SUMMARY: How did we get our modern Bibles? The following article serves as Part 2 of a series describing the connections of Christian researchers to ancient Hebrew biblical manuscripts, starting with scrolls of Old Testament books. (see Part 1 here) The transition from Hebrew scroll to Modern English Bible will be outlined while taking advantage of current manuscript work on some of the oldest scrolls and scroll fragments known to have been involved in that process.
“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.” – Luke 16:16-17 (ESV)
Christian Connections to Hebrew Scrolls Part 2
The Law, the Prophets, and Understanding the Gospel
It is sometimes said that “What was in the Old Testament concealed, is in the New Testament revealed.” From a Christian perspective, this has happened in that the Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until the arrival of Messiah’s forerunner. Once that occurred, the gospel of the Kingdom of God became the focus of the prophet’s message (Luke 16:16).
Understanding how this happened is enhanced by familiarity with the Law and the Prophets, which Christians refer to as the Old Testament. The apostle Peter explains that the Old Testament prophets searched diligently in order to understand the details of the Messiah’s work in advance (1 Peter 1:10-12). Paul explains that the gospel was preached in advance to Abraham (Gen 3:8), in that God’s revelation to him, which came to be recorded as Scripture, foresaw the justification of the Gentiles by faith. Naturally, it is important to get those texts (the Hebrew Scriptures) into the hands of Christians, in a readable format, if the full story of God’s redemptive program is to be grasped.
The below discussion outlines helpful details related to Scripture’s journey from Hebrew scroll to modern English Bible. We will look at that journey in four stages. The examples are taken from Genesis 1, and illustrate the progression from scroll, to Codex (handwritten book form), to the modern printed form of a Hebrew Bible, and finally to a modern English Bible.
Phase 1: Ancient Hebrew Scrolls
The earliest phase of the Hebrew Bible was in the form of scrolls, such as the one below. They lacked verses and chapter divisions but contained basic structural divisions which separated the text into units of thought, referred to as parashot. The parashot are basically paragraphs and are often identified as such in modern English Bibles (as shown in Phase 4 below). In Genesis 1, for example, each of these parashot correspond to the creation days.
As may be seen in figure A below, the 7th line down is shorter than the others and concludes the unit of thought (remember that Hebrew is read from right to left). The content forms a natural break, and here, it reads, “And there was evening and there was morning, one day” (NASB). The next unit of thought begins with a normal length line. Here, day two is introduced on line 8, the line immediately following the shortened line. Notice how beautiful and precise this carefully copied, handwritten text is.
This form is documented to the second temple period (that ended in AD 70). It was the standardized form accepted by the early Jewish community and is the form that Jesus would have read in the temple. Thanks to discoveries such as the now deciphered Ein Gedi scroll, we know that it is the form used in scrolls and in synagogue worship prior to the Masoretes (see below). Additionally, discoveries such as the Ashkar-Gilson manuscript have shown us that it was the form that the Masoretes utilized for their work. The scroll featured here is referred to as a sefer Torah (scroll containing the Pentateuch). (See more on the Ein Gedi scroll and how state of the art technology was used to read a charred scroll of Leviticus)
This first phase used the consonantal form (only consonants are present; no vowels were used) preserved by Jewish scribes and their successors, the Masoretes, but lacks the masoretic expansions explained below. The consonantal text is extremely close to the best texts discovered in the Dead Sea scrolls at Qumran showing a marvelous uniformity of preservation from the time before Christ all the way down to the present. (See more about 25 new dead sea scroll fragments)
This form predates the earliest work of the Masoretes by more than half a millennium and is known as the proto-Masoretic text. It is attested by sources dating to the Second Temple period (516 BC – AD 70) and was the basis of most early translations and textual witness, including: the Targums, the Peshitta, the LXX (Septuagint), and the Vulgate. It was also the form used in late rabbinic literature and would become the source used by the Masoretes in their production of what has come to be known as the Masoretic Text (MT).
Phase 2: Masoretic Text in Codex Form
The work of the scribes ended around AD 500, and in their place arose the Masoretes, who continued and expanded the work of the scribes until around AD 1000. The Masoretes were originally called the baali ha-mesoret, or “the masters of the tradition.” The term “Masorete” is a variation of the term “masorah” meaning “tradition.”
The Masoretic Text was further standardized by Aaron Ben Asher of the Tiberian group of Masoretes in the Middle Ages (ca. 10th cent.). His tradition is the one typically referred to by the label “Masoretic Text” though there were other masoretic traditions at the time. The MT preserves not only the consonants (letters), but adds markings above and below the letters and other features to assist both in preserving the text, as well as the proper reading and cantillation of the text. The various elements added by the Masoretes constitute what is known as the masorah (visible in Figure B).
The masorah is constituted by the elements added by the Masoretes, including: 1.) vowels, 2.) accents, 3.) para-textual elements, and 4.) the apparatus of the Masorah. To preserve reading and pronunciation, vowels were placed under and over the consonants so as not to disturb the consonantal base. Accents were also added above and below consonants in order to preserve cantillation (reading and singing in synagogue).
Additionally, para-textual elements (such as paragraph markers) can be seen alongside the columns. Finally, the component of the Masorah known as the Masorah Magna, or larger Masorah, can be seen at the top and bottom of the page, while the Masorah Parva, or small Masorah, can be seen by the notations in the margins. These also noted textual variations between different traditions and the ancient witnesses.
The standard texts from this tradition are the Aleppo Codex (900s AD) and Codex Leningradensis (ca. AD 1008), also known as Codex L. Codex L is the earliest complete form of the Masoretic Text and is in codex, or manuscript book form, as opposed to a scroll. It is this text which is used as the source text for our contemporary Hebrew Bibles.
Notice that the same paragraphing structure used in the Figure A is largely maintained in Codex L above, but with some blank lines here and there where new topics or main subdivisions begin. These added blank lines reflect exegetical (explanatory) decisions on the part of the Masoretes. Important for this discussion is the insertion of the accents which also serve as punctuation.
Phase 3: Modern Hebrew Bibles
The first critical edition of the Hebrew Bible was published in 1905 and edited by R. Kittel (referred to as BHK) and included a textual apparatus much as the one in Figure C, below. It went through seven editions until its last was produced in 1951. Beginning in 1967, a revised edition known as BHS (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia) was produced, the last printing occurring in 1990.
These texts maintain the consonantal text of MT along with the features added by the Masoretes, but also include expanded technical information for its users. Most notably, for the present discussion, are the presence of chapter and verse divisions along with notations from the editors showing where the original paragraph breaks occurred. These are visible by the inter text abbreviation of p, which stands for hxwtp פרשה (“open paragraph”), and ס, which stands for פרשה סתומה “parashah setumah” = “closed section,” or new paragraph. The below figure is of BHS in the Biblia Sacra, an original language edition of the Bible containing both the Hebrew Old Testament as well as the Greek New Testament. Also observable are the handwritten notes by the user of this text.
Phase 4: Modern English Bible Translations
Modern English Bibles, including the KJV, maintain much of the early paragraphing observable not only in the MT, but even some of that preserved from the earlier proto- Masoretic text. The example above is from The Comparative Study Bible, 1994 containing: KJV, Amplified, NASB, and NIV.
Notice that at paragraph breaks, the Greek symbol ᴨ (Pi) is inserted, standing for paragraph, and/or the number for the verse is in bold. In the NIV, as observable here, the structure has been set off reflecting the view of the translators that this section constitutes poetry. Even the structures of biblical texts reveal interpretive and/or exegetical decisions on the part of editors.
Students who learn to read the early unpointed Hebrew text of the proto-Masoretic tradition gain adeptness at identifying the interpretive and exegetical decisions made by the Masoretes, modern editors of Hebrew Bibles, as well as the translators and editors of modern English versions.
The text of Scripture that forms the Bible has been remarkably preserved from ancient scrolls to modern Bible translations. What believers have accepted by faith for centuries has now been confirmed by discoveries and technology. There is no doubt that God providentially ensured and continues to ensure the existence and integrity of His Word. Additionally, faithful men of the past have cooperated with God to ensure that those texts are readable for us in our native language. For that, we can all be thankful. – Keep Thinking!
Brian Rickett is the CEO, Principal Researcher, and lecturer for the MIKRA Research Laboratory, a limited liability research conservancy engaging in artifact analysis, education, research technologies development, and public exhibitions of artifacts. At MIKRA, textual artifacts merge with innovative research technologies to bring ancient wisdom to a contemporary world.
TOP PHOTO: Scrolls and Bible from the collection of Alexander Schick. (© 2018 Patterns of Evidence, LLC.)
NOTE: Not every view expressed by scholars contributing Thinker articles necessarily reflects the views of Patterns of Evidence. We include perspectives from various sides of debates on biblical matters so that readers can become familiar with the different arguments involved. – Keep Thinking!
