As a deadline news reporter in the ’80s, both in a sports-writing
gig at the Cleveland Plain Dealer and
then as a bureau chief for the Elmira
Star-Gazette in upstate New York, I can remember the torture of having to
write breaking news stories on deadline in longhand and then quickly orally repeat
them to an editor over the telephone.
In Old Testament days, the scribe’s painstaking job of copying
by hand the exact words (including every jot and tittle) of the prophets had to
have been absolutely unreal by comparison. I figure their backs must have ached
terrible and I can’t begin to imagine the carpal tunnel problems!
In Ezekiel 9:2, one scribe is described as being “clothed
with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side.”
According to a Reader’s Digest encyclopedia on the Bible, the inkhorn, or writing case, consisted of a “reed pen that was either frayed at the end to create a brush or trimmed to form a nib; a metal stylus, perhaps, for scratching writing onto hard surfaces; a knife for cutting papyrus sheets and excising mistakes; and an inkwell in which he would mix his dry ink with water.”
The scribe first had to make black ink from mixing powdered carbon with
vegetable gum and red ink from iron oxide and gum!
Some scribes had to scratch
onto stone and inscribe text onto wooden slabs coated with wax or stucco. They
also wrote on clay pots and used pottery shards as scrap paper.
*****
In an article appearing in the Sunday New York Times Book Review section (Nov.3) about how “Twitter and
Facebook are just the latest incarnations of a tradition that dates back 2,000
years,” is this interesting passage:
“Today we equate media with conglomerates and moguls: Time
Warner, Viacom, Rupert. But far more representative in media history may have
been Cicero, who like other upper-class Romans got his news on papyrus rolls
that were copied, annotated and passed from person to person.
“Speeches, books, even personal letters were read aloud by
slaves and sent on to friends and acquaintances. This distribution system made
early media social; by sharing in this fashion, people were able to do what
people do in such situations: signal their interests, define their personas and
strengthen their ties with others.
“Literacy fell with the Roman Empire. For all but the
ecclesiastical elite, media took a 1,000-year holiday. Not until the advent of
the printing press did people have much reason to read again.
“Once they did, Standage (author of the new book
“Writing on the Wall”) says, their behavior reverted to that of the early
Romans. Social sharing could produce electrifying effect: The 95 Theses Martin
Luther posted on his church door in Wittenberg, printed and passed from hand to
hand, spread rapidly across Germany and within a month were known across
Europe.
“Two and a half centuries later, Thomas Paine’s inflammatory
anti-British pamphlet “Common Sense” coursed through the American colonies in
much the same way. People read it aloud in taverns and coffeehouses; they
debated anonymously in newspapers. When it was published in January 1776,
independence was all but unthinkable; on July 4 it was declared.”
*****
From the Old Testament, we know it was the responsibility of
the Levite priests to preserve the Word of God—get it copied and distributed
and see that it was perfectly maintained.
“The nation of Israel
*****
When Jesus came on the scene, He told the people repeatedly
to look at their copies of the Book for remembrance of that which was spoken by
Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, etc.
“They don’t have the original autographs of Daniel but He
says, ‘When you read that copy you’re reading what Daniel said back there,’ ” explains
Jordan
“What’s the criterion for something being scripture? II
Timothy 3:16 says, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God.’
“We’re talking about preserving it not just in any kind of copies, but copies that preserve the inspiration that was in the original. How does it do that? It happens over in the WORDS, because that’s the issue in inspiration!
“In that synagogue at Nazareth in Luke they had copies of
the Word of God that Jesus Christ could go in there and pick up and read and
say, ‘This is scripture.’ Not, ‘This contains scripture.’ Not, ‘This is scripture
with a few mistakes and errors in it.’ Not, ‘This is a fairly reliable copy.’
*****
In Acts 8 we’re told about “a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of
great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians,” who was reading out of
the Book of Isaiah when the Holy Spirit told Philip to go to the man and ask
him if he understood what he was reading.
As the passage reports, “And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
[31] And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
[32] The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
[33] In his humiliation his judgment was taken away:
and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
[34] And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
[35] Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
[36] And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
[37] And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
[34] And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
[35] Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
[36] And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
[37] And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
“Verse 32 says, ‘The place of the scripture which he read
was this.’ God the Holy Spirit, writing in Acts 8, called the copy of Isaiah
the eunuch in Ethiopia
"In verses 35-37 you see the Holy Spirit take those copies
to produce change in this man’s life. He gets the man saved by having Philip
preach the Word of God to him and verse
37 is a verse that every new bible on the market says you ought to axe and
throw out. You know why? There’s a verse that gives testimony to the fact that
God the Holy Spirit generated faith in the heart of that man by using a COPY of
the Scripture!
“Faith comes by hearing God’s word and God used a copy and
the man said, ‘I’ll believe.’ That shows you the power and authority of the Book
you got in your lap!”
*****
When the Apostle Paul commands the Thessalonians in I Thess.
5:27, “I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy
brethren,” he is by no means simply telling the Believers there to distribute
his letter in Thessalonica.
As Jordan explains, “Paul writes that thing down and he
says, ‘Listen, you’ve got the original autograph but I want you to make copies
of it and give it to the brethren here, and then take copies over there to
Ephesus and give it to them, and while you’re there you get a copy of the
(letter) they’ve got and you bring it over here and you guys collect these
epistles together.’ ”
“This is exactly what they’re doing in II Peter 3:15 when it says ‘even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you.’ The order is, ‘Collect them together and distribute them and study 'em!’ They knew what they were handling and they’re getting them out! By the way, all that takes place in Asia; modern-day
“I believe in Romans 16 where Paul refers to ‘the scriptures
of the prophets,’ that’s exactly what he’s talking about. I’m convinced the
prophets identified that Canon and put those collated books of scriptures in
the hands of the Church the Body of Christ—in the hands of Bible-believing,
Bible-teaching people, and the Word was committed to local assemblies for its teaching,
distribution and maintenance.
“You see, ‘the church
is the pillar and ground of the truth’; not the university, not the scholars.
And my dear friend, if you study church history, you’ll find that in the very 1st
Century and in the 2nd Century they were doing with the Word of God
exactly what you and I are doing today!
“Did you know in 170 AD there was already a Syrian
translation of a Greek text that matches the text your Bible came off of and it
was in use all over Syria?! There was a Latin translation that was all over
North Africa and up into Italy
“There were local corruptions—Origen, Clement, those fellows
around in Caesarea and Alexandria
“Realize the Wycliffe
translators aren’t doing anything new. These missionaries (translating the Word
into obscure languages) all over the world aren’t doing anything new. They’re
only doing what the church has done from Day One.
“Think about the little-bitty short Gothic fellow by the name of the Little Fox who went up into the Gothic territory—they didn’t even have a written language! And he wrote down the language and translated it into their language. And he translated that same Bible you got into their language.
“It’s interesting to me that God takes His Word and places
it into the hands of the true church—Bible-believing, Bible-teaching people
who’ve made that Book the authority in their lives. They’re the ones who’ve
maintained that Book unbroken down through the centuries. It’s interesting to
me that God’s always had a people.”