the Law 3

Today I am reading Psalm 119: 1-18.

1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. 2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. 3 They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. 4 You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. 5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! 6 Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. 8 I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me.

9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. 12 Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

17 Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word. 18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

One thing you’ll hear from skeptics is that there must be errors in the Bible. That the Bible we are reading today can’t possibly be what was written so many centuries ago, so how can you take it seriously? We don’t have any of the original documents written by Paul or Luke or Isaiah. All we have are centuries of copies, partial manuscripts, and quotations. People must have made changes to over the years to suit their own tastes. So, you can’t trust the authority of the Bible at all, especially the Old Testament.

Well, the skeptics are wrong because archeology has proven over and over again that the Old AND New Testaments are the most reliable of all ancient documents when it comes to their transmission through the centuries. More reliable than the writings of Caesar, or any ancient Roman writer - or actually anyone prior to the invention of the printing press.

Here’s one reason why you can trust the Bible is historically accurate. Have you ever seen those stereotypical images of monks clad in brown robes dutifully copying a manuscript by hand in some cold, stone monastery? Well, that’s close to reality. The oldest complete copy of the Old Testament was produced during the 9^th century by a group of Jewish scribes and scholars called the Masorites. The Masoretic Text was primarily copied, edited and distributed by these scholars between the 7th and 10th centuries based primarily in Palestine in the cities of Tiberius and Jerusalem. They were dedicated to the holy task of hand-copying the Old Testament. Their devotion is the stuff of legend. They knew the middle letter of every word, the middle word in every sent ace and every book, and on and one. If anything went wrong – one misspelled word or something omitted or changed – the whole thing got thrown in the fire. It was a lifetime’s work to make one copy of the whole Old Testament, and they took it seriously.

But without anything to compare it to people could still question “their” version of the Old Testament. Until 1947 when a shepherd boy discovered a cave that contained sealed jars that held what came to be called The Dead Sea Scrolls. 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents were found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. They were written in the 2^nd century B.C.. Though not a complete version of the Old Testament, scholars were able to compare the Dead Sea Scrolls version to the Masoretic Text and see all the errors or additions that had crept in over a time span of 1200 years. Guess what? The Masorites were dead on! The Dead Sea Scrolls proved that the Bible we have today is reliable and the same as the Old Testament from before the time of Jesus.

And right now there’s a tremendous display about the Dead Sea Scrolls in Times Square. If you’re in the city you should definitely go see it – though be prepared for long lines.

Now the accuracy of the Masoretic Text doesn’t prove that what the Bible teaches is true, but it shows that the Bible is historically accurate from a manuscript point of view. The New Testament has even more archeological evidence to validate its reliability.

So, take confidence when you read your Bible. God’s Word is true and God has preserved it faithfully over the centuries. Let this be your prayer today: Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Jeff