Lesson 4
We did school this a.m. and went to the park to meet my friend and her kids. We were going to walk around Grays Lake together. Well..... She locked her keys in her car and she had to take her kid to the Dr. at 2 this afternoon (it was 12:50 at the time). Soooo, I took the kids and walked over to the park while they rode their bikes and then watched them play at the park until she got back. She took my van and went and got keys to unlock her car. Therefore, we did not get to chat at all about anything adult like. I think I know why I like my classes so much. It actually challenges my mind to think about things instead of Berenstein Bears (which I have nothing against) or Comfy Couch or Arthur, etc..... And there are adults there for adult conversation. Yeah.
Tonight Auntie is going to take me with her to her church for some Spanish class that is just starting. I need to take Spanish. It is very difficult to work at the hospital sometimes and not know what your patients are saying behind your back OR to your face. Most speak a tiny bit of English, but over this past year, I have run across sooooo many that speak absolutely none. I have also run across several that speak Arabic. The thing that was very difficult with that is that there were different dialects and this gal spoke none of the dialects that were available to translators..... so we did a lot of made up sign language. Lots of Bosnians too. I only know a couple of words in Bosnian. When we were at First Assembly there were some Bosnians there and Edgey's boss had a heart for them. We hung out with a few of them when we were at his Boss' home. They had people over all the time. It was great. That is when Elizabeth was tiny and Jesse just born. I learned how to make Bosnian coffee - its like very strong camping coffee in little espresso cups. I had to use a lot of cream. LOL. Grinds right in the pot of water. I learned a lot.
So after the park deal, we went and got Elizabeth's hair cut. Its the first time she has ever really gotten the full shampoo thing and was really freaking out about it - "will the water be cold? I hate cold water." and "Will it get in my eyes?" At least the stylist was very patient. Her hair is all curly again and the bangs out of her eyes. Hallelujah! I will try to post a picture later.
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Back to the lessons...
Scribes transcribed the Word of God. The original writings of an inspired author are known as "Original Autographs." The "Original" Autographs have been lost through the ages. These writings were put into a "Text." A Text would be a collection of Autographs - a collection building up to be the Canon of Holy Scriptures. The "Canon" is those Scriptures which are considered to be the Inspired Word of God. There are many Autographs, things transcribed by Scribes, which reflect the history of the era, the customs of the people, etc.. but are not considered to be the Inspired, Infallible Word of God. Sometimes these manuscripts have been whole books of the Bible, or a few chapters or a few pages and other manuscripts have only a few words or a verse. These are known as fragments.
In 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Fragments of every book of the Hebrew Canon have been found there except the book of Esther. There are now identified among the scrolls, 19 copies of the book of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy and 30 copies of Psalms. Prophecies by Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel which are not found in the Bible were also written in the Scrolls. The Isaiah scroll was approx 1000 years old and is older than any previously known copy of Isaiah.
When the president of the college went to visit the Shrine of the Word in Jerusalem, the Jewish guide told them that at the college where they were interpreting the Dead Sea Scrolls, that once they were finished- or translated-when they lined them up against the Word of God (the King James Version) that there wasn't one jot or tittle changed from the original. This is awesome that the Word of God has been preserved for this amount of time.
After the original manuscripts were worn out they were destroyed. But they had already been copied by scribes and content was preserved carefully as seen in previous lesson 3. Every record of Scripture which we have is a copy. Copies are produced in Greek and are divided into 4 groups. Each group is coded. The main groups to look at (and there are a bunch) are as follows:
Vaticanus (B)
Sinaiticus (Aleph)
Textus Receptus (TR)
These are the texts which are used as the basis for the Bibles which we have available to us now days. The Textus Receptus is also known as the Antiochan Text, Byzantine Text, Imperial Text, Reformation Text, Traditional Text and the Majority Text or Received Text. This was also the text that was used to translate the KJV.
Manuscripts from which modern versions are translated include not only the text from the Textus Receptus but also the Vaticanus and the Sinaiticus. So what? you say? Read on......
Keep in mind the method of transcribing.....
1. The Vaticanus (B) agrees with the TR only about 50% of the time. It differs from the Majority Greek in nearly 8000 places, which amounts to about one change per verse. It omits several thousand key words from the Gospels, nearly 1000 complete sentences and 500 clauses. It adds approx 500 words, substitutes or modifies another 2000 and transposes word order in about 2000 places. It has nearly 600 readings that do not occur in any other manuscript. It was also written on vellum scrolls (skins which were obtained from animals not yet born) not the papyrus which were used among the "early Christians." It does not consider the following as part of the Bible: Revelation, Phil, Titus, 1 & 2 Timothy, large parts of Samuel, Kings, Nehemiah, Psalms, and Genesis. It omits crucial parts of Mark & Luke. In their place it adds the apocryphal books such as Bel and the Dragon, Tobit, Judith and Epistle of Barnabus. Protestant theologans questioned its lack of use by anyone for 1300 years and then its sudden discovery in the Vatican in 1481. It was used to suppress the Reformation. Also recent technology shows that it had been altered by at least 2 hands, one being as late as the 12th century.
2. The Siniaticus (Aleph) - Has been shown to have as many as 9 correctors during careless transcription. There are some 14,800 places of alteration. (Keep in mind the transcription process in lesson 3) Under ultraviolet lamp original reading in the manuscript were erased.
There are about 9000 changes from the TR. 4,000 omitted words from the gospels, adds 1000, repositions 2000 and alters another 1000. It has approx 1500 readings that appear in no other manuscript. It was found in a wastebasket at a Monestery and kept by the russian government from 1859 to 1933. Some pages were written on sheepskin and some on goatskin.
Mark 14:56
"For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together."
B & Aleph do not agree with the majority of the manuscripts. Not only do they not agree with Majority, but they do not agree with each other as well. The 8000 changes in B and the 9000 changes in Aleph are not the same changes. When the changes are added together they alter the text in about 13,000 places. That's two changes for every verse. It is easier to find two consecutive verses that disagree rather than agree.
More later......
Tonight Auntie is going to take me with her to her church for some Spanish class that is just starting. I need to take Spanish. It is very difficult to work at the hospital sometimes and not know what your patients are saying behind your back OR to your face. Most speak a tiny bit of English, but over this past year, I have run across sooooo many that speak absolutely none. I have also run across several that speak Arabic. The thing that was very difficult with that is that there were different dialects and this gal spoke none of the dialects that were available to translators..... so we did a lot of made up sign language. Lots of Bosnians too. I only know a couple of words in Bosnian. When we were at First Assembly there were some Bosnians there and Edgey's boss had a heart for them. We hung out with a few of them when we were at his Boss' home. They had people over all the time. It was great. That is when Elizabeth was tiny and Jesse just born. I learned how to make Bosnian coffee - its like very strong camping coffee in little espresso cups. I had to use a lot of cream. LOL. Grinds right in the pot of water. I learned a lot.
So after the park deal, we went and got Elizabeth's hair cut. Its the first time she has ever really gotten the full shampoo thing and was really freaking out about it - "will the water be cold? I hate cold water." and "Will it get in my eyes?" At least the stylist was very patient. Her hair is all curly again and the bangs out of her eyes. Hallelujah! I will try to post a picture later.
*************************************************************************************
Back to the lessons...
Scribes transcribed the Word of God. The original writings of an inspired author are known as "Original Autographs." The "Original" Autographs have been lost through the ages. These writings were put into a "Text." A Text would be a collection of Autographs - a collection building up to be the Canon of Holy Scriptures. The "Canon" is those Scriptures which are considered to be the Inspired Word of God. There are many Autographs, things transcribed by Scribes, which reflect the history of the era, the customs of the people, etc.. but are not considered to be the Inspired, Infallible Word of God. Sometimes these manuscripts have been whole books of the Bible, or a few chapters or a few pages and other manuscripts have only a few words or a verse. These are known as fragments.
In 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Fragments of every book of the Hebrew Canon have been found there except the book of Esther. There are now identified among the scrolls, 19 copies of the book of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy and 30 copies of Psalms. Prophecies by Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel which are not found in the Bible were also written in the Scrolls. The Isaiah scroll was approx 1000 years old and is older than any previously known copy of Isaiah.
When the president of the college went to visit the Shrine of the Word in Jerusalem, the Jewish guide told them that at the college where they were interpreting the Dead Sea Scrolls, that once they were finished- or translated-when they lined them up against the Word of God (the King James Version) that there wasn't one jot or tittle changed from the original. This is awesome that the Word of God has been preserved for this amount of time.
After the original manuscripts were worn out they were destroyed. But they had already been copied by scribes and content was preserved carefully as seen in previous lesson 3. Every record of Scripture which we have is a copy. Copies are produced in Greek and are divided into 4 groups. Each group is coded. The main groups to look at (and there are a bunch) are as follows:
Vaticanus (B)
Sinaiticus (Aleph)
Textus Receptus (TR)
These are the texts which are used as the basis for the Bibles which we have available to us now days. The Textus Receptus is also known as the Antiochan Text, Byzantine Text, Imperial Text, Reformation Text, Traditional Text and the Majority Text or Received Text. This was also the text that was used to translate the KJV.
Manuscripts from which modern versions are translated include not only the text from the Textus Receptus but also the Vaticanus and the Sinaiticus. So what? you say? Read on......
Keep in mind the method of transcribing.....
1. The Vaticanus (B) agrees with the TR only about 50% of the time. It differs from the Majority Greek in nearly 8000 places, which amounts to about one change per verse. It omits several thousand key words from the Gospels, nearly 1000 complete sentences and 500 clauses. It adds approx 500 words, substitutes or modifies another 2000 and transposes word order in about 2000 places. It has nearly 600 readings that do not occur in any other manuscript. It was also written on vellum scrolls (skins which were obtained from animals not yet born) not the papyrus which were used among the "early Christians." It does not consider the following as part of the Bible: Revelation, Phil, Titus, 1 & 2 Timothy, large parts of Samuel, Kings, Nehemiah, Psalms, and Genesis. It omits crucial parts of Mark & Luke. In their place it adds the apocryphal books such as Bel and the Dragon, Tobit, Judith and Epistle of Barnabus. Protestant theologans questioned its lack of use by anyone for 1300 years and then its sudden discovery in the Vatican in 1481. It was used to suppress the Reformation. Also recent technology shows that it had been altered by at least 2 hands, one being as late as the 12th century.
2. The Siniaticus (Aleph) - Has been shown to have as many as 9 correctors during careless transcription. There are some 14,800 places of alteration. (Keep in mind the transcription process in lesson 3) Under ultraviolet lamp original reading in the manuscript were erased.
There are about 9000 changes from the TR. 4,000 omitted words from the gospels, adds 1000, repositions 2000 and alters another 1000. It has approx 1500 readings that appear in no other manuscript. It was found in a wastebasket at a Monestery and kept by the russian government from 1859 to 1933. Some pages were written on sheepskin and some on goatskin.
Mark 14:56
"For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together."
B & Aleph do not agree with the majority of the manuscripts. Not only do they not agree with Majority, but they do not agree with each other as well. The 8000 changes in B and the 9000 changes in Aleph are not the same changes. When the changes are added together they alter the text in about 13,000 places. That's two changes for every verse. It is easier to find two consecutive verses that disagree rather than agree.
More later......
posted by Mrs Edgey at 5/02/2006 04:45:00 PM
1 Comments:
I just tried to comment and it didn't let me. I really enjoyed your post today. I totally remember being an at home mom before the boys were in school. Wow. Somedays I seemed to revert and I wanted to watch Nick Jr. and they weren't even home. How much we need adults in our lives. Love ya, girl. Keep 'em coming.
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