Evidences Class

Stones, Scrolls, and 2 Revolutions

The Bible Today

A Series of Revolutions and Evolutions

Where did Language Come From?

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:1-4 ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4 ESV)

λογος – word, thought, mental faculty, reasoning (communication and language).

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. (Genesis 1:26-30 ESV)

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. (Gen. 1:26)

• Man has a soul

• Right and wrong

• Ability to think

• Language

• Communication of ideas

• Writing

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1-9 ESV)

Revolution of Writing

Papyrus

Scribes

The word Bible comes from the Greek, Ta Biblia, meaning the scrolls because the Bible began as a number of different scrolls later combined into a single volume.

Biblos – The inner bark of the papyrus

The Problem with Scrolls

When Jesus entered the synagogue in Nazareth and read from the prophet Isaiah (Luke 4:16-20), he did not read from a Bible like those in current use. Jesus probably read from a scroll nearly 3 foot tall and over 25 foot long that contained just the individual book of Isaiah. In fact, Jesus had to unroll the scroll some 23 feet in order to read from Isaiah 61:1-2.

Model of a synagogue in Nazareth

Hieroglyphics

Earliest Known Writing

Cuneiform Writing

Marzeah Papyrus

700 B.C. Earliest mention of Elohim Moabitic type script similar to Paleo-Hebrew Paleo-Hebrew is a pictographic language Hebrew of Moses, David, and Solomon?

Revolution of the AlphabetProto-Canaanite Alphabet

Aleph Bet - Alphabet

• The Hebrew word for Father• The Greek form of this word is Abba

abba

And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." (Mark 14:35-36 ESV)

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 1500 B.C., these inscriptions are located only about 50 miles from the traditional site of Mount Sinai

EgyptPapyrus and Scrolls

MidianThe Alphabet

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." (Exodus 17:14 ESV)

At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. (Acts 7:20-22 ESV)

Were the books of the Old Testament originally written in Hebrew?

Did Moses write the first five books of the Old Testament?

Do there appear to be scribal notes in the Old Testament?

And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day. (Joshua 4:9 ESV)

The Old Testament Text(Before 1947)

Leningrad Codex – Written in Cairo in 1010 A.D.

Aleppo Codex – 900 to 1000 A.D. Other Codices containing portions of

the O.T.

The Dead Sea Scrolls - 1947

Excavation at Q’umran

Essenes – a monastic Jewish group or sect (Josephus, Philo, Pliny the Elder)

Qumran

Scriptorium

Mikvah

Qumran Dam

Cave 1

Cave 4

Cave 3 – Copper Scroll

The Isaiah Scroll

Notable Scrolls1QIsa – Complete Isaiah scroll

CaveQumran

Isaiah1st Isaiah Scroll from Cave 1

1QIsb – Isaiah 41-59

4QSama – Portions of 1 and 2 Samuel

4QSamb – Parts of 1 Samuel (3rd Century B.C.)

4QpaleoExm – 2nd Century two-thirds of Exodus

Massorete Quality Control

Numbered the verses, words, and letters of each book

Counted the number of times a letter was used in a book

They calculated the middle letter, and word of the Pentateuch

Calculated the middle verse of the Hebrew Bible and of the Psalms