly pursuits didn't end there.
He also was asked to translate the Siloam inscription found in the City of David. His translation recognized that this inscription supported the biblical story of the construction of a water tunnel during King Hezekiah's reign, as recorded in 2 Kings 20. These discoveries helped solve speculation about the accuracy and historicity of the biblical accounts. By the end of 1871, Moses Shapira had become a respected dealer in antiquities, eventually specializing in manuscripts.
Thanks to successful ventures into Yemen and Egypt, Shapira then acquired a valuable collection of Hebrew manuscripts. The Royal Museum in Berlin purchased some of them and the famed British Museum purchased many others. So suspended outside his shop, a white sign bearing the gold letters read Moses W. Shapira, Bookseller and Antiquarian. The five-fold Jerusalem cross occupied the center of the site, and beneath it was the designation, Correspondent to the British Museum.
One day, some Arab visitors, including a noted sheikh, entered the cluttered shop and made their way to find Shapira in his usual place. He sat at a table in a little nook, surrounded by a precious collection of copies of the Talmud, Gospels, and the Torah scrolls. However, Shapira's visitors had come to speak of the chance discovery of some blackened leather strips with barely discernible writing on them. Shapira's interest was immediately piqued. The story was, there was a group of Bedouins.
These Bedouin tribesmen sought refuge in a cave in the desolate wilderness east of the Dead Sea, a place where history's secrets were long buried. This valley, once known in ancient times as the Arnon River, etched into the Book of Numbers, was no ordinary place, a land steeped in biblical history. Inside this cave, something far more enigmatic awaited, a bundle meticulously wrapped in faded cloth, blackened strips of ancient leather inscribed with cryptic symbols, a language lost to time.
Shapira too felt the pull. It called to him as if he had always been a part of its story. ♪ [Narrator] Jerusalem, 1878. Could it be that history has repeated itself? Sixty years before the famed discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a group of Bedouins stumbled upon an ancient scroll near those same mysterious waters. The story is almost too similar to ignore.
Ancient scrolls, hidden in a cave, wrapped in cloth, coated with a tar-like substance, originally dismissed as a forgery until science proved otherwise. But is this mere coincidence, or does it hint at a pattern lost to time? This was not the first time such discoveries were made. As early as the 3rd century, Origen, a church father, spoke of manuscripts unearthed from jars near the Dead Sea, a tale echoed by Eusebius.
And again, around 800 CE, Bishop Timotheus of Baghdad wrote of another such find. Each discovery, strikingly alike, raises questions that challenge our understanding of the past. Are these simply random occurrences, or do they suggest a deliberate effort to preserve ancient scriptures, scriptures waiting to be found? Now back to Shapira's shop. For the price of a bakshish, just a few gold coins, the Bedouin tribe handed over the leather scrolls, many being more legible than the others.
For several weeks, in a workspace above the best tourist stop in Jerusalem's Old City, the 16 leather strips of text began to yield their long-held secrets. The message on the manuscript amazed Shapira. He soon came to believe that he might have performed the most significant archaeological discovery of all time. Shapira recognized the narrative as a version of the Bible's Book of Deuteronomy, but with notable differences.
Like Deuteronomy, Shapira's scroll contained a version of the Ten Commandments, but combined the first two commandments into one and added a new commandment, number 10, you shall not hate your brother in your heart. Doesn't that sound like Jesus' words? So this scroll is like the Deuteronomy scrolls that were found later in the Dead Sea scrolls that were also written in Paleo-Hebrew.
♪ [Narrator] Berlin, 1883. When Moses Shapira translated the ancient scroll, he turned to Germany, a land where he had connections within the Berlin Museum and among key German scholars, scholars who had been developing the documentary hypothesis, a theory that intended to undermine the Bible's authenticity. The reception of Shapira's scrolls was mixed, leaving him unsatisfied. But why?
Could it be that Germany, the birthplace of liberal theology, was not ready to confront what these scrolls might reveal? Shapira then set his sights on England, a nation that stood at the heart of a spiritual war. In the 19th century, England was the epicenter of a fierce battle between humanism, liberal theology, and a biblical Christianity that revered the Word of God. Was this a simple geographic choice, or was Shapira drawn to the pulse of a conflict that had global implications?
England was not just any nation, it was the home of men like John Wesley and George Whitefield, the driving forces behind the First and Second Great Awakenings. It was a country using its empire to spread missionaries across the world. Queen Victoria herself had initiated biblical archaeology in the Holy Land, seeking to uncover the sacred truths of Scripture.
In London, Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, filled the world's first mega-church with sermons that stirred the hearts of thousands. Yet, just across town, Karl Marx preached the tenets of atheist communism, while Charles Darwin advanced his theory of humanist evolution, challenging the very notion of a creator. Could it be that London, a city torn between faith and doubt, was the true battleground for the souls of the world?
In this volatile environment, the discovery of an ancient biblical manuscript was more than just an archaeological find. It was a spark that was about to ignite a global spiritual revival. The eyes of the world were on London, especially in America, and when the news broke of what may be the oldest biblical manuscript ever found, well, it made headlines worldwide. The London Museum put them on display, and for weeks, people stood in line just to see them.
Even the Prime Minister, William Gladstone, who was excited because he could read some of the Hebrew because he, like many British politicians of the day, was a Bible scholar. The whole generation was steeped in the Bible. [Narrator] Gladstone sensing the monumental implications, swiftly appointed David Ginsburg, the leading biblical scholar of his time, tasked with authenticating the Shapira Scrolls.
Initially, Ginsburg was optimistic, believing the scrolls might be genuine ancient artifacts with the potential to revolutionize biblical scholarship. Prime Minister Gladstone, equally excited, began raising funds to acquire the scrolls for the British Museum. But as Ginsburg examined the scrolls further, doubts began to emerge. The text was in Paleo-Hebrew, a script only seen on stone inscriptions.
The idea that a scroll could survive thousands of years in a cave was almost unthinkable in the 1880s, long before the Dead Sea Scrolls would prove otherwise. This skepticism, combined with limited archaeological knowledge of the time, led many to question the scrolls' authenticity. Yet, the Shapira Scrolls were more than just a historical curiosity. They were a potential threat to established religious and academic beliefs.
If authentic, they could have confirmed the integrity of the biblical text in ways that challenged contemporary scholarship. In the end, the scrolls were dismissed as forgeries, sold at auction for a mere £20 sterling, and subsequently lost to history. The mystery deepened when Moses Shapira, the man behind the scrolls, was found dead in his hotel room, under suspicious circumstances. Was Shapira's tragic fate merely the consequence of a man undone by circumstance?
Or is there more hidden in the shadows? His death only added to the enigma of the Shapira Scrolls, a puzzle that remains unsolved to this day. It's an amazing story that reads like an international detective mystery. There's renewed interest in this lost scroll because it supports the authenticity of the Bible.
And today, there are groups of people all over the world coming through archives looking for Shapira's lost scroll, with so many scholars coming out in support of the scrolls in the light of hindsight. It's also a cautionary tale to not throw away artifacts, because later, they may actually turn out to be legitimate.
This has happened to fragments of the dead sea scrolls that initially were declared forgeries and are now validated as technology improves and new ways of imaging, well, they're invented. [Narrator] London, England, 1896. These twin sisters whose lives defy the conventions of their time, transforming them into real-life action heroes.
These remarkable women were not just scholars who spoke seven languages, they were adventurers, driven by a relentless pursuit of knowledge and a fearless spirit, setting out from the familiar landscapes of Victorian England to the scorching deserts of Egypt. Agnes and Margaret were driven by a profound interest in Jewish culture, languages, and texts. Their fluency in ancient Hebrew opened doors to secrets long buried in the sands of time.
Their contributions to biblical scholarship were nothing short of revolutionary. They uncovered manuscripts that would reshape our understanding of religious history. The hunt for early Bible manuscripts was among the most romantic of all the 19th century's grand quests. Now meet these two amazing women adventurers, they were real-life Indiana Jones characters. Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson were twin sisters who made significant contributions to biblical scholarship.
They were active members of the church and devout Christians. Agnes and Margaret were born in Scotland and they were both educated at home. Steeped in the Bible, at the height of the Scottish Revival, they developed a keen interest in the languages and the biblical studies from a very early age. These two remarkable women emerged as epic adventurers earning the moniker Sinai Sisters.
Driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge, they traversed perilous deserts sitting atop camels, seeking ancient manuscripts hidden within forgotten monasteries. Their daring exploits captivated the public, weaving a tale as thrilling as any cinematic masterpiece. These intrepid sisters, revered in both popular lore and academic circles, left an indelible scholarly legacy.
Among their most celebrated discoveries was the Syriac manuscript of the Gospels of Sinai, an invaluable relic dating back to the late 4th century, representing one of the earliest complete Gospels. [Narrator] Cairo, 1890. ♪ In the ancient shadow of the pyramids, another remarkable discovery was made in Cairo, the Cairo Genizah. This hidden chamber contained over 200,000 documents offering a treasure trove of ancient biblical manuscripts.
Could the secrets of the Genizah shed light on historical insights? So let me tell you another amazing story about discovering ancient biblical manuscripts. The word Genizah is of Hebrew origin. It comes from a Hebrew root which means hiding or storage. In Jewish tradition, a Genizah refers to a storage area, typically within a synagogue or another sacred space, where worn out or damaged religious texts and documents are stored respectfully due to their containing the name of God.
In fact, just to be safe, they sometimes save any paper that might have the name of God written on it or mention God or be considered sacred, just to be sure that they don't throw away something that should have been saved. For example, a personal letter where they may have discussed prayer or the Torah, etc. So could it be that Josiah found a Genizah when they were repairing the temple and found a Torah scroll?
Or could it be that's why there were so many scrolls found in the Dead Sea Scrolls collection? Well, listen to this. In the 1890s in Egypt, they were remodeling the ancient Ben Ezra synagogue in Cairo, and they found a hidden room that contained over 200,000 documents going back over 1,000 years. Well, the word of this discovery slowly leaked out.
In fact, in Moses Shapira's notes, he documents several Torah manuscripts he recovered from the ancient synagogue in Cairo and then sold to the British Museum. ♪ [Narrator] In the unfolding saga of historical discovery, the intrepid sisters played an indispensable role in the initial revelation of the Cairo Genizah. In 1896, their journey led them to the venerable Ben Ezra synagogue in Old Cairo.
There, they unearthed and acquired several ancient Hebrew manuscripts from a local synagogue official. Despite their expertise in Hebrew, the sisters found themselves perplexed by some of the biblical Hebrew texts they encountered. Sensing the profound importance of these documents, they sought the expertise of Solomon Schechter, a distinguished Jewish studies scholar from Oxford University, renowned for his proficiency in biblical Hebrew.
Schechter, invigorated by the discovery, secured permission to explore the synagogue's Genizah. Amidst the dust and shadows, he meticulously sifted through the time-worn manuscripts and faded scrolls, unearthing a vast collection of over 200,000 ancient Jewish documents.
Within this ancient synagogue, a long-forgotten chamber had safeguarded a trove of Jewish history for over a millennium, including some biblical manuscripts that paralleled those later found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, such as ancient Torah scrolls and the Damascus document about the Zadokite priest in the Jerusalem Temple. Through strategic negotiation, Solomon Schechter gathered a substantial portion of these documents.
He transported sackfuls of manuscripts back to London via ship for detailed study. This monumental event not only unveiled the Cairo Genizah, but also ignited a wave of scholarly research, revealing one of the most significant repositories of Jewish history and culture. Their efforts revealed a rich tapestry of Jewish life, documenting everything from everyday correspondence to religious texts and legal documents offering insights into ancient wisdom and tradition.
Scholars were struck by the humanity captured within these ancient texts. For an example, listen to this that was found in the Genizah. One mother named Rachel wrote a letter to her son that dates back to the Middle Ages, and it stands out as a testament to the enduring bonds of family and a mother's love. She writes to her son who is living in Cairo, but the letter's in Yiddish. Dear son, I'm so proud of your marriage. I'm overjoyed by granddaughters. But why do you write so rarely?
I miss you so much. Write more letters to your mother. Could you send me a simple shawl from Cairo? It would be a comfort on cold nights, and be a piece of you with me. Write soon, dear son. Love you always. Your mother. ♪ Rachel's letter reminds us of the power of history and the humanity that binds us all across time and space. Through these ancient texts, we glimpse not only the past, but also the timeless truth that unites us as human beings.
The revelations being brought out by biblical archaeology continue to reinforce the integrity of God's Word. And now we're learning new things about Second Temple Judaism in the time of Jesus that help shed light on biblical scholarship. It's silencing the Bible critics and helping the church go and preach into all the world. This is the most exciting and important time in the church. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, as we learn and we go back in history, we are thrilled to see not only the continued validation of Scripture, but Father, I thank You in the stories and the letters that we're able to see that we understand that this is a very real gospel that we hold in our hands. It's a very real book that gives us insight in who Jesus is and who the God of our fathers was. So Lord, we give You all the praise for what You're doing. Help ignite again in us the value of the gospel.
In Jesus' name, amen. Let me take this moment to talk to you at home. You're watching this program that started many years ago. Hundreds of hours of programming and research has gone into all of the episodes of Revival Radio TV to help you understand one thing. It's for you and I to be encouraged to be the one, to step up in our generation and share who Jesus is. We all want to see revival.
And I know, like you, I enjoy all of these stories when we go back, whether it's some scholarly research or stories of divine healing and what God did in the 50s and tent meetings. All of these things go into who we are as believers. So we want to make sure you have the opportunity to invest in Revival Radio TV. These shows aren't free. Brother Copeland lets us put this on the network absolutely free to us, but we need support.
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Thank you for helping us as we continue to bring more, more stories of revival, more stories that you haven't heard before, more insight into things that we thought were settled. And now we're learning there's a whole new level of truth that proves this, Jesus is Lord. ♪