When we read the Bible, we are valiantly leaping across a chasm of two to three thousand years. Consider how much a single language changes over time: read Beowulf, Chaucer, or Shakespeare, and you may struggle with words and syntax, yet their English is less than half as old as the Bible. So when we read an English Bible, we are not merely seeing a translation from a foreign language; we are traveling back in time to another very different world of words, viewpoint, and grammar.
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, a language that reads right to left; our back of the book is their front. They wrote only with consonants, omitting the vowels (which were superfluous, as people knew the contents by heart). Luther and Calvin wished Christians would learn Hebrew, which they called "God's language."
A tiny fraction of the Old Testament was written in a grandchild language to Hebrew: Aramaic - which Jesus and the disciples spoke! But the New Testament was written in Greek: so when we read Jesus' words, even the Greek is already a translation! Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek were languages with tenses and moods that do not match up perfectly with English. Many words which are easy to translate did not mean then what they mean now. For instance, "justice": the Hebrew mishpat does not mean the good are rewarded and the wicked are punished; mishpat justice means the neediest in society are cared for. A just society takes care of its weakest, most downtrodden members; an unjust society does not.
Do we have any of the original manuscripts of any biblical writings? Unfortunately, no. The oldest copies of the New Testament (the 3rd century Bodmer and Chester Beatty papyri) are longer after the fact than United States is old! The oldest copies of the Old Testament were from 900 A.D. until archaeologists found the Dead Sea Scrolls, the most ancient copies of any Bible material.
Certainly, errors crept in when scrolls were copied out laboriously by hand. Some errors were simple: skipping a line, or misspelling a word. Others require a little detective work. How tall was Goliath? "Six cubits and a span," 9 feet, 6 inches tall. But among the Dead Sea Scrolls was found a scrap of 1 Samuel 17 measuring Goliath as merely "four cubits and a span," 6 feet, 6 inches. Which is more accurate? Probably 6'6": that scrap is earlier by centuries, and we can imagine a scribe, in a fit of zeal over the power of God in young David, exaggerating a bit - like your tale about that fish you caught. And in Bible times, when men rarely grew taller than 5'2", 6'6" would still be gigantic.
What is amazing is the incredible accuracy of the copies we have from different places and ages: very few divergences, most of no consequence whatsoever; copyists were fastidious. English translators have a superb grasp on the nuances of these ancient tongues, so we enjoy superb translations in which we can place great trust, yet we can draw marvelous benefits from a footnote in a study Bible or commentary that teaches us about "God's languages."
James
james@mpumc.org
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eBibleQuestions7 - How do we read the Bible?
eBibleQuestions8 - What about Creation and Evolution?
