The Moses Scroll

In 1883, Jerusalem antiquities dealer Moses Wilhelm Shapira presented a set of sixteen blackened leather strips written in ancient Hebrew script. The text resembled the Book of Deuteronomy, yet with striking differences. It was said to have been discovered around 1865 in a cave east of the Dead Sea, still bearing traces of linen and a black pitch-like coating-details now familiar from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The manuscript's narrative moved from Horeb to the plains of Moab, containing a distin...