The Story of the Bible
In the beginning, there were storytellers. They were the first visionaries, the first artists, the ones who bridged worlds of history and poetry and time. I imagine people huddled around the orange glow of a campfire in the darkening night, listening. But I don’t really know. Somehow the stories passedfrom generation to generation and from people group to people group, becoming the lore of humanity. Similar stories of creation, a destructive flood, giant celestial beings, sibling jealousy and murder, the hubris of pride and the dispersion of languages, among others, appear in the mythologies of people groups as distant from one another as Papua New Guinea and Norway.
And somehow, out of this primordial mythos, the Bible came into being and impacted the world in a way that no other book has. Other books have been important, but no other book has had the pervasive impact on the development of books themselves, the beginnings and advancement of printing, the structure and lexicon of languages, and ethics and cultures of the world. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the best-selling and most widely distributed book.
It is the inspiration for much of the world’s revered art, music and literature. Words from the Bible and artwork from its stories find form in masterpieces by artists such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Haydn, Rutter, Shakespeare, Dante, Milton, Blake, Lewis, Tolkien, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Raphael, Rodin, Rubens, Chagall, to name a few. The entire Bible is told in cathedral libraries of stained glass that are roughly 26 feet in length or 40 feet in diameter.
Most simply, the Bible is the story of the relationship between God and humankind. It is also the history of the Jewish people and the early Christian church.
We have no idea how many years passed between the Earth’s beginnings and the birth of the man who would play a key role in the Bible as a written text. The Bible does not provide a date, nor does its poetic presentation give more than an order of events. Thousands, millions, even billions of years could have passed between each step in creation. Scientific dating methods, though not foolproof, provide better information about the likely number of years.
People dispersed throughout the Earth and developed their own customs, languages, stories, histories. Similar among them was the worship of multiple deities who reigned in cyclical fashion over the Earth.
I am fascinated by the things that seem to be hardwired into human beings. One of those things is the sense that there is something bigger than ourselves who we can either please or displease. Where did that idea come from? Perhaps in part from the oral traditions passed down through the stories of old that told of a god who, like a parent, wanted the obedience of people.
There were gods who allowed or, if displeased, did not allow good crops or hunting or children or sun or rain.
Then, something new. Abraham.
He was from Ur in Mesopotamia, the land of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that some call the cradle of civilization. I’ve always dreamed of touching those rivers. Now Iraq, it was Sumer then, the place with one of the earliest evidences of written language, pictographic cuneiform, around 3500 to 3000 BC, just before the time Abraham lived.
He was just Abram then, before becoming the father of many nations and the patriarch of three predominant and aggressive world religions. His father, Terah, took the family north to the land of Canaan to a town called Haran, a flourishing caravan city. Abram was visited by God. God to man. One to one. This was a very different kind of interaction with a god. And the request the god made was new. Leave your family and go to the land I will show you. With the request came a promise that Abram would become a great nation and the land he was shown would be given to his descendants, who would be as numerous as the stars. With roughly 4 billion of the 7.3 billion people on earth today claiming Abraham as a spiritual “father” and two descendant nations vying for control of that land an estimated 4,000 years later, talk about keeping a promise!
This new linear relationship with God passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph. These people and their families became the Hebrew nation. The word Hebrew, its literal meaning is “from the other side,” was a disparaging term used by non-Israelites to describe a people who were considered dirty, foreign, property-less vagabonds.
And still, as far as we know, nothing was written down. Oral tradition continued as the stories were told again and again among the people.
Moses, most likely the combination of Moses and a scribe or two, are credited with writing the first five books of the Bible. These books are called the Pentateuch, literally “five scrolls.” The Pentateuch is the core of the Jewish Torah. It is also revered as sacred by the Muslim religion. The Pentateuch was written on parchment and apparently kept in or near the Ark of the Covenant that contained the stone tablets where the Ten Commandments were written, Aaron’s rod, and a pot of manna.
The Old Testament began with the five books of Moses and carried forward with the writings, most likely scribed by others, of leaders, judges, kings and prophets. King David wrote songs and poems. King Solomon wrote proverbs and songs about love. When local unknowns wrote something beautiful, it was included, too. Most of the authors of the books of the Old Testament are obscure. They were scribes who wrote quietly with no need to make names for themselves. They were simply doing their part to record the history of the Israelites.
At a patriarchal time and place in history, it is important to note that two books are dedicated to the heroism and bravery of women, Ruth and Esther, both of unknown authorship.
The Israelites, the Hebrew Nation, became the writers and keepers of the history of their people and their linear relationship with God. It was sacred to them. The book of Deuteronomy gives a context for why it was important to keep a written record. It was noted that the Israelites easily forgot how God wanted them to live. In order to remember what was right, they were instructed to repeat the words: “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 doorframe of your houses and on your gates,” (Deuteronomy 6:7-9)
Thus, written text to be taught and taken to heart was essentially mandated by God.
And the people revered the text. Scribes believed that if they made an error God would strike them dead. So, there was more than a little pressure to do it right.
Who decided what books to include in the Old Testament? That was pretty much decided by the history keepers among the Israelites. They decided what to include or not include in the canon of the Tanakh (some call this the Hebrew Bible). The Tanakh includes all of the same books that are in the Old Testament of the Bible, however, they are arranged in different order and some smaller books are grouped together as one book.
The books called the “Apocrypha” (meaning “hidden”) were written by Israelites prior to the time of Christ, but for one reason or another, no one really knows, they were not included in the Tanakh. Christians later added these books because they thought they were valuable reading. Sometimes they were grouped together as “Apocrypha” and other times they were interspersed through the Old Testament as thematically or chronologically appropriate.
Protestant Reformer and Bible translator Martin Luther stated that the books of the Apocrypha were “not held equal to the Sacred Scriptures and yet are useful and good for reading.” He grouped them outside of the Old Testament in his translations, however, the Roman Catholic Church chose to keep them interspersed within the Old Testament. The Roman Catholic Church refers to them as “deuterocanonical” or in other words, a “second canon of books.”
The Apocryphal books in the Roman Catholic canon include: Tobit, Judith, additions to the book of Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (also known as The Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach), Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, additions to Daniel: “The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews (the prayer of the three in the fiery furnace),” “The Book of Susanna” and “Bel and the Dragon,” 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees. There are a few more books that sometimes appear in Biblical Apocrypha: two books of Esdras that are continuations of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, Psalm 151, and the Prayer of Manasseh.
The fact that they are not part of the Jewish canon and that they have a heavy Greek influence, meaning they would have been written later than other writings, lends credence to their exclusion from the Old Testament. However, they are interesting and informative stories worth reading.
The oldest existing manuscripts from the Old Testament found to-date are two tiny silver scrolls containing parts of the Book of Numbers. Dated prior to the Babylonian exile, sometime between from 650-587 BC, they were found at Ketef Hinnom, an archeological site southwest of the Old City of Jerusalem on the road to Bethlehem. The Dead Sea Scrolls dating from 150 BC to 70 AD contain fragments from the Old Testament. There are fragments of a Greek translation of the Old Testament, also known as the Septuagint dating from 300-100 BC. The Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex are Hebrew manuscripts that date from 100 AD. There are manuscripts of translations of the Old Testament into Coptic (Egyptian) from 3rd or 4th century AD, Syriac (Middle Aramaic) from early 5th century AD, and Vulgate (Latin) from early 5th century AD.
The four great uncial codices are the oldest remaining Greek Bibles (Old Testament and New Testament). They are handwritten on parchment using the late Old Roman uncial calligraphy. The four are: Codex Vaticanus c. 300-325 AD (currently in the Vatican Library), Codex Sinaiticus c. 330-360 AD (currently in the British Library), Codex Alexandrinus c. 400-440 AD (currently in the British Museum), and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus c. 450 AD (currently in the National Library of France).
The British Library indicates that the Codex Sinaiticus is perhaps the first large bound book to have been produced. The manuscript is possibly the first in a long relationship between the Bible and the evolution of the printed word.
Gradually replacing the scroll, the codex is one of the most important advances in bookmaking prior to printing. A codex is a book constructed from a number of sheets of paper, vellum or papyrus with handwritten contents. The book is usually bound by stacking the pages, fixing one edge, and the cover is thicker than the sheets.
The Tanakh remained in Hebrew among the Israelites until Greek King of Egypt Ptolemy II commissioned seventy-two Jewish scholars, six from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, to translate the Torah into Greek for inclusion in the renowned Library of Alexandria. The legend states that each scholar translated identically. The resulting text was called the Septuagint or “translation of the seventy interpreters.” Ultimately, the entire Tanakh was translated into Greek and Septuagint was included in the Library of Alexandria in 132 BC.
Then, something new again. Taking writing one step further, the word made flesh: the birth, life and death of Jesus. Four primary and secondary witnesses wrote it down, essentially telling the same story four different ways.
The first was John Mark. Easiest Gospel to read in Greek, if you care to read it in the original language. John Mark was not one of the disciples. He was an associate of Peter’s and appears to have written his account based on the preaching of Peter. So, in essence, it is a secondhand account of Peter’s witness. Its action packed nature makes sense because Peter was a man of quick, impulsive action. John Mark appears in the book of Acts and went on missionary journeys with Paul and Barnabas.
The second was Matthew, one of the twelve disciples, so it is an eyewitness account.
The third is Luke, a doctor who travelled with Paul on missionary journeys and wrote the book of Acts as well. He appears to have written the Gospel account for a specific person, Theophilus, who was a Roman official, possibly Luke’s publisher or patron. Luke begins the account: “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught,” Luke 1:1-4.
The fourth is the mystical John. An eyewitness account from the disciple whom Jesus loved.
The book of Acts written by Luke detailed events of the early church just after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Paul wrote letters to various people in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, Thessaloniki, and to Timothy, Titus and Philemon.
Hebrews is a book that bridges the Old and New Testaments and the authorship is unknown, although many, especially in ancient times, cited Paul as the author.
James, likely the brother of Jesus, wrote a letter to the Jewish Christians. 1 Peter and 2 Peter are letters written by the apostle Peter to the scattered Christians. There are three letters written by the apostle John.
Finally, the Revelation of the apostle John written to bring hope to the persecuted Christians.
And there you have the New Testament.
Someone hung onto the letters and shared them. Someone decided to put the accounts of Jesus’ life and the letters together and pass them around to other Christians.
The manuscripts and translations of the Jewish historian Josephus (37-100 AD) confirm and provide an additional cultural and historical context for many of the people, places and events recorded in the New Testament. Josephus also confirms the Jewish canon that ultimately became the Biblical Old Testament.
In the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries, the Christian church leaders met in synods in Carthage, which is Tunis, Tunisia today. The 397 AD Synod resulted in setting an official canon of the Bible that includes the Hebrew canon (Old Testament) with the inclusion of Tobit, Judith, and 1 and 2 Maccabees, and the books of the New Testament as known today. Essentially, in 397 AD, the first official “Bible” contained the same books as today’s Bible with a few additions to the Old Testament. It’s remarkable to think that the content of the Bible remains largely consistent 1,620 years later. In contrast, interpretations of the Bible have remained as varied as there are people to interpret.
In 382 AD, Saint Jerome was commissioned by the Pope to translate the Bible into Latin. Jerome used the Hebrew Tanakh to translate the Old Testament, rather than the Greek Septuagint, which was a controversial choice at the time. The Latin translation is called the Vulgate, which means the language of the people, and was the Bible of the Christian Church through the 14th Century AD.
It seems to make sense to translate the Bible into all the languages of the people. For some reason, however, those who translated tended to be persecuted and killed. Power corrupts and the Roman Catholic Church had become powerful. It got to the point that people really knowing what the Bible said could jeopardize the church’s widespread control and source of income.
In 1382 AD, John Wycliffe began translating the Bible from Latin to Middle English and his friends completed the translation after his death. He was persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church for questioning its practices.
In 1455 AD, shortly after inventing the movable type printing press, Johannes Gutenberg printed an edition of the Latin Vulgate that became known as the Gutenberg Bible. It was the first major book printed using movable type.
In 1521-1522 AD, Martin Luther translated the New Testament from Latin into German while in hiding from the wrath of both the Pope and the Emperor at Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany. In 1534 AD, Martin Luther completed his translation of the Old Testament from Latin to German.
In 1532-1536 AD, William Tynsdale used Hebrew and Greek texts to translate the Bible into English. He was persecuted by the church of England, convicted of heresy, strangled, and then burned at the stake, however, his work endured.
In 1611 AD, the King James Bible translation was published and became the primary Bible for English speaking people for the next 300 years. It was around this time that the Roman Catholic Church finally warmed up to the idea of translating the Bible into languages common people could understand.
And there, in brief, is the story of the Bible. There is no other book like it. Its words and stories have shaped numerous languages and are ubiquitous the world over. Whether you read it as a source of spiritual enlightenment and strength or as historical literature or both, whether you find it too violent, too sexual, or too detailed with lists, there is no other book that has had as extensive an effect on humankind as the Bible.
SOURCE MATERIALS
Bell, James Stuart and Campbell, Stan. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Bible. 2005.
Cahill, Thomas. The Gift of the Jews. 1998.
Schippe, Cullen and Stetson, Chuck. The Bible and Its Influence. 2006.
Biblica: The International Bible Society. Why Do Some Bibles Have a Section Called the Apocrypha?