Skip to main content

The Scrolls: Jesus In Context

However old and widespread the notion of “the Bible” as a series of books may be, though, it is a misleading concept.  The books of the Bible are not books in the modern sense of the word and did not exist as books in the ancient world. To see them as such distorts the historical reality. There were no books in ancient Israel -- there were only scrolls and clay tablets. In the late first century the early ancestor of books – the codex (a Greek invention) – began to gain popularity around the Mediterranean and in the Near East. In the world of Jesus, scrolls were the popular material upon which scribes wrote.

The Great Isaiah Scroll

It is important to understand that only about 10% of the population could read and write. “High literacy” was confined to a small group, to which scribes were the central figures. The account in Luke 4, where Jesus is handed the scroll of Isaiah, unrolls it and finds a specific section of the text and reads it to the synagogue audience indicates that Jesus was a member of the 10% of the population that possessed those skills. He was not an uneducated simple peasant.

However, for the majority of the population word of mouth was the principal channel of communication. The transmission of cultural lore – stories of origins, legends of ancestors and heroes, dos and don’ts, professional skills and wisdom – was nearly always accomplished by word of mouth. For most of the population “Scriptures” were heard not read, memorized and repeated not written. The primary places most people heard the scrolls read and discussed were in synagogues and at the Temple.

As I said above, to speak about the “books of the Bible” is misleading. Historically, the Hebrew Bible is a collection of scrolls, and scrolls cannot be simply equated with books. The difference between the two is not merely a matter of form; it affects the mode of writing, editorial strategies, and the way in which readers use the text. Scrolls were hand copied by scribes who wrote according to scribal rules to produce scrolls that would be read by other scribes. It would take the invention of the printing press in the 15th century to make books available to the masses.


The Second Temple was where the “official scrolls” were stored in the Treasury. There were workplaces in the Temple were temple scribes would copy. Only copies of selected scrolls were kept at synagogues. The central and most important scroll for the Jewish people from 458 BCE until now is the Torah scroll. There were many other scrolls stored in and copied at the Temple, but none were more important than the Torah scroll.  

The Temple was also the place where people gathered to hear scribes and “learned men” with access to the scrolls – scribes, priests and sages -- discuss and teach from them. In 6 CE, at age twelve, Jesus was found in the middle of those discussions. His parents found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking questions. And all who heard him were astonished at his questions and answers. (Luke 2:46-47)


Scrolls that you wouldn’t find at the Temple or hear Jesus discussing were scrolls that contained the writings recorded in the New Testament. Why? They had not been written yet. Neither Jesus nor any of his followers ever saw or heard those words. Think about that the next time you read the words of Jesus.

________________________________

Do you like and find these “Jesus In Context” Blogs interesting?

Do you want to see more blogs about “Jesus In Context”?

Tell us by “LIKING” the Real Yeshua Facebook Page -- Click Here.

“Help us” by making a donation – Click Here
________________________________

Sources & Recommended Reading

Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible by Karel Van Der Toorn © 2007; Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England.

Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (Second Revised Edition) by Emanual TOV© 1992, 2001 Augsburg Fortress; Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN.

Judaism in the Beginning of Christianity by Jacob Neusner © 1984 Fortress Press, Philadelphia, PA.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It’s a Yod -- NOT a Jot and Tittle!

Not only did Yeshua read and speak Hebrew, so did his followers and disciples! Two very well known, but not accurately understood words in the Gospel of Matthew prove it – jot and tittle . For some reason jot and tittle stick in the minds of Christian Bible readers. But when you ask them what jot or tittle mean, you get a lot of conflicting and some really weird answers. Today, you are going to get the facts about what Yeshua originally said and how they ended up in English translations of the Bible as jot and tittle . Let’s begin by reading Matthew 5:18 from the King James translation: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. If you have not read the article “ From Yeshua to Jesus ” in Yeshua’s Kingdom Handbook please take a moment to read it online by clicking here before you continue. In it you will see how we began with the name “ Jesus ” and traced it through Lati...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do Not Say RAQA! - Yeshua on Anger (Part 2)

In the last blog, we covered the first part of Yeshua’s lesson on Anger -- An Angry Person Should be Tried in Court like a Murderer – keep in mind that “anger” is the focus of Yeshua’s lesson. “Whoever says to a brother, ‘ RAKA ,’ shall be answerable to the Sanhedrin.” [i] Yeshua reveals that the seriousness of the offense has become greater by elevating the crime to the next highest court – the Sanhedrin . It is the highest court in the nation and would be the equivalent of our Supreme Court. What makes this offense more serious than murder, to keep things in the context established by Yeshua? It is because of what the angry person said out of anger – “ RAKA !” RAKA is the English transliteration of the Greek word found in the ancient manuscripts of Matthew. Interestingly, the Greek word is also a transliteration of a Hebrew word into Greek. Keep in mind that when a translator working on a translation of a Greek manuscript transliterates a Greek word, he only finds ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Prayer Yeshua Prayed Twice Every Day

One of Jesus’s earliest memories was no doubt watching and listening to his family when they gathered to pray the Shema at sunrise before the day’s work began and after the working work day was over at sunset . He also heard and participated in praying the Shema at their synagogue. He was surrounded by neighbors who also prayed the same prayer in their homes every day. The Hebrew word for prayer is tefilah . It is derived from the root Pe-Lamed-Lamed and the word l'hitpalel, meaning “ to judge oneself .” This surprising word origin provides insight into the purpose of Jewish prayer. The most important part of any Jewish prayer, whether it be a prayer of petition, of thanksgiving, of praise of God, or of confession, is the introspection it provides, the moment that we spend looking inside ourselves, seeing our role in the universe and our relationship to God. [1] Most of Jewish prayers are expressed in the first person plural, "us" instead of "me," an...
Post a Comment
Read more