How the Bible Came to Us

Transmission of the OT

Introductory Comments

• Moses completed the Pentateuch in c. 1405 B.C.– This means that part of the OT text we

have today has been transmitted down through time for more than 3000 years.

• This leads to questions like:– Who copied these texts?– What methods did they use?– Are the texts we have today an accurate

reflection of the originals?

Development of the Hebrew Text• There are no surviving original mss of the OT.

– They would have been worn out through use, or perhaps destroyed by opponents.

• The Aleppo and Leningrad Codices are our best Hebrew mss, but they date no further back than to the tenth and eleventh centuries.

• The earliest mss we have of the OT, the Dead Sea Scrolls, date to about 250 B.C. – These were discovered between 1947 and 1956.– There are Silver Amulets with portions of the OT that are

dated to the 7th century B.C.

• The earliest script was paleo-Hebrew, later changed to the more square Aramaic.

• Like Greek, the earliest Hebrew mss have unclear word divisions, creating some difficulties for modern translators.

Development of the Hebrew Text:The Masoretic Text

• This? • Or this?

MasoreticText

MasoreticText

The Dead Sea Scrolls appear to argue morefor the first model, due to more similarities thandifferences between texts.

Development of the Hebrew Text

• The earliest mss contained consonants only.

– As early as the 9th century B.C., h (heh), y (yod),

and w (waw) were added as long vowels.

– Subsequently, vowel and text pointing were introduced to help with pronunciation and other matters. Great care was taken not to alter the consonantal text.

– The convention of kethib (“what is written”) and qere (“what is read”) also helped avoid changing the text.

• The kethib text was pointed with the qere vowels and noted in the margin.

Unpointed and Pointed Texts

• Genesis 1:1-5• בראשית ברא אלהים את 1:1

השמים ואת הארץ• והארץ היתה תהו ובהו 1:2

וחשך על-פני תהום ורוח אלהים מרחפת על-פני המים

• ויאמר אלהים יהי אור 1:3 ויהי-אור

• וירא אלהים את-האור 1:4כי-טוב ויבדל אלהים בין האור ובין החשך

• ויקרא אלהים לאור יום 1:5ולחשך קרא לילה ויהי-ערב

בקר יום אחד-ויהי

• Genesis 1:1-5• #r<a'h' taew> ~yIm;V'h;

tae ~yhil{a/ ar"B' tyviarEB.• x:Wrw> ~Aht. ynEP.-l[;

%v,xow> Whbow" Whto ht'y>h' #r<a'h'w> 2

• ~yIM'h; ynEP.-l[; tp,x,r:m. ~yhil{a/

• rAa-yhiy>w: rAa yhiy> ~yhil{a/ rm,aYOw: 3

• rAah' !yBe ~yhil{a/ lDEb.Y:w: bAj-yKi rAah'-ta, ~yhil{a/

ar>Y:w: 4

• %v,xoh; !ybeW• br<[,-yhiy>w: hl'y>l' ar"q' %v,xol;w> ~Ay rAal' ~yhil{a/

ar"q.YIw: 5

• p dx'a, ~Ay rq,bo-yhiy>w:

Development of the Hebrew Text

• Scribal Groups– Sopherim (“scribes”; 500

B.C. to 100 A.D.)– Tannaim (“teachers”;

A.D. 20 to 200)– Amoraim (“expositors”;

A.D. 200 to 500)– Masoretes (A.D. 500 to

1000).• Added vowel points

between 500 and 800 A.D.

• Strict rules for copying mss developed over time (See Wegner, p. 172).

• There rules were intended to preserve the scrolls from mistakes and to remind the scribe that he was copying sacred material.

The Masoretic Text was hand copied until after the invention of the printing press, yet remained extremely accurate.

A Quote from Lightfoot• “The Massoretes were not concerned with only such

things as proper pronunciation. They also sought ways and methods by which to eliminate scribal slips of addition or omission. This they achieved through intricate procedures of counting. They numbered the verses, words, and letters of each book. They counted the number of times each letter was used in each book. They noted verses that contained all the letters of the alphabet, or a certain number of them. They calculated the middle letter, the middle word, and the middle verse of the Pentateuch; the middle verse of the Psalms, the middle verse of the entire Hebrew Bible, and so forth. In fact, they counted almost everything that could be counted. With these safeguards, and others, when a scribe finished making a copy of a book, he could then check the accuracy of his work before using it” (Lightfoot, How We Got the Bible, p. 132).

Development of the Hebrew Text

• Chapter divisions were not added until late in the process, in English about 1150-1228 and then transferred to the Hebrew text in about 1330. – There are differences between the two, and the

Hebrew should be preferred, as the English divisions sometimes divided a literary unit (e.g. Deut 28:69 or 29:1; cf. Deut 1:1).

• Verse divisions and accents were added much earlier by the scribes.

• The most recent edition of the Hebrew Masoretic Text was published in 1977 and is called Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.

OT Textual Criticism• Textual Criticism is the science and art that

seeks to determine the most reliable wording of the biblical text.– It is a science in that there are specific rules which

govern the evaluation of various types of copyist errors and readings.

– It is an art because these rules cannot always be applied rigidly; discerning judgment also plays a part.

• Many more ancient Hebrew sources have been discovered in the last 60 years, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Masada MSS, and Silver Amulets. These all help in TC.

Basic Principles of OT Textual Criticism

• Manuscripts must be weighed, not just counted.

• Determine which reading would most likely give rise to the others.

• The “harder” reading is usually preferable.

• The shorter reading is generally preferred.

• Determine which reading is more appropriate to the context.

Next Time:

Transmission of the NT