Last week we introduced some Christian Apologetics for the Old Testament, and the Bible in general, by using the Acronym MAPS-S. There is so much evidence for the reliability and accuracy of the Bible, so to help you remember some of that evidence let’s review what MAPS-S stand for :

M = Manuscript evidence

A = Archeological evidence

P = Prophecy fulfillment

S = Science authenticity

S = Saved lives

If you can just remember what the letters stand for it will either jog your memory on the specific evidences, or you can look them up. Either way you have something to quickly share when questions come up about the Bible!

Here’s this week’s presentation on “how we got the Old Testament” and the reliability of the transmission over time (the notes from the presentation are below):

Overview notes from the presentation:

How do we know that the Old Testament is reliable?

• It is generally acknowledged by scholars that the Old Testament we have today is the same one that was being used by Jesus and the Jewish people of the first century AD/CE, at that time considered the sacred Hebrew Scriptures
• The Old Testament covers the period of time from creation to about four hundred years before the birth of Jesus
• There are three lines of evidence…

1.  God’s direction and inspiration

• If God exists (and He does) then miracles are possible; if miracles are possible then God can use miracles to communicate His message with the written word that would last throughout time
• Jesus also used miracles in His ministry to communicate God’s message during His time here on earth
• God Himself can guarantee that what we are reading today is what He meant for us to get
• In Exodus, God Himself wrote some of what He gave to Moses and also directed Moses in his writings:

When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.  -Exodus 31:18

He has made His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.  
-Psalm 111:4 (NASB)

• The word “remember”appears in Scripture some 227 times (examples: 1 Chronicles 16:15, Psalm 111:4, 119:52, Isaiah 46:9, Malachi 4:4).
• The word “written” appears 251 times (examples: Deuteronomy 28:58, Joshua 1:8; 8:34, Psalm 102:18, 1 Kings 2:3, Ezra 3:2, Nehemiah 10:36).
• The high use of these words indicates that God is stressing something important for us to know; He wants us to remember our history (both good and bad) and learn from it.
• He made sure that his chosen authors have written down these things so that it would not be lost over the generations.

From the New Testament

• Paul tells us:  “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”  2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)
• And, Peter tells us:  So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”  2 Peter 1:19-21 (NASB) 

2.  Oral Transmission

• Oral transmission of information from antiquity was community oriented and therefore self-correcting.  
• In ancient culture students of the Scriptures could commit the Torah to memory, and some still do it today.
• Historians consider oral transmission very reliable up through the time of the printing press in the fifteenth century AD/CE.
• *What is notable is that oral transmission from Adam to Moses was only about five generations, and this is a remarkably short transmission line to get to the written Word

The oral transmission of history was very reliable in ancient cultures:

*There were only five generations of people who knew each other from Adam to Moses:

(Adam)—Methuselah—Shem—Isaac—Levi—Amran—(Moses)

Note: These generations from Adam to Moses had overlapping ages (there are many names in-between, but these guys knew each other)

  3.  Written Transmission

• We have outside source confirmation from secular sources in history, literature and archeology
• From Moses’ time on, the written Word was considered sacred
• The job of transmission through copying went to the tribe of Levi and the Scribes (along with the continuation of oral transmission)
• Scribes used materials such as stone, clay, papyrus, parchment, and eventually paper to record the Scriptures

Tanakh

• The Jewish Bible (Tanakh) contains all of the same books that we have in the Old Testament (39), just in a different grouping and order
• These books have long been accepted as God’s Word by Jewish Scribes and historians, and are categorized as the Torah, the writings, and the prophets
• In our Christian Bible we categorized them as the books of Moses, history books, books of wisdom and poetry, and the books of the prophets (major and minor)

Septuagint

• This is the Greek translation and name for the Old Testament
• The Septuagint was the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament into Greek ( 300-200 BC/BCE), and this would have been the Scriptures Jesus read from in the first century AD/CE
• It is the translation used by the early Jews and Christians through the second century AD/CE

Masoretic Text

• Oldest known copy is dated 900 AD/CE
• The Masoretes were Jewish scribe-scholars between the 6th and 10th centuries AD/CE, based primarily in present-day Israel in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem, as well as in Iraq (Babylonia)
• The Old Testament we have today has been translated mainly from this text family
• It differs from the Septuagint mainly in grammar, spelling, and in some places word order

Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS)

• Dated 250 BC/BCE to AD/CE 100
• These scrolls were discovered in 1947 in the Qumran Caves of the West Bank, about a mile north of the Dead Sea
• The DSS contain all of the Old Testament books (with the exception of Esther), and close the one-thousand-year gap from the Masoretic Text, quieting the skeptics
• This discovery also helped confirm the prophecies in the Old Testament, fulfilled by Jesus, were not added or altered after the time of Christ but in fact was there centuries before his birth

What is so exciting is that we can see many of these ancient scrolls in museums, libraries, and Churches around the world today!

Scribes

• Following Moses, the Scribes were required to copy, protect, and preserve their history and the writings through the generations. 
• Copying of the Scripture had extremely rigorous guidelines and there were very harsh warnings for disobedience—see Deuteronomy 28:56-69.
• The scribes believed with all their hearts, souls, and minds that this was the Word of God—see Deuteronomy chapter 6.
• They were responsible for it and had a reverent fear for what they were doing.
• Scribes taught and lived by the highest ethical standards and were willing to die for their job.
• There were over 4000 very strict rules for the treatment of Scripture that could only be performed by Scribes. Here are just a few examples…

Scribal Copying Rules

1. Each scroll must contain a specific number of columns, all equal throughout the entire book
2. Each column’s length must not be less than 48 lines or more than 60
3. Each column’s breadth must be exactly 30 letters
4. The copyist must use a specially prepared black ink
5. The space between every consonant must be the size of a thread
6. The copyist must sit in full Jewish dress
7. The copyist must use a fresh quill to pen the sacred name of God
8. The copyist could copy only letter by letter not word by word
9. The copyist counted the number of times each letter of the alphabet occurred in each book
10. The copyist knew the middle letter of the Pentateuch and of the entire Old Testament
11. After copying the copyist counted forward and backward from the middle letter
12. The copyist must count all letters and spaces
13. The copyist must not be interrupted, even if the King walked in, they could not stop
14. Each manuscript would be compared and read out-loud before the people
15. Any mistake in any area would require the copyist to burn the copy, or tear it up, and start over

Moses wrote these words to the Israelites

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.  Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Going Deeper

Additional information compiled from “gotquestions.org” and the other references below:

How was the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) compiled?

Its assemblage can be traced through Scripture in a fairly accurate manner. After Moses wrote the Pentateuch (Torah) (Exodus 17:14; 24:4, 7; 34:27; Numbers 33:2; Joshua 1:8; Matthew 19:8; John 5:46–47; Romans 10:5), it was placed in the Ark of the Covenant and preserved (Deuteronomy 31:24). Over time, other inspired texts were added to the first five books of the Bible. During the time of David and Solomon, the books already compiled were placed in the temple treasury (1 Kings 8:6) and cared for by the priests who served in the temple (2 Kings 22:8). More books were also added during the reign of King Hezekiah: David’s hymns, Solomon’s proverbs, and prophetic books such as Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah (Proverbs 25:1). In general, as the prophets of God spoke, their words were written down, and what was recorded was included in what today is the Old Testament.

During the exile of the Jews in the sixth century, the books were preserved. Around 538 BC the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity, and Ezra the priest later added other inspired works to the compilation. A copy of the Torah was then stored in the Most Holy Place of the second temple, where the ark of the covenant used to sit. Following a meticulous process, other copies of the Torah were made to protect and preserve the inspired writings. This collection of Old Testament books, written in the Hebrew language, is what Judaism calls the “Hebrew Bible.”

In AD 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the area of Qumran in Israel. Various scrolls date anywhere from the 5th century BC to the 1st century AD. Historians believe that Jewish scribes maintained the site to preserve God’s Word and to protect the writings during the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. The Dead Sea Scrolls represent nearly every book of the Old Testament, and comparisons with more recent manuscripts show them to be virtually identical—the main deviations are the spellings of some individuals’ names and various numbers quoted in Scripture.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a testimony to the accuracy and preservation of the Old Testament and give confidence that the Old Testament we have today is the same Old Testament used by Jesus. In fact, Luke records a statement made by Jesus regarding the assemblage of the Old Testament: “For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation’” (Luke 11:49–51, emphasis added). Jesus confirmed the 39 books of the Old Testament in these verses. Abel’s death is found in Genesis and Zechariah’s in 2 Chronicles—the first and last books of the Hebrew Bible.

• Evidence That Demands A Verdict (Josh.org), book by Josh McDowell and Dr. Sean McDowell, Professor, Biola University
• “Christian Apologetics: Where Did The Old Testament Come From?” by Doug Powell, M.A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI3cpHVp8_s
• “The Reliability of the Old Testament,” by Dr. Tom Howe, Director of Veritas Graduate School of Apologetics and Professor of Bible and Biblical Languages at Southern Evangelical Seminary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPPk0xYMHTk

Bible Study

In the introduction session we looked at the hermeneutics for the Torah (first five books of the Bible). We will be studying the life of Abraham over the next few sessions. To prepare for next week study Genesis 11:26 through chapter 14 and we will have questions for you to answer on next week’s post!

Join us next week as we continue our “Case for the Old Testament: Session 2, Part 3 – The Big Picture”

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