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Bekijk het origineel

THE GREATEST BIBLE MANUSCRIPT DISCOVERY IN MODERN TIMES

Bekijk het origineel

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THE GREATEST BIBLE MANUSCRIPT DISCOVERY IN MODERN TIMES

3 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

Wandering Bedouins in the hills rising to the northwest of the Dead Sea discovered in a cave a few old earthenware jars in which were contained some ancient rolled parchments, wrapped in yards of cloth and covered with pitch. These manuscripts were taken to Bethlehem to be sold, but no one at first was interested, for they could not read the strange writing. Some guessed that it might be Syrian, and finally the Orthodox Syrian monastery in Jerusalem did purchase these time-worn scrolls. But the characters were not Syrian, and so the priest of the monastery called upon the American School of Oriental Research to help decipher the contents.

Dr. John C. Trever, a fellow of the American Schools, doing research at the time in Jerusalem, was asked in February 1948 to examine the manuscripts; which he did, with some misgivings. In a very short time, however, he realized that the characters were Hebrew, though in many ways quite different from the forms now used, and that certainly the manuscripts were older than anything he had ever seen. He copied out a portion of the text and then began to make a careful study of it. And there before his eyes were the words of Isaiah 65:1: “I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.”

Indeed, here was the entire book of Isaiah, with the exception of two very small breaks. Another scroll contained a commentary on Habakkuk, and there was also a secular document describing the rules of discipline of some religious order, presumably the one which had originally possessed these manuscripts.

Still other manuscripts from the same find were reportedly purchased by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

This manuscript of Isaiah is considered to be fully 1,000 years older than any other Hebrew manuscript of the Bible, and though there are many differences of spelling from the Masoretic text, since consonant characters were frequently used to indicate vowel values, the amazing feature of this manuscript is its truly remarkable conformance to the traditional text underlying our standard translations. It provides further confirmation of the faithfulness with which our present text has been transmitted.

Who sealed these manuscripts and placed them in the cave near the Dead Sea is not known. It has been conjectured that they may have been hidden at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A. D. and if so, it is significant indeed that they should have been found at the very time when a new Jewish State was emerging.

The evidence points to the fact that this manuscript of Isaiah was undoubtedly in use while Christ was living. In those troublous times devout men pored over the contents of its fifty-four columns as they rolled it carefully between their hands, the marks of which may still be seen. There were the very words that witnessed of the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, who came to His own, and His own received Him not. To our anxious world this same Isaiah scroll speaks its vital, significant message that “the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8).

From Bible Society record.

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 augustus 1949

The Banner of Truth | 16 Pagina's

THE GREATEST BIBLE MANUSCRIPT DISCOVERY IN MODERN TIMES

Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 augustus 1949

The Banner of Truth | 16 Pagina's