Back to: How We Got The Bible
Before the discovery in 1947 of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) there were relatively few early manuscripts of the Old Testament text. During the 1950s Scripture scrolls were discovered in the Judean desert ruins at Masada (used by followers of Bar Kochba), and at Wadi Murabba’at and Nahal Hever.
We now consider those discoveries as we review the Masoretic Text (MT), Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), and Discoveries of the Judean Desert (DJD).
-Geisler, Norman L; Nix, William E.. From God To Us Revised and Expanded: How We Got Our Bible (pp. 193-194). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Additional Valuable Resources
MASORETIC MANUSCRIPTS (MT)
This text of the Hebrew Bible is the most complete in existence. It forms the basis for our modern Hebrew Bibles and is the prototype against which all comparisons are made in Old Testament textual studies.
Codex Leningradensis
- Early 11th century AD – Oldest surviving complete manuscript of the Old Testament. The Leningrad Codex was copied by the Ben Asher family of Masoretic scribes. Codex Leningradensis was used as the textual base for the popular Hebrew texts of today: Biblia Hebraica, edited by R. Kittel, and its revision Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, edited by K. Elliger and W. Rudolf.
- https://archive.org/details/Leningrad_Codex/mode/2up
Aleppo Codex
- 10th century AD – Masoretic manuscript from Ben Asher. Rioters destroyed Jewish synagogues in the city of Aleppo in 1947, and several portions of this codex were destroyed.
- https://archive.org/details/Aleppo_Codex/mode/2up
Oriental 4445, British Library Codex of the Pentateuch
- 10th century AD – Copy of the Torah, attesting to an early form of the Ben Asher Masoretic Text.
Leningrad Codex of the Prophets (Petersburg)
- 10th century AD – Copy of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and minor prophets, copied from a Ben Asher Masoretic Text.
Codex Cairensis
- 9th century AD – Ben Asher Masoretic text of the Hebrew prophets. Aleppo Codex Panel. The marginal markings in the Aleppo Codex are known as “masorah”; these notations provide pronunciations and other information added by Masoretes to preserve the Hebrew and Aramaic text of Scripture.
- https://archive.org/details/CodexCairensis/page/12/mode/2up
OTHER MINOR CODICES
- Erfurt Codices
- Codex Hillel
- Codex Muga
- Codex Jericho
- Codex Jerushalmi
EXTANT MSS (pre Masoretic)
The printed Masoretic Text (MT) of the Old Testament as it appears today is based on relatively few manuscripts, none of which antedates the tenth century CE. Although there are relatively few early Masoretic manuscripts, the quality of the extant manuscripts is very good.
SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH (SamP)
One line of evidence that supports the integrity of the Masoretic Text is the Samaritan Pentateuch (SamP).
The Samaritans, who accepted only the Pentateuch as canonical, apparently canonized their own particular version of the Scriptures. (See ASIDE: The importance and Value of Context)
- The best known difference of substance is the additional text regarded by the Samaritans as the tenth command of the Decalogue (after Ex. 20:14 [17] and Deut. 5:18), where a lengthy addition is inserted (based largely on Deut. 27:2, 3, 4–7; and 11:30). This interpolation supports the Samaritan claim that Gerizim is the “chosen place.”
John 4:20 ESV Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." Deuteronomy 11:29 ESV And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. Deuteronomy 27:11-13 ESV That day Moses charged the people, saying, [12] "When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. [13] And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
- Most authorities agree that the Samaritan Pentateuch existed in the third century BCE, based on approximately 2,000 agreements between the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint (LXX) against the Masoretic Text.
All this suggests that the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch, and Septuagint were all recensions of earlier editions of the Pentateuch.
The chief textual value of the Samaritan Pentateuch is its indirect witness that the Masoretic Text is a superb, disciplined text. In addition, its earliest preserved manuscript (about 100 CE) indicates that the Masoretes preserved a text tradition that is much older and purer than that of the Samaritan Pentateuch.
JUDEAN DESERT (DJD)
Scrolls discovered in the Judean desert, and possessed by the Pharisees and Zealots at Masada, reveal that the books of the Bible used by them can be identified with the current Masoretic Text.
- Scripture texts used by the followers of Bar Kochba show clear ties with the present-day MT. Remnants of Scripture scrolls used by Bar Kochba’s soldiers found at Wadi Murabba’at and items from Nahal Hever show that they also used the same text (with only the slightest differences) which we call the Masoretic Text.6
-1981 Masada TV mini-series: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081900/
SEPTUAGINT (LXX)
Perhaps the best line of evidence to support the integrity of the Masoretic Text comes from the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint. On the whole, the Septuagint closely parallels the MT and tends to confirm the fidelity of the tenth-century CE Hebrew text.
According to tradition, the Septuagint Pentateuch was translated by a team of seventy scholars in Alexandria, Egypt. (Hence its common designation LXX, the Roman numerals for 70.)
Comfort, Philip W.. The Origin of the Bible (p. 168). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.
- This work was performed during the third and second centuries BCE in Alexandria, Egypt.
- It might be said that the Septuagint is not a single version but a collection of versions made by various authors, who differed greatly in their methods and their knowledge of Hebrew.
- For the most part it was almost a book-by-book, chapter-by-chapter reproduction of the MT, containing common stylistic and idiomatic differences.
- The content of some books is significantly different when comparing the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text. (Ex. the Septuagint’s Jeremiah is missing significant portions found in the Masoretic Text, and the order of the text is significantly different as well. What these differences actually mean is difficult to know with certainty.)
- The LXX was the Bible of Jesus and the apostles, and most New Testament quotations are taken from it directly.
- The Septuagint, accepted first by Alexandrian Jews and afterward by all the Greek-speaking countries, helped introduce into Greek the theological terminology of Scripture. Even Palestinian Jews recognized the Septuagint as a legitimate text.
- The Septuagint remains the official text in the Greek Church and it was the basic text used for early Latin translations of the Bible adopted in the Western church.
Geisler, Norman L; Nix, William E.. From God To Us Revised and Expanded: How We Got Our Bible (pp. 197-199). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Other Greek Translations
Because of the broad acceptance and use of the Septuagint among Christians, the Jews renounced it in favor of a number of other Greek versions.
The Christian theologian Origen arranged the Old Testament with six parallel versions for comparison in his Hexapla. In it, he included
- the Hebrew text,
- the Hebrew transliterated into Greek,
- Aquila’s version,
- Symmachus’s version,
- the Septuagint, and
- Theodocian’s version.
Unfortunately, this wonderful compilation has survived only in a few small fragments.
Other Greek translations mentioned by Origen and otherwise unknown are
- the Quinta,
- the Sexta,
- the Septima.
Comfort, Philip W.. The Origin of the Bible (p. 170). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Other Translations
- Aramaic Targums
- Syriac Version
- Latin Versions (incl Jerome’s Latin Vulgate)
- Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Arabic (used LXX)
ASIDE: THE IMPORTANCE AND VALUE OF CONTEXT
I’m a firm believer and staunch advocate of commentaries and study bibles. Every professing Christian should own and use one (at the very least!)
-LeifQ
Read a few excerpts below from John 4. It is the story of Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well with some of the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary alongside.
Note the cross-referencing of extra-biblical texts and manuscripts (mss) to help the reader understand cultural context. Does this help provide insight and meaning into what you are reading? How does it directly impact your life?
John 4:4 ESV And he had to pass through Samaria.
v4 – The animosity between Jews and Samaritans had been developing for centuries. When the Assyrians conquered Israel in 722 BC (2 Kgs 17), they left only a small number of Jews there and deported hundreds of pagans to live there. The resulting intermarriage produced half-Jews who became the Samaritans. When the Jews returned from exile under Ezra and Nehemiah, they demanded that the people divorce their pagan spouses and return to the pure faith. The Samaritans refused and often sent letters to the Persians, accusing the Jewish people of sedition. Then around 400 BC, the Samaritans erected their own temple on Mt. Gerizim, which had been the center of the Jewish religion before Shiloh served this function (Deut 27; cf. Josh 8:30-35; 1 Sam 1:9). In 128 BC, John Hyrcanus, the Jewish king, destroyed the Samaritan temple, and that sealed the hatred between the two peoples. At the time of Christ, the animosity continued to be very strong.
John 4:5 ESV So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
v5 – Samaritan village of Sychar. We do not know for certain where Sychar was. We do know Jacob’s well, for it is well attested (cf. Dalman 1935:212-216), but the identification of Sychar is uncertain. Some believe it is the modern town of Askar, east of Mounts Gerizim and Ebal (so Barrett, Carson), but because the remains on the site have only been dated to medieval times, many doubt it (so Brown, who prefers Shechem). But Shechem was destroyed by John Hyrcanus before 107 BC, so perhaps placing Sychar just east of Mounts Gerizim and Ebal is best (so Köstenberger).
John 4:9 ESV The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" ( For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
v9 – Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. Some mss (א* D ita,b,e,j copfay) omit this clause, probably because it seems clumsy and unnecessary. However, the ms evidence for its inclusion is too strong to ignore (63 66 75 76 א1 A B C L Ws et al.).
John 4:23-24 ESV But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. [24] God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
v23,24 – in spirit and in truth. There are two major issues regarding the interpretation of “in spirit and in truth.” This first involves whether it has (1) an external force, in which pneuma [TG4151, ZG4460] refers to the Holy Spirit and the phrase can be taken as “the Spirit of truth” (so Barrett, Schnackenburg, Brown, Michaels, Burge, Thompson [2001:214], Keener); or (2) an internal force pointing to spiritual worship in one’s spirit or with the whole heart (so Hendriksen, Morris, Whitacre, Blomberg, Köstenberger). But is only an “either-or” approach viable, or is there a “both-and” option? In the context of John, the latter is more likely. The Spirit is certainly connoted, for it is the Spirit that makes worship possible. At the same time, worship is to be an inner, spiritual act. The second issue is whether “spirit and truth” should be considered separate items (Barrett, Comfort) or one single entity (Carson). The former could be favored by the importance of both in John, but Carson correctly notes that both are governed by a single preposition and should be taken together. Since “God is spirit” worship must be a spiritual act; since “God is Spirit” worship must be in the Holy Spirit
John 4:25-26 ESV The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." [26] Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."
v26 – I Am the Messiah! Several (e.g., Brown, Carson) note that Jesus gives an unqualified affirmation of his messianic office to a Samaritan here in John, when he refused to do so in a Jewish setting in the synoptic Gospels (cf. Mark 1:44; 5:43; 7:36; 8:30; 9:9 and parallels). The reason for the so-called “messianic secret” in the Synoptics is that the Jews expected a military conqueror rather than a suffering Servant as Messiah and thus would have misunderstood the implications of such a claim—this was true even of Jesus’ disciples! Jesus did not want his messianic work bandied about in such a setting. However, to the Gentiles (Mark 5:19) and Samaritans who did not have such a misunderstanding, he spoke more freely.