“HOW PAINSTAKINGLY CAREFUL WERE JEWISH COPYISTS?”
“HOW
PAINSTAKINGLY CAREFUL WERE JEWISH COPYISTS?”
Dear
Reader, as the word ‘scribes’ … as in the scribes and the Pharisees …
has very unsavoury
connotations in the Bible, the word ‘copyists’ is being used …
and is
more suitable in this context …as one who copies documents and
so on.
These were
men in the old testament, who made copies of original manuscripts with
the unbelievable
and utmost care.
Of course
we must remember, what holy men of God spake was without error … and
not what
was written down (2 Peter 1:21).
Just how
careful were they?
1. Before,
and after, they wrote
the name of God … in any way, shape or form … they would … with
veneration and
reverence … wipe their pens.
2. Before
writing the name of God
… JEHOVAH … they would wash their whole body, lest they would
besmirch
and taint the holy title.
3. The new
copy would straightway
be examined and carefully compared with the original.
4. If there
was even one error
or one incorrect letter that was discovered, the whole copy would be destroyed.
5. Furthermore,
each new copy was
to be made from an approved manuscript.
6. Approved
manuscripts were only
to be written with a special type of ink.
7. The
actual material to be
written upon, had to be a special skin taken from a clean
animal.
8. The
copyist pronounced out
loud … for others to hear … each word before writing it.
9. It was forbidden
to write
any word from memory.
10. The
copyist was to count both
the words and the letters, and how many times each word and each
letter
occurred … and then compare the same to the original.
11. The
copyists would determine the
middle letter of the first five books of the scriptures, the
Pentateuch;
and also the middle clause and the letter of each book.
12. The
copyist would ascertain how
many times each letter of the alphabet occurred in all the Hebrews
scriptures.
For example, the letter Aleph (A) occurred 42,377 times and the
letter Beth
(B) 32,218 times.
13. The
copyist’s all-consuming … one
hundred percent … intent, desire and purpose … was to please God.
Mmmmm!
Dear
Reader, it is the opposite today … that a Christian’s intent,
desire and
purpose today, should be to have a Bible that pleases him or her.
Harley
Hitchcock
August
2024
This
website’s front page is:
www.
“A CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE BIBLE AND THE NEW(BIE)
KING JAMES”
