Chapter 1: The Scripture of Truth

ORIGIN
Before there was a Bible
A WORLD without a Bible! How strangely the words sound in our ears! And yet, though few probably realize it, that was the actual condition of this world on which we are living, so far as is known, throughout more than one third of its entire existence as the dwelling-place of man. In other words, during the first 2,500 years, i.e. until about 3,500 years ago, there appears to have been no written revelation from God.
As, however, some archaeologists are of the opinion that there were some divinely inspired writings before the days of Moses—which they assume formed the basis of the Pentateuch—I submit the following three significant facts, which, together with other evidence adduced later, may serve to assist my reader in forming his own judgment on the subject.
1. There is NO RECORD of any inspired writings prior to the days of Moses.
Of the inspired writings contained in the Bible we have clear and definite records, i.e. it is distinctly recorded that “Moses wrote all the words of the Lord” (Ex. 24:44And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. (Exodus 24:4)); that David wrote his Psalms (2 Sam. 23:1, 21Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, 2The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. (2 Samuel 23:1‑2)); that Luke wrote his Gospel (Luke 1:1-41Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, 2Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; 3It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, 4That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed. (Luke 1:1‑4)), and that John wrote the Revelation (Rev. 1:1, 21The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. (Revelation 1:1‑2)). But, although there were holy men in those early days, such as Noah, Abraham, and Joseph, with whom the Almighty had frequent verbal communication, yet we do not read that any one of them was ever inspired to put God’s words into writing. Nor is there any record whatever that there were any inspired writings then in existence.
2. There is NO REFERENCE to such writings.
From the days of Moses onwards the inspired writings of the Bible, as we have them, were constantly referred to by prophets, priests, and rulers as the final court of appeal (Ex. 32:88They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (Exodus 32:8), Josh. 1:88This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8), etc.). Our Lord also frequently referred to the Old Testament Scriptures in the familiar words: “It is written.” And the most natural inference is that, had there been any sacred writings in those days, some reference would in like manner have been made to them by such men as Noah and Abraham, for example, or some of the later prophets, or even by our Lord Himself. But, as a matter of fact, no reference whatever is anywhere made to any supposed inspired writings before Moses.1
3. There are NO REMAINS of them.
Had there been such writings, it is natural to assume that they would not have been allowed to pass away, but, being divinely inspired, they would have formed a part of “the Word of the Lord” which “endureth forever,” and as such would naturally have been preserved throughout all time just as our own Scriptures have been; but, the truth is, there are no remains, nor is there the least trace of any such writings.
Therefore, in spite of the fact that some of the words used by Moses do not appear to be of Hebrew origin, but to have been borrowed from an earlier language, it nevertheless seems safe to conclude that there were no inspired writings prior to those which we have in our Bible.
All this is the more remarkable when we remember that uninspired writings of various kinds, having more or less vague references to God, were undoubtedly in existence at a very early age. Specimens of these have recently been discovered in Egypt and Babylonia, in the form of clay tablets with signs or letters impressed upon them; also ancient stones, with similar signs representing writing cut upon them.
The remarkable pillar of black stone or diorite discovered at Susa, in Persia, as recently as December 1901, is one of many that might be mentioned. It contains some ancient laws—the code of King Hammurabi—written in what is known as the cuneiform writing—i.e. symbols shaped like a wedge representing syllables. These laws bear some resemblance to the Mosaic laws, but the writing dates back some five or six hundred years before Moses—probably about the time of Abraham. This extraordinary code of laws is apparently one of the many remnants of those pure laws which, in the early days of the world’s history, God had communicated orally to man; but which, in course of time, had been partly forgotten and partly corrupted.
The Book of Job, written probably about the time of Moses and possibly by Moses—but apparently relating to a still earlier period—furnishes an equally striking example of the same thing. There we read of Job’s friends—all of them, no doubt, true men—who came with the evident intention of instructing Job as to the mind and purpose of God in connection with suffering. Nevertheless, having in those days no written revelation to guide them, their testimony was sadly marred by the introduction of what was evidently their own thoughts and ideas upon the subject—viz. that Job’s sufferings were the direct result of his sins. “Whoever perished [said they] being innocent, or where were the righteous cut off” (Job 4:77Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? (Job 4:7))? They were accordingly rebuked for their error, God telling them: “Ye have not spoken of Me the thing which is right” (Job 42:88Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. (Job 42:8)). A recognition of this fact will throw a flood of light upon much that is otherwise very difficult to understand in this ancient book of Job.
In that way also it appears that God first instructed man concerning many of the laws which were afterward embodied in the Pentateuch, such as the Sabbath (Gen. 2:33And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. (Genesis 2:3)), (hence the fourth commandment commences: “Remember the Sabbath,” etc.) and marriage (Gen. 2:2424Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)). Verbal instructions concerning offerings and sacrifices must also have been given from the very beginning, or we should scarcely read that Abel “brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof” (Gen. 4:44And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: (Genesis 4:4)); while the words in Genesis 4:77If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (Genesis 4:7) translated “Sin lieth at the door” should be “the sin offering coucheth at the door”! It is also significant that Noah took a number of “clean” beasts into the ark (Gen. 7:22Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. (Genesis 7:2)) for sacrifice (Gen. 8:2020And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (Genesis 8:20)).
Thus we see how from earliest times man possessed, even without the Scriptures, the knowledge of God and His laws.
This primitive knowledge, although dimmed and perverted in the course of ages, has apparently never altogether died out; and hence the fact that, in every part of the habitable globe—even where the Bible has never been heard of—the worship of a Supreme Being, in some form or other, frequently accompanied by sacrifice, is still practiced—none but the fool saying, “There is no God” (Psa. 53:11<<To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.>> The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. (Psalm 53:1)).
Indeed, in those early days man appears to have been, in his relation to God, UNDER CONSCIENCE.
But nature merely teaches us the fact that there is a Creator-God; while that priceless gift, conscience, may be so abused as to be rendered practically inoperative. Hence the necessity for such a revelation as is contained in the Bible, which “liveth and abideth forever” (1 Pet. 1:2323Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23)), and which not only tells us that there is a Creator, but reveals to us who that Creator is.
The Birth of the Bible
Man, under conscience, failed: now he was to be placed UNDER LAW; and therefore about the close of the first two thousand years God called Abram out from the idolatrous surroundings of his native home (Gen. 12:11Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: (Genesis 12:1); Josh. 24:2, 152And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. (Joshua 24:2)
15And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)), changed his name to Abraham (Gen. 17:55Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. (Genesis 17:5); Neh. 9:77Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; (Nehemiah 9:7)), and constituted him the head of a people (Gen. 12:2; 15:52And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: (Genesis 12:2)
5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. (Genesis 15:5)), known as the Hebrews or Jews, whom He was pleased to call His own peculiar possession (Deut. 14:22For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. (Deuteronomy 14:2)), and whom He specially fitted and prepared during many generations, that they might in due time become the depositaries of a revelation committed to writing (Rom. 3:22Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. (Romans 3:2)), which would at once be more permanent in its nature and less liable to be either forgotten or corrupted; and that they as a nation, separated from all other peoples on the earth, might themselves first “learn to do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:2929The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)), and in the fullness of time might spread the blessings of this precious heritage among all nations (Mark 16:1515And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15); Luke 24:4747And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47); Acts 1:88But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)).
Accordingly, about five hundred years after the call of Abram—i.e. about 1500 B.C.—the time came to have this written revelation accomplished, which was to embody a history of the preceding 2,500 years, including an account of the Creation, together with God’s laws, precepts, promises, prophecies, etc.
For this purpose, Moses, who had been prepared in a very remarkable way (Heb. 11:24, 2724By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; (Hebrews 11:24)
27By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. (Hebrews 11:27)) for a task of such transcendent importance, was chosen from among this separated people to commence these sacred writings—as Stephen reminded the Sanhedrin in his memorable address, saying, Moses “received the lively [or living] oracles to give unto us” (Acts 7:3838This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: (Acts 7:38)).
And while the first actual reference to writing found in the Bible is in Exodus 17:1414And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. (Exodus 17:14), where the Lord commanded Moses to “write” the story of the fight with Amalek “in a book,” it was probably on the awful heights of Sinai, where this meek man stood alone before God, that the Book which is destined to outlive “heaven and earth” (Luke 21:3333Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (Luke 21:33)) was commenced; prophets, apostles, and other holy men in after days continuing the work as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:2121For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Peter 1:21)) from time to time, until the volume of the Book was complete.
Who Wrote the Pentateuch?
The question is often asked nowadays, how did Moses write the first five books of the Bible, if indeed he wrote them at all? Did he simply compile those marvelous books from other documents already existing in his day, or were his writings the result of special and direct inspiration of God?
Now it will not be difficult to put this vitally important question to a very practical test; for while, as we have already seen, there were no inspired writings for him to work upon or “edit,” nevertheless, in the providence of God, we have in our possession (beside many other specimens of uninspired writing at that remote period) two remarkable documents, believed to have been written about the time of Abraham, and which were, therefore, probably well known in the days of Moses, comprising between them the two main subjects of which the Pentateuch consists—viz. history and laws. These are—
1. The Chaldean Legends, beautifully written on clay tablets. They were discovered by Mr. Layard and others many years ago, buried among the ruins of ancient Nineveh and other cities of Babylonia, and purport to give the story of creation, while the Gilgamesh series of the Babylonian Legends are supposed to contain the story of Cain and Abel, and certainly the story of the Deluge.
2. The Laws of Hammurabi (referred to on page 3), who was probably the same person as Amraphel, mentioned in Genesis 14:11And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; (Genesis 14:1).
First, then, as to history. The very suggestion that Moses obtained his historical information from those Chaldean and Gilgamesh legends, which Professor Sayce tells us “were traditions before being committed to writing,” is simply absurd; for, interesting as they are, they are so full of legendary nonsense that it would have been a practical impossibility for Moses or any other man to evolve from such mythical legends the sober, reverent, and scientific records which are found in the book of Genesis; for “who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean” (Job 14:44Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. (Job 14:4))?
For example, Berosus, one of the Babylonian priests, describes the creation of heaven and earth and man thus: the deity “Belus came out and cut the woman (named Omoroka) asunder, and of one half of her he formed the earth, and of the other half the heavens”! while this same Belus “commanded one of the gods to take off his head and to mix the blood with the earth and from thence to form other men and animals!” 2
Now while it is easy to trace here the corrupted remains of a once pure revelation, it is manifestly out of all reason to suppose that any part of the Pentateuch could have been compiled from legends such as this.
Then, as regards the laws, it may not be generally known that the remarkable code of Hammurabi, though excellent in many respects, merely consists of moral laws as between man and man, and entirely omits that which is of far greater importance, and on which the laws of Moses lay such paramount stress —viz. man’s obligation to God. Moreover, it makes no provision for the poor; while Hammurabi himself was an idolater, and worshipped the sun-god and other deities! So that here also it is evident Moses could not have got his laws from any such source.
It is noteworthy that when Moses said “What nation is there... that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law” (Deut. 4:88And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? (Deuteronomy 4:8))? he recognized that other nations had their laws; but at the same time his words clearly imply that the laws he had received from God were entirely different from anything of the kind existing elsewhere. Indeed, Professor Sayce, in a paper read in Londonderry on September 27th, 1905, comparing these Chaldean legends with the Bible, said that “on the spiritual and religious side there was a gulf between them that could not be spanned.”
But, more than this, the tact that the Pentateuch was written under inspiration, and that Moses was the writer, is made abundantly clear by the Scriptures themselves. Every Bible student knows how the laws and ordinances of the Pentateuch are compassed by the oft-repeated expression, “The Lord spake unto Moses.” Nearly every chapter in Leviticus commences with those words; also most of the chapters in Numbers, and many of those in Exodus. Now, if those laws were really compiled from a variety of other documents, how could it be truly said that the Lord spake them to Moses?
We are further told in Acts 7:3838This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: (Acts 7:38) that Moses “received”—not compiled—these living oracles; while the Lord Jesus, testifying to the divine origin of the writings of Moses, actually placed them on a level with His own words (John 5:4747But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5:47)), which He would scarcely have done had those writings been merely a compilation of human legends and morals.
Moreover, it is significant that throughout all the many references made in the Scriptures to the Pentateuch, there is not the least hint given that any other author than Moses had anything to do with it.
But, says an objector—whatever may be said concerning the Pentateuch in general, it is quite impossible that Moses could have written the last chapter of Deuteronomy, seeing that it contains an account of his own death and burial. Then I should like to ask, who did write it? since no one but God and Moses were present at the ceremony! Therefore whoever wrote it must have been inspired. And surely it was as easy for Moses, inspired by God, to write beforehand that brief account of his own death and burial—adding at God’s command a statement which should be true for all time: “No man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day”—as it was for Joseph, under inspiration, to foretell what would happen to his bones hundreds of years after his death (Gen. 1:2525And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:25)) or for Isaiah and other prophets to record not merely the fact, but many striking details concerning the sufferings and death of the Messiah, and even His burial in the “rich” (Isa. 53:99And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)) man’s tomb (Matt. 27:57-6057When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: 58He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. 59And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. (Matthew 27:57‑60)). And all this, like the account of Moses’ death, written in the past tense as if it were a history of what had already taken place, although the prophecies were actually written 700 years before the event occurred!
We therefore reject any and every theory which would rob the Pentateuch of its divine origin, or cast a doubt upon its having been written by Moses, under inspiration from God, in the fullest and most direct manner.
But the thoughtful mind will naturally be struck by the conflicting evidence and inconsistent position of those who criticize the accuracy of the Bible. Not many years ago we were told that Moses could not possibly have written the Pentateuch, because writing was not known in those days (see pages 203-4); and now that it has been proved beyond question that the art of writing was freely practiced centuries before Moses lived, they go to the other extreme and tell us that he copied or “compiled” his laws from earlier documents! Thus they seek, first in one way and then in another, to rob the Bible of its divine element of inspiration—without which, however, the Book would be a greater miracle, if possible, than ever!
Altogether about forty persons, in all stations of life, were engaged in the writing of these oracles, the work of which was spread over a period of about 1,600 years—viz. from about 1500 B.C., when Moses commenced to write the Pentateuch amid the thunders of Sinai, to about A.D. 97, when the apostle John, himself a son of thunder (Mark 3:1717And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: (Mark 3:17)), wrote his gospel in Asia Minor.
What We Call the Bible
These sacred writings or oracles which have thus come down to us through the Jews we call the Bible, the Scriptures, the Word of God, etc.
The word “Bible” is derived from the Greek and means “the books,” and is therefore not an unsuitable title, although “the Book”—for it is one complete whole—is a far more correct term. We read of “the volume of the book” in Psalm 40:77Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, (Psalm 40:7) and Hebrews 10:77Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. (Hebrews 10:7).
The word “Scriptures” is derived from the Latin, and means “the writings.” This is a simple and accurate term. In Daniel 10:2121But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince. (Daniel 10:21) we read of “the Scripture of Truth.” In Hosea 8:1212I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. (Hosea 8:12) God says, “I have written unto him the great things of My law”; and in a very real sense it may be said of the whole, as it was of the Ten Commandments, “The writing was the writing of God” (Ex. 32:1616And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. (Exodus 32:16)). Indeed, in 2 Kings 17:3737And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods. (2 Kings 17:37) we read of “the statutes and the ordinances and the law, and the commandments which He [God] wrote.”
But the “Word of God” is an equally suitable and reverent title, as it marks out the Book as being something quite distinct from all the writings or words of man. “The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:1717And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Ephesians 6:17)); the “word of God,” which is quick and powerful (Heb. 4:1212For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)), etc. Both this and “the Scriptures” were favorite titles with our Lord.
Original Manuscripts
Although we often hear and speak of the “original manuscripts,” it is a remarkable fact that, of all these sacred writings, there is not one original manuscript—either of the Old or New Testament—now in existence, so far as is known. In some cases, when these precious documents became old, they were reverently buried by the Jews, who used reliable copies in their stead; others have been lost during the wars and persecutions by which God’s ancient people have been from time to time oppressed.
Even when the New Testament was written, the original documents of the Old seem to have been lost; so that when the whole Bible was first completed, it consisted of Hebrew copies of the Old Testament—together with a Greek translation of the Hebrew, known as the Septuagint, referred to later—and the original Greek of the New; these latter having since also been all lost.
Surely, however, in this we may see the wise providence of God, for had there been any of the original documents bearing the handwriting of Moses, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Paul, or John in existence now, so foolish is the human heart that they would almost certainly be regarded with superstition and worshipped, as was the brazen serpent in the days of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:44He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4)), thus defeating one of the very objects for which they were given.
Existing Manuscripts
But while this is undoubtedly the case as regards the actual original documents, there is, happily, no need for alarm as to the basis of our faith; for there are in existence today many thousands of Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, which have been copied from earlier manuscripts by Jewish scribes, etc., from time to time. These are the documents generally referred to when the “originals” are now spoken of.
It is quite impossible to say exactly how many there are altogether; for while they are principally preserved in the great public libraries of Europe, where they are carefully cataloged, a very large number of them are owned by private individuals. Dr. Gaster’s library alone is said to contain some eight hundred Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament, while Scrivener’s Introduction (1894) says there are about four thousand New Testament manuscripts.
For the sake of simplicity, however, these existing manuscripts may be divided thus:
1. Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament; the earliest of these date back to the eighth century of the Christian era.
2. Greek manuscripts of the New Testament; the earliest of these date back to the fourth century.
3. Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament (known as the Septuagint), translated from the Hebrew about 277 B.C.; these also date back to the fourth century.
4. Early translations of the Scriptures, or parts thereof, in Syriac, Latin, German and other languages, of various dates.
In making copies of Hebrew manuscripts which are the precious heritage of the Church today, the Jewish scribes exercised the greatest possible care, even to the point of superstition—counting, not only the words, but every letter, noting how many times each particular letter occurred, and destroying at once the sheet on which a mistake was detected, in their anxiety to avoid the introduction of the least error into the sacred Scriptures, which they prized so highly and held in such reverent awe. Moreover, each new copy had to be made from an approved manuscript, written with a special kind of ink, upon sheets made from the skin of a “clean” animal. The writers also had to pronounce aloud each word before writing it, and on no account was a single word to be written from memory. They were to reverently wipe their pen before writing the name of God in any form, and to wash their whole body before writing “Jehovah,” lest that holy name should be tainted even in the writing. The new copy was then carefully examined with the original almost immediately: and it is said that if only one incorrect letter were discovered the whole copy was rejected!
It is recorded how one reverent rabbi solemnly warned a scribe thus: “Take heed how thou doest thy work, for thy work is the work of heaven, lest thou drop or add a letter of the manuscript, and so become a destroyer of the world!”
But, in spite of all this painful care, mistakes did creep in, as the documents now in existence show; for this work of copying was after all but human.
Perhaps one of the most striking cases of a copyist’s error is found in the age of Ahaziah, 2 Kings 8:2626Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel. (2 Kings 8:26) stating that he was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, while 2 Chron. 22:2 Says he was forty-two. Now none of the original documents in our possession help us in this at all, so that it is evidently due to an error of a very early copyist, which, owing to the Jews’ superstitious fear lest they should introduce one error while attempting to correct another, has been perpetuated down to the present day! The mistake, however, was a very excusable one, for the Jews used letters to express numbers, just as we frequently use Roman numerals, and the ancient letter for forty was so much like that for twenty that the one might easily be mistaken for the other. The age given in Kings is, of course, the correct one—viz. twenty-two; and, beyond all doubt, is what was originally written in both places by the inspired historians; as Chronicles, giving his age as forty-two, implies that he was born two years before his father Jehoram, who was only forty when he died (2 Kings 8:2929And king Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick. (2 Kings 8:29)).
Then, again, the Hebrew language was originally written, not only entirely in consonants without any vowels at all (thus Jehovah was simply written JHVH), but there was no spacing to divide one word from another, as if we should write the Lord’s Prayer thus:
RFTHRWHCHRTNHVNHLLWDBTHNM, etc.
It was not until after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity that words were divided from one another, and the Hebrew Old Testament generally was arranged into verses and paragraphs, and the present square Hebrew characters were substituted for the ancient Phoenician or archaic Hebrew alphabet. These changes, which were only gradually introduced, were commenced, Dr. Ginsburg tells us, in the days of Ezra by certain men known as the Sopherim = Scribes. The vowel points were introduced very much later—about A.D. 500 or 600, by the Massoretes, who put in writing many oral traditions as to the correct method of reading the sacred text. Hence the name Massorah, which means tradition. Now when it is remembered that some of these ancient Hebrew letters only differed from others in the smallest possible degree, which in a perfect printed letter is scarcely discernible, while for ages they were only preserved by copies being made in handwriting, we must admit that it is little short of a miracle that the documents have reached us in the marvelously correct form in which we have them today.
A very striking illustration of the extreme difficulty of distinguishing the difference between some of the Hebrew characters occurs in a book which now lies before me, in which a very few footnotes in Hebrew contain no less than sixteen mistakes, owing to the similarity of the letters, of which the following are specimens:
ר = r has been mistaken for ד = dh
ח = h has been mistaken for ה = h
ן = n has been mistaken for ד = dh
ט = t has been mistaken for ס = s
ו = w has been mistaken for ז = z
ה = h has been mistaken for ח = h
ב = bh has been mistaken for נ = n
And yet in all those voluminous sacred documents, which have been copied times out of number, the highest authorities assure us that, in regard to the New Testament, the variations of any importance introduced by copyists amount to less than one-thousandth of the entire text; while the Hebrew documents of the Old Testament show even less variation still!
It will be seen, however, that these very errors which have been introduced by copyists constitute a strong argument in favor of verbal inspiration; for if these scribes, with all their professional experience and traditional care, could not always COPY the documents correctly, one shudders to think what would have happened if the original writers had not been compassed in the fullest possible way by verbal inspiration.
Having, however, in the good providence of God, so many ancient manuscripts to consult, the reader will understand that a mistake in one is, as a rule, detected by the accumulated evidence of the correct reading of the same passage in many of the other documents. So that it may be safely said, with the possession of these thousands of manuscripts, we are practically able to arrive at the exact words of the Scriptures, as they originally came from God through His prophets and apostles. And, in addition to all this, it is well to know that there are so many accurate and voluminous quotations from the Scriptures in the writings of the early fathers, dating from the second to the fifth centuries, that it has been actually proved that, from these writings alone, without any other assistance, the whole of the New Testament could be reproduced! So carefully has our Heavenly Father guarded the Book He has given to the children of men.
Original Languages of the Bible
The languages spoken and written in the early days of the world’s history form an absorbing study. But the subject, as might be expected, is largely clouded in mystery. What the language spoken before the flood was, we do not know. Nor have we any definite knowledge of any writing prior to that time, except the fact that, in the Chaldean account of the deluge, there is a statement to the effect that Noah—there called Ut-Napishtim—took some written documents with him into the “ship,” or, as the Bible calls it, the ark. These documents are spoken of as the “Tablets of Fate” —the meaning of which is not known, although some would fain see in them the supposed inspired writings of antediluvian times.
The very earliest form of writing is believed to have been pictorial, or what is called ideographic—that is, it consisted of a series of pictures conveying ideas. Thus,
A jackal would represent cunning, or craft;
A woman playing on a tambourine or a man dancing = joy;
A man’s arm with a stick = strength; and so on.
A specimen of writing developed out of these ideograms may be seen in the British Museum, in the form of a very ancient altar-stone or sacrificial bowl, which is believed to have originally come from the Temple of Lagash in South Babylonia, in the reign of one Eannadu, but was discovered by an Eastern merchant some twenty years ago. It is dated by the museum authorities 4500 B.C.; but we must probably make a considerable reduction on that figure, for its actual date is not really known. It is, however, believed to be very ancient.
Later on, these pictures came to represent sounds—that is, letters or syllables, as in the now familiar Egyptian hieroglyphs. Thus:
An eagle = A; A leg = B; A lion = R or L; A house = H; and so on.
The ideographic writing was really the parent of the cuneiform, which abounds on the numerous tablets recently discovered in and around ancient Babylonia. The cuneiform writing consists of letters or syllables shaped like wedges or arrowheads, and continued to be in use in Babylonia, Assyria, and Persia, up to the time of Christ.
As to the earliest language which was spoken, one thing is clear—viz. that up to the time of Babel “the whole earth was of one language and of one speech” (Gen. 11:11And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. (Genesis 11:1) and 6). And it seems probable that after the confusion of tongues the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth journeyed to different parts of the world (see page 113), and developed those languages or dialects which appear to have formed the foundation of all future languages.
The earliest language spoken after the Flood of which we have any knowledge was that known as Akkadian, from Akkad, the northwestern division of ancient Babylonia. And it may be interesting here to mention that “Adam,” “Eden,” and “Sabbath” appear to be Akkadian, not Hebrew, words.
This Akkadian language, which in the earliest times was written in a linear form—i.e. a series of lines, frequently crossed thus ╫ ultimately developed into the cuneiform writing, and appears to have been in use up to about the time of Abraham—that is about 2000 B.C.—after which it became a sort of dead language, and was only studied as such in the colleges. Semitic Babylonian then took its place and continued unchanged until the time of Nebuchadnezzar. It is assumed—and perhaps rightly so—that when Abram left Ur of the Chaldees and came at God’s command into the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:1-51Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: 2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. (Genesis 12:1‑5)), he dropped the old Semitic Babylonian language of his native land and adopted the language of the Canaanites amongst whom he had come to dwell and whose land he was ultimately to possess (Gen. 12:77And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. (Genesis 12:7)); just as his descendants, the Jews, in later years during their captivity in Babylon, dropped their own pure Hebrew and adopted the Chaldean or Aramaic language, which later they continued to speak until the time of Christ.
This Canaanitish language which Abram adopted was probably the very language, or some form of it, which was afterward known as Hebrew. Indeed, in Isaiah 19:1818In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction. (Isaiah 19:18) it appears that Hebrew was actually called “the language of Canaan.”
Some of the Tel-el-Amarna tablets, now in our possession, and dating only about four hundred years after Abraham, are written in excellent Canaanitish or Hebrew language.
There is an interesting illustration of the concurrent use of these two languages in Genesis 31:4747And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed. (Genesis 31:47), where Laban, who belonged to Abraham’s native land, and would therefore speak Chaldean, called the pillar of stone that was set up “Jegar-sahadutha”; while Jacob, who belonged to Canaan, and would therefore speak Canaanitish or Hebrew, called it “Galeed.” Both words mean “the heap of witness”; but Laban naturally chose a Chaldean or Aramaic word, and Jacob as naturally used a Canaanitish or Hebrew word.
It is probable, however, that both the people and language acquired the name Hebrew from Heber, a descendant of Shem and ancestor of Abraham (Luke 3:3535Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala, (Luke 3:35)). Heber means “crosser,” i.e. from one place to another, or, as we should say, emigrant—a characteristic which has always clung to the Hebrews. And it is curious to observe that in Genesis 48:1515And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, (Genesis 48:15), where Jacob said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk,” the word translated “walk” really means walk about or wander. In any case, the name subsequently became exclusively associated with Abraham and his descendants, both as regards the language and the people. In Genesis 14:1313And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram. (Genesis 14:13) we read of “Abram the Hebrew”; and in Genesis 39:1414That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: (Genesis 39:14), Potiphar’s wife, speaking of Joseph, said, “He (Potiphar) hath brought in an Hebrew unto us.”
This Hebrew language continued to be spoken and written by the Jews until the captivity, when, as we have seen, they adopted the Aramaic. It will, therefore, be readily understood that the Old Testament—at least, almost the whole of it—was written in Hebrew. The following three small sections, however, were written in Chaldean—viz. Jeremiah 10:1111Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. (Jeremiah 10:11), Daniel 2:44Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. (Daniel 2:4) to 7:28, and Ezra 4:88Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort: (Ezra 4:8) to 6:18.
We are not told, and therefore it is impossible to say with absolute certainty, why these three parts should have been written in a different language from the rest of the Old Testament; but there was, no doubt, a special purpose in it.
In the case of Jeremiah 10:1111Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. (Jeremiah 10:11) it would seem that this particular verse being specially directed against the idolatrous Chaldeans, the Chaldean or Aramaic dialect was chosen, so that, appearing thus in their own dialect, there might be no possibility of its solemn import being misunderstood—viz. “Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.”
While the passage in Daniel 2:44Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. (Daniel 2:4) to 7:28 contains almost exclusively an account of the Gentile Kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, and for this reason may have been designedly written in the Gentile language. The very wording of the commencement of these passages seems clearly to indicate a change in the language, for which there must have been some definite purpose—viz. “Then spake the Chaldeans to the King in Syriac.”
We may possibly trace a somewhat similar cause for the change of language in Ezra. In any case the Chaldean or Aramaic portion commences with these significant words: “Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort.” While the first verse—after the Aramaic portion, which reverts to the Hebrew language—is equally striking, since it tells as if with a sigh of relief how, after many years of sad neglect of God’s laws, “The children of the captivity kept the Passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month” (Ezra 6:1919And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. (Ezra 6:19)).
As regards the New Testament, while the Jews, even in the days of Christ, continued to speak Aramaic, Greek—which was the common language of the Roman world—apparently became more and more generally used as time went on; so that, when the New Testament came to be written, the whole of it without exception was written in Greek, as in that language it would be more freely read and more widely understood.
 
Chaldean Accent of Genesis. George Smith.
2. Chaldean Accent of Genesis. George Smith.