Back to: How We Got The Bible
Hebrews 1:1 ESV
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
Autographs
The authentic writings produced under the direction and authorization of a prophet or apostle, called autographa (autographs), are no longer in existence. As a result, they must be reconstructed from early manuscripts and versions of the Bible text. The manuscripts provide tangible and important evidence about the transmission of the Bible from God to us.
Transmission
In order to share these records with new believers and with future generations, it was necessary to copy, translate, recopy, and retranslate them. This procedure is the third link in the chain of communication, and it is known as the transmission of the Bible.
Since the Bible has undergone nearly 2000 years of transmission, it is reasonable to ask if the twentieth-century English Bible is an accurate reproduction of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. In short, how much has the Bible suffered in the process of transmission?
Methods of Communication
Alternate Methods
Several alternatives were open to God for communicating His truth to men (Heb. 1:1). He could have used any one or more of the media employed on various occasions in biblical times. For example,
- God used angels throughout the Bible (see Gen. 18–19; Rev. 22:8–16).
- The lot and the Urim and Thummim were also employed to determine God’s will (Ex. 28:30; Prov. 16:33),
- as were the voices of conscience (Rom. 2:15)
- and creation (Ps. 19:1–6).
- In addition, God used audible voices (1 Sam. 3)
- and direct miracles (Judg. 6:36–40).
The Written Record
God chose to make permanent and immortalize His message to men by means of a written record.
This way was more precise, more permanent, more objective, and more easily disseminated than any other media He utilized.
(Archeological) items from the mid- to late-second millennium BCE add still more evidence that writing had become well developed before the time of Moses. In short, Moses and the other biblical writers wrote during man’s age of literacy.
No manuscripts exist that were written before the Babylonian captivity (586 BCE), but a great flood of Scripture copies date from the time of Ezra as the Jewish scribal tradition emerged.
MANUSCRIPT COPIES
During the Talmudic era (ca. 300 BCE–500 CE), two general classes of manuscript copies emerged: the synagogue rolls and the private copies.
- SYNAGOGUE ROLLS – were regarded as “sacred copies” of the Old Testament text because of the strict rules employed in their transmission. As a result, these copies were used in public meeting places and at the annual feasts. Separate rolls contained the Torah (Law) on one roll, portions of the Nebhi’im (Prophets) on another, the Kethubhim (Writings) on two others, and the Megilloth (“Five Rolls”) on five separate rolls. The Megilloth were undoubtedly produced on separate rolls in order to facilitate their being read at the annual feasts.
- PRIVATE COPIES – were regarded as common copies of the Old Testament text and were not used in public meetings. These rolls were prepared with great care, although they were not governed by the strict rules employed in making the synagogue roll copies. The desires of the purchaser determined the quality of the particular copy. Seldom did an individual have a collection of scrolls that contained the entire Old Testament.
The Scribes
scribe (saphar) means to count, or tally – see Genesis 15:5 ESV – “And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
SOPHERIM
The earliest group of Jewish scribes were the Sopherim (fifth–third centuries BCE), active from Ezra to Antigonus of Soch. Under their leadership Jews preserved, at first by oral tradition and then in writing, an enormous amount of the Torah and other parts of the Old Testament that had been lost before and during the Babylonian Captivity.
This mass of tradition was preserved in two major collections: the Midrash and the Talmud.
ZUGOTH
The Zugoth (second–first centuries BCE), pairs of textual scholars, succeeded the Sopherim and were active during the period from Jose ben Joezer to Hillel.
TANNAIM
After the Zugoth, a third group of scribes arose, the Tannaim (first century CE–after 200 CE). From the death of Hillel to the death of Judah Hannasi (after 200 CE).
Tannaim teachings are preserved in the Mishnah, the Tosefta, the Baraihoh, and the Midrash.
More than two hundred of the Tannaim “repeaters, or teachers” are named and entitled either Rabbi or Rabban (teacher) in these works.
AMORAIM
The Amoraim (Speakers, Explainers) were sages who contributed to the Gemara.
MASORETES
Finally, the Masoretes (500 CE–950 CE) were scholars who gave the final form to the text of the Old Testament.
- The Masoretes were so named because they preserved in writing the oral tradition (masorah) concerning the correct vowels and accents and the number of occurrences of rare words of unusual spellings.
- The main Masorete centers were in Babylon, Palestine (Tiberia), and Egypt.
- They received the unpointed consonantal text of the Sopherim and inserted vowel points that gave to each word its exact pronunciation and grammatical form.
- The Masoretes also engaged in moderate textual criticism.
- When they observed an erroneous reading in the consonantal text, they introduced a unique procedure: they inserted vowel points in the text (above or below the consonantal words) and added smaller consonants in the margin to indicate the correct reading.
- They invented the system of kethib (K), “it is written” and qerê (Q), “read” to preserve the actual text and to introduce the variant.
YHWH
Most famous (and frequent) is the qerê reading for the covenant name of God, YaHWeH (Jehovah). His name is written with four consonants: YHWH, going back to the original pronunciation YaHWeH.
As early as the time of Ezra, Jews accepted the practice of substituting the title Lord (‘aDōNāY) for the name Yahweh whenever reading it aloud.
By substituting the vowels for (‘aDōNāY) over the consonants YaHWeH they produced the appearance JeHōWāH (Jehovah).
- The American Standard Version, ASV (1901), the Jehovah’s Witnesses New World Translation, the Jerusalem Bible, and the New Jerusalem Bible used Jehovah or Yahweh in their translations.
- The Jewish Publication Society (JPS, NJPS) Hebrew-English translations of TANAKH have appended the (YHWH) in their English translations,
- while the New Catholic Bible, NCB (2007), and The Bible in Its Traditions (2008 and ongoing) followed the request of Pope Benedict XVI (2007) not to use Jehovah (Yahweh) in future English translations largely for the sake of doctrinal integrity and out of deference to Jewish readers
-source: Geisler, Norman L; Nix, William E.. From God To Us Revised and Expanded: How We Got Our Bible (pp. 164, 168-171). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
BEN ASHER FAMILY
Some of the finest surviving manuscripts of the Old Testament come from the Ben Asher family, a Masoretic clan from the region of Tiberias.14
The Masoretes added vowel markings, accents, and marginal notes to preserve the traditional reading of every text.
The Masoretic scribes knew how many words and letters belonged in every book in their Bible. They even knew which word and what letter should stand at the exact center of every book.
As a result, the version of the Old Testament preserved by the Masoretes—known today as the Masoretic Text—represents a supremely reliable reproduction of the final form of the Old Testament.
Strict Guidelines
Even before the time of the Masoretes, careful guidelines governed the copying of every Old Testament text. According to the Talmud—a collection of traditions from Jewish rabbis—“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; … An authentic copy must be the exemplar, from which the transcriber ought not in the least deviate; no word or letter … must be written from memory, the scribe not having looked at the codex before him.”
‘MISTAKES’
Despite the work of the Masoretes and earlier scribal communities, copyists still made mistakes over the centuries.
However, when seen in the context of all the manuscripts of the Old Testament, these differences are relatively rare, and none of them affects anything we believe about God’s work in the world. When ancient copies differ, the discipline of textual criticism enables scholars to reconstruct the original reading in the overwhelming majority of cases.