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      • Introduction Chapters 1 - 5
      • Isaiah’s Vision of God Chapter 6
      • Israel’s Crisis of Faith Chapters 7 – 39>
        • Isaiah 22: 15-25...Shebna and Eliakim
      • Israel’s Calling in The World Chapters 40 – 55
      • Israel’s Future Transformation Chapters 56 – 66
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ORIGIN OF THE WRITTEN TEXT

The pictures above are images of early writings.  This begs the question...

How Was the Bible Written?

Materials Used
    Papyrus 
    Reeds stripped, cut, beaten, pressed and polished
    Sent through “Byblos”, a Syrian port
    Oldest fragment = 2,400 B.C.
    
Used until 3rd Century A.D. Parchment  
     Animal skin (sheep, goat, antelope, etc.)
     Associated with Pergamum, Asia Minor

Vellum
    Calf skin cleaned, bleached, scrapped, stretched.

Ostraca    
    Common unglazed pottery (broken pieces used as voting ballots to “ostracize” someone in a pure democracy)

Stones 

Clay tablets

Wax tablets

Flat wood covered with wax

Writing Instruments

Chisel

Metal Stylus

Pen
    Pointed reed
    Used on vellum, parchment, papyrus

Ink
    Charcoal, gum, and water edit.

Forms of Ancient Books

Scrolls
    Sheets of papyrus glued together

Longest = 144 feet
    “A big book is a big nuisance.” -Callimachus
 
Codex (“book”)
    Leaf form, written on both sides

Spread of Christianity the main reason?

Types of Writing

Uncial writing
    Deliberate, careful, separate letters

Codex Vaticanus (325 – 350 A.D.)
 
Codex Sinaiticus (340 A.D.)
 
Miniscule writing
    Smaller letters, connected, continuous
    Used for books (9th Century A.D.)

Spaces and Vowels

Greek
    Nobreaksbetweenwords (scriptio continua)

All words ended in vowels or one of three consonants (ν,ρ,ς) so were easy to read.
 
Hebrew
    Vowels not written until 5th - 10th Century A.D. by the Massoretes
 

Divisions of the Text

Old Testament
    Before 586 B.C. prior to 1st Babylonian Captivity
    Pentateuch
    Sedarium = 154 sections = 3 yr. cycle of reading
 
    Before 536 B.C. (Babylon)
    Pentateuch
    Parashiyyoth = 54 sections then subdivided into 669 sections for easier reference, single year reading cycle.

Around 165 B.C....Books called “the Prophets”sectioned
 
After Protestant Reformation....Divisions in margins in 1330 A.D.
 
New Testament
    Paragraphs Before Council of Nicaea (325 A.D)
 
    Chapters...350 A.D.– in the margins of Codex Vaticanus...Matthew had 170 sections
                    1227 A.D.– Current chapter divisions by Stephen Langton Professor at University of Paris...Later The Archbishop of Canterbury

Verses

Old Testament
    First verse indicators: spaces between words that previouslyweretogetherlikethis
 
    Space stops after Babylonian captivity –“verse markings” not standardized until 900 A.D.

Oral Tradition

Papias (~130 A.D.)...Interested in texts, but demonstrates that oral tradition is still “king” at this time “I did not think that information from books would help me so much as a living and surviving voice.”  No surviving works. Fragments recorded by Eusebius.  “Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord”.  Collection of sayings he had heard from ‘students of elders who claimed to have known the first disciples’.

Polycarp (~130 A.D.)
    A single letter of quotes attributed to Jesus
    Roughly 100 quotes
    Some match gospel quotes
    Some match non-Jesus statements from epistles
    Cites no sources

Written Tradition Begins

Basilides(~135 A.D.)
    Gnostic
    Composed the ‘Exegetica’
    Commentary on Gospel story
    Unknown whether he used oral or written sources
    Considered heretical
    Until this point, the only authority cited was “Jesus” or “Christ”
    Basilides ‘Exegetica’ started the doctrinal battles.
    Essentially drawing a line in the sand, implying that you either agreed with him or you’re a heretic.
    The need to establish Church authority to dictate or preserve doctrine was beginning.

Paul vs. the Jewish Christians
    We see some of this in the varying doctrines expressed in the New Testament.
    Some of the disagreements are catalogued in the Bible (Acts)
 
Romans vs. Jews
    Pressure on Christians (echoing this Pauline conflict)
    Began the “us and them” claims

Pro-Roman, Anti-Jew doctrines become popular

Marcion (~144 A.D.)
    Proposes a reform of Christianity
    Old Testament is contradictory and barbaric
    Only Paul’s writings are true
    The true writings weren’t Jewish
    Expelled from the church and formed his own
    Gnostic beliefs
    Jesus wasn’t human
    No Hell
    Established the first Canon...10 Epistles and one Gospel
    Gospel later identified by Tertullian as that of Luke, but with the nativity and all Old Testament references removed
    Commentary retained
    Written prefaces used for the Latin Vulgate

Montanism (~156 A.D.)
    Similar to Protestant (Pentecostal) movement
    Speaking in tongues
    Individual interpretation
    Non-clerical authority
    Made the common man as good as a Priest
    Apocalyptic movement
    Eventually leads to the conflict over canonizing the Revelation of John

Doctrinal Politics

Church authority

Can’t have the average Joe reading and interpreting things on his own

Travel issues

People stayed close to home

Occasional travelers would discover differences in doctrine and write back to the ‘mother’ church
 
Church dispatches

Priests would travel and ‘review’churches to determine if their doctrine was sound.

Build a base

The older, more powerful, richer or stronger-willed churches would dictate doctrine to outlying churches

Those who went along were rewarded

Despite Marcion’scanon, the Montanism heresy and the doctrinal issues, there is still no attempt to create an orthodox canon at this time (~175 A.D.).
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    If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line.  Thank you and be blessed!

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