Bible Class

Monday, September 18th

 Warm Up
Mindset Monday
Faith is taking the first step even when you
dont see the whole staircase. Martin
Luther King, Jr.

1. What step of faith can you take today?

Whats been holding you back from taking
that step?
2. How do people like Dr. King inspire you in
your everyday life?
 Ancient Writing
In ancient Egypt, writing
developed around 3000 BC.
This was hieroglyphics, or
picture-based, writings.
Hieroglyphic Writing
 Ancient Writing
Around the same time,
cuneiform (wedge-shaped)
writing began in Mesopotamia.
Writings were chiseled into
stone, pressed into clay, painted
on leather or written on
papyrus.
Cuneiform Writing
 Ancient Writings
2 kinds of leather were used for
writing:
Vellum fine parchment made
from the skin of a calf.
Parchment- leather made from
the skin of goats, sheep, etc.
Papyrus made from the stem of
a water plant.
Parchmen
t and
Leather
Scroll
 Ancient Writing
By 200 AD, the codex had
replaced the scroll as the format
for documents.
Codices were made by binding
sheets together on the left side,
like a modern book.
Codex
 Transmission of Old
Testament Texts
Most of ancient Bible documents
were written on papyrus.
However, papyrus deteriorated
quickly and need to me copied
and recopied to preserve
important documents.
 Transmission of Old
Testament Texts
Ancient Hebrews considered the Scriptures
to be the Holy Word of God and took
extreme care in copying manuscripts.
Only one character was copied at a time.
Each character on a page was counted before
and after and numbers had to match exactly.
No more that 3 strikethroughs were allowed in
a documents.
If a manuscript was miscopied, it was buried
to prevent copying of mistakes.
Discovery of the Dead
Sea Scrolls
In 1947, a shepherd boy stumbled across a
clay jar in a cave that contained ancient
Jewish scriptures that had been placed
there nearly 2,000 years before.

Over the next few years, many more

scrolls were discovered. In all, 972 scrolls
were found.

When compared to the Scriptures we have

now, they were virtually identical.
 Dead Sea Scrolls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LpTSjTLWcwM
Why do you think were learning
about how the Old Testament was
written and how it was
transmitted over time?