We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 2
Review: Last week we saw four reasons why we can know the original words of the Old Testament
-
- Reason #1: God’s Word says the Word of God will endure forever
- Reason #2: The Old Testament was written down.
- Reason #3: Temple officials were intentional in checking the manuscripts
- Reason #4: Masora Finalis
Purpose: In this session we shall consider more reasons why we can believe why we can know the actual words of the Old Testament so that we will have faith in God’s Word being God’s Word.
Reason #5: Jesus affirms the words of the Scriptures will endure: ““For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18)
- Below in this lesson we will consider technical reasons why we can believe we have the actual words of the Old Testament but here we want to begin with what Jesus Himself clearly taught on this issue.
- Here Jesus has just affirmed in the previous verse His purpose is not to abolish God’s Word.
- Now Jesus tells us that from the Law “not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away”
- The word translated as “the smallest letter” in Greek is ἰῶτα.
- It is a small letter of the Greek alphabet.
- It is like yod, the Hebrew or rather Aramaic letter which was the smallest of all.
- The word translated as “stroke” is κεραία. It is “a little hook, an apostrophe on letters of the alphabet, distinguishing them from other little letters, or a separation stroke between letters.”[1]
- The word translated as “the smallest letter” in Greek is ἰῶτα.
- Jesus also said “heaven and earth” shall “pass away” before the Word of God will pass away!
Reason #6: Masora Parva
- What is the Masora Parva?
- In order to understand the Masora Parva one must first understand who were the Masoretes: These were Jewish scholars from 500-1000 AD who developed vowel pointings (until 6th Century AD the words of the Hebrew was only constants), cantillation marks, notes and other conventions to ensure a more accurate reading and transmission of the Old Testament.[2]
- The Masoretes would put notes in the margin around the Hebrew text of the Bible which were called Masora Marginalis.[3]
- Definition of Masora Parva: “The masora in the side margins have come to be called the masora parva (the small masora), abbreviated Mp…these are found in the outside margins of BHS (i.e., on the rise edge of even numbered pages and the left edge of odd numbered pages). They are mostly written in Aramaic (with some Hebrew)…”[4]
- Here’s a picture of what does the Masora Parva looks like for Deuteronomy 1:
- Why is the Masora Parva important? They present “an array of statistical details regarding word counts, word placement (e.g., in the exact middle of the book), and spelling peculiarities, all designed to protect the text from scribal error.”[5]
- Example[6]
- Deuteronomy 1:1 has a circle over the Hebrew phrase אֵ֣לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֗ים (“these are the words”).
- Looking at the margin, there is a Hebrew letter ה with a dot over it.
- The Hebrew letter ה is the fifth letter in the alphabet and therefore has the numerical value of five.
- Thus it is telling us that the phrase אֵ֣לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֗ים (“these are the words”) appears five times total in the Old Testament.
- This phrase can be found in Deuteronomy 1:1, Exodus 19:6, Exodus 35:1, Isaiah 42:16 and Zechariah 8:16.
- This allows one venue to check if the text is copied accurately.
Reason #7: Dead Sea Scroll
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- About the Dead Sea Scroll
- Significance #1: Oldest Hebrew copies of Scriptures found
- According to Brotzman: “The Dead Sea Scrolls take the textual scholar back around one thousand years earlier than previously known Hebrew manuscripts. Prior to the Qmran discoveries, the earliest complete copies of Old Testament books dated from around the early tenth century A.D. The earliest complete copy of the entire Old Testament dated from the early eleventh century A.D. The Dead Sea manuscripts thus give much earlier evidence for the text of the Old Testament than anything that was previously known.”[9]
- Some of the writings are so old a few have been written in “paleo-Hebrew script” which is an older way of writing Hebrew that is less square script/letters.[10]
- Significance #2: The Qumran findings has an overall agreement with the Masoretic text.[11]
- Masoretic text refers to the Medieval Hebrew manuscripts.
- Rooker tells us the conclusion of scholars that the scribes behind the Dead Sea Scrolls are intentionally copying exactly the manuscripts that are in the lineage of the Masoretic text (what is called proto-Masoretic): “The Qumran scribes displayed painstaking efforts to produce exact copies of the proto-Masoretic text.”[12]
- Why would they be intentional on copying the proto-Masoretic text? It suggests that they have an authoritative status.[13]
- Significance #3: These manuscripts allows textual critical scholars to do more work and study.[14]
Reason #8: Oldest Hebrew Witness: “The oldest Hebrew witness of any kind is the silver roll found in Ketef Hinnom, discovered in 1979. This ornament is dated to around seventh century BC. This text contains a portion of the priestly prayer of Num 6:24-26.”[15]
Reason #9: Other language translations
- In the critical Hebrew Bible above we see references to other translations in Textual Critical Apparatus, which is the bottom margin of the pictured page.
- Samaritan Pentateuch
- Besides the Hebrew witnesses a second major witness of the Old Testament is the Samaritan Pentateuch.
- The Samaritans were people who were ethnically mixed after the Assyrian captivity and they also held mixed beliefs.
- However they believed in the first five books of the Bible but not the rest and have copies of the Pentateuch.
- According to Mark Rooker “There are approximately 6,000 differences between the SP and the MT, but most of these are superficial, reflecting changes only in orthography (spelling).”[16]
- Greek Septuagint
- “”Septuagint” is named after the claim that 72 scholars worked on translating the Torah into Greek during the third century BC.
- Translation vary from book to book, some being more literal than others and some being more free in its interpretation than others, depending upon the book’s translator(s).
- Aramaic Targums= More like pharaphrase.
- Syriac Peshitta
- Latin Vulgate
Conclusion: What errors there are, are minor
- According to the foremost Old Testament Textual Critical scholar Emanuel Tov: “Even though the scribes of Masoretic Texts meticulously preserved a uniform text, breaches in this unity are nevertheless visible…some 250 such differences are mentioned in the Masoretic notes…”[17]
- Tov tells us here that there are 250 differences between manuscripts between the East and West.
- 250 verses out of 23,203 total Old Testament verses means it’s 1%.
- If we say it’s every word out of average of 10 words per verse, then it’s less than .1%
- Yet these 250 could be lower, since some are not “material” variants
- .0001 % of Masoretic text, (1 out of 10,000 words)
- For example concerning Job 17:10 the difference between yod and waw is like the equivalent of our letter “i” and “t.” We can piece it according to its context.
- Also what variants exists doesn’t change doctrines.[18]
Interactive analogy (This is to review and demonstrate the truths from the two lessons)
- Remember the shopping list analogy from lesson one?
- Pick one person to be the textual critic whose goal is to find out what’s on the list at the end of the game. Have this person go away temporarily.
- Show the remaining individuals a written shopping list with the following items on a movable white board:
- Eggs
- Cheese
- Bread
- Milk
- Cream Cheese
- Everyone copy down the shopping list on a sheet of paper.
- Have also one person write down the list in cursive. This will be the example of what the Dead Sea Scroll is like. Mark it as “Dead Sea List.” Then hide that paper temporarily.
- Have someone else also write the list in a foreign language (use Google Translate if needed). Label the language it is written and then set aide the paper temporarily as well.
- Turn the white board around so the textual critic won’t be able to see it.
- Have the textual critic come back.
- Explain how last week we learn about the Masora Finalis is like having a shopping list that not only listed things out but now counted how many lines there are, and tells us what the middle item on the list is!
- Have the textual critic go away again.
- Everyone else now write down the following below the shopping list in smaller print the following:
- 5 items
- Middle item on the list: “Bread.”
- Have the textual critic come back.
- In light of the reality of the Masora Parva for our illustration that’s like looking at the shopping list and putting a circle above every word that repeats with a circle and on the side writing it down the number it appears.
- Also the Masora Parva marks above every word that appears only once in the Old Testament. For our instructional purposes mark an “L” in small print above every word that appears only once in this list.
- Again have the textual critic go away.
- Then tell everyone that every time “cheese” appears to put a small circle above it and then write on the left hand side “two” so you know the word “cheese” appears twice.
- Have the textual critic come back.
- Tell everyone to write down the same exact thing on their paper but now on another paper. This is to simulate “copies.”
- Take away all the first generation “copy” and throw them all away. Ask: Can you still find out what it says? Yes!
- Now give all the copies of the shopping list including the one marked “Dead Sea List” and the one in a foreign language to the textual critic. Tell him to find out what was in the original shopping list.
- Notice how all of these “witnesses” helps us to reconstruct the original list.
- Notice also how with all these control you can spot more errors and have more ways to guard against error.
- Likewise the work of textual criticism.
[1] Source: https://biblehub.com/greek/2762.htm.
[2] Jason S. DeRouchie, How to Understand Apply the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing), 133.
[3] William Scott, A Simplified Guide to BHS (North Richland Hills, TX: Bibal Press), 11.
[4] William Scott, A Simplified Guide to BHS (North Richland Hills, TX: Bibal Press), 11-12.
[5] Jason S. DeRouchie, How to Understand Apply the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing), 138.
[6] Jason S. DeRouchie, How to Understand Apply the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing), 139.
[7] Mark Rooker, “The Transmission and Textual Criticism of the Old Testament” in The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament (Nashville, B&H Publishing), Kindle Locations 4051-4052.
[8] Mark Rooker, “The Transmission and Textual Criticism of the Old Testament” in The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament (Nashville, B&H Publishing), Kindle Locations 4052-4053.
[9] Ellis R. Brotzman, Old Testament Textual Criticism: A Practical Introduction (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books), 94-95.
[10] Ellis R. Brotzman, Old Testament Textual Criticism: A Practical Introduction (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books), 92.
[11] Ellis R. Brotzman, Old Testament Textual Criticism: A Practical Introduction (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books), 95.
[12] Mark Rooker, “The Transmission and Textual Criticism of the Old Testament” in The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament (Nashville, B&H Publishing), Kindle Locations 4060-4061.
[13] Mark Rooker, “The Transmission and Textual Criticism of the Old Testament” in The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament (Nashville, B&H Publishing), Kindle Locations 4061-4062.
[14] Ellis R. Brotzman, Old Testament Textual Criticism: A Practical Introduction (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books), 96.
[15] Mark Rooker, “The Transmission and Textual Criticism of the Old Testament” in The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament (Nashville, B&H Publishing), Kindle Locations 4066-4068.
[16] Mark Rooker, “The Transmission and Textual Criticism of the Old Testament” in The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament (Nashville, B&H Publishing), Kindle Locations 4044-4045.
[17] Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press), 26.
[18] Jason S. DeRouchie, How to Understand Apply the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing), 131.
Despite the claims of liberals, God has preserved His Word for us – accurately.
Incredible information. Never knew about the Masora Parva before this outline.
Same here, never heard of Masora Parva before. Why don’t more Churches teach this?
I imagine there’s also a dumbing down of seminaries. Seminaries gotta focus on making pastors slick and cool…(eyes rolling)
Gotta check out part 1
Here: https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/we-can-know-the-words-of-the-old-testament-part-1/
Just found it myself. Want to make it convenient.
Reblogged this on a simple man of God.
[…] via We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 2 — The Domain for Truth […]
Thanks for this excellent examination of how the Old Testament was painstakingly copied and preserved!
Wow 7,000 steps? You have so many steps in at work! That must be a job where you walk around a lot. I’m waay behind you lol
My job requires that I sit in front of a computer screen in my cubicle all day long, but I make it a point to take a 20-minute “break walk” outside around 9:30 a.m. and again at lunch. I also get up and take brisk walks through the building a few times daily to stretch my legs. For some reason 🤔 it’s more productive to walk at work than at home, more conducive to regimentation I guess.
Reblogged this on Logos Speaks.
Reblogged this on RG's 2 Cents Studios and commented:
Text preservation for 2000 years = Miraculous
[…] our post “We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 2” I mentioned that the manuscripts of the Old Testament contain minor error at times with the […]
The analogy in the end sounds fun and educational.
[…] 7.) We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 2 […]
[…] our post “We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 2” I mentioned that the manuscripts of the Old Testament contain minor error at times with the […]
Wow!! With a few modifications, the interactive analogy would be a really cool Bible game. I like that…
I spent a long time trying to write out this Bible game since our Tuesday Bible studies during the summer have kids, high schoolers and special needs individuals with learning disability. By God’s Grace the response was overwhelming positive. Feel free to use it!
[…] We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 2 […]
Fascinating study.
[…] Link to outline […]
[…] know the words of the Old Testament We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 1 We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 2 We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 3 This entry was posted in Textual […]
Highly informative post. I love how you went from what the Bible says to extrabiblical evidences
Wow that point about Masora Finalis is a really powerful apologetic point against those who think Scripture is changed, has errors, etc.
I finally got to read part 2 after a month earlier when I read part 1. This is a good introduction to Old Testament Textual criticism
[…] We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 2 […]