The book we now refer to as the “Bible” consists of 66 books (39 in the Tanach; 27 in the Apostolic Scriptures). The word “Bible” derives from the Greek word biblion (biblivon), a word that could mean any written document, whether in a scroll or a codex (book form). The Greek word itself is derived from bublos (buvblo~) which denoted papyrus, a form of Egyptian “paper” made from the papyrus reed. The fibers of the reed were processed to form flat sheets, which were woven together to form long scrolls, wound around wooden sticks called navels. Eventually, it was discovered that one could take individual sheets and place them, one on top of the other, and bind them together on one edge to form what eventually became the codex or book form as we know it. Thus, “the Book” of sacred writings given to the prophets of Israel became known as “the Bible” (sometimes loosely referred to as א ָר ְק ִמ, mikrah in modern Hebrew). Our current Bible contains the work of over 40 authors, and spans a time period of over 2000 years. It is therefore a collection of various kinds of writings, gathered through the centuries, beginning with the time of Moses and ending with the Apostolic period of the 1st Century CE. The Bible contains narrative (story form), poetry, wisdom literature, legal codes, hymns, prophecies, apocalyptic literature, midrash and parables, and epistles (letters). It is written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and thus it spans not only time but also cultures, represented in the evolving languages in which it was written. It may be surprising to some to realize that none of the original works of the biblical authors exist (what are usually referred to as “autographs”). All that remains are copies of copies. Moreover, complete copies of even sections of the Bible are rare. Most often, what remains are parts of the Bible, and many scraps or fragments of former scrolls and pages of books. Furthermore, in the course of history, the Bible was translated into many different languages, and there remains to this day copies of such ancient translations in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic (a South Semitic language), Coptic (the last phase in the development of Egyptian), and a host of others. Thus, the Bible we now have is a careful compilation of these copies to form the whole. But the Bible, as the word of God, existed before it was written down. And exactly when the writing began is a matter of speculation. We know, of course, that the word of God was written at Sinai, given to Moses as the Ten Words, written by the very finger of God (Ex 31:18; Deut 9:10). But before the giving of the Torah at Sinai, the word of God had come to Adam and Chavah, to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to many others. We should remember, then, and take stock in the fact that the word of God is eternal, for it represents the revelation of the eternal One. The question that immediately confronts us is the manner in which the word of God was written, and how these written materials were eventually gathered together to form the book we now call “the Bible.” We know, of course, that different communities accepted various collections as their “Bible.” In modern times, for instance, the traditional synagogue receives only the Tanach (Torah– Neviim–Ketuvim) as holy scripture. The Apostolic Writings are rejected as sacred, and studied only as the literature of man. The Christian Church, in its post-reformation formulations, accepted the Apostolic Scriptures as on par with the Tanach. But even within the Christian Church, what constituted “the Bible” was disputed. Eventually the Roman Catholic Church received the apocryphal books into their canon, while the Protestant Church generally rejected these as extra-canonical. But even within the Roman Catholic Church there were divisions, the Eastern and Western Church debating on which apocryphal writings should be included. And even the Protestant Church was not in full agreement. Many people do not realize that in the original publication of the King James Version in 1611, the apocryphal books of the Roman Catholic Church were included. It is important, then, to keep well in mind that the Bible we now have is the final form of what took millennia to write and compile, and that ultimately the 66 books we receive as canon (from the Greek word kanwvn, kanon, meaning “a reed,” which was used as a measuring stick, thus, it came to mean “that by which something is measured,” “rule,” “standard”) are the result of a long history of God’s people living with, and accepting, the word of God as it was delivered by His prophets and apostles. But what do we know of this history? Where did it all begin, and how did it unfold? As noted above, much of this history is speculative, at least in terms of its ancient settings. But the Bible itself contains much of this history, and we are therefore able to piece together a reasonable estimation of how the process unfolded.
By Tim Hegg Torah Resource used by permission
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