Session #1: Ancient Texts

INTRODUCTION

2 Timothy 3:16-17

POWERPOINT: Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Host of questions are prompted by this seemingly simple passage. For the purposes of our class today, perhaps the most important would be simply: What is all Scripture?

If we can not confidently assert that these sixty-six books are the word of God, then the words of 2 Timothy 3 do not necessarily apply to the book that I am now holding in my hand. For example, let us just touch on a few contemporary issues, though we will deal with these more in the last class.

The Da Vinci Code

POWERPOINT: Read passages from The Da Vinci Code, pages 231-233.

Now, there are numerous historical errors in those statements. Even some non-Christian scholars are bothered by these rather ignorant remarks, but they are statements that are going to be repeated. And the more they are repeated, the more they are going to become fact. So the question is…could you refute these claims? Do you understand where the Bible came from?

Furthermore, what makes us confident that this English translation is trustworthy? It is not written in original languages… we do not have original documents…we do not even have a complete copy of the original manuscript in one place. The question is, quite simply, how can you and I confidently assert: Thus says the Lord, even if we believe in the concept of inspiration?

Three Links in the Chain

POWERPOINT: There are three links in the chain of communication “From God to Us.” First is inspiration. This is not something we’re going to cover in this class. In fact, we have basically covered all that we have time for. Summation: God’s communication of His Word to man. We believe in what’s called verbal plenary inspiration. Verbal means that the Words themselves are God’s Words. Plenary means that every part is God’s Word: “All Scripture is God-breathed.”

This is not to discount the fact that there is a human element to Scripture as well. Clearly, the men themselves were not inspired. The text was. Text also reflect their own personalities, etc. Consult chapters 2-5 for a fuller treatment of this issue.

Two other links: canonization and transmission.

Clearly this is a crucial issue. We must understand each of these processes in order to understand why we can confidently assert that this is the word of God and that to affirm that there is a human element does not discount its divine nature.

Syllabus

Read through Syllabus and focus on objectives.

Mention that we will start promptly at 5:59 and end precisely at 7:01. This week is the most Powerpoint will be used. If it really helps you, let me know.

POWERPOINT: Conclude these introductory remarks with an overview of what we are studying this evening: The Nature of the Bible & Understanding Ancient Texts.

POWERPOINT:

I. THE NATURE OF THE BIBLE

A. Timeline

Written over a period of 1500 years.

POWERPOINT Timeline. When was the Bible written? This is important to consider because as we look at textual criticism later on we will see that there is quite a bit of time from when we have the Biblical manuscripts and when it was written.

Charts taken from Zondervan NIV Atlas of the Bible, pp. 216-217.

B. Authors

Forty authors

C. Etymology

Latin: Biblia; Greek: Biblos

POWERPOINT: Originally, biblos referred to the outer part of a papyrus reed—then known as sheets or rolls produced from papyrus, then came to be known as “book”, biblion.

D. Makeup (See FGTU, pp. 7-16.)

POWERPOINT: When we say “Bible” what do we mean? Use FGTU charts.

This is the conception of the Bible that we will be defending in the class. Defending against those like Dan Brown in TDC who would add to it (or Roman Catholic Church).

E. Transmissions & Translations

But we are also defending the transmission and translation of the Bible.

Transmission: Don’t have original manuscripts.

Translations: The Bible we read, “our” Bible is a translation. Deal with this more when we get into textual criticism.

ANY QUESTIONS?

POWERPOINT:

II. UNDERSTANDING ANCIENT TEXTS

The Text of the Old Testament, Ernst Wurthewein (Erroll F. Rhodes).\How We Got the Bible, Neil R. LightfootA General Introduction to the Bible: From Ancient Tablets to Modern Translations, David Ewert.The Text of the New Testament, Bruce MetzgerFrom God to Us, Geisler and Nix

Three sections: Ancient languages, ancient tools, and ancient scribes

A. Ancient Languages

1. Hebrew

POWERPOINT: Almost all of the OT written in Hebrew. No vowel points originally in the language. It is read right to left.

Part of the Semitic family of languages. What do we mean by Semitic? Refers to that group of people descended from Noah’s son Shem.

POWERPOINT: Geography: Those who spoke Semitic languages from Mesopotamia, Syria-Palestine, Arabia, and Ethiopia.

Four general sub-groups: NW Semitic: Canaanite, Moabite, Phoenician (non-Semitic people), Ugaritic, Hebrew; in

Syria-Palestine; North Semitic: Amorite, Aramaic, Syriac, North (Fertile Crescent) Aramaic and Syriac spoken. East Semitic: Akkadian. NE: Babylonians and Assyrians inherited Akkadian, the oldest written

Semitcic languge which replace the non-Semitic Sumerian in the 2nd millennium B.C. S. Semitic: Arabic (most-widely spoken Semitic tongue today, Ethiopic

Origin of language uncertain. Language of Abraham and his descendants not merely the Aramaic of the Fertile Crescent. Example of the different Semitic languages is in Genesis 31:47. Move to Egypt causes influx of Egyptian words to Israelites speech. At the exodus they are speaking what we would call “Hebrew”.

Nature of the language: Not as precise a language as Greek; Limited # of tenses for verbs; but rich in imagery, lots of anthropomorphisms and anthropopathisms. Perhaps suited to narrative and verse but lacks the precision of Greek.

2. Aramaic

OT portions not found in Hebrew: Daniel 2:4b-7:28

Language of the kindom of Syria, also spoken in the upper regions of the Euphrates Valley. 10th-8th century B.C. is “Old Aramaic” which is succeeded with “Imperial Aramaic” (2 Kings 18:17-37)

Imperial Aramaic continues until Alexander the Great ends Persian Empire in 331 B.C.

Change from Heberw to Aramaic—Hebrew suffers setback and replaced by Aramaic after exile. Continues in the time of Jesus. Examples of this in contemporary literature.

3. Greek

POWERPOINT: Language of the NT.

Several Periods

Pre-Homeric Greek (1500-1000 B.C.): Successive waves of immigrants enter Balkan Peninsula (Ionians, Achaeans, Dorians) from North. Various dialects of immigrants interact.

Classical Greek (1000-330 B.C.): Greek reaches its height of finesse. “in its golden prime it presents an unrivalled combination of elegance and vigour, of variety of style and precision of statement.”

Koine Greek (330 B.C.-330 A.D.). Short story: conquests bring about Koine GreekGreek of NT: Originally thought to be “Holy Ghost” Greek. Now it is known to be the shopping list Greek.

B. Ancient Tools

1. The Invention of Writing

Writing established long before Hebrew nation and time of Moses.

Widespread at least by 3000 B.C.

Began w/ Hieroglyphics (Egyptians—word pictures). There were complex writing systems with hundreds of letters.

Major advance is the invention of the alphabet somewhere between Egypt and Mesopotamia in the area of Syria-Palestine.

This was done hundreds of years before Moses. Critics: Moses could not have written Pentatuech. Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions—small group of rock-carved graffiti ca. 1500 B.C., fifty miles from Mt. Sinai! Five different systems of writing existed in the area when Moses lived.

2. Scripts of the Old & New Testament

What are we speaking of when we talk about the Script of the OT? Originally, Phoenician-Old Hebrew was the original form of the earliest parts of the Old Testament.

POWERPOINT (plate 2). When the Isrelites come to Canaan they found the Phoenician alphabet a script which was easy to learn and required hardly any improviement; more than four hundred references in the OT attest that the art of writing was widely practiced in Israel.

Transition from POH to square script occurs between the fourth and second centuries B.C. Square or Assyrian was in use at time of Jesus. Two scripts are used simultaneously for awhile.

POWERPOINT: plate 13 illustrates the use of the two together (it also illustrates the columns and rows Scribes used—this shows columns 9 & 10—looking at rows 7 & 14) plate 27 shows how Samaritans continued to use Old Hebrew Script.

POWERPOINT: Greek text, col. 2, lines 7 & 15

Script of the NT written over shorter period of time, so there aren’t radically different scripts. The different scripts come into play when we’re talking about transmissions (reminder: last stage in the process)

POWERPOINT: earliest manuscripts uncials. Formal style of handwriting, bookhand, carefully executed letters, each separate, all caps, 3rd-6th century.

3. Writing Materials

Limited length:

POWERPOINT: Stone—Job 19:24; Exodus 34:1; Deut 27:2; Wooden tablets—Isaiah 30:8; Hab 2:2; POWERPOINT : Potsherds or ostraca—perhaps prophetic oracles were written here before

they were placed in a scroll or book

Longer length—Papyrus and leather

Papyrus—remember papyrus plant.

From Egypt oftentimes. To make: Reed cut into thin strips. Vertical layer placed upon a horizontal layer, two pressed

together—natural gum provided adequate bonding, dried, and rubbed smooth. Sheet was ready for use.

Number of sheets combined to make a scroll. Recto: Inner side of the scroll that contained the horizontal grain, but some scrolls inscribe on

both sides (Ezek. 2:10). Jeremiah 36—it is probably a papyrus scroll that King Jehoiakim burned sheet by sheet. Has survived through the centuries because of favorable climate and soil.

Leather More durable than papyrus. Jewish regulations still require that a copy of the Torah intended for liturgical use be written on

leather made from a clean animal. POWERPOINT : Isaiah scroll found in 1947, pl 10, 11. It comprises seventeen sheets of

carefully prepared leather, sewn together to make a scroll 7 meters long and 26 cm. long. Contains all 66 chapters of Isaiah in 54 columns, averaging 13 cm wide. Lines are marked with a dull knife. Found in linen and sealed in clay jars pl 8. From the second or third century A.D.

Special technique of treating leather creates parchment (Gk: pergamon, named after Pergamon in Asia Minor). Principal material for making of books from about 200 B.C.

Paper: Ninth century A.D.

How was it put on these materials? Iron pen: Jer 17:1; Job 19:24

Reed pen: From ancient Egypt (Jer 8:8 and Ps. 45:2)

Ink: Used for writing on ostraca, leather, and papyrus (Jer. 36:18). Made from lamp black (soot from an olive oil lamp) in a solution of gum or oil OR made from compound of gall nuts and vitriol (metallic). Metallic ink can be washed off.

4. Scroll and Codex

Scroll most common book format of antiquity was the papyrus or leather scroll (PowerPoint still should be on display).

Rolled up as they are used: Latin: volvere “to turn”; volumen to designate a scroll.

Division of books (Pentateuch; Luke-Acts seems to have been made with the normal capacity of a scroll in view.

Codex

invented 1st century A.D. POWERPOINT : (notice different columns and dimensions of the paper) remains from 2nd and

3rd century codex. Scroll becomes less important, due to Christianity. Scrolls used only for official records and contracts, codex normal form for books. Advantages: Ease of browsing and rapid reference, use of both sides of the sheet for texts

C. Ancient (and slightly less-ancient) Scribes

Scribes begin to copy original works.

Copied by dictation. Scriptorium.

Scribes sometimes wrote notes in the margins or at the end of their manuscripts. End not, or colophon might include the scribe’s name, and occasionally the place and date he finished the manuscript. Attest to the great labor involved. Great “slice of life”:

Reminder: Be here a few minutes before 6:00 PM

Assignment for next week.