The original manuscripts to the Bible have either been lost or destroyed in the passage of time. Before the writing materials of papyrus (made from the leaves of the Nile River) or parchment (made from animal skin) were replaced with vellum (made from a better quality of animal skin) scribes had to copy all writings. You could not save them on your hard drive in those days.
This means that for many years, the best, oldest and most complete collection of Hebrew and Aramaic manuscript copies of the Old Testament (Tanakh, or Holy Scriptures to the Jews) dated about 1010 AD. See the problem? AD! The Old Testament is supposed to be the BC stuff! This text, copied by the Masorites, was known as the Ben Asher Text (named for the family that preserved it for many years).
The Jewish Talmud explains the very careful way scripture was copied. Therefore, Orthodox Jews have been confident over the years that their text was an accurate collection. I’m sure you will not be surprised to hear that this did not satisfy Bible critics or religious skeptics. “Oh, give us a break!” they said. “Do you realize how much could have been re-written and changed since the time of the original autographs and 1010 AD?”
All at once, like the stroke of lighting, everything changed in the year 1947. Two Arab boys in the Judean Desert, were having fun throwing rocks into a cave. Suddenly they heard something break and shatter. Inside were large clay jars containing rolled up scrolls. Authorities were notified and in no time at all, it was discovered that this cave was one of many, once inhabited by the Essenes, a kind of Jewish cult who withdrew from the rest of Israel because they did not agree with the religious/moral teachings of Israel’s current leaders. In neighboring caves, additional jars of manuscripts were found. Literally thousands of parchment scrolls were uncovered, most of which discussed the teaching and customs of the Essenes. Included were portions of every single book of the Old Testament (with the exception of Esther) and the ENTIRE book of Isaiah! When compared to the Ben Asher text, they showed virtually no difference, nothing of any significance. And yet, the Dead Sea Scrolls date between 120-125 BC! This bridges a thousand year gap!
No, they are not the originals, but the Dead Sea Scrolls testify that the Jewish scribes were indeed as careful as they claimed. With reasonable certainty, we can trust that the previous thousand years of scripture copying were done just as carefully as the Jews have always claimed.
What a thrill to finally see for myself the caves of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls!
This is Bob Siegel, reporting from Israel where the credibility of the Bible is obvious.
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