By Ross k. Nichols
The Moses Scroll
Reopening the Most Controversial Case in the History of Biblical Scholarship
The Moses Scroll contains:
- A chronological telling of the fascinating story based upon 19th-century reports
- An assessment of the genuineness of Shapira’s scroll
- A new transcription of the manuscript as seen through the eyes of the 19th century’s best Hebraists
- A new translation of the sixteen leather strips
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About THE Author
Ross K. Nichols
Ross K. Nichols is a researcher, writer, educator, and author of The Moses Scroll and a popular blog related to emerging Shapira research. He has traveled extensively to Israel over the past decade and participated in archaeological excavations in Jerusalem and at Biblical Tamar south of the Dead Sea, where he has mapped and surveyed the desert regions of the Negev associated with biblical narratives. He is presently completing two additional books, both involving newly discovered evidence related to the Moses Shapira story. Nichols is also an ordained minister and teacher of the Hebrew faith for United Israel World Union, an educational, non-profit organization founded in 1944. His weekly classes in Biblical studies are live-streamed to a growing, global audience.
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About the Book
Reopening the Most Controversial Case in the History of Biblical Scholarship
In 1878, a Jerusalem antiquities dealer named Moses Wilhelm Shapira acquired a curious biblical manuscript consisting of sixteen leather strips. The manuscript, written in ancient, Paleo-Hebrew contained what appeared to be a form of the Bible’s Book of Deuteronomy but with significant variations. It was allegedly discovered by Bedouin tribesmen around 1865, east of the Dead Sea, in a remote cave, high above the Wadi Mujib (biblical Arnon). Shapira believed that his manuscript was both ancient and authentic. In 1883, he presented his scroll to the leading scholars of Europe. Newspapers around the world covered the unfolding story as scholars debated the genuineness of the leather strips. Ultimately the scroll was deemed a forgery and Shapira the forger. However, beginning in 1947, ancient scrolls discovered in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea lead us to ask—were the critics wrong? The Moses Scroll documents the details of the entire saga based upon what we know today including a chronological telling of the fascinating story based upon 19th-century reports; an assessment of the genuineness of Shapira’s scroll; a new transcription of the manuscript as seen through the eyes of the 19th-century’s best Hebraists; and the author’s own translation of the original sixteen leather strips with a commentary and notes.
It is said to be as old as the Moabite Stone, which is generally supossed to date back to about 900 before the Christian era. – The Jewish Chronicles (August 3, 1883)
The writing of the Shapira manuscript… is in favor of the genuineness of the document. – Christian David Ginsburg (British Bible Scholar – 1883)
The mystery of a nineteenth-century discovery of a Dead Sea manuscript: a forgery, or the oldest Bible in the world? – John Marco Allegro (Archaeologist & Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar – 1965)
In brief, there is no longer any doubt that Shapira’s parchments were genuine … the fate of the precious Shapira Strips is a warning to us not to let negators, no matter how great their reputations, perpetuate irreparable damage. (Cyrus H. Gordon, Riddles in History, 1974)
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AUTHOR’S Blog
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31 August 1883 – Hermann Guthe’s Book
As August of 1883 came to a close, Hermann Guthe's assessment of the Shapira MSS was published without notice or fanfare in Leipzig. Guthe concluded his...
28 August 1883 – An Academic Attack and Shapira’s Response
The following account is an excerpt from The Moses Scroll (pages 82-85). On the heels of the publication of Ginsburg's forgery declaration, the pace of...
Ginsburg’s Much-Anticipated Conclusions – 27 August 1883
On Monday, 27 August 1883, the long-awaited and much-anticipated conclusions of Dr. Christian Ginsburg appeared in the pages of The Times. That which...
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