p. 3 | The Bible by L. L. C.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 21, 1916

The Bible

By L. L. C.

God has spoken to men in the past ages of this world’s history “at sundry times and in divers manners.” There are three main ways which he has used to communicate his will to man: First, face to face, then through holy men, and lastly through holy writings. He spoke to Adam face to face before the fall, but since that time Moses is the only one to whom he has spoken in that manner. To others of his servants he spoke in visions or dreams, and they in turn gave God’s word to the people. In Jesus Christ the word of God became flesh and dwelt among men.

Since Christ’s ascension we have a record of his life preserved to us in the pages of the Bible. Because this Book embodies the revelation of God’s will to us, we speak of it as God’s Word. Christ is the central theme, and in that consists the unity of that which is not a single book, but a whole library. Not alone in the Gospels is the Son of God the theme, but every book of the Bible has reference to him and to his work for mankind. These sacred Scriptures reveal the Logos not alone as the incarnate Word dwelling among men, but as the only Mediator throughout all the ages between God and man.

How has this priceless gift been given to us? and why are we rapidly approaching the time when any one, no matter how poor, may possess in his own language, if he really wishes, a copy of this inestimable Book, which already is more widely circulated than any other in the world?

The story of how this is becoming possible is a very interesting one indeed. It involves veritable miracles and long years of preparation. In a general way, we may say that three steps are involved in making possible this universal dissemination of God’s Word: First, means for permanent, written representation of human speech must be invented by mankind; then, owing to the diversity of tongues, the writings must be translated into each of the almost one thousand languages spoken at the present time in the earth; and lastly, that all should be able to have copies of this Book, the art of printing was an absolute necessity, for any copy done by hand would unavoidably be too expensive for universal circulation among all classes of men.

The invention of the art of writing has a history not known in many details. We will here present it only in its general outlines.

While knots tied in cords, and notches cut on sticks, and marked pebbles early served to a degree the purpose of writing, perhaps the earliest form which could rightly be so called is the picture writing, which saw its most remarkable development among the American Indians. This form of writing was found prevalent among the Mexican Indians at the time of Cortez’ conquest of Mexico, and it had been sufficiently developed to form the means of embodying a considerable literature.

The next natural step in the development of the art of writing is brought about by a gradual conventionalization of this picture writing. This process may be especially well seen in the languages of China and of the ancient Egyptians. A certain symbol, which perhaps originally represented a thing in a picture form, came to represent it under a conventionalized form. Through a stage of representing longer words by pictures giving the meaning of their component parts, syllabic writing came into being. In this way a conventional symbol came to represent a syllable. It was not, however, until an alphabet had been developed that writing could become easy and general. Nonalphabetical writing, such as is seen in the Chinese language, offers great difficulty when it comes to printing.

The origin of the alphabet is shrouded in darkness; but the earliest alphabetical document whose date can be fixed with comparative certainty is the famous Moabite Stone which was discovered in 1869. The long inscription on it tells of the achievements of a king of Moab who must have lived in the first half of the ninth century before Christ. The alphabet used is the Phenician alphabet. It contains twenty-two symbols in all, and these represent consonantal sounds only. In this respect the Phenician alphabet is similar to that of the Hebrew. It is only comparatively recently that vowel markings have been added to the Hebrew. In the old form it was necessary for the vowels to be supplied by the reader from the context, somewhat as writers of shorthand do in transcribing their notes. Both the Greeks and the Latins seem to have received their alphabet from the Phenician, and to have modified it so as to have representations for vowel sounds. Among the Teutonic people there was another form of writing, known as runes. This involved the scratching of signs on slips of wood. As to just where the Teutons obtained the forms of the letters they used, nothing is known for certain.

With the coming of the alphabetical writing we reach a time when the Bible could be written. This book, however, was not originally all written in the same language. The Old Testament was written largely in the Hebrew, but with some short portions in Chaldee or Aramaic. The New Testament was written entirely in the Greek, unless it be the Gospel of Matthew, which some think was first written in Hebrew, and then translated into the Greek.

One should not think of the Bible as a single book, for it is in reality a whole library of writings, whose collection into one volume took hundreds of years. Many inspired men wrote in past ages, and through the providence of God certain of their writings have been saved to us. It is impossible to trace the exact time of the writing of each of the component books of the Bible, but those who have been following the Bible Year have followed approximately the order.

Different methods were used to embody writing at different times. In the early days inscriptions were made on bricks and tiles, some of which have since been discovered in Mesopotamia and Egypt; also stones were chiseled with inscriptions, as is seen in pyramids and obelisks. It would be interesting if we could know just how each portion of the Bible was produced, yet this also we know only in a somewhat general way.

It would be interesting also if we had the original copies of the manuscripts just as written by the authors of the several books of the Bible; but all such autographic manuscripts have perished. The form, appearance, and even the language of these manuscripts have changed during the ages.

L. L. C.