bible ex guide 2010

8/8/2019 Bible Ex Guide 2010

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THE BIBLE STORY

CONTENTSpage

1 Introduction 22 The Creation of the Bible: 32.1 The Old Testament 32.2 The New Testament 53 Bible Translation 74 The Exhibition 84.1 Old Testament 84.2 New Testament 114.3 Bible Translation 125 The Story the Bible Tells, and the

Story of the Bible 146 The Bible Library 207 The Curious Bible Reader 21Postscript 22

1 IntroductionThe Bible was written over a period of over 2000 years and by manypeople spread over many lands. It contains history but is more than ahistory book. It includes poetry, prayers, official documents, familyhistories, the chronicles of ancient nations and the weeping of thebroken-hearted. However, it is much more than an outstandingcollection of ancient literature The Bible is the source of ourknowledge of God. It is God speaking to us and to all ages.


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These notes and the small exhibition they accompany seek to bridgethe gap of two to three thousand years between the human authors ofthe Scriptures and us. It aims to help us to understand more clearlywhat a great treasure the Bible is and how it has come down to us. Wetrust and pray that, as a result, we will have a deeper desire to get toknow the Bible for ourselves and to use it well in our own day.

The exhibition, first put together for Bible Sunday 1988 at Mitcham

Baptist Church, traces in brief outline the story of how the Bible waswritten and how, through preservation and translation, the Word of Godhas come down to us through the past 2000 years.

2 THE CREATION OF THE BIBLE

2.1 The Old Testament

The Old Testament is the Bible of the Jews and was mainly written intheir ancient language, Hebrew. Primarily, the Old Testament is therecord of Gods dealings with His People and His revelation of Himself

to them and through them to the world. It tells this story through thehistory of the human race from the beginning of time until itconcentrates on the Jewish nation, which it traces from its beginningsas the family of Abraham through over 1000 years of history in andthrough which God acts.

The narrative of the Old Testament frequently links into contemporaryhistory, illustrated in the display by The Assyrian Prism and the SiloamInscription. The latter is of particular interest as being one of the earliestknown examples of Hebrew writing. It dates from 702 BC, whenHezekiah was king and Isaiah was a prophet


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After the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the synagogue becameand remains the centre of Jewish life and religion, and the reading andstudy of the Scriptures continue to be an important part of traditionalJewish life. The Scriptures were copied out with meticulous care andmistakes were very rare. It was this process, largely established byMasorite scholars in the 6 th to 9 th centuries AD, which preserved theHebrew text of the Old Testament on which modern translations of theOld Testament are based.

The decorated scroll illustrated is from a copy of the book of Esther.Decoration of Jewish sacred texts is rare because works containing thename of God were considered to have no need of embellishment; thebook of Esther never mentions the name of God and therefore could bedecorated.

The Hebrew Old Testament displayed is modern, but because of thegreat care with which the scriptures were copied the text is virtuallyidentical to that used in the time of Christ. The copy is open at Isaiah61, the passage the Lord Jesus read in the Synagogue at Nazareth(Luke 4).

Following the rise of the Greek Empire in the 4 th century BC, Greekbecame the dominant language throughout the Mediterranean world.The Jewish people were widely scattered throughout this region and,though absorbed into their host communities economically andpolitically, they retained their distinctive religion and culture whichattracted considerable attention. During the next 200 years the OldTestament scriptures were translated into Greek at least four times. Ondisplay is a modern edition of the Septuagint Greek Old Testament,translated by Egyptian Jews in the 3 rd century BC. The Greek


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However, it was not long before the New Testament books we knowwere written and collected. They were written on papyrus, a paper-likematerial made from part of a special reed. The early church madeheavy use of their scriptures and they quickly wore out, new copieshaving to be made. Family scripture reading and memorisation werecommon. House groups met where the Scriptures were read to thosewho could not themselves read or were too poor to have their owncopies. Christians often made their own copies. The oldest knownpiece of a New Testament book is the fragment from the Gospel of Johnillustrated. It takes us back to within about 70 years of the Apostles.

Persecution led to the destruction of many copies of the Scriptures butin the 4 th century Christianity became the official religion of the RomanEmpire and official copies of the Scriptures in Greek were made.

Perhaps the most famous are Codex Vaticanus and Codex Siniaticus,found in the Vatican Library and on Mount Sinai respectively. The endof the Gospel of John from the latter is illustrated. These official Bibles,of which at least three others from the 5 th century are extant, werewritten in capital (uncial) letters and are difficult to read. In moregeneral use were the cursive (miniscule) manuscripts and in time study

aids were added to the main text. The example shown is a copy ofMatthew 9 vs 25 34 from the 10 th century.

By the end of the 15 th century, as the scriptures began to be translatedinto the everyday languages of Europe, scholars were concerned tohave an accurate Greek text on which these could be based. Erasmusand others worked hard to produce an accurate Greek text of the NewTestament and his first edition was published in 1516. A third editionfollowed in 1522, providing the basis for what became known as theTextus Receptus or Received Text of the Greek New Testament

i d b b S h i 1 0 hi h f h l li h


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century codices rather than the later miniscule manuscripts andpublished a tentative first edition in 1870.

However, of greater significance than whether the manuscript waswritten in capital or cursive script is what text said. In broad terms, thetext of the uncial codices belongs to the Alexandrian text type, so calledbecause it seems to have originated in the area around Alexandria inEgypt. The text of most cursive manuscripts is of the Byzantine text

type, so called because it has come to us in documents which werebrought to the West when the Byzantine Empire (based in the area wenow know as Turkey) collapsed in the 15 th century. The backgrounds ofthe two text types can be compared as follows:

Alexandrian documents are:o few (less than ten),o with many variations between them (in the Gospels alone, over

7,000),o old (c 300 500 AD),o well preserved ando largely ignored by most scholars until the 19 th century (Vaticanus

was found forgotten in a theological library and Siniaticus wasfound in a monastery rubbish bin and about to be burnt to keepthe monks warm). This suggests that they were little used andconsidered of little practical value. They were preserved but notused in the mainstream mediaeval Roman church.

Byzantine documents are:o many (2000+) though few are complete,o but with few differences between them, affecting less than 2% of

the text.o relatively new (most dating from about 900 AD or later) and

sho signs of m ch ear s ggesting that the ere sed m ch


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It should be noted that most modern Greek texts of the New Testament(including the United Bible Societies editions on which most moderntranslations are based) derive from the Alexandrian text on the basis ofWestcott and Horts general principle that the older the manuscript themore accurate it is likely to be.

3 Bible Translation

The Christian message and way of life are revealed in the Bible, Godswritten Word to the human race. From the earliest times as soon asmissionaries moved outside the Greek speaking areas of the RomanEmpire the need for translation into other languages became urgent.Often this meant creating an alphabet for a language so that it could bewritten down. This happened 1500 years ago in North Africa, Ethiopia,Syria and South Russia and is still a part of pioneer missionary activitytoday. In some cases the translation produced then is still the localtranslation in use today. Missionaries travelled far into Asia reachingChina and Siberia, translating and preaching as they went.

Meanwhile, in Europe the language of the official Bible and church wasLatin. The display illustrates that copies were often beautifully madeand illustrated, but they were not in the language the ordinary peoplecould understand. There were many attempts to translate parts of theScriptures into everyday language. The Venerable Bede, an Englishmonk and historian translated the Gospel of John into English (c735)

and King Alfred translated parts of Exodus, Matthew and Acts from theLatin Vulgate into English (c900). The first complete translation of theBible into English was undertaken by John Wycliffe and his followers inthe 14 th century, again translated from the Latin. Wycliffe was able touse the chapter divisions established in 1205 by Stephen Langdon, later


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1536: in 1538 the law changed and required an English Bible to beprovided in every parish church!

Many English translations and editions followed, building on the work ofTyndale and his successors and culminating in the King JamesAuthorised Version of 1611. Today, the English language has thegreatest treasury of Bible translations and Biblical literature in the world.What a heritage! What a responsibility!

1988 was of particular significance for the Bible in Wales. The firstcomplete Welsh translation of the Bible was published in 1588; acompletely new translation was published in 1988. A copy of the 1988Welsh translation is on display, together with several Englishtranslations and editions and Bibles in other languages.

There are over 5,000 languages in the world. The whole Bible isavailable in about 200 of them, the New Testament in a further 420.Work is in progress on translations into a further 850 languages. Two ofthe Scripture portions displayed are copies of the ONLY parts of theBible in their languages.

4 The Exhibition NB: Unless marked *, all exhibits areillustrations of the items listed.

Panel 1 Old Testament

1 Assyrian Prism 686 BC . A baked clay prism from Nineveh. Itrecords the attack of Sennacherib on Jerusalem reported in 2Kings 18 and Isaiah 36 37. . In Esther 6 we read that KingAhasuarus called for the state archives to be read to him one


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... while the excavators were still lifting up their picks ... and there were still 3 cubits (4 feet / 1.35m) to excavate, there was heard the voice of one calling to another. And on the day they completed the boring through, the stone-cutters

struck pick against pick..., and waters flowed from the spring to the pool, a distance of 1,000 cubits (500yds / 457m). And 100 cubits (50yds / 46m) was the height of the rock over the heads of the stone-cutters.

3 The Psalms Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls (11 Qps a ).Psalm 119 vs 82 96, copied out on parchment in Hebrew c 30 50 AD. This scroll comes from cave 11 at Khirbet Qumran on theNW shore of the Dead Sea, discovered in 1956. It contains 38Psalms from the latter part of the Book of Psalms, together with

some others.

3a A Psalms Scrollfrom the Dead SeaScrolls Parts of


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3b Exodus Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q22) Scrollfragment of Exodus: 6:25-7:19, written in palaeo-Hebrew scriptand recently redated to c100BC, making it one of the oldest OldTestament fragments known.

4 A Synagogue . A reconstruction of a traditional UkrainianSynagogue made for the film Fiddler on the Roof, in whichTevye sings:

If I were a rich man ...Id have the time Id like to sit in the Synagogue and pray,

And maybe have a seat by the Eastern wall.And Id discuss the Holy Books with the learned

men, seven hours every day

And that would be the sweetest thing of all. Note the Ark, the curtained case on the back wall behind thepulpit, which contains the scrolls.

5 The Esther Scroll . An illuminated (decorated) copy on

parchment from Bohemia Moravia 1700 AD. Decoration ofcopies of the Hebrew Scriptures was forbidden. The exceptionwas the book of Esther because it does not contain the name ofGod.

6 Hebrew Old Testament . BFBS 1980*

7 The Septuagint , with a parallel English translation by Sir LancelotCharles Lee Benton, first published in 1851.*


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spaces between the words and no punctuation. Found at StCatherines Monastery on Mt Sinai, now in the British Library.

10 Greek New Testament text with study aids . A 10 th century ADminiscule (cursive) manuscript copy of Matthew 9 vs 25 34 withsection headings. In the British Library.

11 Stephens 1550 edition of Erasmus Greek New Testament edited by FH Scrivener 1862*

12 Greek New Testament the Received Text underlying the King


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15 Greek New Testament United Bible Societies 2nd edition1957. *

Panel 3 Bible Translation

16 Lindisfarne Gospels , made at Lindisfarne, Northumberland (698 720 AD). The beginning of St Lukes Gospel. The Gospels arein the Latin Vulgate version and one of the finest examples of

Saxon art. Among our greatest and most beautiful nationaltreasures, they are now in the British Library. The text was writtenby Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne, and the book decorated andbound by Athelwald and Billforth. 250 years later, a monk namedAldred added a translation into the Northumbrian dialect (the smallwriting underneath the main text).

17 Harley Psalter . Thebeginning of Psalm 91.English, written atCanterbury c1030

18 Rutland Psalter . Anillustration of JacobsLadder. English c1250

19 From a Book ofHours , a laymansbook of prayers. Dutchc1300

20 The Lutterell Psalter 1340 A l i


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John Wycliffe or at least under his direction in 1380. This is amodern printing of the 1388 revision with the spelling modernisedThe British Library 2002.*

22 . The greater part of the OldTestament was certainly translated by Nicholas Hereford, one ofWycliffe's most ardent supporters at Oxford. This is a reproductionof a page of the very manuscript written under Hereford's direction,now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It is from the Apocryphaand breaks off abruptly at Baruch iii.20, in the middle of asentence.

23 William Tyndales New Testament 1525 . Matthew chapters 1and 6, including the Lords Prayer. The original is in the British

Library. Note the cross references to related passages in the leftmargin and thebrief commentary in the right margin.

24 William Tyndales New Testament 1526 . A modern reprint withoriginal spelling. The British Library 2000.*

[24a At this point, the original exhibition included a copy of MatthewsBible, 1549, loaned by the Evangelical Library, London.]

25 The King James (Authorised) Version 1611 . Several editionsfrom the past 100 years are on display.*

26 Y Beibl Cysegr-Lan . The old Welsh Bible BFBS 1976 printing

27 The Welsh Bible 1988 Postage Stamp Special Issuepresentation pack *


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5 THE STORY THE BIBLE TELLS & The Story ofthe Bible

The Bible is set in history. It tells how God, at specific times and preciselocations, spoke to and acted in the lives of human beings. It tells howin ancient times He chose one family from which He drew the people Hechose as His Own Nation. We see how their history interlocks closelywith that of their neighbours, including the Super-Powers of their day,because the lands where they lived were at the centre of the ancientworld. As the nation grows and develops as a distinct people yet livingin relationship with its neighbours, we see Gods progressive revelationof Himself and His Ways. Illustrated before us in human history, we seethe impact both of obedience to the ways of God and of rebellionagainst Him, together with His response both in judgement and grace.

The tables in Old Testament Chronology and New Testament Chronology and Harmony identify key dates in the story covered by theOld and New Testaments, set in the context of contemporary historyand indicating the parts of the Bible covering each period historically. Italso identifies key events in the transmission of the text of the Bible andits translation.

The following are some key dates in the history of the Bible during andsince New Testament times. NB: c is an abbreviation for circa, whichis used in historical studies to mean about.

AD30 Crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christc44 Letter of James written52 L tt t th Th l i itt


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c80 Gospel and letters of John writtenc110 Death of the Apostle John122 c125 Date of earliest surviving manuscript fragments of

the Greek NT321 Christianity becomes official Roman religion331 Constantine ordered official Greek edition of the Bible

(e.g. Codex Siniaticus & Codex Vaticanus)350 Byzantine text type dominance beganc400 Masorite scholars active (to c1,000 AD) in the

preservation of the OT Hebrew Text.c400 Latin Vulgate Biblec450 Alexandrian text type fell into disuse.C720 Lindisfarne Gospels written and illuminated

c735 Venerable Bede translated Gospel of John into Englishc900 King Alfred translated parts of Exodus, Matthew and Actsfrom the Latin Vulgate into English

1382 John Wycliffes translation of the Bible from Latin intoEnglish

1453 Fall of Byzantine Empire. Many Greek manuscriptsbrought to West by refugees.

1516 1 st edition of Erasmus Greek NT1517 Luthers 95 Theses at Wittenberg1521 Diet of Worms (Luthers trial)1525 William Tyndales New Testament: 1 st translation from

Greek into English1532 Creation of the Church of England (the political turning

point of the English Reformation)1534 Luthers German Bible published


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1560 Geneva Bible (NT 1557)c1563 emergence of Puritan distinctives1568 The Bishops Bible1582 Roman Catholic English Bible published1611 King James Bible published1643 Westminster Confession of Faith (Presbyterian)1658 Savoy Declaration of Faith (Congregational)1689 Baptist Confession of Faith (1646 & 1677)1844 Codex Siniaticus in rubbish bin in St Catherines

monastery on Mt Sinai1851 Septuagint Greek OT published1853 Westcott and Hort start work on their Greek New

Testament

1859 Codex Siniaticus found1870 Establishment of committee to revise the King JamesBible; Westcott and Horts tentative Greek NewTestament

1885 Revised Version Bible published (NT1881); actually anew translation, in the NT from a different Greek text.

1903 Weymouths translation1935 James Moffats translation (NT 1913)1952 Revised Standard Version (NT 1946)1958 JB Phillips New Testament in Modern English1960 The New American Standard Version of the Bible1965 The Amplified Bible1966 The Jerusalem Bible1970 New English Bible1971 Living Bible: Good News Bible


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7 The Curious Bible Reader

Open it and understand! exclaims an advertisement for yet anotherluxuriously bound study Bible, in a trans-Atlantic Christian magazine. Itis an approach to the Scriptures which would have puzzled those whopractised the spirituality of a different age. Would 20,000 study notes,conveniently located on the same page as the text have impressedThomas a Kempis? He warned his fifteenth century readers that

curiosity often hinders us in the reading of the Scriptures, for we try toexamine and dispute over matters that we should pass over and acceptin simplicity.

Twentieth century instant information or fifteenth century mystery: whatare we expecting as we set out to read Johns Gospel, Micah and

Proverbs or the story of the fall of the Kingdom of Israel? Ive certainlyfound myself asking questions about the violence which marked theclosing years of the kingdoms and the extraordinary episode of the lionsin Samaria; about the trends in Micahs society on which God passedsentence, and about the relationship between Jesus teaching and hishumanity. It is comforting that Thomas a Kempis, in the same chapter

of the Imitation of Christ urges us to ask questions freely! (Bk 1 ch 5).

Curiosity is a sign of life. Thoughtful parents welcome the Whys andWhats of their children. God listened to the questions of Job andJeremiah, David and Mary. Jesus never pooh-poohed honest enquiry.Information for its own sake, to be stored in the marginal references ofour lives, thats what Thomas a Kempis is worried about. But questionsthat open up the horizons of our experience of God and move us on intoobedience they are to be asked freely.

Pauline Hoggarth Scripture Union


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Let not the authority of the writer offend you, whether he bewell or poorly educated; let the pure love of Gods truthencourage you to read.Our curiosity often hinders us in reading the Scriptures, forwe often seek to understand and discuss things that weshould simply pass over.If you would benefit in your reading, read with humility,simplicity and faith; and do not at any time seek a reputationfor knowing a great deal.Eagerly ask about and listen in silence to the words of Godlymen, and do not be offended by the teaching of great saintsof God, for it has its place in the plans of God.

from Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ Book 1Chapter 5

POSTSCRIPTAs I consider my Bible and think of all that has been done and sufferedto make it freely available to me, may my heart be stirred to worship,adoration and submission before God. He inspired the Holy Scripturesand has preserved them and entrusted them to us. May we realiseafresh not only the greatness of the treasure and heritage which are

ours in our Bibles, but also the responsibility that falls to us to tell othersof the Word of God in our day.

There are some who are ignorant of God I say this to yourshame.

I Corinthians 15 v 34Facing a task unfinished,

That drives us to our knees,A need that, undiminished,

Rebukes our slothful ease,


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Page 23 of 23 Bible Ex Guide 2010 15-Jan-10

The original Exhibition at Mitcham Baptist Church

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