A BOOK FOR ALL PEOPLE

A Unique Record of Preservation

There is another reason why the Bible deserves examination.  It has survive both natural and human obstacles.  The record of how it was preserved despite tremendous challenges is truly unique among ancient writings.

The Bible writers evidently recorded their words with ink on papyrus (made from the Egyptian plant of the same name and parchment (made from the skins of animals).  Such writing materials, however, have natural enemies.  Explains scholar Oscar Paret:   "Both of these writing mediums are in the same strong measure endangered by humidity, by mold, and by various maggots.  We know from daily experience how easily paper, and even strong leather, deteriorates in the open air or in a damp room."  So it is not surprising that none of the originals are know to exist; they probably disintegrated long ago.  But if the originals succumbed to  natural foes, how did the Bible survive?

Soon after the originals were written, handwritten copies began to be produced.  In fact, copying the Law and other portions of the Holy Scriptures became a profession in ancient Israel.  The priest Ezra, for example, is described as "a skilled copyist in the law of Moses."  (Ezra 7:6, 11; compare Psalm 465:1)  But the copies produced were also perishable; eventually they had to be replaced by still other handwritten copies.  This process of copying the copies  went on for centuries.  Since humans are not perfect, did copyists' mistakes substantially change the Bible text?  The overwhelming evidence says no!

Not only were the copyists very skilled but they also had a deep respect for the words they copied.  The Hebrew word for "copyist" has reference to counting and recording.  To illustrate the extreme care and accuracy of the copyist, consider the Masoretes, copyists of the Hebrew Scriptures who lived between the sixth and the tenth centuries C.E.  According to scholar Thomas Hartwell Horne, they reckoned  "how many times each letter of the [Hebrew] alphabet occurs in all the Hebrew Scriptures."  Think what that means!   To avoid omitting even a single letter, these copyists counted not just the words they copied  but the letters as well.  Why, according to one scholar's count, they reportedly kept track of  815,14 individual letters in the Hebrew Scriptures!  Such diligent effort ensured a high degree of accuracy.

There is, in fact, compelling evidence that the Hebrew and Greek texts on which modern translations are based represent with remarkable fidelity the words of the original writers.  The evidence consists of thousands of handwritten copies of Bible manuscripts-an estimated 6,000 of all or portions of the Hebrew Scriptures and some 5,000 of the Christian Scriptures in Greek-that have survived to our day.  A careful, comparative analysis  of the many existing manuscripts has enable textual scholars to detect  any copyists' errors and determine the original reading.  commenting on the text of the Hebrew Scriptures, scholar William H. Green could thus state:  "It may be safely said that no other work of antiquity has been so accurately transmitted."  Similar confidence can be placed in the text of the Christians Greek Scriptures.

How easily the Bible could have perished were it not for the handwritten copies that replaced the originals, with their precious message!  There is only one reason for is survival-Jehovah is the Preserver and Protector of his Word.  As the Bible itself says, at 1 Peter 1:24, 25; "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like a blossom of grass; the grass becomes withered, and the flower falls off, but the saying of Jehovah endures forever."

Next time: Into the Living Languages of Mankind

Watchtower, 1998