FROM THE BOOK "HOW WE GOT THE BIBLE" by Neil R. Lightfoot.
Pertinent facts you should know for the strengthening of your
Christian faith, compiled by Keith Hunt.
When I entered the Church of God back in the winter of 1961/62
some of the first books I obtained was on HOW we got our present
day King James Bible. A few of the books were LARGE and somewhat
technical. I particularly enjoyed and was appreciative of a
smaller book, of about 126 pages. It is from this book by Neil
Lightfoot that the following pertinent information is re-produced
for your edification.
FROM THE FOREWORD:
This study seeks to be a factual and honest account of how
the Bible has been preserved and handed down to our generation.
The subject is vast and at times complex. It has been my constant
aim, therefore, to simplify the material and to state it, as far
as possible, in a non-technical manner..........Although this
edition is designed for the average reader, it is hoped that it
will be useful for the general Bible class as well......Two
current books(that was back in 1962 when the author wrote these
words - Keith Hunt) which are especially recommended are OUR
BIBLE AND THE ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS, by Sir Frederic Kenyon
(revised by A.W. Adams), and THE BOOKS AND THE PARCHMENTS, by
F.F. Bruce...........
FROM CHAPTER ONE: The Making of Ancient Books
How the Bible has come down to us is a story of adventure
and devotion.......the Bible did not just happen nor has it been
preserved through the years by mere CHANCE. The Bible is a MARVEL
all its own......
The starting-point of our Bible is preceded and determined
by another story, the history of ancient books and writing...Thus
the whole history of the Bible is conditioned upon (1) the
history of writing, and (2) the history of the materials used in
the making of ancient books. Our Bible is a very old book, but it
is by no means the OLDEST book in the world. Discoveries made
within the last century show that writing was a well-established
art in many countries long before the beginning of the Hebrew
nation in the land of Palestine. The earliest known examples of
writing carry us into the ancient land of Egypt.......In
Babylonia inscriptions are extent of king Sargon 1 who lived
about 3750 B.C., and the writings of the Sumerians of this area
date back even earlier. In Palestine itself letters written by
governors of cities date as early as 1500 B.C........
1. STONE. In almost every region the earliest material on
which writing has been found is stone.......
2. CLAY. In the countries of Assyria and Babylonia the
predominant writing material was clay.......
3. WOOD. Wooden tablets were used quite generally by the
ancients for writing purposes.......
4. LEATHER. For hundreds of years leather of animal skins
played an important role in the history of the Bible. Leather is
not specified in the OT, but it was unquestionably the principal
material employed for literary purposes by the Hebrews........
5. PAPYRUS. The significant role of leather for the OT is
played by papyrus in the NT. Indeed, papyrus was the most
important writing material which could be found in the ancient
world and was so widely used that it is practically certain that
the original NT letters were penned on papyrus sheets......About
the time of the first or second century A.D., however, the
papyrus ROLL began to give way to what is known as the papyrus
CODEX. A codex manuscript is simply what we know today as a
book.......
6. VELLUM or PARCHMENT. Vellum came into prominence as a
writing material due to the efforts of King Eumenes 2 (197-158
B.C.) of Pergamum in Asia Minor........by perfecting an improved
process in the treatment of skins. The result of this improvement
is known as VELLUM or PARCHMENT.......Vellum manuscripts are
beautiful in appearance.......the most important feature about
vellum is its DURABILITY. Papyrus by nature is fragile and
subject to decay.......so from the fourth century through the
Middle Ages the principal receptacle for the written Word of God
was vellum.
7. PAPER. Paper also reaches back to the ancient
world......the Chinese people as early as the second century
B.C., but it was not until much later before the secret of
paper-making became known to the rest of the world. This came
about in the middle of the eighth century A.D. when Arabs
captured some Chinese prisoners who were skilled in the making of
paper.......
8. OTHER writing materials. Other kinds of materials such
as wax, lead, linen, pieces of pottery, etc. were used for
writing by the ancients.......
FROM CHAPTER TWO: The Birth of the Bible
It is not possible for us to fix with EXACT precision the
circumstances of the Bible's origin. We cannot go to a specific
time and place and say that here the Bible had its birth.....from
century to century the many books of the Bible were coming into
being separately and under varying conditions.......it is a
treasure-house of sacred books which has grown through the
centuries......And it is the firm belief of the Christian that
the Bible is honored today because in the past it grew under the
favorable and directing influence of Him who is the Author of all
things.
THE EARLY FORM OF OUR BIBLE
.........At first and for a long time God's communication to
man was oral........But the time came when it was necessary for
the divine will to be put in a more permanent form, and that a
record of God's revelations be made for succeeding
generations.....The first person in the Bible as mentioned as
writing anything is Moses.......In the early books of the Bible
there are SIX distinct things attributed to his hand: (1) the
memorial concerning Amalek (Ex.17:14); (2) the words of the
covenant made at Sinai (Ex.24:4); (3) the Ten Commandments
(Ex.34:27,28); (4) the journeys of the children of Israel in the
wilderness (Num.33:2); (5) the Book of the Law which was to be
kept with the Ark of the Covenant (Deut.31:9,24); (6) the Song
found in Deuteronomy 32:1-43 (Deut.31:22). In addition, Moses is
held by strict Jewish tradition as being the author of the first
five books of the Bible known as the Pentateuch. Other writers of
the Bible and the Lord Himself gave unvarying support to this
view (cf. Josh.8:31; Judg.3:4; Mal.4:4; Luke 24:44; John 7:19).
When once divine revelation was put in writing, it was
natural for other revelations and events to be recorded. So the
successor of Moses, Joshua, also wrote words "in the
book of the law of the Lord" (Josh. 24:26). This in turn become
the practice of other men of God who wrote both history and
prophecy. In the book of 1 Samuel it is said that the venerable
Samuel recorded certain events of his day in a book. We read:
"Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the
kingship; and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the
Lord" (1 Sam.10:25).
Prophets in later times are also engaged in writing books.
God speaks to Jeremiah and says: "Take a scroll and write on it
all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah
and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days
of Josiah until today" (Jer.36:2)........So the books of Moses'
law came first, then came the prophets. In this way the OT
Scriptures grew gradually and finally came to be assembled
into an accepted collection about the time of Ezra (c.44 B.C.).
The Jewish authority, Josephus, writing in the time of the first
century, said that no book was added to the Hebrew Scriptures
after the time of Malachi (Josephus, Against Apion I. 8.
Actually, Josephus marks off the interval of the OT canon as
being from Moses to the Persian king Artaxerxes. The time of
Artaxerxes was the time of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi).
The NT came into being gradually also, although the books
themselves were written in a comparatively short period of time
(50-100 A.D.). These books were simply letters penned by
inspired men and addressed to different churches and individuals.
From the first, however, they were looked upon as DISTINCTIVELY
AUTHORITATIVE writings; and thus were received with respect...
Soon afterward came the INTERCHANGE of extant letters among the
churches (cf.Col.4:16), the individual churches in this way
profiting from an exchange of apostolic instructions. The next
step was the embodiment in writing of the central events of the
life of Jesus........in fulfilment of this demand Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John sent out their witness to Jesus (cf.Luke 1:1-4;
John 20:30-33). The logical outgrowth of the four Gospels was
the book of Acts.......and as a kind of climax to the whole came
Revelation with its prospect of a triumphant Christ. The result
of it all was that a new community of people, just like the
people of the Old Covenant, had as a cherished treasure their own
writings as "Scripture."
( Let me interject here that one of the very best new books
to come on the scene of the Christian world as of late is a book
called THE ORIGINAL BIBLE RESTORED by Ernest L. Martin, yes the
Ernest Martin that was a part of the WCG for many years. There
are many areas of Theology where I would be in total opposition
to Martin, but this is not one of those areas. One of the most
important teachings this book shows and proclaims is the fact
that the canonization of the NT was done during the first century
by the apostles and the first century Church of God, not by later
generations of the Roman Catholic church. A book well worth
having in your home or church library - Keith Hunt).
To be continued
All emphasis in this series of articles will be both from the
authors themselves and from myself - Keith Hunt - who is
reproducing them for your edification.
Bible - How it came to beA detailed look at how the Bible was preservedFROM THE BOOK "HOW WE GOT THEBIBLE" by Neil R. Lightfoot.
Pertinentfacts you should know for the strengthening of your
Christian faith, compiled by Keith Hunt.
When I entered the Church of God back in the winter of 1961/62
some of the first books I obtained was on HOW we got our present
day King James Bible. A few of the books were LARGE and somewhat
technical. I particularly enjoyed and was appreciative of a
smaller book, of about 126 pages. It is from this book by Neil
Lightfoot that the following pertinent information is re-produced
for your edification.
FROM CHAPTER TWO
The Form of Our Bible Today
Our Bible today, as everyone knows, is divided into two
major sections known as the Old and New Testaments. The term
testament is an unfortunate translation (Greek, diatheke) and
would be better rendered as CONTRACT or COVENANT. Thus the basic
structure of the Bible hinges on the idea that God has made two
significant COVENANTS with His people, and that the New Covenant
has displaced the Old.
.......arrangement of Old Testament books found in the
English Bible is derived from the Latin Vulgate translation,
which in turn is derived from the Septugint or Greek
version.
The books of the HEBREW Bible, however, are grouped
DIFFERENTLY........
1. LAW : Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy.
2. PROPHETS :
a. Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1
and 2 Kings.
b. Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the
Book of the Twelve.
3. WRITINGS : Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon,
Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah,
1 and 2 Chronicles.
If we compare this arrangement with our English Bible we see
that the Hebrew Bible has but THREE major divisions: the LAW, the
PROPHETS, and the WRITINGS (cf. Luke 24:44).
There is not only a different structure, but also different
designations for the books. The twelve Minor Prophets, for
example, are taken together as ONE book and are known simply as
the Twelve. Another prominent difference appears by terming
Joshua, Judges, and the books of Samuel and Kings as Former
Prophets. These books which we regard as historical are known as
prophetic because they were written with a prophetic outlook
by men who most likely were prophets. However different the
arrangements, it is important to remember that the books included
in the English Bible are precisely the SAME AS found in the
Hebrew Bible.
The books of the New Covenant are grouped together in THREE
parts: (1) five books of HISTORY (matthew to Acts), twenty-one
books of DOCTRINE (Romans to Jude), and one book of PROPHECY
(Revelation).
(1) The five books of History may be further divided into
four Gospels and Acts of the Apostles.......The first three
Gospels are known as Synoptic Gospels because of their SIMILAR
content. The Gospel of John was written at a later date and
presupposes the presence and knowledge of the first three
narratives. The Acts of the apostles is a kind of continuation of
the Gospel of Luke, since both works were from hand of Luke, and
because of their interconnection, they are sometimes referred to
as Luke-Acts.
(2) The twenty-one books of Doctrine are epistles written by
various inspired men......The Pauline Epistles are of two groups:
those written BEFORE his two years imprisonment in Rome (cf. Acts
28:30); and those written later (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) which
are sometimes called Pastoral Epistles. The book of Hebrews is
sometimes numbered in the Pauline group.......
(As a note: There is historical church evidence from early
writers that Paul did write the book of hebrews in Hebrew to the
Hebrew Jews, and that it was then translated by Luke into the
Greek language for wider distribution - Keith Hunt).
The General or catholic (universal) Epistles are comprised
of James, the letters of Peter and John, and Jude. In the early
Greek manuscripts these books are found immediately following the
Acts of the Apostles and before the Pauline collection of
letters.
(As a note: This order of books for the NT is the most
naturally logic. The life and teachings of Christ, the Acts of
the Apostles and the beginnings of the NT church, then the
relatively easy to understand general epistles, after that the
harder writings of Paul, and then the post-graduate study of the
book of Revelation - Keith Hunt).
(3) The one book of Prophecy, the book of
Revelation.....perhaps not the last book of the NT to be written,
but it suitably appears at the end of the Bible........
The Language of the Bible
...................It remains now for us to give some
attention to the language in which the various books of the Bible
were originally composed..........
The Bible was written originally in THREE languages: (1)
Hebrew, (2) Aramaic, and (3) Greek. Contrary to the opinion of
some people, these languages are not DEAD languages. Hebrew is
the spoken language of the new state of Israel; Aramaic is spoken
by a few Christians in the environs of syria; Greek, of course,
is spoken by millions of people today, although it is quite
different from the Greek of the NT.
(1) HEBREW. Almost all of the thirty-nine books of the OT
are written in Hebrew. Hebrew is a LARGE FAMILY of languages
known as SEMITIC, and is akin to such languages as Aramaic,
Syriac, Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) and Arabic......It is
written "backwards" (from right to left)........and possesses a
vocabulary that is unrelated to English words. The forms of the
Hebrew alphabet likewise present a problem and sometimes are
confused by the best-trained eye......In addition, the Hebrew
alphabet is without vowels. It is true that a system of
vowel-points has been added......but a person thoroughly trained
in the language this vowel system often proves a hindrance as
much as a help. Modern hebrew books and magazines are normally
printed without vowels; and this is precisely the way the OT text
originally appeared.
(Note: As this book was written so long ago, I wonder if the
modern Hebrew books and magazines are still printed without
vowels. I found the last few sentence very revealing. I had
forgotten them over the years. To think that vowels could be as
much a hindrance as a help, very interesting - Keith Hunt).
(2) ARAMAIC. Aramaic is a kindred language to Hebrew, and
after the time of the exile (c.550 B.C.) became the tongue of the
common man in Palestine.......Since Aramaic was spoken by the
Jews several centuries before Christ, it is not surprising to
find some portions of the OT in Aramaic instead of Hebrew.
Aramaic sections of the OT include: one word as a place-name in
Genesis 31:47; one verse in jeremiah 10:11; about 6 chapters
in the book of Daniel (2:4b - 7:28); and several chapter in Ezra
(4:8-6:18; 7:12-26).
To anyone who looks at a copy of the Hebrew Bible these
sections will appear NO DIFFERENT from other parts of the OT.
This is true because the Aramaic characters are like those of the
Hebrew, OR to be more exact, the square-shaped Hebrew letters
are actually BORROWED FROM THE ARAMAIC. So there is no difference
in appearance between the Hebrew and the Aramaic, BUT THE TWO ARE
DISTINCT LANGUAGES.
The longest OT section in Aramaic begins in daniel 2:4. The
first part of this verse is in Hebrew, and the Aramaic portion
starts with the response of the Chaldeans, "O king, live
forever!"
An INTERESTING confirmation of this linguistic change within
the verse has come to light in the last few years. The amazing
DEAD SEA SCROLLS have produced a fragment of THIS SECTION OF
DANIEL and in the MIDDLE OF DANIEL 2:4 THE HEBREW STOPS AND THE
ARAMAIC BEGINS - EXACTLY AS OUR TEXT READS TWO THOUSAND YEARS
LATER.
(Note: Is God able to preserve His word, or is God able to
preserve His word? The Dead Sea Scroll of the book of Isaiah is
said to be in all effects just as we have the book of Isaiah in
our Bibles. God is able, He does live and He does have the POWER
to preserve His word even through the agency of human hands -
Keith Hunt).
Aramaic CONTINUED FOR CENTURIES as the vernacular of
Palestine. The NT preserves for us Aramaic expressions of Jesus,
such as TALITHA CUMI (little girl, get up) in Mark
5:41.......Jesus HABITUALLY addressed God as ABBA (Aramaic for
Father), which did not fail to leave its mark on the vocabulary
of the early church (Rom.8:15; Gal.4:6). These expressions
clearly show that the language normally spoken by our Lord
and His Jewish followers was Aramaic.
(Note: Aramaic was a DISTINCT language from Hebrew, and so
this shows Jesus and His followers would have no compulsion in
using the Aramaic names for Deity, not the Hebrew names, which
shows it is not wrong, not a sin, as some claim, to translate
and use the names for the Deity into other languages - Keith
Hunt).
(3) GREEK. Although the spoken language of Jesus was
Aramaic, the books which comprise our NT were written in greek.
There is little question today on this point, although A FEW MEN
have maintained that some portions of the NT were issued at first
in Aramaic. It was in the PROVIDENCE OF GOD, since the gospel was
to be proclaimed to EVERY CREATURE, that the NT writers made use
of a language that was KNOW EVERYWHERE. GREEK in the FIRST
CENTURY, as English is today, was the "UNIVERSAL" language.
(Note: Many do not realize that so universal was the Greek
language that as far away as in the land of Britain, the Greek
language was known and used. It is recorded that the British
Druids were fluent in the Greek tongue - Keith Hunt).
The Greek of the NT exhibits certain linguistic
peculiarities. For a long time it was affirmed that these
peculiarities could be explained on no other basis than the
supposition of a "Holy Ghost Greek." RECENT DISCOVERIES AND
RESEARCH (Note: Remember this book was written in the very early
60's - Keith Hunt) have wholly overthrown this supposition and
now the language of the NT is more correctly termed HELLENISTIC
or KOINE (common) Greek. We have been brought to this
unmistakable conclusion due largely to DISCOVERIES among the
Greek PAPYRI. The significance of these papyri finds can scarcely
be OVER-EXAGGERATED. Their impact on the Greek text and its
vocabulary will be considered later.
............................
NOTE:
The book by Ernest Martin called "THE ORIGINAL BIBLE
RESTORED" gives compelling proof that within the THREE
DIVISIONS of the OT (the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings)
were 22 books. The same named books we have today in our KJV, but
divided up and classified differently to make a set of 22 books
altogether. Martin shows that if we take the Gospels and Acts as
one set or collection, making 5 books, we are then left with 22
books for the NT. So 22 on one side (say the left), 5 in the
middle(Gospels and Acts), and 22 books left on the other side
(the right side). This all adds up to 49 books as originally.
Now the number 49 is 7 x 7, or seven complete sevens. There was
to be 49 days and then Pentecost or Firstfruits feast day. There
was to be 49 years then the year of Jubilee.
The number 22 in Biblical Numerology stands for LIGHT/MAKING
MANIFEST, AND the number 5 represents GRACE. All this I will
bring to you in future articles on the subject of Biblical
Numerology (How God uses Numbers) which is a fascinating subject.
All studies may be copied, published, emailed, and distributed as
led by the Spirit. Mr.Hunt trusts nothing will be changed (except
for spelling and punctuation error) without his consent.
To be continued
Bible - How it came to beA detailed look at how the Bible was preserved THE ORIGINS OF GENESIS
by
A.B.Grimaldi, M.A.
from The Banner of Israel, January 3, 1912
The subject of the compilation, preservation, and
transmission of the sacred Hebrew records is one of the greatest
interests and importance. That collection of books we name the
Bible was finally completed in A.D. 100.........The PATRIARCHAL
or first Church (B.C.4000-B.C.2000) was so generally similar in
its principles and practices to the Hebrews, or second Church
(B.C.2000-A.D.1), that we may logically conclude it was so
also as to its sacred Hebrew records. In the HEBREW CHURCH these
records were, as to COMPILATION, PRESERVATION,and TRANSMISSION,
under the charge of the HIGH PRIEST, and from his ORIGINALS,
copies were made (2 Kings 22:8; 1 Maccabeus 12:9,21). In the
PATRIARCHAL CHURCH the racial head acted as high priest, Adam
being the first. They therefore would COMPILE, PRESERVE and
TRANSMIT the sacred....records. The origins of the book of
Genesis as thus obtained are particularly interesting and
remarkable.
the TITLE of this book in the Authorized Version is THE
FIRST BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED GENESIS. But this is NOT ITS NAME IN
THE HEBREW, not in the GREEK Bible (LXX - Septuagint). It is not
its original or inspired name. The name in the original Hebrew
MSS(manuscripts), is BERASHITH (Beginnings): and its name in the
Greek version is GENESIS (Creations). Neither of them say that
Moses wrote it. How could he know what Abraham said and did
centuries before his birth?
FROM THE SACRED HEBREW RECORDS, HANDED DOWN TO ABRAHAM BY
SUCCESSIVE PATRIARCHAL HIGH PRIESTS, HE WOULD LEARN THESE
DETAILS. As Canon Girdlestone says, Moses "may have been
instructed to avail himself occasionally of earlier records of
inspired patriarchs" (Annotated Paragraph Bible, R.T.S.
1.1). That is to say, Moses recorded in the sacred Hebrew
records whatever he knew by himself that was worthy of
preservation, and for the past he had the former records
handed down from Adam onwards - just as the inspired Matthew
transcribed the Davidic genealogy from the high priest's sacred
Hebrew records.
There appears to be TEN of these sacred Hebrew records.
(Note: Ten would be a very fitting number, as God uses the
number ten in His word in very interesting ways, more on that in
future articles on the Arithmetic of God - Keith Hunt).
1. - GENESIS 1:1 TO 2:3
This is the first of the sacred Hebrew records. Adam could
know nothing of the creative work. This account then would be
given to him in Paradise, where, we are told, Jehovah, the future
Messiah, conversed with His unfallen creature. For the Jehovah of
the Old is the Jesus of the New Testament (Gen.1:28, 29, 2:16,
17).......
2. - GENESIS 2:4 TO 4:26
This is the first of the human sacred Hebrew records, being
compiled by adam, the first of the patriarchal high priests. If
they were written on parchment, or in cuneiform tablets, as Smith
seems to think (Cuneorum Clavis, 1875), they would be doubtless
laid up in the tabernacle in Eden.............
We find that God condescended to converse with man.....both
in and out of paradise - Eden (Gen.3:10-13, 16-19, 4:9-15).
This further account of man's origin.....would be complied from
what he had been Divinely taught and from his own observation. If
writing was not used then, they would be stored up in Adam's
memory and by him imparted to Seth and Methuselah, his
successors: and the last would hand on the sacred Hebrew records
to Noah, in whose time, after the Deluge, we may conclude writing
to have existed.
The countries (2:10-25) would be probably added by Moses,
the rest being from Adam's own observation, as the Canon
(previously mentioned) remarks: "It is evident that some
subsequent writer has occasionally inserted a brief explanation."
Adam lived with Methuselah about 233 years, who died in the year
of the deluge. So there was ONLY ONE PERSON NEEDED - godly
Mathuselah - to TRANSMIT the sacred Hebrew records from ADAM to
NOAH; thus illustrating one of the purposes for which a few
godly lives were so prodigiously prolonged. The account of
Cain's family (4:16-24) would be brought to Adam, most probably
by Lamech, who, being the first poetical composer we read of,
was probably an intellectual man (4:23,24) and was likely to keep
up intercourse with the patriarch of the race.
3. - GENESIS 5:1-6......SETH
On Adam's death Seth, his eldest believing son, would become
patriarchal high priest......But he only lived 122 years after
Adam, and Enoch's birth is the only recorded event. This
paucity of material recorded during Seth's high priesthood is in
general agreement with his being engaged in the laborious and
difficult work of arranging the stars into zodiacal system (Gen
4:26) so as to form a star Bible for the patriarchal church
(Rolleston: Mazzaroth, 1875).
4. - GENESIS 5:7 TO 6:8......METHUSELAH
When Seth died, Methuselah was 335 years old. He would add a
considerable amount to the sacred Hebrew records, but all matter
within his own knowledge, both of history and genealogy. He died
in the year of the Deluge, showing how easy the sacred Hebrew
records passed from Adam to Noah, only through one person -
whether orally or by writing - with PERFECT ACCURACY, WITHOUT
ALTERATION OR LOSS. The patriarchal Church therefore, before the
Deluge, possessed sacred Hebrew records comprising Genesis 1 to
6:8.
5. - GENESIS 6:9 TO 9:27......NOAH
Noah was the first patriarchal high priest after the Deluge,
and to his inspired pen are we indebted for the extremely
important record of that supreme event: for there is no
reason for doubting that the calligraphic art was as early as
Noah. This is confirmed by the reputed translations of the
Deluge cuneiform tablets discovered by Dr. Smith and now
in the British Museum.
This translation gives an account of the Flood, but speaks
of its being derived from the record of Ishtar, who is properly
identified with the Biblical Noah. In fact, the Hebrew record and
the Babylonian record are both from Noah's original record: but
the former, passing only through inspired custodians, has been
preserved perfect; while the latter, passing through pagan high
priest keepers, has become vitiated. The actual death of
Noah would of course be added by his successors, Shem (28, 29),
just as Joshua added Moses' death to the Pentateuch.
6. - GENESIS 9:29 TO 11:32......SHEM
There is ample evidence that Shem, on his father's death,
became the priestly and official head of the human race, and this
was UNDISPUTED until NIMROD threw off his authority, raised a
rebellion, and founded a rival priestly dynasty and rule, to
consolidate which he planned the tower or temple as a centre,
which, as the cause of the religious schism or confusion which
followed, was named BABEL.
Shem's record concerns the sons, grandsons, and
great-grandsons of Noah's three sons. Shem as the patriarchal
head would have this genealogical information reported
to him at his headquarters in Armenia, and would be preserved by
INSPIRATION from error in his selection of information. He lived
600 years and SURVIVED Abraham 35 years, AND THEREFORE HAD AMPLE
TIME, AS WELL AS FULL AUTHORITY, to collect all these details,
HEATHEN, AS WELL AS HEBREW HISTORY, TESTIFY TO SHEM'S
EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER AND TRIBAL POWER.
7. - GENESIS 12:1 TO 25:4......ABRAHAM
A change in the high priestly succession now occurs of VAST
IMPORTANCE. In consequence of Nimrod's apostasy and idolatry, it
was determined by DIVINE WISDOM to constitute one special race
the depositaries of DIVINE TRUTH and its propagators; and
HENCEFORTH the line of HIGH PRIEST were all Hebrews by DESCENT as
well as language. ABRAHAM was the selected founder, and he was
called out of Chaldea to Canaan for that purpose. He thus became
the first Hebrew high priest, the SECOND or HEBREW CHURCH being
constituted by the religious and racial rite of circumcision...
Shem WOULD KNOW......before Abraham left Chaldea finally, would
supply him with a certified, accurate transcript of the sacred
Hebrew records from Adam to Shem.
(Note: Certainly within the 35 years that Shem's life
overlapped that of Abraham's, God had ample time to arrange in
whatever way He did, that the ancient and inspired records handed
down from Adam, were in the possession of Abraham - Keith Hunt).
These Abraham would bring with him into Canaan and
afterwards continue to add to them till his own death. Most of
this record 7 consists of his own life. The account of
Chedorlaomer's invasion was brought to him by a trustworthy
eye-witness, probably one of Lot's family; and from the King of
Sodom (14:1-13, 17). The narrative of Lot's danger and escape
Abraham would learn from himself, the distance from Zoar and
Hebron being very small (19:1-38). Hagar's history (21:15-21)
was probably obtained from Ishmael by Isaac and inserted by him
(25:9). The account of Nahor's family (22:20-24) was duly
reported to Abraham, and this case incidentally illustrates how
each important matter was regularly made know to Abraham as the
hebrew high priest and head of the race (ver.20). Eliezer's
mission would of necessity be fully detailed to both Abraham and
Isaac (24:10- 64).
8. - GENESIS 25:5 TO 35:26......ISAAC
The covenant birthright blessing devolved upon Isaac, who
thus became the next or SECOND Hebrew high priest. We see both
Abraham and Isaac exercising their priestly functions as to
sacrifice, circumcision, blessing, altar building, altar
consecrating, and prayer for themselves and intercession for
others (20:7) and prophecy. Isaac would ADD the few last details
of Abraham's death to the sacred hebrew records (25:5-8),
and then CONTINUE the record from his own knowledge. Jacob's
history in Padanaram (28:10, 35; 35:26) he would report to Isaac
on his return, and thus Isaac's record would be completed.
9. - GENESIS 35:27 TO 49:32......JACOB
Jacob succeeded Isaac as the inheritor of the covenant
birthright blessing and Hebrew high priest, and we find him
therefore exercising all the priestly functions in full
power. Jacob's record, the 9th, is one of the LONGEST and most
IMPORTANT. Edom's genealogy and history would be given to Jacob
by Esau when they met at Mahanaim (32:2) and at Isaac's funeral
(35:29), though the few later ones would be obtained by
Moses during his 40 years sojourn in Arabia, and added by him
when he edited the Pentateuch finally at sinai and Horeb.
Judah's history (38) Jacob would learn from him, and Joseph would
fully report his wondrous history to his father after his arrival
in Egypt (39:41). Judah would also report to Jacob his Egyptian
experience (42:29) as well as the later visit and discovery
(43:15; 45:26). Joseph's own history would be told by himself
to Jacob (47:1-26), who completed his long record by adding the
remaining incidents of his own life.
10. - GENESIS 49:33 TO 50:21......JOSEPH
Joseph was the next recipient of the covenant birthright
blessing (Gen.49:22-26) and the FOURTH Hebrew high priest. The
sacred hebrew records now consisting of the book Berashith
(Genesis) would come into Joseph's possession on Jacob's death.
He would add Jacob's death and burial and reconciliation with his
brethren, and his final prophecy (40:33; 50:25). The final note
of Joseph's own death would naturally be added by Ephraim, his
prophetic first-born, and so complete the first book of the Bible
called GENESIS.
These sacred Hebrew records therefore are the work of FIVE
INSPIRED HIGH PRIESTS of the patriarchal Church, and FOUR
inspired high priests of the Hebrew Church. And they consist of
TEN records.......and from a literary and historic point of view
they may be considered as the most PRICELESS RECORD that the
world possesses.
.........................
What a fine old article. Will you join me in saying: A most
natural logical understanding of HOW WE GOT THE BOOK OF GENESIS.
I only came by this article recently as it was re-produced in one
of the religious magazines that cross by desk each month.
But, we are only just getting started on this inspiring subject
of HOW WE GOT THE BIBLE. There are cart loads of more great
truths of how our heavenly Father has through the agents of
humans, written and preserved His WORD for us today. I hope it is
inspiring and strengthening your faith - Keith Hunt.
To be continued
Bible - How it came to beA detailed look at how the Bible was preserved THE TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
WE CONTINUE HERE WITH CHAPTER 8 FROM THE BOOK "HOW WE
GOT THE BIBLE" BY NEIL LIGHTFOOT.
.......Our next task is to focus attention upon the text of
the Old Testament(OT)......Text-data for the OT is not vast as
compared with the multitude of witnesses on the Greek text, nor
does the available data appear as impressive.......The EARLIEST
Hebrew manuscripts are known as the CAIRO CODEX and the LENINGRAD
CODEX of the Prophets. The Cairo codex includes the FORMER and
LATER Prophets and is DATED at A.D. 895. The Leningrad Codex of
the Prophets is slightly later, DATING from A.D. 916. Another
early Hebrew manuscript is the British Museum Codex of the
PENTATEUCH. It has proved to be a VERY IMPORTANT WITNESS to the
OT text, yet it comes from the TENTH or ELEVENTH century.
THE OLDEST KNOWN MANUSCRIPT OF THE ENTIRE OT IS THE
LENINGRAD CODEX WHICH WAS COMPLETED IN 1008 A.D........
One may wonder WHY copies of the Hebrew Bible are LATE in
comparison with the NT materials and especially so when it is
recalled that the OT was completed several centuries before the
NT book was written. The answer is not difficult to find.
The Jewish scribes look upon their copies of the Scriptures
with an almost SUPERSTITIOUS RESPECT, which LED THEM to give a
CEREMONIAL BURIAL to any copy which was OLD or became WORN. Their
MOTIVE was to PREVENT the IMPROPER USE of the material on which
the sacred name of God had been inscribed. But however noble
their intentions, this ANCIENT CUSTOM has deprived us of the
early Hebrew manuscripts which we might otherwise have, and thus
has lengthened the gap between the available copies of the text
of the OT autographs.
(Note: So this explains as to why we today do not have OT
Hebrew texts dating back to the beginning of A.D. times or
before. But this by itself DOES NOT mean the Hebrew text that we
do have is CORRUPT or somehow less accurate than if we did have
Hebrew texts dating back to B.C. times. The subject of
accurately preserving the OT text is what we shall now begin to
investigate - Keith Hunt).
The Massoretes
Before considering the PRESENT status of the OT text, it
will be necessary to say a little about its background.
Until the invention of printing, the OT Scriptures were
handed down to us by COPYING. This process makes it inevitable
for scribal variations to appear. Especially is the case with the
Hebrew manuscripts, because of the difficulty of the language
involved. Not a few letters of the hebrew alphabet look very much
alike, which sometimes led to the confusion of the small details
of the text. A good illustration of this is the familiar name
Nebuchadrezzar, a form which is TECHNICALLY more accurate than
the more familiar Nebuchadnezzar. The two name obviously refer to
the SAME PERSON, but a mix-up of the similar Hebrew letters r and
n occasioned this difference.
(Note: So some letters may get mixed up now and again as in
the above illustration, but that amounts to SPELLING, we all know
it is the same man. No huge DOCTRINE disagreement here or blatant
contradiction in teaching - Keith Hunt).
RECOGNIZING the ever present possibility of scribal
MISTAKES, and possessed with an almost INHERENT OBSESSION to
GUARD the LETTER of the LAW, there sprang up at an EARLY DATE
various circles of Jewish scholars DEDICATED to the
PRESERVATION of the OT text. At the head of this list was a
group of scribes centered at TIBERIAS, who are generally known as
MASSORETES.
THEIR school was not by any means the EARLIEST, since it did
not come into being until 500 A.D., but it is the most important
one for the history of the Hebrew text.
(Note: Remember what Lightfoot said here. This school of
500 A.D. was NOT THE EARLIEST ONE! The meticulous, and extremely
fanatical we may say, order of the copyist to preserve the Hebrew
OT did NOT START in A.D.500 - it had already been in process for
centuries before - Keith Hunt).
The Massoretes are so named because of their acknowledged
dependence on the AUTHORITATIVE TRADITIONS (Massorah) concerning
the text. Their labors are spread out over a period of four or
five centuries and their contributions are many. They are
perhaps best known for their system of VOWELS and ACCENTS which
they devised for the Hebrew text. It will be remembered that all
the letters in the Hebrew alphabet are CONSONANTS. Thus the OT
was FIRST written WITHOUT VOWELS.......the Massoretes, on the
basis of their well kept traditions, INSERTED vowel points ABOVE
and BELOW the lines of the text. It must be EMPHASIZED, however,
that they DID NOT BOTHER THE TEXT ITSELF - they only added a
means by which to insure the correct PRONUNCIATION of the text.
(Note: A very important point here. The text itself was not
changed or messed about with. The vowel and accent points were
added ABOVE or BELOW the text, which was still preserved in their
meticulous way as we shall proceed to see - Keith Hunt).
The Massoretes were not concerned only with such things as
details of proper pronunciation. MORE THAN THIS, they sought
WAYS and METHODS by which they could ELIMINATE scribal SLIPS of
addition or omission. THIS THEY ACHIEVED through INTRICATE
PROCEDURES OF COUNTING.
They numbered the verses, words and letters of each book.
They counted the number of times each letter was used in each
book. They noted verses which contained all the letters of the
alphabet, or a certain number of them, etc. They calculated the
middle verse, the middle word, and the middle letter of each
book. (The middle verse of the Pentateuch is Lev.8:7, while the
middle verse of the Hebrew Bible is Jeremiah 6:7)......With these
SAFEGUARDS , and OTHERS, when a scribe finished making a copy of
a book he could then CHECK the accuracy of his work before using
it.
(Note: Now, read those last two paragraphs AGAIN! Read
them SLOWLY! Let what these Jewish copy scholars DID in order to
preserve ACCURATELY every letter, every dot and tittle of the
Hebrew OT, sink into your mind fully and completely. See the
hand of the Almighty Eternal God in all of this, so His WORD
would never be lost, become full of errors and mistakes so His
truth of DOCTRINE would be confused or not understandable. As
Jesus, who was the God of the OT, the preserver of the OT, said:
"not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law, until all be
fulfilled" and "heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words
shall never pass away." The Eternal is able to preserve His word
so nothing has been lost, even through the agents of human hands
- Keith Hunt).
This BRIEFLY illustrates why the work of the Massoretes is
SO IMPORTANT. The Massoretes were TEXTUAL CRITICS of the FIRST
RANK!
They examined and appraised carefully all the textual
materials available to them, and on the basis of their abundant
evidence set down in writing the form of the text which had been
received at LEAST SEVERAL CENTURIES BEFORE their time.
Indeed, their labours were so productive and their
contributions so large that our Hebrew text today is often
referred to as "the Massoretic text." The extant Hebrew
manuscripts noted above are outstanding specimens of the
Massoretic text.
Other Materials on the Text
The most important materials in the establishing of a text
are those that are found in the ORIGINAL LANGUAGE of the text.
The BASIC source then of the OT text will always remain the
HEBREW manuscripts. Nevertheless ADDITIONAL materials are often
in a position to throw much light on the TRADITIONAL text...these
additional textual authorities will now be noted.
1. SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH......is not a translation, but is a
form of the Hebrew text itself. It's BEGINNING is to be traced
back to about 400 B.C. when the Samaritans .......built their
sanctuary on Mt. Gerizim, near Shechem. As a result the
Samaritans adopted their own form of the Hebrew Scriptures and
counted as authoritative ONLY the FIVE books of Moses.
In one sense the Samaritan Pentateuch presents a PROBLEM,
for it bears some 6,000 variants from the Massoretic text. BUT ON
EXAMINATION the problem is NOT AS GREAT as it might appear. MOST
of the variants have to do with SPELLING and GRAMMATICAL
differences which DO NOT EFFECT the MESSAGE of the text, while a
number of others UNMISTAKABLY have been INSERTED to SUPPORT the
PECULIAR beliefs of the Samaritan community. OVER ALL THERE ARE
FEW MAJOR DIFFERENCES between the Hebrew and the Samaritan
Pentateuch, which MEANS that to a high degree the Samaritan
Pentateuch CONFIRMS the traditional Hebrew text.
2. SEPTUAGINT. The word "Septuagint" is derived from the
Latin Septuaginta, meaning "Seventy," and is the common name
given to the Greek translation of the OT.
.......about 70 men took part in the translation of the
Pentateuch. As the tradition goes.....Jewish scholars from
Jerusalem were summoned to Alexandria by the Egyptian king to
make a translation from the hebrew to the Greek.......Little of
the story is accepted as factual.......The time of the Egyptian
king, Ptolemy 2 Philadelphus, is probably right, making the
origin of the Septuagint approximately 250 B.C. At a later date,
time and circumstances unknown, the remaining books of the OT
were translated into Greek.
(Note: The introduction to the Septuagint in the volume
that I have is VERY REVEALING. It is too long to quote here. The
reader may want to read it for themselves. Most larger cities
will carry the Septuagint translation in their religious
department of their public libraries - Keith Hunt).
Whatever MYSTERIES may surround it, the Septuagint
translation will always hold interest among Christians.......It
was......often quoted by the apostles and inspired writers
of the NT.......It is true that it has its DEFICIENCIES; it has
its MISTAKES of translation and its differences from the
Massoretic text; but it still plays a SIGNIFICANT role in
supporting the text of the OT. While the Samaritan Pentateuch
covers only the first FIVE books, the Septuagint witness spans
the remainder of the OT as well.
3. ARAMAIC TARGUMS. After the period of the Jewish exile,
Aramaic began to be the spoken language of the Jews. In order for
the people to understand the reading of the Scriptures in public
worship, it was necessary that they be translated or paraphrased
in aramaic. The translation was called TARGUM. By the time of
the FIFTH CENTURY A.D. two official Targums had emerged....both
are deliberately literal in their efforts of translation.
4. SYRIAC PESHITTA. The Syriac translation was begun very
early, perhaps as early as the middle of the FIRST century A.D.
In its EARLIEST FORM the Peshitta is in CLOSE AGREEMENT with the
Massoretic text. LATER, there is CONSIDERABLE EVIDENCE where it
has been unduly INFLUENCED by readings from the Septuagint.......
5. LATIN VERSIONS and OTHERS. There are two main types of
the Latin translations, the OLD Latin and the VULGATE. The Old
Latin dates back to A.D. 150, but it has definite limitations
because it was a translation based on the Septuagint. The
latin VULGATE, on the other hand, even though later, is a
VALUABLE text-authority. It was the work of the knowledgeable
JEROME, who spent the years of 390-405 translating DIRECTLY from
the Hebrew in to the Latin. At a time when all other
translations of the Church resorted to the Septuagint, it was an
unheard of thing to do! Jerome's work indeed has its
SHORT-COMINGS, but even so it throws much light on the early
Hebrew text.
Additional materials on the OT text are available. There
are such sources as the Biblical quotations found in the Tamuld
(200-500 A.D.), along with other Jewish materials........still
other versions such as the Coptic, the Ethiopic, the Armenian,
and the Arabic......they serve to illustrate the abundance of
text-materials accessible OUTSIDE the Hebrew manuscripts.
(Note: I want you to pay CLOSE ATTENTION to the next
section from Lightfoot, for it serves to bring out the workings
of the Lord as He put within the Jewish scribal copyists what we
would call FANATICAL-ISM today, as they copied and preserved the
text of the Hebrew Old Testament - Keith Hunt).
Present Status of Our Text
We have seen that our earliest Hebrew manuscripts date no
further back than the NINTH century, which leaves a rather wide
separation of centuries between the original OT autographs and
the materials available to us today. This might give occasion
for alarm WERE IT NOT FOR THE EXTREME CARE TAKEN BY JEWISH
SCRIBES AS THEY MADE THEIR COPIES OF THE SCRIPTURES.
CENTURIES PRIOR to the Massoretes, Jewish scribes were
CONSCIENTIOUSLY SEEKING PERFECTION in the transcription of the
text. EVIDENCE of this is found in the TALMUD (Jewish civil and
religious law) where RIGID REGULATIONS are laid down for the
preparation of COPIES of the Pentateuch to be used in the
synagogues.
" A synagogue roll must be written on the skins of clean
animals, prepared for the particular use of the synagogue by a
Jew. These must be fastened together with strings taken from
clean animals. Every skin must contain a certain number
of columns, equal throughout the entire codex. The length of each
column must not extend over less than forty-eight, or more than
sixty lines; and the breadth must consist of thirty letters. The
whole copy must be first lined; and if THREE WORDS be written in
it without a line, it is WORTHLESS. The ink should be black,
neither red, green, nor any other color and be prepared
accordingly to a definite recipe. An AUTHENTIC copy must be the
exemplar, from which the transcriber ought not in the least to
deviate.
No WORD or LETTER, NOT EVEN A YOD, MUST BE WRITTEN FROM
MEMORY, the scribe not having looked at the codex before
him......Between every consonant the space of a hair or thread
must intervene; between every word the breath of a narrow
consonant; between every new parashah, or section, the breadth
of nine consonants; between every book, three lines. The fifth
book of Moses must terminate exactly with a line; but the rest
need not do so. Beside this, the copyist must sit in full Jewish
dress, wash his whole body, not begin to write the name of
God with a pen newly dipped in ink, and should a king address him
while writing that name, he must take no notice of him.....
The ROLLS in which THESE REGULATIONS are NOT observed are
CONDEMNED to be BURIED in the ground or burned; or they are
banished to the schools, to be used as reading books" (Cited by
Sir Frederic Kenyon. OUR BIBLE and the ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS.
Revised by A.W. Adams - NY: Harper and Brothers, 1958, pp.
78-79).
THIS STRICT SET OF REGULATIONS which governed the EARLY
JEWISH SCRIBE is a chief factor which GUARANTEES the ACCURATE
TRANS MISSION of the OT text. There are also all the meticulous
precautions observed by the Massoretes in their vigorous effort
to detect scribal errors.......ALL AVAILABLE EVIDENCE on the
question shows that the type of text made permanent by the
Massoretes WAS EXTANT in the CENTURIES which ANTEDATE the coming
of Christ.
End of quote from Lightfoot for this fourth section of our
study.
(Note: During the life of Jesus on this earth, He made NOT
ONE comment about the OT Hebrew Scriptures having been lost,
corrupted, miss-placed, or in any way, large or small, messed up
or perverted. I guess not, because He as the God of the OT was
making sure they were preserved accurately. Jesus also moved
about mainly within the main-stream Judaism of His time, and
attending their Sabbath synagogue services, reading from the
Scriptures THEY preserved and copied. Sure, there may have been
some small cults and sects here and there with their Hebrew or
Aramaic or Greek translations of the OT, but Jesus mainly ignored
them. He said "salvation is of the Jews" and that it was the
"scribes and Pharisees who sit in Moses' seat." He told the
woman at the well that the Samaritans "worship you know not
what." Paul was inspired to say there was an advantage in being
a Jew, for unto them were committed the oracles of God
[Rom.3:1,2]. The main stream Jewish scholars of Judaism, that
also regulate the Hebrew perpetual calendar, who have the
authority over the calendar, the descendants of the
Jewish Sanhedrin of Christ's time [which did continue after
A.D.70 as history proves] have a standard text, the received
text, of the Hebrew OT. They have over the years published a few
translations of this text into English. One of the very first,
if not the first, by the Jewish Publication Society was called
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, and was published in 1917.
The most recent translation of the OT into English by the
Jewish Publication Society is the translation called TANAKH,
which is a Hebrew word derived from the THREE sections of the OT
- the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The beginning of
the Preface to this translation says: " This translation of
Tanakh, the Holy Scriptures......was made directly from the
TRADITIONAL HEBREW TEXT......."
They do go on to show that in certain respects the
translations of 1917 and 1985 are somewhat DIFFERENT, for various
reasons. The reader is asked to see what they say on this for
themselves, and come to their own conclusion as to which of the
two translations they deem the more faithful to the original
traditional Hebrew text - Keith Hunt).
The Dead Sea Scrolls
(Note: Much new insight and research has developed in the
last number of years concerning the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many more
scholars from around the world have been busy trying to fit them
all together. The work of the past, often done by only a few
scholars[they wanted to hang on to them like a winning lottery
ticket] has been showed to be full of errors and mistakes.
Interesting as this many be, all of that does not really
concern us in this study of the Hebrew OT manuscripts. What
Lightfoot brings out is of importance as it pertains to the
Isaiah scrolls found among the so called Dead Sea Scrolls - Keith
Hunt).
To be continued
....................
Bible - How it came to beA detailed look at how the Bible was preserved
THE TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
WE CONTINUE HERE WITH CHAPTER 8 FROM THE BOOK "HOW WE
GOT THE BIBLE" BY NEIL LIGHTFOOT. All emphasis throughout this
series is by Keith Hunt.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
(Note: Much new insight and research has developed in the
last number of years concerning the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many more
scholars from around the world have been busy trying to fit them
all together. The work of the past, often done by only a few
scholars[they wanted to hang on to them like a winning lottery
ticket] has been showed to be full of errors and mistakes.
Interesting as this many be, all of that does not really concern
us in this study of the Hebrew OT manuscripts. What Lightfoot
brings out is of importance as it pertains to the Isaiah scrolls
found among the so called Dead Sea Scrolls - Keith Hunt).
Lightfoot:
In March of 1948 the discovery of some ancient manuscripts
found in the vicinity of the Dead Sea was first reported....since
the first news of those scrolls, numerous others have been
located in the same region. In all about 350 rolls, most of them
fragmentary, have been uncovered(Note: this book being written in
the early 60's it is probably a lot more than 350 that have been
discovered now, in 1997 - Keith Hunt).
These scrolls were produced by a deeply religious community
of Jews who had taken up their station in the desert........Many
of the scrolls concern only the particular beliefs of the sect,
yet there are many others which contain the text of fragmentary
portions of the OT. Actually, fragments of ALMOST EVERY BOOK of
the OT have turned up.......
THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THESE MANUSCRIPTS ARE TWO SCROLLS OF
THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. One is COMPLETE, except for a FEW words, and
is known as Isaiah A; the other one, known as Isaiah B, is NOT
complete, but contains a considerable portion of material (Isaiah
chapters 41 to 59).
The AMAZING story of these manuscripts is bound up with
their AGE. Isaiah A dates back to 100 B.C. or earlier, while
Isaiah B is but a little later. HERE ARE SCROLLS THAT ARE A
THOUSAND YEARS EARLIER THAN THE OLDEST OF OUR PREVIOUS HEBREW
MANUSCRIPTS!
WHAT DO THE SCROLLS REVEAL ABOUT OUR TEXT? HOW DO THEY
COMPARE WITH THE MANUSCRIPTS OF THE MASSORETIC TEXT from which
they were separated by so many centuries? Do these newly
discovered manuscripts demand such CHANGES in the text that
require also changes in our faith?
The scrolls tell us much, but chiefly that there has
SCARCELY BEEN, AT LEAST SINCE THE FIRST OR SECOND CENTURIES B.C.,
A MAJOR CHANGE IN THE FORM OF THE HEBREW TEXT, as Professor F.F.
Bruce expresses it, " the new evidence confirms what we had
already good reason to believe - that the Jewish scribes of
the early Christian centuries copied the text of the Hebrew Bible
with the UTMOST FIDELITY " (F.F. Bruce, Second Thoughts on the
Dead Sea Scrolls - Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 1956 - pages 61-62).
(Note: Lightfoot goes on to tell us that the Isaiah A scroll
became known in time for the Revised Standard Version of 1952 to
take it into account. With Isaiah A in hand they only adopted 13
variant readings as contrasted to the Massoretic text, and Millar
Burrows, a member of the translating committee, a first-rank
scholar and authority on the scrolls, later confessed that he
personally felt that some of the departures from the Massoretic
text were a mistake[Millar Burrows, The Dead Seas Scrolls - New
York: Viking Press, 1955, page 305] - Keith Hunt).
AS A WHOLE the text of these ancient scrolls are REMARKABLY
LIKE OUR TEXT TODAY. The sixth chapter of Isaiah......Comparing
Isaiah A and our present Hebrew text we are able to count 37
variant readings in this chapter. BUT PRACTICALLY ALL of these
variants are no more than SPELLING DIFFERENCES. Only three of
them are large enough to be reflected in an English translation,
and of THESE not a ONE is significant. These variants are: "they
were calling" instead of "one called to another" (verse 3);
"holy,holy" instead of "holy, holy, holy" (verse 3); and "sins"
for "sin" (verse 7). IN THESE CASES OUR PRESENT TEXT IS
UNQUESTIONABLY BETTER THAN THAT FOUND IN ISAIAH A.......
This has prompted Millar Burrows to say: "It is a matter for
wonder that through something like a thousand years the text
underwent so little alteration. As I said in my first article on
the scroll, 'Herein lies its CHIEF IMPORTANCE, SUPPORTING THE
FIDELITY OF THE MASSORETIC TRADITION" (Ibid., p. 304).
Summary
Our oldest Hebrew manuscripts date no further back than the
NINTH century......Early versions of the OT and other sources are
of great value since they ATTEST to the RELIABILITY of our
present text. The biblical documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls are
nothing short of sensational. The most important are the two
Isaiah scrolls, which......CONFIRM BEYOND DOUBT THE ACCURACY OF
OUR PRESENT HEBREW TEXT.
So ends chapter 8 from the book by Neil Lightfoot.
NOTE: We have seen that yes, of course, there naturally
would be various books of the OT, maybe even the whole OT,
written and copied by various small religious sects of Judaism,
and such sects as the Samaritans with their Pentateuch (the first
five books of Moses). But the fact still remains very clear that
from the time of Moses, we have those that "sat in Moses' seat."
We have the official leaders and God guided(not in spiritual
matters where they were infallible as to the understanding of the
Eternal's word) scribes who were granted by the Lord to be the
custodians of the correct preservation and copying of the words,
the yod, and the tittle, of the scared Scriptures of the OT.
These same "sitters in the seat of Moses" were given the
"oracles" of God, and therein lies the advantage of being a Jew
as Paul was inspired to tell us. They were also given the
authority over the regulations of the calendar, its rules and
laws, and when the pronouncement of the first day of each month
of the year would be, so the announcing of the first of Nisan,
leading into the first feast of Lord - the Passover.
The text of the OT was in their hands, to preserve it and
to copy it CORRECTLY! This we have seen they did do so, and we
have seen in some detail HOW they made sure that it was copied
correctly, so every word of the Lord would be preserved. We
have seen that Jesus during His nearly thirty-four years of life
on this earth, never spoke one word about any words, passages,
sentences etc. of the OT Hebrew, being lost, corrupted, or so
messed up with, that we could not know for sure what were the
words of God. We have seen that just the opposite is the case,
and that Jesus said though heaven and earth would pass away not
one word of His would pass away, and those words indeed would be
the words to judge a man at the day of judgement. He stated that
not one jot or tittle would pass from the law until all was
fulfilled.
We have seen how Jesus, as the God of the OT, as the "I Am"
of the OT(John 8) and His Father in heaven, were able, had the
power to guide the minds and hands of men to so preserve and copy
the Hebrew OT so not one word would be lost.
There was, within Israel, within the main-stream religious
community, those that sat in Moses' seat to safe-guard the
oracles of God. In the days of Christ, He Himself clearly stated
that it was the "scribes and Pharisees" who sat in that seat of
Moses(Mat.23). It was not some sect in Samaria, who had their
own temple on their own hill to worship God in, contrary to what
God had clearly established in Jerusalem. It was not some sect in
Egypt who disagreed with the Jews of Judea, and so set up their
own headquarters of worship. It was not some fanatical desert
sect who went off to the Dead Sea area, to gather scrolls from
anywhere, and to write their own. These and others like
them were not entrusted by God with the preservation of the
oracles of the Lord, the preservation of the Hebrew OT, and the
governance over the calendar.
I must give EMPHASIS to this! It is important you really
have this foundation, for on it lies the basic bedrock of this
question about the accurate preservation of all the words of God,
as to what words are THE BIBLE, and to the question that is being
raised today about the authority over the calendar we are to
follow, as to when (the dates) we should observe the Festivals of
the Eternal.
There have always been groups of people, even from the days
of Moses, who did not agree with Moses, or Joshua, or other men
of God. Who did not agree with, would not follow the calendar
that those who sat in Moses' seat proclaimed. History shows
many such sects broke away from the main-stream Israel religious
community. They set up their own towns, their own temples, their
own priesthood, their own translations of the Scriptures or parts
of it, they wanted to follow(the Samaritan sect, only followed
the five books of Moses). They set up their own calendars, in
opposition to the calendar proclaimed in Israel or Judea(after
the house of Israel departed from the true worship of
God) by those in Moses' seat.
The same was still going on in the days when Jesus walked
among His people. The same is still going on to this very day!
Just because some group or some sect, over here or over
there, have a religion, have some translation of the Hebrew OT,
have some calendar they follow, DOES NOT make their calendar,
does not make their translation of the OT, the CORRECT ONE! You
need to understand that point and never forget it. More confusion
in people's minds of late has been caused because they HAVE NOT
understood or have FORGOTTEN who in Israel, were given the
official God inspired guidance as to the accurate preservation
of the oracles(words of God as the Lord had them written down) of
the Eternal, and as to the proclaiming of the calendar in regards
to the announcing of the new month days.
In Israel it was those who sat in Moses' seat that were
given custody of these TWO important functions - the literal
copying and preservation of the Hebrew OT, and the regulation and
proclaiming of the calendar. During the time of Jesus, it was He
who stated that it was the Scribes and the Pharisees, who sat in
Moses' seat! Do not misunderstand me. That did not mean the
scribes and Pharisees were custodians of all the doctrinal truths
of God, and correct understanding of the Scriptures. There is a
VAST DIFFERENCE between writing down the words and preserving the
words of God correctly, and understanding correctly the words of
the Lord. The two areas should never be confused, they are
totally separate from each other.
Jesus on MANY occasions did not agree with the "doctrines"
and the "teachings" and the "understandings" of the scribes and
the Pharisees as they read the words of the Scriptures and
interpreted them. But they did sit in Moses' seat as to
preserving accurately the literal words from literal manuscripts
in the literal Temple.
The other sects from other parts of the country(Dead Sea
etc.) or world, did not sit in Moses' seat, they were not
inspired to preserve the words of the Lord on manuscript
scrolls correctly, hence they all contain errors or some sort,
even if they are mainly small, insignificant, or by and large
just spelling differences.
The Septuagint (Greek) translation of the OT is another
matter. It contains some HUGE errors, and the reader needs to
study carefully as to what is written in the "Introduction" to
the English/Greek translation, that can be found in most public
Libraries.
The scribes and Pharisees who sat in Moses' seat during the
time of Christ, were also a very large part of the Jewish
Sanhedrin, who, with other things, were in charge of regulating
the calendar, and announcing the new month days. Jesus, NEVER
disagreed with them, over the calling of the new month days. Of
course not! It was He as the "I Am" of the OT that gave them that
authority in the first place! He did not take it away from
them, neither during His life on earth, nor after His return to
the Father in heaven. He never gave such authority over the
calendar to the NT church. They never claimed it was now
transferred to them. The NT church continued to observe the
Feasts of the Lord WITH the Jews, at the times they observed the
beginning of the new months. The church led by leaders such as
Polycarp and Polycrates of the 2nd century A.D. also continued
to observe the Passover as set down by the main-stream Jewish
Sanhedrin, in proclaiming when the first of Nisan would be
observed and called.
This Jewish, main-stream, Sanhedrin did not come to an end
in 70 A.D. as history clearly shows. It continued to function in
another town when Jerusalem was destroyed. This I have thoroughly
expounded in other articles.
Those who sat in Moses' seat from the time of Moses, during
the time of Christ, during the start of the NT church, up to the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and AFTER that time as it
continued to exist on into the centuries of A.D. and even up to
this present time, HAVE PRESERVED ACCURATELY THE OT HEBREW
SCRIPTURES OF THE WORD OF THE LORD. And in part four and five of
this series we have seen HOW the Eternal inspired them to do it,
in the literal physical way they copied and re-copied the ancient
manuscript scrolls.
AGAIN, to give emphasis to all this, somewhat laboring the
point, maybe so, but so important is it that I feel I must
be-labor it further. I will quote from the book "The Oxford
Companion to the Bible" Oxford University Press, 1993, edited by
Bruce Metzger and Michael Coogan, pages 486,487.
Hebrew Bible
Forms. ancient texts such as the Hebrew Bible were transmitted
over centuries in various forms, at first in scrolls, later in
manuscripts of codex format, and in recent centuries in
printed editions....... Development of the Biblical Text. When
the composition of a biblical book was completed, in theory there
should have been ONLY ONE MASTER copy of that particular
book(Note: we have seen that under Moses and under the High
Priest there was only one master copy of the books of the OT
Bible, kept in the Tabernacle or Temple - the official
copy - Keith Hunt). In practice, however, even at that stage
there MAY HAVE BEEN several copies which differed from one
another, often a great deal(Note: I have covered that situation
and those facts of the case above. Certain break-away sects from
the main body of Israel and eventually Judah, did have "their"
translations, but the fact remained the official translation and
copy was with the high priest in Israel and in the Tabernacle
or Temple - Keith Hunt)........These differences increased rather
than diminished in the next centuries(Note: In some cases only.
Yet, if that was the case with some, it still did not mean there
was not an official OT Hebrew scroll of the books of the
canonized Bible, under the authority of the high priest in
Jerusalem, kept in the Temple - Keith Hunt)......Many of these
different texts fell out of use, especially because the religious
groups supporting them ceased to exist or diminished in
importance(Note: This all bears weight to what I brought out
above. These different translations of the OT were from
small split-off sects of the main-stream body of Israel and the
official God instituted Priesthood from Moses' time, who sat in
Moses' seat . These sects came and went, rose up and diminished,
came into being and went out of being. The official people who
sat in Moses' seat did not diminish, they were still there at the
time Jesus walked this earth among the main-stream religious Jews
- Keith Hunt).......In the Roman period, however, there were many
different "families" of texts in use, as the Qumram(Note: The
sect by the Dead Sea - famous for the so-called Dead Seas Scrolls
- Keith Hunt) text show; AMONG THESE was what was to become the
OFFICIAL VERSION of the text of the Hebrew Bible ("the received
text") in the centuries to follow, the MASSORETIC Text(Note: It
was not "to become" the official text, it was ALREADY the
official text. Those in Moses' seat had preserved the OT Hebrew
Scriptures from the time of Moses. We have seen how they
meticulously did this for centuries - Keith Hunt)
The Massoretic Text. After the destruction of the Second Temple
in 70 CE, a PARTICULAR GROUP of texts was emerging, ENDORSED BY
and COPIED BY the CENTRAL STREAM OF JUDAISM, THAT OF THE
PHARISEES, LATER TO BE KNOW AS THE MASSORETIC TEXT.........
End of quote with my comments added.
Note:
Ah, did you see what they had to say under the last section
I gave you, under "The Massoretic Text"?
I have proved to you in this series that the particular
groups of texts that after 70 A.D. was "emerging" as they put it,
the ones "endorsed by" and "copied by" the CENTRAL STREAM of
Judaism, WERE ALREADY THERE, they did not have to "emerge." The
OT Scriptures Jesus read from when in the synagogue on the
Sabbath day, were ALREADY THERE! They had been preserved by the
"central stream" of Israel's and later Judah's religious body,
those who sat in Moses' seat, FOR CENTURIES! They were the
official Scriptures, and had been for centuries in Judah, for to
them was given the oracles of God, and that is why Paul said
there was an advantage to being a Jew!
You will notice WHO the above book (The Oxford Companion to
the Bible ) says was the CENTRAL STREAM of Judaism - the
PHARISEES! It will still shock some people to hear that, because
they cannot see the difference between God using a certain
people from within His community of Israel, to preserve the
accurate words of the Lord as given in the OT Hebrew, and the
authority over the regulations of the calendar, AND the authority
given by God to the NT church to INTERPRET and UNDERSTAND
correctly the MEANING of those words of the Eternal as found in
the Scriptures.
Because such people have a terrible time with seeing the
difference between the two truths above, they get all upset at
the possible thought that the scribes and Pharisees could have
been used by God IN ANY WAY! Especially is this truth so strange
to them when they consider how Jesus spoke about the scribes and
Pharisees in Matthew 23 and at other times in His ministry. Yet,
contained in Matthew 23 are the words from Jesus, that the
scribes and Pharisees did sit "in Moses' seat"! It IS THERE
friend, whether you like it or not! The scribes and Pharisees DID
HAVE a certain amount of authority. There were certain areas in
the religious life of Israel and the people of God, the NT
church, that the Lord was using the scribes and Pharisees to
perform for the health and the benefit of all the people of God
and ultimately for the benefit of the whole world.
TWO large and very important areas God was and is still
using those people of central stream Judaism, is in the accurate
preservation of the OT Hebrew Scriptures, the official "received"
text, and also the official regulations of the Hebrew calendar,
which ensure, on a world-wide, global, international, united
front(no pun intended for those readers of the church of God)
that the Eternal's children observe His Festivals at the
same time(taking into account different sunsets around the world
etc.) no matter what country they are living in.
We can all have the SAME WORD OF GOD, and the SAME
FESTIVALS, at the SAME TIME!!
The TRANSLATING of the OT Hebrew INTO English is another
matter altogether, with other considerations and other problems
to take into account. All of that we shall look into in the next
article on this series.
...............................
Bible - How it came to beA detailed look at how the Bible was preserved AN OVERVIEW FROM AN OLD
ARTICLE
Before we explore the difficult area of translating the
Hebrew OT from Hebrew into the English language(which part 7
contains), I think it would be good to give you some excerpts
from an article written that was part of a publication by the
Worldwide Church of God back in 1980. The publication was called
"The Authority of the Bible" and the article within it that I
will quote from was called "Has the Bible Been Preserved
Accurately?" and its author was Neil Earle.
All large capital letter emphasis is mine - Keith Hunt.
Quote:
Could a collection of writings scattered over 1,500 years of
composition, spanning 60 generations and authored by 40-plus
writers in THREE languages survive such a journey?
Jesus Christ said YES. The skeptics DISAGREE........
Critical doubts and scholarly questions do not constitute
refutation......The document gets the benefit of any doubt. The
burden of proof lies with the skeptic!
A nation of priests
The evidence for the integrity and authenticity of the
documents underlying the biblical text makes a fascinating story.
It begins with the Eternal God's selection of an entire
nation as a "kingdom of priests" (Ex.19:6). The CARE and
PRESERVATION of Israel's lively oracles was ultimately to become
a solemn duty of PROFESSIONALS called scribes.
How easy was it to palm off forgeries on the SPECIALLY
CHOSEN teachers of the tribe of LEVI (Deut.33:10)? How did later
educated Jews feel about the authenticity of the documents they
VENERATED as the "holy scriptures" (2 Tim.3:15)?
Let JOSEPHUS, a Jewish historian of the first century,
answer:
' From Artaxerxes (Malachi's time) until our time everything
has been recorded but has not been deemed worthy of like credit
with what has preceded, because the exact succession of prophets
ceased. But what faith we have placed in our own writings is
evident by our conduct; FOR though so long a time has now passed,
NO ONE HAS DARED TO ADD ANYTHING TO THEM, OR ALTER ANYTHING IN
THEM' (Contra Apion, Whiston's Josephus, p.609).
Often overlooked is that the law, prophets, and writings,
which were accepted by Jesus (Luke 24:44), formed the BASIS FOR
THE LEGAL PRACTICES of the Jewish nation. These religious
writings had NATIONAL IMPACT equal to Britain's Magna Carta...or
America's Plymouth Rock Covenant and Declaration of
Independence....Animosity was, paradoxically, a powerful force in
PRESERVING the unimpeachability of Scripture. The appeal to the
text was the common arbiter in theological debate (Matt.19:7).
The Scriptures were known at the grass-roots level as well (Luke
4:16-20). UNOFFICIAL DELETIONS, INSERTIONS OR CORRUPTIONS would
have triggered an OUTCRY among the faithful in a nation ZEALOUS
FOR THE LAW (Acts 22:3).
TAMPER with the OFFICIAL Hebrew text? One may as well
consider EDITING the Declaration of Independence, DELETING a
sentence in a NEW copy of the Gettysburg Address......VITAL
literary production of NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE are too WELL KNOWN
to be PRIVATELY tampered with among the faithful. There were, of
course, enemies who tried to do so - and still do!
Today thousands of people have committed the TEN
COMMANDMENTS TO MEMORY. Imagine the PROTEST if a NEW Bible
translation INSERTED AN EXTRA commandment!.......
The Thread of Conveyance
Scripture itself speaks of a systematic, ORGANIZED
PRESERVATION of the law, prophets and writings.
Moses entrusted the law to the Levites guarding the ark,
center-piece of Israel's religion (Deut.31:24-26). Joshua 1:8
comments upon "this book of the law" that Moses' successor read
to the entire nation (Josh.8:32-35).
Literate, proficient scholars functioned even through the
chaotic Judges period (Judg.5:14, 1 Sam.1:3,9). Under Samuel
and David and Solomon, during Israel's Golden Age, inspired
writers laid the basis for the historical narratives in Samuel,
Kings and Chronicles. David revered the sacred writings
(Ps.119:97), and he and Solomon contributed and collected many
psalms and proverbs.
These writings formed the basis for successive national
revivals and reforms (2 Chron.17:7-9; 2 Kings 22:8). Later on
Isaiah and Hezekiah updated the text (Prov.25:1; Isa.8:16). In
this way "holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit" (2 Pet.1:21). The writings of the prophets were accepted
- often after the death of the prophets - because of God's
evident approval and inspiration, shown through dramatic
fulfilment (Isa.38:4-7).
Even during the babylonian captivity Daniel had access to
the Scriptures (Dan.9:2), and the return to Jerusalem was greatly
influenced by Ezra, a "ready scribe" and guardian of the text
(Ezra 7:6,10). According to Jewish tradition, Ezra officially
updated and clarified the text in certain places(e.g.,Deut.34:5).
Shortly after his time the book of Malachi, the last OT prophet,
was written.
Ancient computers
How responsible was the transmission of the text? We can get
a good insight by surveying TWO PERIODS OF TRANSCRIPTION: from
the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 to about A.D. 500, and from A.D.
500 to A.D. 916.
In the first five centuries a group known as the TALMUDISTS
guarded and copied the text. A supreme effort to safeguard the
OT accompanied the scattering of the Jewish people after A.D. 70.
"A great rabbi - Yochanan ben Zakkia by name (reconstituted)
the SANHEDRIN AT JANNIA, between Joppa and Azotus. They
considered whether canonical recognition should be accorded to
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs and Esther......the
upshot was the firm acknowledgement of all these books as Holy
Scripture" (F.F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments, p.97).....
TRANSCRIPTION WAS LETTER BY LETTER, WORD BY WORD, OR PHRASE
BY PHRASE! DILIGENCE, VENERATION, PROFESSIONALISM. THE HALL
MARKS OF THE TALMUDIST TRADITION!
The MASORETES (Hebrew Masorah, meaning "to deliver something
in to the hands of another") safeguarded the text from about A.D.
500 to A.D. 916. These dedicated scholars based in Tiberias
produced the Masoretic texts used today; they are the basis for
our English OT of 1611. "The Masorah is called 'a fence to the
scriptures' because it locked all words and letters in their
places. It records the number of times the several letters occur
in the Bible; the number of words and the middle word; the number
of verses and the middle verse, etc., for the set purpose of
preventing the loss or misplacement of a single letter or word"
(Bullinger, Companion Bible, Appendix 30).
Designating the middle letter of the Pentateuch and the
middle letter and verse of each book as well as the entire OT was
not enough for these technicians. Phrases were counted,
enumerated, distinguished. "House of Israel" was computed
separately from "sons of Israel" and the number of times each
occurred was well noted. The expression "sins of Jeroboam" is
noted separately from "the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat."
thus the Jewish zeal for God was turned to good use (Romans
10:2).
So confident were the Talmudists and Masoretes that the
older documents were discarded. In the words of Sir Frederick
Kenyon, late curator of the British Museum, "Age gave no
advantage to a manuscript." Understanding the PRECISION and
SKILL of the Jewish scribes explains why. Who has ever counted
the letters of Shakespear, the words of Herodotus, the phrases of
Homer?
(Note: An interesting paragraph from the Companion Bible,
Appendix 30, that was not quoted by Earle is this:
" The Text itself had been fixed before the Massorites were
put in charge of it. This had been the work of the Sopherim [from
saphar, to count, or number]. Their work, under Ezra and
Nehemiah, was to set the Text in order after the return from
Babylon; and we read of it in Neh.8:8 [cp Ezra 7:6,11]. The men
of 'the Great Synagogue' completed the work. This work lasted
about 110 years, from Nehemiah to Simon the first, 410-300 B.C."
- Keith Hunt).
The Dead Sea Scrolls
............Then came 1947. One of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls
found was the COMPLETE Isaiah manuscript. Its date?
Approximately 125 B.C. This is a thousand years earlier than the
Masoretic tests. HOW DID IT COMPARE? Norman L. Geisler and
William E. Nix report:
"In one chapter of 166 words (Isa, 53) there is only ONE
WORD (three letters) in question after a thousand years of
transmission - and this word does not significantly change the
meaning of the passage" (General Introduction to the Bible,
p.263).
Minor stylistic and spelling variations PALE before the FACT
that the Isaiah scroll "proved to be WORD FOR WORD IDENTICAL with
our STANDARD HEBREW BIBLE in more than 95 percent of the text"
(Archer, A Survey of the OT, p.19).
In the words of Mr. Geisler and Mr. Nix, "the King James
Bible is 98.33 percent pure" when compared with the Dead Sea
Scrolls.
Yet, as the accuracy of the Talmudists and Masoretes SHOULD
DEMONSTRATE, the Dead Sea Scrolls NEED TO BE EVALUATED BY THE
OFFICIAL MASORETIC TEXT, NOT VICE VERSA.................
End of quotes from Neil Earle's article.
In our next study in this series we will look at the difficulties
of translating the OT Hebrew into English.
...................
Bible - How it came to beA detailed look at how the Bible was preserved TRANSLATING THE HEBREW
INTO ENGLISH
We have then only a few OT Hebrew manuscripts. None of them
are from before the 9th century A.D. That's all just fine,
because if the Eternal God has said HE will not only give us His
word, but that He will also make sure it is preserved accurately
even to the letter, and the jot and the tittle would not be lost,
then the above facts really do not matter. If the Almighty has
said He will do something, He does have the POWER to do it, and
He WILL DO IT, but He will do it IN THE WAY He decides. He has
the free choice to preserve His word DIFFERENTLY from one part
of His word to another part, if He wants to, after all we do not
tell Him what he can or cannot do.
He so decided that His word would be preserved in two basic
languages - Hebrew and Greek - some parts He chose Aramaic as we
have seen. He used in the main, the Hebrew language for the OT,
and He inspired the scribes and the copyists of those OT
manuscripts and scrolls to formulate a very strict and demanding
set of rules and regulations to make sure His word was copied and
preserved fully and accurately.
Now, it is one thing to have the full and accurate words of
the Lord in writing on scrolls or in codex book form, remembering
that it was capital letter after capital letter, no sentences or
punctuation of any kind in the originals, AND to be able to
accurately understand and present the different words to make
logical thoughts and ideas in the minds of people wanting to
comprehend those words of the Lord.
In other words, you may have the literal letters of the
literal words God inspired to be written on paper, but
translating them into understandable form for different peoples
of different languages in different nations of the earth, is NOT
AS SIMPLE as saying your ABC's.
First of all, Hebrew is a certain language with certain
distinct traits, and then again so are many other languages.
Going from one language with certain specific traits into
another language with certain specific traits, can be VERY
DIFFICULT at times, in some parts of the linguistic transition
and movement from one language to another.
We shall see all this clearly as I bring you quotes from a
certain Hebrew/English Interlinear.
From the Preface of the Hebrew/Greek/English Internilear by
Green, p.7-13
" This work, we believe, contains all the Hebrew and Aramaic
words which have been preserved for us by the Masoretes, and
which in total has become known as the Masoretic Text. this work
also contains the Greek words as printed in the Stephens
Edition of 1550, which has become known as the Textus Receptus,
or, Received Text.......Why did we use these particular texts?
It is simply because these are the only texts which can justly be
designated as 'received' texts. In worldwide acceptance they
tower so far above any other original Hebrew or Greek texts that
there is no doubt but what they must be used in a work such as
this is.......They are the 'Received Texts' because no other text
has been able to win the adherence of any group powerful enough
to displace either the Masoretic or the Received Text from their
place as the standard by which all others are measured........
SPECIFIC DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED
......In rendering the Biblical languages into English we
particularly found it difficult to deal with the following:
FIGURES OF SPEECH.
The Hebrew speaks of the 'lip' of the river, rather than the
'bank' ; sometimes the 'mouth' of Jehovah, rather than the
'word' or 'command' of Jehovah; 'lifting the heads' rather than
counting etc........
(Note: Many readers of the Bible do not understand that it
is full of what is known as 'figures of speech.' So much is this
so that Mr Bullinger wrote a 1104 page book on the subject,
called Figures of Speech used in the Bible. This book I highly
recommend to all Ministers and Bible class leaders in the Church
of God - Keith Hunt).
PARTS OF SPEECH.
It is not always possible to render the parts of speech in
literal form, and at the same time convey the meaning to the
English reader.
INTERPRETATION.
There is always interpretation in rendering one language
into another, and it is necessary to consider the entire context
before making a translation........
IMPLIED WORDS.
There are many instances in which the verb, or other words,
are implied within the Hebrew word, either by the sentence
structure, the syntax, or the context. In such cases the
translator has supplied the word, even though it is not
represented by Hebrew characters. In these cases the word
supplied has been put in parentheses so that the reader will know
that they were supplied by the translator. In the marginal
translation these supplied words may be in italic type.
PUNCTUATION and CAPITALIZATION.
It should be realized that in the original Biblical
languages, both Hebrew and Greek, all letters were capital
letters, as we think of them........It should also be noted that
there was no punctuation in the original manuscripts, either in
the Hebrew or Greek.......In the English translation in the
margin we have followed modern English punctuation rules,
our authority being The Chicago Manual of Style.......
NON-CONCORDANT TRANSLATION.
As in all languages, parts of speech may be fluid enough to
have many meanings for one word or particle, usually depending on
its contextual circumstances.......
(Note; An example would be the English word 'present.' In
one context it is something you give to someone as a 'gift' or
'present.' In another context you are 'present' at a meeting of
the school board. The word in English is said exactly the same
in both situations but as you see the meaning is quite different
in both circumstances- Keith Hunt).
NON-AGREEMENT OF NUMBER.
Singular pronouns are often translated by the plural
(normally a Hebrew collective) - for example, the literally TO
HIM may appear as TO THEM. Numbered objects are often singular
in Hebrew. For example, literally, it is written FOUR HUNDRED MAN
but herein it will be rendered in the plural, FOUR HUNDRED MEN.
SPACE LIMITATIONS.
......A moment's reflection on the difficult task of putting
English meanings under Hebrew words will show that many short
words require long English translations, or even more than one
English word at places......."
End of quotes from Green's Interlinear.
(Note: Concerning "space limitations," this is often a
common difficulty going from one language to another language.
Seeing the difficulty going from Hebrew/Greek to English is the
reason why the translators of the AMPLIFIED BIBLE came forth with
that particular translation of the Old and New Testament
Scriptures - Keith Hunt).
............................
Bible - How it came to beA detailed look at how the Bible was preserved
THE 14 APOCRYPHAL
BOOKS
15O BC TO 3OO AD
from Rockeliffe Fellowship Bulletin, Ottawa, Canada
Tucked in among the profusion of new versions of the Bible are
a few that contain writings which have been acknowledged by
Protestants and Jews as historically interesting, but have never
been accepted as part of the canon of scripture. Since the
advent of ecumenism promoted by Vatican II, some of these
writings have formed part of the Roman Catholic Bible. Recently
they are beginning to show up in Protestant churches through
ministers schooled in theological institutes having long ago
distanced themselves from acknowledgment of the Bible as the Word
of God.
But why would they bother? Because acceptance of these writings
is seen as a double triumph for liberalism. First, it moves the
Protestant churches closer to the Roman fold and secondly, it
opens a door for the addition of writings - including modern
writings - to the canon of scripture. In a very short time, such
massive tampering with God's Word would provide Christendom with
a 'bible' replete with liberal philosophy and professing to
present the flock with a more 'reasonable' assortment of things
which theological scholars believe God would have said had He
been aware of how radically modem society would be altered.
What follows is presented as basic information for those who
feel uneasy about these fourteen books and wish to know where
those who accept them are coming from theologically and
spiritually.
The Canon of Holy Scripture
The term 'canon' refers to the accepted body of inspired
writing. It is derived from the Greek, 'kanon,' which is of
Semitic origin (Hebrew 'qaneh') and carries the meaning of
'measuring instrument.' Later it was used in the sense of 'rule
of action.' When we use the term 'canon,' we denote that the
Bible is a closed collection of writings inspired by the Spirit
of God; that they have complete and unquestioned authority and
are held by the church as the only rule for faith and life. The
Bible is called a 'closed canon' because nothing can be added and
nothing taken from it. Thus we see that the Old Testament
writings which looked forward to the coming Messiah (Christ) and
the New Testament writings which present Him to the world and
look forward to His coming again in Glory, comprise one complete
story from Genesis to Revelation.
*See Revelation 22:18,19.
The Canon of Scripture is 'closed'
The historian Josephus considered the Old Testament to be a
close canon from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (450BC), but it
did not officially become so until decreed by the COUNCIL OF
JAMNIA in 90 AD. By 'closed' is meant that nothing is to be added
or deleted from the body of scripture as it stood during the
early days of the Church of Christ. Although the books are
arranged a little differently than we have them, the Hebrew Old
Testament Canon consists of the same 39 books found in our
Bible. These 39 books were translated from the same *Massoretic
text which was used in the King James Version of 1611.
Preservation of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament
(500 - 1000AD)
The reverence with which the Jews regarded their scriptures
affords a powerful guarantee against any deliberate corruption of
the text.
Speaking of their duty in this regard, the apostle Paul says,
"What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of
circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them
were committed the oracles of God" - Romans 3:1,2. The word
'oracle' is derived from the Greek Logikos meaning 'the expressed
thought of God. A vehicle, personal or otherwise, of Divine
inspiration or revelation.' In this context, the oracles of
God comprise His own thoughts expressed in His Word. Thus the
sacred texts were faithfully copied for centuries by scribes
(Sopherim) and this solemn duty was assumed by the Massoretes,
which literally means 'transmitters,' between 500 and 1000 AD.
The textual apparatus or method of preservation which they
introduced is probably the most complete of its kind ever to be
used. The stress was on preserving even the smallest letter in
its original, pure form.
The Massoretes introduced the vowel points and accentual marks
into the consonantal text, but it was their resolute purpose to
hand on the text as they had received it, therefore they left the
text itself unchanged. Every imaginable safeguard was used, no
matter how cumbersome or laborious, to ensure the accurate
transmission of the text. The number of letters in each book were
counted by their numeric value and the sum was noted so that the
copyists work could be checked numerically as well as visually.
To further ensure the fidelity of their work, they counted the
number of times a word or phrase occurred and their lists finally
included all orthographic peculiarities (correctness of spelling)
of the text. This was necessary because the spelling of a word
could change its meaning perceptibly where two words which were
of nearly parallel spelling were poles apart in meaning. If, when
the work was being examined and tested for faithfulness of
reproduction, three or more scribal errors were found in any
manuscript being copied, the entire work was destroyed and begun
again. Wherever copyist errors were allowed to be corrected under
this strict rule, the correction was noted in the margin - never
in the body of the text.
Until recently, no ancient Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts
were available to scholars, the oldest known manuscript dating
from no earlier than the 9th century AD. All the available
manuscripts, however, were found to contain the Massoretic text
and to agree with one another very closely. The first critic to
demonstrate this was Bishop Kennicott, who published the readings
of 634 Hebrew manuscripts at Oxford in 1776-80. He was followed
in 1784-88 by De Rossi, who published collations of 825 more
manuscripts. No substantial variation was detected by either of
these scholars. That's a healthy record for 1459 separate
manuscripts!
What is the Apocrypha?
The word 'Apocrypha' finds its root in the Greek word
apokruphos meaning 'hidden'. It was used very early in the sense
of 'secretive' or 'concealed', but was generally accepted to
include writings whose origins is doubtful or known to be false
and heretical. Eventually the word took on the meaning of
'non-canonical' (that is, outside of the body of scripture) and
thus, for centuries, books of this type have been known as
apocryphal books.
Of the fourteen which are presently in contention for a place
in the Old Testament canon, twelve have already been incorporated
in the Roman Catholic versions of the Bible as a result of a
pronouncement by the Fourth Session of the Council of Trent held
on April 8th, 1546. This pronouncement overruled the objections
of many of the hierarchy of the Roman Church who had, at various
periods in its history, been outspoken against its inclusion as
scripture.
These 14 comprise: I Esdras; II Esdras; Tobit; Judith; The Rest
of Esther; The Wisdom of Solomon; Ecclesiasticus (not to be
confused with the Biblical Ecclesiastes); Baruch, with the
Epistle of Jeremiah; The song of the Three Holy Children; The
History of Susanna; Bel and the Dragon; The Prayer of Manasses; I
Maccabees; II Maccabees.
Why not include the Apocryphal
writings in the Bible?
The reason is simple - these books do not evidence intrinsic
qualities of inspiration and great portions of them are obviously
legendary and fictitious. They also contain historical,
chronological and geographical error. In the book of Judith, for
example, Holofernes is described as being a General of
Nebuchadnezzar who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of
Nineveh (Judith 4:1). Actually, Holofemes was a Persian General
and, of course, Nebuchadnezzar was King of the Babylonians,
ruling in the city of Babylon. Also, some of these books
contradict themselves and disagree with the canonical scriptures.
For instance, in the book of Baruch it is said that God hears
prayers for the dead (Baruch 3:4); and that upon His return,
Christ will reign for 400 years (compare with Revelation 20:6)
and then must die again (2 Esdras 7:28-32).
The basis for the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory is found
in 2 Maccabees 12:43-45 where we are told that 2000 pieces of
silver were sent to Jerusalem as an offering for sin...
"Whereupon he made reconciliation for the dead, that they might
be delivered from sin." Christ's finished work on the cross at
Calvary is the only 'reconciliation' of man to God that is either
required or available to mankind.
Salvation by good works is proposed in Ecclesiasticus 3:30
where it is claimed that "Water will quench a flaming fire, and
alms maketh an atonement for sin." The same book teaches that if
a Devil or an evil spirit trouble anyone, they can be driven away
by making a smoke of the heart, liver, and gall of a fish.. .and
the Devil will flee away and not bother the person again - Tobit
6:5-8 and 17.
The rationale for the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary
is imagined in Wisdom 8:19,20... "For I was a witty child, and
had a good spirit. Yea rather; being good, I came unto a body
undefiled.." Actually, the entire chapter is speaking of Solomon
and his relationship with wisdom whom he refers to as 'she'.
Following chapters confirm this view but the Roman Catholic
church has preferred to envision the immaculate conception
instead.
The concerted drive to have Protestant churches return to the
Roman Catholic fold is the reason that many (including The United
Church of Canada, the Lutheran Church and now, many evangelical
churches as well) are including some apocryphal passages in their
'scripture' readings these days. Of course, they have declined to
reveal their agenda at this point, perhaps feeling that it's a
little too early in the game to risk a negative reaction
by their congregations.
While the above and many others are obvious and valid reasons
for rejection of the apocryphal books, errors such as these are
not the only reasons that they have been rejected by Protestant
Christianity. Some other reasons are:
I. The apocryphal books, with the exception of Ecclesiasticus,
were written in Greek rather than Hebrew and have never been
accepted by Hebrew scholars of any generation as part of the
God-given scripture.
2. Neither Jesus nor the Apostles, in their 263 direct and 370
allusions to passages in the Old Testament, ever quoted from an
apocryphal book. Had these writings been genuine scripture,
Christ could easily have confirmed their authenticity by quoting
from them.
The apocryphal books as 'history'
The apocryphal books cover an historical period of about 450
years between the writings of the prophet Malachi (last of the
Old Testament Prophets) and Matthew of the New Testament, a
period when there was no prophet in Israel. Since God had kept
silence for such a long time, it is little wonder that the people
(including the Scribes and Pharisees) flocked to John the Baptist
when he appeared out of the wilderness, clothed as a prophet
and speaking the Words of God. Obviously they did not look upon
the apocryphal writers as prophets, but as heretical imposters.
Although they have been subsequently accepted by some churches as
'historical records' and 'instructions in manners', they are
definitely not the Word of God and should be accorded no place
whatever in the canon of scripture.
This has been the past state and status of these books insofar
as the Protestant Church is concerned, but now they reappear in
new and corrupted 'versions' such as the New English Bible and
more recently, a new Protestant-Roman Catholic work known as the
'Good News Bible' which includes these 'deuterocanonical' books.
Deuterocanonical literally means 'second canon' and is a term
coined by the Roman Church in order to add them to the first or
closed canon of scripture. These new versions are not the result
of the debated decision of a Council open to the public, but come
to us through the back door of secretive revision committees who
are passionately 'ecumenical' but scripturally unknowledgeable,
perhaps believing that they have made a concession which will
attest to their 'good faith' and support of the underlying
principle (as yet undisclosed) of ecumenism.
...............................
This article is re-printed as part 8 of our series on "How We Got
The Bible," January 1998.
To be continued
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