Evidence · Case 03 · Reliability of Scripture
Ecclesiastes
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
About 2 to 3 copies of Ecclesiastes were found. One of them, 4QQoheleth-a, is among the earliest scrolls, dated to about 175 to 150 BC.
Sources
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- Peter W. Flint, “The Significance of the Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls,” Southwestern Journal of Theology 53.1 (2010), manuscript table (opens in a new tab)
Southwestern Journal of Theology 53, no. 1 (2010): 15-25
Objections & responses
- An early copy of Ecclesiastes from about 175 BC is important for dating the book, not for proving faithful copying. There’s no earlier text to compare it to.
Both are true. The early date of 4QQoh-a refutes the older scholarly view that Ecclesiastes was written in the second century BC, which is a separate point worth having. For stability, the fragment is compared forward to the medieval text and agrees closely, and that thousand-year comparison is what this claim is about.