Ek het bietjie meer gaan nalees oor Jesaja want ek merk op dat daar baie uit die boek aangehaal word, maar ek kan net nie die geskrif verstaan nie, ek weier absoluut om te glo veral Jesajah 56 - die brandoffers.
Isaiah Scroll and the Masoretic Text
BRON: By Jeff A. Benner
Yigael Yadin, son of the great Israeli archaeologist Eleazar Sukenik, had served Israel valiantly during its early years of statehood. Yadin had retired as Chief of Operations in the Jewish underground and had followed in his father’s footsteps and become a top archaeologist in his own right. Unbelievably, when the Wall Street Journal ad popped-up in 1954, Yadin happened to be in the U.S. lecturing on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He went into stealth mode and started quiet negotiations for the scrolls through intermediaries. Yadin understood the sensitivity of his work, since the Jordanian government was claiming rights to any scrolls found in the Dead Sea area, and they would have jeopardized any legal transfer between the Syrian Church and the State of Israel. Metropolitan Samuel was back in the game, negotiating with unknown bidders. The haggling took many weeks, including secret meetings to authenticate the scrolls. The parties finally agreed on a $250,000 purchase price and the scrolls were shipped quietly to Jerusalem.
Yadin had completed his father’s work on behalf of their new state. After seven years, all seven scrolls from the original Qumran Cave 1 discovery were safely in the hands of Israel. All seven of these scrolls were later placed in the Shrine of the Book Museum, a “monument” built on the grounds of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the Nov-Dec. 2008 issue of Bible Study Magazine. BSM: We all have our favorite books in the Bible. What books are the favorites of the Dead Sea Scrolls community?
FLINT: The people of Qumran, who scribed many of the Dead Sea Scrolls, had three favorite books: Isaiah, Psalms and Deuteronomy. Interestingly, in the New Testament the three most quoted books are Isaiah, Psalms and Deuteronomy. What is it about these three books that the early Christians and people of Qumran loved?
You can imagine why they loved the book of Psalms. The psalms are about worship. It was the hymnbook of the second temple period (516 BC-70 AD). In the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the New Testament, many psalms are interpreted to be about the Messiah. For instance, Psa 22:1, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is quoted by Jesus on the cross.
Why was Isaiah so popular at Qumran and in the New Testament? In Luke 4, Jesus opens the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and reads, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19, ESV).
Isaiah was an important book in the New Testament because the early Christians believed it was about the Messiah. Both communities loved the book of Isaiah and believed it was a prophecy pointing to their own time.
The book of Isaiah is both the key to understanding the New Testament and the key to understanding the Essenes at Qumran.
Hierdie link is ook baie interresant en handel oor die geskrif van Jesaja en verskille en bewoording - http://www.ao.net/~fmoeller/qa-tran.htm
Groetnis
Silencio
Isaiah Scroll and the Masoretic Text
BRON: By Jeff A. Benner
The Great Isaiah scroll was found in the Dead Sea Caves in 1947 and is known as the Great Isaiah Scroll. It is dated at about 100 BCE and is the oldest copy of Isaiah known to exist. Previously, the Codex Leningrad, dated at 1000 AD, was the oldest known copy of the Hebrew Bible (including the book of Isaiah) in existence. The Great Isaiah scroll is 1100 years older than the Codex Leningrad and provides us with the opportunity to compare the Biblical text over the centries.
The Masoretic text was compiled by the Masorites around 700 AD. This was an attempt at standardizing the text and pronunciation by comparing all of the then known copies of the Hebrew Bible to form one complete text that represented the original writings. The vowel pointings were also added to the text to standardize the pronunciation of the words. The Codex Leningrad is one of the surviving Masoretic texts.
The Masoretic text was compiled by the Masorites around 700 AD. This was an attempt at standardizing the text and pronunciation by comparing all of the then known copies of the Hebrew Bible to form one complete text that represented the original writings. The vowel pointings were also added to the text to standardize the pronunciation of the words. The Codex Leningrad is one of the surviving Masoretic texts.
The following is a quote from "A General Introduction to the Bible" concerning this Isaiah Scroll.
"Of the 166 words in Isaiah 53, there are only 17 letters in question. Ten of these letters are simply a matter of spelling, which does not affect the sense. Four more letters are minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions. The three remaining letters comprise the word LIGHT, which is added in verse 11 and which does not affect the meaning greatly. Furthermore, this word is supported by the Septuagint (LXX). Thus, in one chapter of 166 words, there is only one word (three letters) in question after a thousand years of transmission - and this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage." (Norman Geisler & William Nix, "A General Introduction to the Bible", Moody Press, Page 263).
I have read the above quote recently and have also heard very similar statements in chat rooms, forums, bulletin boards, web sites and other publications in the past. While I have reviewed several passages of the book of Isaiah to compare the text of the Great Isaiah scroll found in the Dead Sea Caves with the Masoretic text, I decided to put the above quotation to the test. I began with verse 1 of chapter 53 and found that it did not take long to find 17 letters that varied from the Isaiah scroll and the Masoretic text. In just the first 3 verses of chapter 53, a total of 23 words in the Masoretic text and 24 words in the Great Isaiah scroll, I found 19 letters that were different between the two texts. Below is a picture of verses 1 through 3 in the Great Isaiah scroll. Each red dot above a letter represents an additional letter or changed letter in the Isaiah scroll that is not present or is different in the Masoretic text. The number next to each dot represent a corresponding number below the image describing the differences.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Grammatical difference only.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Grammatical difference only.
- The letter aleph in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Grammatical difference only.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Grammatical difference only.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. This word would be pronounced as to’ar in the masoretic text, but in the Isaiah scroll it is ta’or.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Grammatical difference only.
- The letter lamed in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. A prefix meaning “to”.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. A suffix meaning “him”.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Grammatical difference only.
- The letter nun in Isaiah scroll but the letter hey in the Masoretic text. The word venech’medehu in the Masoretic text means “will delight in him” but the word venech’med’nu in the Isaiah scroll means “will delight us”.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. This letter is prefixed to mean “and”.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Grammatical difference only.
- The Masoretic text has viydua meaning “and he knew” while the Isaiah scroll has viode meaning “he knows”. The two letters have swapped places.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Grammatical difference only.
- The letter yud in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Possibly an unknown word related to the same word found in the Masoretic text.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. A prefix meaning “and”.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. A suffix meaning “him”. The reading of the Isaiah scroll is venivzehu (and despised him) while the Masoretic text is nivzeh (he was despised).
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Grammatical difference only.
- The letter vav in Isaiah scroll not in the Masoretic text. Grammatical difference only.
Below is the King James Version of Isaiah 53:1-3.
[1] Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
[2] For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
[3] He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
[2] For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
[3] He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Below is the same passage from the Great Isaiah Scroll. Differences between the King James Version and the Great Isaiah Scroll are underlined. While these differences are not severe, at least in these few passages, it clearly demonstrates that more than 17 differences exist in Isaiah 53 between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the King James Version.
[1] Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
[2] For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor he hath comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire ourselves.
[3] He is despised and rejected of men and man of sorrows, and he knows grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; and despised him, and we esteemed him not.
[2] For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor he hath comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire ourselves.
[3] He is despised and rejected of men and man of sorrows, and he knows grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; and despised him, and we esteemed him not.
How Did the Great Isaiah Scroll Return to Israel?
The British government was about to leave the mandate territory of Palestine. Needless to say, Arab-Jewish hostility was huge. Everyone expected all-out war as soon as the British troops left. With this growing tension, Metropolitan Samuel quietly moved his recent purchase of four scrolls, including the Great Isaiah Scroll, out of Jerusalem to Syria. From there, the scrolls embarked on a six-year journey throughout the Middle East and ultimately ended up in a New York bank vault.
During this entire time, no scholars were able to view or preserve these ancient texts. However, Millar Burrows of Yale University used some previous photographs to produce and publish the texts of the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Habakkuk Commentary and the Manual of Discipline and distribute them in certain circles of the academic world.
After a few years of silence, a small advertisement surfaced in The Wall Street Journal under the category “Miscellaneous for Sale” (June 1, 1954):
The British government was about to leave the mandate territory of Palestine. Needless to say, Arab-Jewish hostility was huge. Everyone expected all-out war as soon as the British troops left. With this growing tension, Metropolitan Samuel quietly moved his recent purchase of four scrolls, including the Great Isaiah Scroll, out of Jerusalem to Syria. From there, the scrolls embarked on a six-year journey throughout the Middle East and ultimately ended up in a New York bank vault.
During this entire time, no scholars were able to view or preserve these ancient texts. However, Millar Burrows of Yale University used some previous photographs to produce and publish the texts of the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Habakkuk Commentary and the Manual of Discipline and distribute them in certain circles of the academic world.
After a few years of silence, a small advertisement surfaced in The Wall Street Journal under the category “Miscellaneous for Sale” (June 1, 1954):
“The Four Dead Sea Scrolls” Biblical Manuscripts, dating back to at least 200 B.C., are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an educational or religious institution by an individual or group. Box F 206.
Yadin had completed his father’s work on behalf of their new state. After seven years, all seven scrolls from the original Qumran Cave 1 discovery were safely in the hands of Israel. All seven of these scrolls were later placed in the Shrine of the Book Museum, a “monument” built on the grounds of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
The Great Isaiah Scroll & the Original Bible: An Interview with Dr. Peter Flint
John D. Barry
Editor-in-Chief of Bible Study Magazine
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the Nov-Dec. 2008 issue of Bible Study Magazine.
In 1987, as the Dead Sea Scrolls publishing controversy captured the world's attention, a graduate student by the name of Peter Flint moved from South Africa to the United States. He took a doctoral fellowship at the University of Notre Dame and began to study under one of the figures at the center of the controversy, Eugene Ulrich, the chief editor of the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls.
By 1997, Dr. Peter Flint had published the second largest portion of the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls: the Psalms Scrolls. This publication was full of discoveries that soon changed bibles, Bible study, and biblical scholarship. Today, Flint is an editor of the largest intact Dead Sea Scroll: The Great Isaiah Scroll.
Since the Great Isaiah Scroll's discovery in late 1946, an Indiana Jones-like story has followed it. The scroll has journeyed through the heart of war-torn Israel, Palestine and Jordan, through the hands of Bedouins, priests and scholars.
The definitive publication of the scroll is slated to be published in the critically acclaimed Discoveries of the Judean Desert series by the end of 2008. The findings published so far hint that this forthcoming publication will have a massive impact on the way we think of the Bible.
The Great Isaiah Scroll tells the story of how we got our Bible. Because of this, nations and individuals alike have felt connected to the scroll, but very few people have felt as connected to this ancient artifact as Dr. Peter Flint.
Flint took the time to answer some questions for Bible Study Magazine about the Great Isaiah Scroll's impact on Bible study, and what we know about the original Bible.
BSM: What type of work do you do?
FLINT: I'm involved in publishing and researching the Dead Sea Scrolls. But I have a second calling—to take the Dead Sea Scrolls and demonstrate the importance of them to our lives and the Christian faith.
BSM: Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls important to the Christian faith?
FLINT: The Dead Sea Scrolls are the greatest find of our time. They affect our understanding of the Bible and they confirm the accuracy of Scripture. They enhance our understanding of Jesus and help us interpret the New Testament.
The past can be confusing, but if one understands the relevance of the Scrolls to the Christian faith, it is quite illuminating. One example of this illumination is the Great Isaiah Scroll. In many ways, the scroll affects the Christian faith and our understanding of the Bible.
The Great Isaiah Scroll contains more than 25% of all the biblical text among the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is almost completely preserved. Virtually every part of all 66 chapters of Isaiah are found in the Great Isaiah Scroll.
FLINT: The people of Qumran, who scribed many of the Dead Sea Scrolls, had three favorite books: Isaiah, Psalms and Deuteronomy. Interestingly, in the New Testament the three most quoted books are Isaiah, Psalms and Deuteronomy. What is it about these three books that the early Christians and people of Qumran loved?
You can imagine why they loved the book of Psalms. The psalms are about worship. It was the hymnbook of the second temple period (516 BC-70 AD). In the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the New Testament, many psalms are interpreted to be about the Messiah. For instance, Psa 22:1, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is quoted by Jesus on the cross.
Why was Isaiah so popular at Qumran and in the New Testament? In Luke 4, Jesus opens the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and reads, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19, ESV).
Isaiah was an important book in the New Testament because the early Christians believed it was about the Messiah. Both communities loved the book of Isaiah and believed it was a prophecy pointing to their own time.
The book of Isaiah is both the key to understanding the New Testament and the key to understanding the Essenes at Qumran.
Hierdie link is ook baie interresant en handel oor die geskrif van Jesaja en verskille en bewoording - http://www.ao.net/~fmoeller/qa-tran.htm
Groetnis
Silencio
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