All About the Bible Old Testament April 18, 2010

By reading the divine scriptures, [the scribe], wholesomely instructs his own mind, and by copying the precepts of the Lord, he spreads them far and wide. What happy application, what praiseworthy, industry, to preach unto men by means of the hand,

to untie the tongue by means of the finger, to bring quiet salvation to mortals and to fight the devils insidious wiles with pen and ink! For every word of the Lord written by the scribe is a wound inflicted on Satan.

And so, though seated in one spot, the scribe traverses diverse land through the dissemination through what he has written… man multiplies the heavenly words, and in a certain metaphorical way, if I may dare to speak, three fingers are made to express the utterances of the holy trinity.

Oh sight, glorious to those who contemplate it carefully! The fast travelling reed-pen writes down the holy words and thus avenges the malice of the wicked one, who caused a reed to be used to smite the head of the Lord during his passion. Cassiodori Senatoris Institutiones, edited from the manuscripts by R.A.B. Mynors, (Oxford, 1937), I. Xxx. I.

Oh reader, in spiritual love, forgive me, and pardon the daring who wrote, and turn his errors into some mystic good… there is no scribe who will not pass away, but what his hands have written will remain forever.

Write nothing with thy hand but that which thou wilt be pleased to see at the resurrection… May the Lord God Jesus Christ cause this holy copy to avail for the saving of the soul of the wretched man who wrote it. [George Horner] The Coptic Version of the New Testament in the Northern Dialect, otherwise called Memphitic and Boahric, I (Oxford, 1898), pp. cxlvi f.

Must be written on the skins of clean animals. Must be prepared for synagogue use only. Must be fastened together with strings taken from clean animals. Each skin must contain an exact number of columns, which must be equal throughout the entire manuscript.

The length of each column must be between lines. The breadth of each column must consist of 30 letters. The whole copy must be first lined. If three words were written without a line it was considered worthless. The ink must be black only and prepared according to a special recipe used only for the copying of Scripture.

The original used to make the copy must be authentic and it must not be deviated from by the copyist and the scribe must say each word aloud as he wrote it. No word or letter could ever be written from memory. The scribe must always look first at the original before writing his copy. A space of a hair or a thread must intervene between each consonant.

A space of the breadth of 9 consonants must come between each section. No word must ever touch each other. A space of 3 lines must come between every book. The 5 th book of Moses must end exactly with a line. Before copying, the scribe must wash his whole body. While copying, the scribe must sit in full Jewish dress.

The scribe must only write the name of God with a pen newly dipped into the ink. Each time the scribe came across the name of God (YHWH), he must wash his whole body before he could write it. Should a king address the scribe while writing that name, he must take no notice of him.

If a sheet of parchment had one mistake on it, the sheet was condemned. If there were three mistakes found on any page, the whole manuscript was condemned. Each scroll had to be checked within 30 days of its writing or it was unholy. Every word and every letter had to be counted. If a letter or a word was omitted, the manuscript was condemned.

Words in the Torah – 97,856 Letters in the Torah – 400,945

Qumran Cave #4

Copper Scroll

Dead Sea Scroll

Column I The Great Qumran Isaiah Scroll

Last Old Testament Book Written Autograph Dead Sea Scrolls Written Oldest Old Testament Manuscript Before Dead Sea Scrolls The Effect of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Dead Sea Scroll and Masoretic Text

Acts 17:2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures.

Acts 18:28 For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

Romans 1:2 …the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures

Romans 10:11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…

2 Peter 1:20-21 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?

Matthew 22:29 Jesus replied, You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

Matthew 26:54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?

John 5:39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.

Luke 22:44 He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.

Luke 11:50-51 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary.