If I had the skill, I would have written this book as a mystery and suspense yarn, along the lines of Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln's Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which is an excellent story. I will now attempt the impossible: to summarize that book for our purposes. A priest named Saunier in the small French village of Rennes le Chateau became very wealthy around the beginning of the 20th century, and also seemed to indulge in some sacrilege at the same time. The authors connect his story with that of the Crusades, which, they imply, were begun as a result of some very influential and powerful Europeans discovering that there were tremendous riches to be found in Jerusalem. The Crusades, then, were wars of plunder, as we know, but specifically to plunder Jerusalem. Having done this, they formed legions of knighthood known as the Knights Templar to guard the treasure, and the secret of the treasure.
Allegro, final item of the Scroll, p 55:
Item 61. In the Pit (Shith) adjoining on the north, in a hole opening northwards, and buried at its mouth: a copy of this document, with an explanation and their measurements, and an inventory of each thing, and oth(er things).
As has already been noted, Jeremiah 32 states that there are 2 purchase deeds- one sealed and one open. Did one of them fall into the hands of the planners of the Crusades, subsequently to be found by the priest from Rennes le Chateau?
The entire book must be read to grasp the significance of the Prieure de Sion, but, again briefly, it seems that the Knights Templar had another secret to guard- that Jesus had not died on the cross, that He had, in fact, escaped that fate and gone on to have a family with Mary Magdalene. These descendants of Jesus went on to become kings in Europe, the Merovingians, whose throne was usurped by the Carolingians. But their cause lived on, in the name of the Holy Grail (San Graal) which was a deliberate word play on Holy Blood (Sang Raal). The "grail," the vessel which traditionally held the blood of Christ was, then, Mary Magdalene, who carried the "bloodline" of Jesus. This bloodline has become intertwined with the royal houses of Europe, all of whom are related to each other in some way. But, of course, as Father Sauniere was to find out, royal houses have royal treasuries. The Prieure de Sion was the organization which promoted (and maybe still promotes) this idea of a Merovingian revival, as well as watching over the treasure, which is that of a) the Second Temple (those authors' interpretation), or b) the First Temple (our interpretation). Hence our interest.
(From Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Baigent, Leigh, Lincoln, Dell Publishing Co., NY 1983, p 225)
M. Plantard, [head of the Prieure de Sion] declared, for example, that the Prieure de Sion did in fact hold the lost treasure of the Temple of Jerusalem [italics ours]- the booty plundered by Titus' Roman legions in A.D. 70. [Supposedly.] These items, he stated, would be "returned to Israel when the time is right." But whatever the historical, archaeological, or even political significance of this treasure, M. Plantard dismissed it as incidental. The true treasure, he insisted, was "spiritual."
It's no accident that two of these authors recently wrote an "expose" on the Dead Sea Scrolls Deception. It's less of an accident that I found myself writing this book after having been fascinated by their books. It is even less of an accident that the themes of their books, having to do with "exposing" Christianity for the behind-the-scenes manipulator of world history which they think it is, steer them away from making the crucial connection we've put forth in this book, between the treasure and the land, the land and redemption, and the truly holy blood shed at Calvary. If we love the treasure more than the land, the gold more than the temple, mammon more than God, we will always be poking around in the dirt in the wheelbarrow.
So we can probably safely assume that the treasure has been found and plundered, after 1900 years. So what, then, could we conjecture about the purpose God would have in having the Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947, 1 year before the rebirth of the State of Israel, and the Copper Scroll found in 1952? Ironically, if our theory is correct, the central piece of physical evidence available today of the right of Israel to the land is currently in Amman, Jordan.
At the time of this writing, there is a peace pact in the works between Israel and Jordan, interestingly, but also between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel has given away the Gaza Strip and the city of Jericho. The Gaza is part of the ancient land of Philistia. It is safe to say that these Palestinians who have so hampered and harassed Israel are the same Philistines who were a thorn in Israel's side almost 3000 years ago. God didn't give that land to Israel then, so maybe it is okay to give it away, but we don't think it's necessary to quote the story of the fall of Jericho in the book of Joshua. Quite simply, no Israeli government, popular or unpopular, has the right to give that city to anyone but God or the Jews. This peace process and this unauthorized cession of Jericho may just be the lack of faith which leads Israel and the world to Armageddon. But that's for another book. How it affects our hypothesis is the proximity of Jericho to Anathoth.
As Jericho has been given over to this people, who have an eye toward Jerusalem, then the region where ancient Anathoth might be may not be available for excavation for much longer. If we're right, then there is a garden of Zadok, now likely unmarked, with treasure buried there. Evidence. No other theory of the Dead Sea Scrolls gives any credence to Jeremiah's involvement here, so Anathoth would be unimportant if the treasure of the copper scroll belonged to the second temple, but if we're right and it belongs to the first temple, then there may be evidence in Anata or Ras el Kharrubeh.
But even it may be plundered. It would be nice to find, but makes no difference. We believe that our hypothesis explains the facts available to us from the scrolls of the Dead Sea, the Bible, and history.
From a scroll found at Qumran:
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people he was stricken. And they made his grave with the wicked--but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
You can probably imagine the excitement the scholars must have felt when they read this text- because clearly the theology and the language point to a connection with early Christianity. This must have been an early Christian text. Well, a true Biblical scholar would be embarrassed if he made this argument, although on cursory reading it certainly seems like the logical assumption. According to Yigael Yadin, in Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls edited by Hershel Shanks (p. 94, Chapter 7 "The Temple Scroll- The Longest Dead Sea Scroll"), the Isaiah Scroll found at Qumran contains "the entire text of the book of Isaiah." That's from where the above quotation came. It's from the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, available in any Hebrew Bible. Things are not always quite what they seem.
See Bibliography for Jeremiah's Wheelbarrow