Image Details

When the bundle was opened, it contained the marriage contracts, leases to property, court papers and sale receipts of Babatha, a wealthy and capable young widow from Maoza (on the southern coast of the Dead Sea). The documents revealed that Babatha had been the second wife of a resident of En-Gedi named Judah, that she had been married before, that she had a son named Jesus by that marriage, that several guardians had been appointed for her son, and that her stepdaughter Shelamzion had probably accompanied her to the cave. Her bundle contained her stepdaughter’s marriage contract.