Back to: How We Got The Bible
Presented by Tim Anderberg
Early Writing
- Semitic people were the first group to develop an alphabetic script around 1750b.c
- Before them, Egyptians were the only other people who we have recorded history from, and that was in the form of hieroglyphics
- The best example of an early alphabetic script are the so-called Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions. Consisting of a small group of rock-carved graffiti and dating back to about 1500b.c, these inscriptions are located only about fifty miles from the traditional site of Mount Sinai
This information helps prove that writing was in practice well before Moses, providing strong evidence for his authorship of the first five books of the Bible.
Skeptics formerly claimed it was impossible for Moses to be an author if alphabetic systems didn’t exist during his time.
Resource: https://www.patternsofevidence.com/
Writing Materials
Stone
- Stone was used in almost every region as the earliest writing material
- For example: “In Babylon and elsewhere, legal and religious laws were inscribed and erected for public display.”
- Some of the oldest writings in stone that we have are the Gezer Calendar, and the Siloam inscription.
- As we all know, the Ten Commandments were written on tablets of stone
Clay
- The most common writing material in Mesoporaia was clay
- Over half a million clay tablets have survived to modern times
- Clay tablets were written in cuneiform (wedge shape letters)
Wood and Wax
- The old testament makes specific reference to writing on wooden rods and sticks (Num. 17:2-3: Ezek 37:16-17)
- This was the first material they could make books out of by fastening pieces of wood together
Metal
- Gold, silver, copper and bronze were all used to make plaques
Ostraca
- Is essentially broken pottery
- It can be thought of like how we use scraps of used paper
- There have been ostraca found that have short passages on them.
- They are known to be practically indestructible
Papyrus
- Papyrus was the first lightweight and flexible form of writing material
- It was similar to paper, the plant was separated as thin as possible in broad strips, pressed together with other pieces Then was left to dry in the sun
- They were able to change the texture by polishing (sanding) it of the papyrus depending on the application.
The word ‘bibles’ was a Greek term for papyrus. ‘Biblion’, the word related to the word, was the ordinary word for ‘books’. It was but another step to refer to ‘the books’ as ‘The Books’ and then to ‘the Book’ of Sacred Scripture.
Thus, the word ‘Bible’ itself goes back to the papyrus plant”
Leather and Parchment
- The Old Testament makes no direct reference to writing on leather.
- In recent time numerous manuscripts from the Dead Sea have come to light, and most of them were written on leather.
- The Jewish Talmud, a code of traditional laws, required explicitly that the Torah (Law) be copied on animal skins, a regulation that undoubtedly embodies an ancient tradition.
It is safe to conclude therefore, that the Old Testament writings were regularly copied on prepared skins. When in New Testament times the Apostle Paul requests that “the parchments” be sent to him (1 Tim. 4:13), perhaps he was speaking of portions of the Old Testament.
The Bible
Origins
The word Bible (Book) came into English by way of French from the Latin biblia and the Greek biblos. It was originally the name given to the outer coat of a papyrus reed in the eleventh century BCE.
By the second century CE, Christians were using the word to describe their sacred writings.
-Geisler/Nix – From God to Us
The word “Bible” is derived through Latin from the Greek word biblia (books), specifically the books that are acknowledged as canonical by the Christian church. The earliest Christian use of ta biblia (the books) in this sense is said to be 2 Clement 2:14 (c. A.D. 150): “the books and the apostles declare that the church . . . has existed from the beginning.” (Compare Dan. 9:2, “I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures,” where the reference is to the corpus of Old Testament prophetic writings.)
Greek biblion (of which biblia is the plural) is a diminutive of biblos, which in practice denotes any kind of written document, but originally one written on papyrus.
-Comfort, Philip W.. The Origin of the Bible (p. 3)
Chapters and Verses
The earliest Bibles have no chapter and verse divisions.
- These were added for convenience in quoting the Scriptures.
- Stephen Langton, a professor at the University of Paris and later Archbishop of Canterbury, is credited with dividing the Bible into chapters in 1227.
- Verses were added in 1551 and 1555 by Robert Stephanus, a Paris printer.
- Happily, Jewish scholars since that time have adopted the same chapter and verse divisions for the Old Testament.