In The Beginning
December 20, 2006 11:15 pm
Today, our pastoral team took a field trip down to the Sackler Gallery to see an exhibit entitled: “In The Beginning: Bibles Before the Year 1000.” The website explains what this exhibit is all about:
The exhibition will present over 70 of the earliest biblical artifacts in existence, including pages and fragments written in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopian and Coptic—many on display for the first time in the United States. The Sackler Gallery will be the only venue for the exhibition.
We got to see fragments, pages, and Bibles, some of which were nearly 2000 years old. Many of the peices on display are some of the oldest known copies of the Bible, and many were preserved with incredible clarity and legibility given their age.
My favorite was two leaves from an ancient manuscript called the Codex Sinaiticus. Dating from the mid-fourth century, this is one of the oldest complete copies of the Bible in the form we know it today. Apparently, it was discovered in 1975 in the Monastary of St. Catherine near Mt. Sinai in Egypt, behind a wall in a tower.
I was most impressed by what was missing from the exhibit: any evidence that there has been substantial change in the Bible over the last 2000 years (or far more in the case of the Old Testament). While there are minor variations at insignificant points in some of these ancient documents, there is remarkable unity among the manuscripts. The charge is often levelled against Christians that we follow a book written by man; that it has been changed through the centuries on the whim of human agenda. But this exhibit seems to unwittingly prove the opposite: that there is an unbroken chain of written testimony connecting our day to the eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ, and before. It seems clear from this exhibit that the Holy Spirit has superintended the process to bring us the Bible that we love so much today. If you’ve ever been tempted to doubt it’s origins or veracity, visit this exhibit and stand amazed at God’s grace to us.
I’m told that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; these ancient texts are very rare and very precious. If you plan to see it, you’ll need to hustle down there: the exhibit is only on display through January 7.
3 Responses to “In The Beginning”
I went there last Friday! It was really cool to see all those exhibits! I really liked getting to see a section from Isaiah of the dead sea scrolls! I think my favorite was a Bible written in clear Latin, because I was able to read some of it.
My family and I went on Wednesday. It was really neat to see. I think some of my favorites were the Dead Sea Scrolls (since I had actually heard of them before!) and the beautiful, intricately carved ivory covers of the complete Bibles at the very end of the exhibit.
I was amazed at how uniformly the various scribes were able to write—it looked almost like computer type, it was so precise.
i went with friends last week. my friend’s dad brought his laptop with the Bible in greek, latin, english, and hebrew on it so we could look at the manuscripts and follow the pattern in the writing. it was cool!
it is amazing to see how God has preserved His word!
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