Chapter V: What Was Scripture? the Septuagint

=1. The first five books=, called the books of Moses, seem always to have existed in one roll, and these constituted “The Law,” and were the only Scriptures read in the synagogues until the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, B. C. 168,[129] who bitterly persecuted the Jews and forbade the use of the Law in the synagogues. During the time of this prohibition, only the Prophets were read, in the place of the Law, but when the persecution ceased the Jews began the reading of the Law again, but continued the reading of the prophets.[130]

=2. In order that the Pentateuch= should be read through in one year, the entire work was divided into fifty-four sections,[131] so as to supply a portion for each Sabbath.[132] These divisions were made long before the time of the persecution just referred to; indeed the earliest Hebrew writers think they existed almost so far back as the time of Moses.[133]

=3. In the time of Ezra= the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, Esther, Malachi, and possibly Daniel, were not included in the Canonical books of that time, simply because they were either not completed or too recently completed. Scripture, or the Bible as we would call it, consisted only of the five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, in one roll. The Psalms of David were sung in the Temple worship, but no other books appear to have been used in public worship until the time we have already stated, B. C. 168. But the Jewish writers included in the word “prophets” some of the historical books.[134]

Ezra is considered by both ancient Jews and by modern scholars to be the author both of the Chronicles and of Ezra.[135] Nehemiah was the author of the book bearing his name, and this is the last _historical_ book of Scripture, as Malachi is the last _prophetic_ book. The book of Nehemiah contains the history of the Jews from a period beginning 12 years after the close of the book of Ezra, B. C. 456, to about 110 years after the Captivity, or B. C. 426, with the exception we shall hereafter state, p. 219. Esther became queen of Xerxes B. C. 478.[136] The inscription on the rocks at Behustan, 215 miles northeast of Babylon, has shown that this king was the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther, which was written some years after she became queen.

=4. In regard to the size of those ancient books=, it should be remembered that it was not always convenient to bind together in any way more than a very few of them in one volume. They were in rolls, as the word “volume” means, and when we know that one ancient roll of only the Law of Moses, of average size, in manuscript, which is preserved in the Collegiate Library, Manchester, England, is 160 feet long and 20 inches wide, we may readily see that very few could be handled at a time.

THE ORDER OF THE BOOKS.

=5. The books of the Old Testament= were named in the order of their importance in Jewish estimation, and not as we would name them to-day in the order of their position in the single volume of our Bibles. The books of the Law always took precedence in the order, then the Prophets, and after them the Psalms, as three general divisions, and this statement included all, Luke 24:44. That some of the books were kept in separate rolls to a very late period is evident even in the time of Christ, for when he appeared in the synagogue at Nazareth only the roll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and from this he read, Luke 4:17.

=6. But in the enumeration= of the books individually, except in the case of the five “books of the Law,” which, as we have said, have never been known otherwise than in one volume, it is evident that some variations of the exact order have occurred. These variations had their origin in the Septuagint[137] translation, wherein the translators not only changed the Hebrew order, but the Hebrew names of some, and even divided some of the books, making two or more out of one.

=7. As an illustration of the changes in names= of the books, the translators gave the Greek names: GENESIS, “the beginning;” EXODUS, “the going out;” LEVITICUS, “concerning Levitical law;” NUMBERS (of Latin derivation), because the book contains the census of the tribes or numbers;[138] DEUTERONOMY, the Greek for “the repeated law,” because of the repetition of the law.

=8. The Jews used the initial Hebrew words= of each book in the Pentateuch for its name; but this does not occur afterwards. The books of Samuel were one with the older Jews, and so were the books of Kings; but the Greek translators made them the first and second books of the “kingdoms,” and the books of Kings came in course as the third and fourth books, and this is the reason for the additions to the titles in our English Bibles, “otherwise called the first book, the second book, etc., of Kings.”

END OF THE CANONICAL PERIOD.

=9. By this term= is meant the end of that time whose history is included in the latest of the Old Testament books. Some of these books contain histories which extend to a period nearer the Christian era than do the histories of others, as in the case of the books of the Chronicles, of Esther, of Ezra, and Nehemiah.

=10. The books of the Old Testament=, which are thirty-nine in number, present the records of events which transpired during the course of more than 3,500 years, or from the creation of Adam to the third century before the Christian era. But we must keep in mind the distinction between the time when events occurred and the time when such events were first recorded. There yet remains another date, namely that of the period when the collator or collators of all these manuscripts produced his or their own work of collecting and arranging them into one history or one volume. Let us suppose a case.

=11. A historian undertakes to write= a true history of the times of the Norman conquest. In gathering the materials for this history he visits the libraries and collections and finds an old manuscript-history of events written by some one who was on the field at the battle of Hastings, and another written by one who lived in the times soon after and had heard from living witnesses of the exploits of the warrior Hereward in his contests with the Normans. In another manuscript he finds a collection of the ballads of those times commemorating the acts of some brave knight and some reminiscences of that age as communicated by tradition to immediate descendants. With these and other materials he compiles the history desired.

=12. Such a history= of the Norman conquest of England would be credible, first, if the editor or compiler in his researches truthfully found and wisely used such manuscripts as we have described; and second, if the manuscripts and his other authorities were in themselves trustworthy. But how is this to be tested? We read the new book when finished, and in order to learn something satisfactory upon these two points we now start out upon our examinations. Our question is, Was there ever such an event as the battle of Hastings? How shall we get testimony?

=13. The geography= of the country, =local remains=, and other facts may furnish us with evidence for or against. In one chapter of the book it is stated that there was an old castle in which William lodged the night before the battle, and that there is from it no view north, but a fair view towards the south.

We visit Hastings and find the remains of an old castle, and we see high hills on the north and none on the south. Herein we see some corroboration of the history. But now some one shows that there is no evidence that any battle ever was fought at Hastings, and the oldest manuscripts sustain the objection, and show that the battle of the conquest was fought at a place called Senlac.

This now throws a doubt upon the whole history. There is contradiction, perhaps error. We go back to the study of the manuscripts and we find that a more recent collator of the history of the conquest, writing with a view to readers of his own times, introduced the new name, “Hastings,” as better understood than another name, Senlac, and all subsequent copyists followed his manuscript.

But the early name, “Senlac,” is found nowhere, while it still remains true that no battle was fought at Hastings. Additional doubt shadows the whole history. But now in a monastery an old manuscript is found, written centuries ago, describing some of the old abbeys, among which one is mentioned named “Battle Abbey,” followed by a short explanation, stating that it is located at the village called “Battle,” quite near Hastings. The last part is an interpolation in the manuscript, and evidently written many years after the writing of the original manuscript, and both authors are unknown.

We now visit the village of Battle, near Hastings, and find local traditions handed down in connection with an old abbey still remaining and built upon the spot where Harold fell. Arrow-heads and fragments of battle-axes are found and are shown to us; the former are found scattered over the hills only on one side. This corroborates another statement, that the Normans used bows and arrows, while the Anglo-Saxons used only battle-axes.

All these discoveries strengthen the links in the chain of evidences between facts and their history, until all doubts are cleared away and even the “validity of doubt itself is doubtful.”

=14. Just such a course= of research, of discovery, and of success in final vindication has attended almost every historical announcement in Scripture.

=15. At the close= of the Canonical period, whatever books made up the Canon were so rigidly guarded ever afterwards in every way, by memorizing, by commentary and paraphrase, by increasing the copies in manuscripts, and by numbering letters and words, that it is impossible that any material difference exists between them and the books which make up the Old Testament of the present day. These books have not been changed in any important respect during the 2,200 years which have transpired since the close of the Canon.

=16. But now the chief discussion is= upon the question, Did the books, at the close of the Canonical period, fairly represent those books which the original authors wrote before the Canon was closed? In other words, have we a true copy of the books of Moses and true copies of those who wrote after him? The second question is, Were those ancient books trustworthy――were they truly historical? Did Ezra and the others wisely and truly use the old manuscripts, and were those manuscripts trustworthy?

=17. Now it will be perceived= that we occupy the position of those who undertook to corroborate the history of the battle of Hastings. We shall proceed somewhat as we did then.

From the repeated and varied discoveries in Egypt, Assyria, and Palestine we have a repetition of the names of kings and of cities never known before the present century except as they were mentioned in Scripture. They have been recently found recorded upon the monuments which had been buried centuries before the captivity, and brought to light only in the present century. Inscriptions have been discovered which repeated historical statements of early Scripture books, some of which statements had either been omitted entirely by every Greek historian or had been contradicted by them, but which, when the hieroglyphic and cuneiform languages could be read, were proved to be accurate statements――thus giving testimony to the fact that the Scripture accounts were more ancient and more accurate than any of the Greek or other histories.

=18. Again: peculiar terms of art= occur in the Scriptures, with official titles, trade names, allusions to customs, and forms of expression, the origins of which have been found only among the nations where, or about which, these particular books of Scripture purport to have been written; and they could be recognized only after the hieroglyphic histories of these ancient nations could be read.

The inferences from all these parallelisms are apparent: these Scripture books are truly historical, they contain the records of facts and are trustworthy.

At what time all these histories were committed to writing, or who were the writers, we are not in all cases able to show; but inability in this respect does not disprove the fact of authenticity.

VARIATIONS IN THE BOOKS.

=19. When we consider the ages= through which many of the books of the Bible have passed, and the singular conditions upon which they have thus passed through those ages, we may readily appreciate the claim of a supernatural preservation.

There are writings, more ancient than those of the Mosaic manuscripts, which have come down to us from long before the time of Moses; such are the so-called “Books of the Dead,” found in the tombs of Egypt;[139] but these writings, as soon as they were finished, were immediately locked up amid the spices, the darkness and protection of the tomb, till recently brought out, while the contents of the books of the Mosaic Law, and other manuscripts of Scripture, have come percolating down through the ages, doing battle all that time with thousands of scribes, and indeed with any transcriber who felt inclined to copy a book; and that work of transcribing has continued from the period when the Mosaic manuscripts were completed down to the period of the return from the captivity, or of the close of the Canon――that is over a thousand years――and from that period to the present.

Excepting variations in some numerical figures and in a few names, which may be accounted for, and in some cases corrected, all the rest of the variations are of so small importance that the Bible, as we possess it, may well be considered a literary monument, standing alone and unexampled amid the literature of all time. And this not only for its singular preservation, but for that evident unity of purpose, persistent through all its variety of subjects and authors, until the time when the last prophetic utterance closed the Canon.

Then there stood out in luminous form a finished work, whose pages exhibit the proof of a systematic plan, designed from the very beginning to fill out progressively its mysterious pages, until the last letter was complete, in order that a world might see, in one volume, the object of creation, the necessity of law, the illustrations of judgment and of providence, and the redemption and coming salvation of the race.

THE SEPTUAGINT, B. C. 286‒285. (?)

=20. The conquest of the Persians= under Alexander introduced the Greek language into Western Asia and other lands. This introduction prepared the way for a very extensive circulation of the entire Old Testament writings throughout the surrounding nations and even the world. For up to this time all the Old Testament was in the Hebrew language; but as soon as the translation into the Greek was made, of which we shall now speak, even those who could not speak Greek could easily find those who could, because among the learned and unlearned there were many who knew Greek who did not understand the Hebrew.

When, therefore, the death of Alexander was followed by the partition of his conquests among his generals, Egypt became, in B. C. 322, governed by the Ptolemies, the second of whom, Ptolemy Philadelphus, B. C. 286‒247, had the Law of Moses, that is the =first five books=, translated from the Hebrew into the Greek.

=21. Under the first of the Ptolemies= (Soter) the Alexandrian Museum was founded for the reception of learned men, as well as of literary treasures, and Alexandria soon superseded Athens as the chief nursery of Greek literature. Under his successor and son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, the library of the Museum contained 90,000 volumes of distinct works, but 400,000 with the duplicates.

Beginning with some period in the reign of the first Ptolemy (Soter), the Jews were attracted to Alexandria in large numbers as settlers, to whom this Ptolemy assigned a suburb on the coast towards the east. The city became the resort of some of the wisest and ablest men of the age, including such men as Apelles the painter, Euclid the mathematician, and many others, artists and scholars.

=22. But under Ptolemy II., Philadelphus=, B. C. 283, the Museum became most prosperous, and among its members were numbered grammarians, natural philosophers, astronomers, physicians, poets, and Greek philosophers of the schools.[140] It was under this state of things that the translation above referred to was asked by the king and was undertaken, according to tradition, by seventy of the most learned Jews of that date, and hence called “The translation of the seventy,” or the Septuagint.

=23. Although at first= only the Pentateuch was translated, the other books were, in after years, gradually added to this translation. The Septuagint was used among the Jews not only of Alexandria, but of Palestine also, and during the times of our Saviour and the apostles was more frequently quoted than was the original Hebrew.[141]