How Did We Get The Bible (part 5)
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ #1: What do we do with the corruption of 1 Samuel 13:1? Should this make us question the trustworthiness of the Scriptures?
1 Samuel 13:1 (ESV)
13 Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel.
Acts 13:21 (ESV)
21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
Example of corruption: 1 Samuel 13:1
- The Masoretic Text (MT) reads: “Saul was a year old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel.”
- The Septuagint Sinaiticus (LXX) completely lacks the entire verse of 1 Sam 13:1
- The Septuagint Lucianic (LXX) does have the verse and lists Saul’s age as 30 when he became king.
English Translations of 1 Samuel 13:1
Saul was [forty] years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty-two years over Israel.
Saul was a young man when he became king, and he ruled Israel for two years.
Saul was 30 years old when he became king, and he reigned 42 years over Israel.
Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
Saul was [thirty] years old when he began to reign; he ruled over Israel for [forty] years.
Saul was forty years old when he began to rule. He ruled over Israel thirty-two years.
Saul was . . . years old when he began to reign; and he reigned . . . and two years over Israel.
Saul was a son of one year, that is, as innocent and clean of sin as a child of one year, when he began to reign; and he reigned upon Israel two (and twenty) years. (Saul was fifty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned over Israel for twenty-two years.)
List of English Translations
American Standard Version (ASV)
BRG Bible (BRG)
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
King James Version (KJV)
New English Translation (NET)
New Life Version (NLV)
Revised Standard Version (RSV)
Wycliffe Bible (WYC)
These translations reveal several factors:
- No one knows how old Saul was when he began to reign in Israel because the text does not give his age when he ascended the throne.
- Although the text does not say how long Saul reigned, the total years of his reign was a number that ended in two since the number missing in the Hebrew text ends in two.
- The idea that Saul’s reign lasted forty-two years is based on a harmonization of the forty-years mentioned in Acts 13:21 with the number two that appears at the end of 1 Samuel 13:1.
*This is from an article by Claude F. Mariottini, Emeritus Professor of Old Testament, Northern Baptist Seminary
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FAQ #2: What is the Samaritan Pentateuch and does it help our understanding of the Old Testament?
The Samaritan Pentateuch is the text of the the first five books of the Bible, also called the Torah or Books of Moses, that is used by the Samaritans. It differs from the traditional Jewish version of the Torah in its alphabet, linguistic usage, and its emphasis on Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan high place which competed with Jerusalem as the only authorized place for the worship of the Israelite deity.
The Samaritan Pentateuch is written in the Samaritan alphabet, which differs from the biblical Hebrew alphabet. It is considered by some to be the form in general use before the Babylonian Captivity. However, comparisons between the Hebrew Masoretic text, the Greek Septuagint text, and the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch indicate that the Samaritan version is more closely related to Septuagint. In about 2,000 out of the 6,000 instances in which the Samaritan and Masoretic texts differ, the Septuagint (LXX) agrees with the Samaritan. For example, Exodus 12:40 in the Samaritan and the LXX reads: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel and of their fathers which they had dwelt in the land of Canaan and in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years."
In the Masoretic text, the passage reads: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years."
Exodus 12:40 (ESV)
40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.
Example of Exodus 3:24-26
MT
24 And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that Adonai met him, and sought to KILL HIM.
25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and CUT OFF THE FORESKIN OF HER SON and cast it at his feet; and she said: 'Surely a bridegroom of blood to me.'
26 So he LET HIM alone. Then she said: A bridegroom of blood IN REGARD OF THE CIRCUMCISION.
SP
24 And it came about at the inn on the way that Shehmaa met him and sought to STUN HIM.
25 And Seebbooraa took a flint and she CIRCUMCISED HER BLOCKED HEART, and she brought herself to his feet. And she said, You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.
26 And he LET HER go. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood, TO BE CIRCUMCISED.
Example of Numbers 12:1
MT
1 And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of THE CUSHITE woman whom he had married; for he had married A CUSHITE woman.
SP
1 And Maryaam and Aahrron spoke about Mooshe because of THE BEAUTIFUL woman whom he had married. For he had married A BEAUTIFUL woman,
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FAQ #3: What discoveries in biblical archeology affected the way we look at the Old Testament?
1.Tel Dan Inscription.
In 1993, excavators at Tel Da uncovered an inscription with the word BYTDWD on it. They convincingly argued that the word means “house of David” and dates to the ninth century BC. The inscription had been sealed by a later Assyrian destruction layer firmly dated to 733/722 BC. An ash layer is an archaeologist’s dream. Anything sealed beneath it must be dated earlier because there is no possibility of intrusion by later artifacts. Pottery directly beneath the destruction level dates to the ninth and eighth centuries BC, and from this period the so-called House of David inscription must have come.
Although some scholars have attempted to explain away the inscription by asserting BYTDWD is either a place-name or a designation for a temple of a deity, it probably refers to the house of lineage of David, the second king of the united monarchy and arguably the most significant ruler in the history of Israel. Additional evidence is the likely appearance of the term BYTDWD on the Mesha Stela/Moabite Stone, also dating to the ninth century BC.
2.Ketef Hinnom Scrolls
In 1979, Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay was excavating a burial cave at Ketef Hinnom, just southwest of Jerusalem. The tomb was a typical Late Iron Age (c. late 7th century BC) burial structure. The typical Judean burial at this time took place in a rock-cut cave. When a person died, he was placed on a burial bench in the tomb along with personal items such as vases, jewelry, or trinkets. Once the body decayed, the bones of the person were placed in a box beneath the burial bench.
When the team began to excavate the box, they came upon two small silver scrolls. Since the scrolls were metal, the archaeologists had a difficult time unrolling and deciphering their text. They began with the larger of the two scrolls, which took three years to unroll. When unrolled, it measured only 3 inches (7.6 cm) long. When they finished, they noticed the scroll was covered with very delicately etched characters. The first word they were able to decipher was the name “Yahweh.” After much work, they were able to read the entire scroll. It contained the priestly benediction from Numbers 6. The smaller scroll also contained the benediction from Numbers 6. It took so long to unroll and decipher the scrolls that the material was not published until 1989.
These two scrolls are relatively unknown, but they can be seen today in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. They are the earliest known citations of biblical texts in Hebrew. They predate the earliest Dead Sea Scrolls by more than 400 years and are thus helpful in matters of textual criticism. Many authors have argued that the priestly benediction was written after the exile, with its earliest date from the fourth century BC. Now we have physical examples of the benediction from the late seventh century BC. In addition, the discovery of two plaques with the same benediction in a buried site underscores the centrality of the priestly benediction to the religion of the Israelites.
3.Moabite Stone
In 1868, a missionary in Jerusalem found a stone tablet for sale that appeared to be from ancient times. The sellers broke the tablet into a number of pieces to sell them one at a time to make more money. Fortunately, a copy of the tablet was made prior to the break (this copy is in the Louvre today).
On the tablet is a text written in Moabite dating to the ninth century BC. It was perhaps a victory stone erected by King Mesha to commemorate his military achievements. The text begins, “I am Mesha son of Chemosh, king of Moab.” Prominent in the text is the king’s version of a war fought with Israel in 850 BC, in which Moab revolted against King Jehoram of the northern kingdom of Israel soon after the death of Ahab. Of particular interest is that the Bible records the same incident in 2 Kings 3. The two accounts differ in perspective. Mesha emphasizes his victories over Israel in capturing cities under Israelite control. The biblical writer, to the contrary, highlights Israel’s successful counterattacks against the Moabites.
4.Lachish Letters
In the 1930s, J. L. Starkey excavated the site of Lachish. He discovered a layer of debris
heavily destroyed and burned with fire at the hands of the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 589/588 BC. Starkey unearthed 18 ostraca in the burnt debris of a guardroom between the inner and outer gates of the city. An ostracon is an inscription written in ink on pottery sherds. Most of the ostraca were correspondence, although a few were lists of names. The contents of the ostraca were fragmentary, and only a third of them are sufficiently preserved to be intelligible. The date of the ostraca is generally immediately prior to the destruction of Lachish by the Babylonians.
A number of the letters are written by a man named Hoshaiah to a military commander named Yaosh. The common interpretation is that Hoshaiah was the commander of a fortress outside Lachish writing to Yaosh, the commander of Lachish. Other commentators believe Hoshaiah was the military chief of Lachish and Yaosh a high official in Jerusalem. One of the letters closes with the statement, “Let [my lord] know that we are watching for the signals of Lachish, according to all the indications which my lord hath given, for we cannot see Azekah.” Hoshaiah was referring to signal fires from one Judean city to another, and the context appears to be the Babylonian assault soon to come.
5.Epic of Gilgamesh
In 1872, George Smith announced he had discovered an Assyrian account of a flood among tablets stored in the British Museum from excavations of mid-seventh-century-BC Nineveh. Called the Epic of Gilgamesh, the story comprises 12 tablets, with one tablet containing a tale of a great deluge.
The hero of the flood, a man named Utnapishtim, relates an episode to Gilgamesh. He explains how the god Ea warned him about an approaching judgment and told him to build a boat to save his life from the watery onslaught. As the tale unfolds, the epic in some respects is nearly identical to the biblical narrative of Noah in Genesis 6–9. This discovery created quite a stir among biblical scholars of the nineteenth century, and even today scholars continue to puzzle over and debate the obvious parallels between the two.
6.Hezekiah’s Tunnel
The most dependable water source for the city of Jerusalem during the Israelite settlement was the Gihon Spring. However, its location outside the city walls was problematic. During an attack or siege, the inhabitants were cut off from their vital water source. In 1867, explorer Charles Warren discovered a vertical shaft cut through bedrock allowing the people of Jerusalem to reach the waters of the Gihon Spring from behind the city walls. This shaft was probably built originally by the Jebusites and may be how David’s soldiers captured the city from them (2 Sam. 5:6-8). A new water system employing part of the earlier one was built by Hezekiah near the end of the eighth century BC due to an Assyrian military threat. Hezekiah’s tunnel sloped gently away from the Gihon Spring to allow water to flow from it to the Pool of Siloam inside the city walls.
Hezekiah’s tunnel was cut by two teams digging toward each other from opposite ends. It was not chiseled in a straight line but was serpentine due to frequent shifts in terrain. The two teams made adjustments as they drew near each other and heard the picks of the other team. An inscription 20 feet (6 m) from the Siloam Pool has been discovered that describes the meeting of the two cutting teams.
7. Crucified Man at Givat Hamivtar
We are well aware of Roman methods of crucifixion of the first century AD—not only from written records, but also from the remains of a crucified man discovered at Givat Hamivtar, a site just outside Jerusalem. The cross consisted of two parts: the upright bar, called the stipes crucis, and the horizontal bar, called the patibulum. The crucified man was placed with his back over the stipes crucis, and his hands were nailed to the patibulum. According to archaeologists, the nails must have been driven through the wrist because the palms could not have supported the man’s weight.
He was affixed to the cross also by his feet, in a way different from what is commonly thought. The Roman executioner made a crude, rectangular frame of wood in which the heels of the victim were pressed. Then an iron nail was driven through the right part of the frame, through the man’s calcanei—the largest tarsal bones in the foot—and then through the left part of the frame. The free end of the nail was then bent by hammer blows. This find gives archaeologists further insight into Roman crucifixions.
8. Ugaritic Texts
A great majority of Canaanite texts come from the site of Ugarit (modern-day Ras Shamra), on the northern coast of Syria along the Mediterranean Sea. Ugarit was a prominent Canaanite city-state of the second millennium BC. Major excavations have taken place at the site since 1929. A most important find at Ugarit are hundreds of texts discovered in the palace and temple areas. More than 1,500 of those tablets have been published. Ugarit reached its height in the fifteenth to thirteenth centuries BC, the period in which written literature at the site flourished.
The city met its final fate at the hands of Mediterranean enemies, who destroyed the site around 1200 BC. The importance of the Ugaritic texts is the material they provide concerning Canaanite religion. Their mythic texts help us understand the religious context of the OT, including many parallels between Canaanite and Israelite religious practices. In addition, the languages of Ugaritic and Hebrew are quite similar, and thus Ugaritic provides insight into the development and grammar of Hebrew.