God’s Word to Us: The Story of How We Got Our Bible

©2018 by R.W. Hamilton III

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners.

ISBN 978-1-54392-425-1 eBook 978-1-54392-426-8

BCC Publications

A Ministry of Bible Community Church

PO Box 292

Burleson, TX 76097

www.bcoutreach.com

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.

To my true friend and co-laborer in the Lord, Matt Linde. Your love for God’s Word and passion for truth above all else has challenged me to write this book. Thank you!

Appreciation

Many people have contributed to making this book possible. I am grateful to all who have taken time to read this manuscript and offer helpful suggestions and criticism. I wish to give special thanks to Allison Howard for her endless labor in making this book readable. I like to also thank Hannah Linde, Jack Watson, and Johnn Hudson for your overwhelming encouragement and support. Finally, to my loving and ever patient wife, Amber, for putting up with the long nights, preoccupations, and the highs and lows that came with this project—words could not express how much you are needed!

In addition, it must be said that this book is the result of years of research. In search for factual information that is grounded in evidence and sound reasoning (not the subjective reasoning and unguided dogma that is often linked to a study of this nature), I have had the privilege of reading the work of brilliant minds who have not only helped shape my understanding, but have made a lasting impression on my life. As a result, this book exists!

In writing this book, I do not pretend to have offered anything remotely groundbreaking, or to have said anything that has not already been said before. The goal of this book has never been to be original, but factual. I gladly stand on the shoulders of giants.

To this end, I would like to acknowledge the authors (and their work) that have had an exceptional influence on this book:

Dr. Neil Lightfoot (†), How We Got Our Bible.

Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict.

Dr. F.F. Bruce (†), The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?

Dr. David Allen Black, Textual Criticism.

Dr. Harry A. Strunz (†), The Byzantine Text-Type and New Testament Criticism.

To these men I am indebted.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The History of Early Writing

Defining the Terms:

1 - The Making and Transmission of the Old Testament

The Writing and Canonization of the Old Testament

The Apocrypha

The Old Testament Manuscripts

Scribal Errors in the Old Testament

2 - The Making and Transmission of the New Testament

The Writing and Canonization of the New Testament

The New Testament Manuscripts41

Textual Variations

A History of the Greek Text

3 - Bible Translations

Ancient Bible Translations

Early English Translations

From Tyndale to King James

The Modern Translations

4 - The Inspiration and Preservation of Scripture

The Unity of Scripture

Prophecy

The Preservation of the Bible

Conclusion

Appendix

The Document Hypothesis and Mosaic Authorship

Bibliography

Endnotes

Introduction

Many Christians today have become so accustomed to having Bibles that very few ever stop to consider just how the Bible came to be. This is unfortunate, because the story that lies behind our Bible is one that is not only marvelous, but absolutely miraculous. It is a story that displays the great love of our Creator who not only chose to reveal Himself to a lost and depraved world, but also chose to preserve His Word for the generations to follow. Furthermore, it is a story of extraordinary devotion of those who, sometimes at the cost of their own lives, passed down from generation to generation these divine oracles of God. It is a story that should incite admiration and gratitude in the hearts of all believers. It is a story that should silence the scoffing of the Bible’s greatest critics. It is a story that spans thousands of years and takes us to various regions across the globe and into the lives of countless believers whose first love was the Word of God.¹

To begin this story, we must first start with another: the history of ancient books and writing. This is necessary because the Word of God, which was given long ago, has been transmitted and preserved through the years by means of writing.² Knowing something of the early history of writing and the origin of ancient books will provide a solid background for the history and culture in which the Bible had its birth.³

The History of Early Writing

In recent years, discoveries have shown that writing was a well-established art in many countries long before the Bible’s earliest composition. In fact, though we cannot be sure when or where writing actually began, we know, as settled by an abundance of clay tablets, writing was widespread in both Egypt and Mesopotamia by at least 3000 BC.

One of the earliest forms of written communication, which was developed by the Sumerians, was called pictograms. This was a complicated writing system which conveyed its meaning through its pictorial resemblance of a physical object. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and modern Chinese characters are other examples of pictographic script. Later, the Sumerians’ picture writing evolved into cuneiform, which means wedge writing in Latin. Cuneiform was written with a wedge-shaped stylus on damp clay tablets, which were then baked until they hardened. The Sumerians had enormous libraries of clay tablets containing their laws, business transactions, and literature.

Papyrus Scrolls

Egyptians developed their own form of writing—hieroglyphs—at about the same time as the Sumerians. The word hieroglyph comes from the Greek word for sacred carving. Compared to the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet, there are over 700 different hieroglyph signs. Ancient Egyptians wrote on many of the same surfaces that the Sumerians did: clay, stone, bone, metal, and leather. They wrote most often, however, with reed pens on papyrus scrolls. The papyrus plant is a tall reed that grows in the marshy areas around the Nile River. The fibers from the center of its triangular stalk were separated into long, narrow strips, which were laid crosswise to each other and beaten together to form a uniform sheet.

New papyrus sheets were thin, flexible, and translucent; this allowed individual sheets to be glued together into long scrolls. The longest Egyptian scroll ever found measures over 133 feet, which is only eighteen feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty. Most scrolls were much shorter, though, as longer documents were more often divided into several individual scrolls. Papyrus continued to be the most popular writing surface for centuries, used extensively by both Greeks and Romans.

Leather Skins

While papyrus was the most common writing surface, it had several problematic qualities. Not only did it become brittle with age, but it also rapidly deteriorated under the humid conditions that existed outside of the desert. In addition, most papyrus only grew in the Nile region of Egypt, which gave Egyptians almost complete control over this resource. In fact, the Roman writer Pliny the Elder recounted the story of how King Ptolemy of Egypt was so jealous of the King of Pergamum’s library that he forbade all export of papyrus to that city. With this embargo the people of Pergamum had to write all of their texts on fine animal skins. While the Romans certainly believed this account, modern historians believe it to be only a charming legend. Interestingly, though, cow, sheep, and goat skins that are used for writing are called parchment, which comes from the Latin word pergamena, after the city of Pergamum.

Skins had long been used for writing in places that did not have access to papyrus. The Greeks and Romans often used parchment for important documents, such as wills, but papyrus scrolls were still preferred and thought to be more refined. Parchment, however, replaced papyrus as the primary writing surface in the Western world by the fourth century AD. Besides lasting longer under various conditions, parchment could be written on both sides and the ink could be erased by scraping. An erased parchment, which is then reused, is called a palimpsest. Flexible parchment and vellum (parchment made originally from the skin of a calf) remained the primary writing surfaces long after paper was brought from China.

The Codex

Although it is uncertain when or with whom the practice originated, sometime during the second or third century it became common for Romans to sew groups of folded papyrus sheets together and bind them between two wooden covers into our now familiar book form. Because of its wooden covers, they called this type of book a codex, a word that initially meant a piece of wood in Latin. This form had many advantages over the scroll; it was easier to hold and flip back and forth between sections, and it could be carried around and stored more easily.

At first the codex was made with papyrus, then later with parchment. The early codex was quite simple, with all the sheets being folded loosely together. Later, four sheets were put together to make a quire, a term that has come to represent any number of sheets grouped together. Parchment sheets were arranged for a desired visual effect, with the coarser hair side facing another hair side and the smoother flesh side facing another flesh side.⁴

Additionally, many historians now believe that the codex may very well have been a Christian innovation. If not, says Dr. Lightfoot, we at least know that Christians were the first to make extensive use of the codex. Our [earliest manuscripts] of the New Testament characteristically are written in [this form]. By the time of the second century, the use of the codex among Christians was so universal that its introduction must have taken place by or before 90 AD.⁵

Writing Material of Ancient Palestine

The people of ancient Palestine and the surrounding countries used various types of writing material, the oldest, perhaps, being stone. Evidence for this is found on the Gezer Calendar and the Siloam Inscription—the oldest existing examples of Hebrew writing. The Gezer Calendar is a kind of poem, scratched on a small piece of limestone, referencing the agricultural activities during the various months of the year. It exhibits about twenty words in Paleo-Hebrew dating from the time of Solomon—approximately 925 BC. Paleo-Hebrew, an alphabetic script based largely on the Phoenician alphabet, was the earliest form of Hebrew writing; it was used until Aramaic became the common tongue in Israel. The Siloam Inscription dates to around 700 BC, which tells the story of King Hezekiah who had a tunnel constructed to import water into Jerusalem (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:30).

Another well-known inscription of Ancient Palestinian writing that has been preserved through the years is the Moabite Stone. Containing thirty-four lines of Phoenician lettering, it was erected by King Mesha of Moab in ninth century BC to commemorate his revolt against Israel (2 Kings 3:4—27). It was discovered at the site of ancient Dibon (now Dhiban, Jordan), an area east of the Dead Sea. It is also one of four known contemporary inscriptions containing the name of Israel, the others being the Merneptah Stele, the Tel Dan Stele, and the Kurkh Monolith. As Dr. Neil Lightfoot has pointed out, That these early specimens exist on stone is in remarkable agreement with the Bible’s account, for the earliest writing material mentioned in the Old Testament is stone.⁶ The Ten Commandments, as we all know, were first written on stone (Exodus 31:18).

Other material used by the ancient people of Palestine were as follows:

Clay Tablets: The most common writing material of ancient Mesopotamia was clay. Moist clay was formed into tablets, written on while soft, and then hardened by being baked or dried in the sun. These tablets were of all shapes and sizes and served many purposes. They were so durable that over 500,000 have survived to modern times. Through the years, large libraries of clay tablets have been discovered. For example, the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal (King of Assyria, 650 BC), considered to be the world’s oldest library, consisting of thousands of tablets was discovered in 1849. More recently (1974-75), in Ebla, Syria a library of 16,000 tablets dating to about 2400 BC were unearthed. Royal edicts and letters, treatises, and hymns to gods were found among its contents. Furthermore, at Tell-el-Amarna, in central Egypt, several hundred tablets (dating to about 1350 BC) containing official correspondence between the pharaohs of Egypt and rulers of Palestine have been found. In the Bible, clay material is mentioned in Ezekiel 4:1 when the prophet is commanded to sketch a map of Jerusalem on a brick.

Wood: The Old Testament makes specific reference to writing on wooden surfaces (Numbers 17:2—3; Ezekiel 37:16—17). In many parts of the ancient world people carried renewable notebooks—small wooden tablets with a waxed surface—which could be written upon and erased as needed. After being written on, the wax could be warmed and smoothed over for reuse.

Metals: Gold, silver, copper