Essay
Plan
Introduction
It states briefly any three main versions of the Old
Testament and the year in which they were introduced. It also shows those who
contributed in the various translations so as to come up with the new versions
of the Bible.
Explanation 1- Versions of Old
Testament
This part explains about the history of the Versions of
the Bible and the possible reasons which led their translation. It also talks
about the challenges which were faced by the translators and the key people who
contributed in the process.
Explanation 2- Biblical books found
among the Dead Sea scrolls
It states the Biblical Books which were included in these
ancient scrolls and explains about the various texts which were contained in
them. It also gives the reasons which made some Books to be excluded from the
Scrolls and yet they were among the Old Testament books.
Explanation 3- Superior
readings found in the Biblical scrolls
It involves any five superior
readings which were included in the scrolls. It also shows the main points
which are evident in the readings, and compares the achievements and weaknesses
of different Biblical leaders.
Conclusion
This is the last part of the essay which summarizes, and
clearly indicates the main points found in it. It also gives recommendation on
the best moral values which Christians should have.
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible
The Old Testament was the first
section of the Christian Bible which contains Prophecies of God through the
early prophets. It also contains the rules which were given to the Israelites
by God through Moses and other religious leaders. It gives guidelines to Christians
about the moral values they were expected to have before, and after the birth
of Jesus Christ.
There are different versions of the
Old Testament which resulted due to translation of the first Bible into simple languages
which could be easily understood by the people. These versions include; the
Great Bible version, King James Version, and the Bishop’s Bible Version.
The Dead Sea scrolls contain both
Biblical and non-Biblical books which were discovered at the Khirbet Qumran
between the year 1946 and 1956. These scrolls contain Biblical books from the
Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament Protocanon, the Eastern Orthodox Bible, and the
Catholic Bible.
They also contain many interesting
readings which are aimed at warning Christians against making some mistakes
which were made by the ancient people. They also talk about Christians who were
morally upright in order to encourage other people to emulate their behavior.
These readings are found in the Isaiah Scroll, the Habakkuk commentary, and the
Psalm Scroll (Stol, 1995).
Three Main Versions of the Old
Testament
The versions of the Old Testament
resulted due to translation of the first Hebrew Bible into other languages which
could be understood by many people easily. The translation was aimed at
spreading Goods News to all people hence resulted to several versions including;
The Bishop’s Bible Version, King James Version, and the Great Bible Version.
- The Great Bible Version
The
Great Bible was introduced during the reign of Henry VIII, who was a king of England.
It combined books of the Tyndale Bible and others which were omitted in the
Bible. It also included texts of Apocrypha which were translated from German
and Vulgate Latin languages to English. It was introduced by Myles Coverdale
and its publication was directed by Thomas Cromwell.
Unlike the Bishop’s Bible Version, the Great Bible was
not translated from the original texts which were written in Greek and Hebrew.
However, it became the first English Bible to be authorized for use in
churches. Its publication was directed in 1538 and it was given many names
related to the key people who participated in the translation.
However, this Bible was considered not to be the accurate
Cranmer’s Bible because of arguments that Thomas Cranmer did not participate in
the actual process of its translation. The Bible was protected from being
removed from the church by being chained. It was named “The Great Bible” due
its large volume.
- The Bishop’s Bible Version
The Bishop’s Bible Version was as a result of translation
of the Geneva Bible which was intended to make it more suitable for use in
churches. The Geneva Bible was not acceptable to the church because it focused
on matters from one school of thought, and it contained some offensive phrases.
The proposal of translation of the Geneva Bible was first
made during the reign of King Henry the VIII though it was unsuccessful. Later
in 1561, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, another proposal was made by
Archbishop Parker. This translation was done by a group of Bishops and came up
with the Bishop’s Bible Version. They excluded the offensive and controversial
content which was included in the Geneva Bible hence making it more suitable to
use in churches.
The Bishop’s Bible made it possible to spread the Gospel
to other people since it was translated in English. It was also advisable to be
used by young people since it did not contain expressions from one school of
thought which could mislead to the young people.
- King James Bible Version
The King James Version was derived
from the original Hebrew texts. It was published when King James I was in
power. Though this version is not as appealing as other versions, it inspired
many people and assisted in spreading the Gospel. The translation process was
conducted by English scholars who were assisted by Bishops. It was accepted to
be used in churches after King James I authorized its use. However, it was
considered to be less accurate since several errors were made during the
translation process.
This version comprises of stories
about the ancient leadership and the relationship between different kingdoms.
It presents critical matters which needed making of wise decisions so as to
avoid lose of power among different leaders. It also talks about reconciliation
between the leaders of various kingdoms, the Church, and the puritans who were
residents of the land. All the parties were involved in making the decision to
have a new translation since the ones which were made earlier were biased. They
claimed that the previous translations of the Bible were intended to be used
for personal gains in politics and theology (NIV
Bible Study, 2002).
The
King agreed that there were no good translations which were made over the
previous regimes. After the Hampton Court Conference which was headed by the
King, a group of translators was organized and began their work. They were
guided by several rules to ensure that they produced a better version without
modifying it to suit their personal interests.
From
all the versions, efforts were being made to come up with a more accurate
Version which could help the people to know the truth about the ancient
teachings. There were errors occurring after each translation due to language
barriers and ignorance of some translators. Some of the original documents got
lost hence the translators depended on the already translated versions. These
versions contained many errors and others used offensive texts which could not
be acceptable to be used by the Church (Whitbread,
2001).
The
first translators produced versions which were biased in order to mislead the
people and hide the truth from them. Some leaders intended to use the
misleading teachings for their own theological and political gains hence they
made errors and omissions of important messages deliberately. The major
challenge which was facing the translation process was the illiteracy of many
people. This made the responsibility of translating the Bible to be given to
few people who were literate. It affected the whole society since people could
be easily misled to follow biased teachings hence committing sins against their
God unknowingly (Stol, 1995).
Editions
of Biblical books found among the Dead Sea Scrolls
These
ancient Scrolls contain 38 books of the Old Testament with exception of the
book of Esther. This book was considered to have certain texts which were not
acceptable in the community of Qumran hence it was excluded from the Qumran
Scrolls. Moreover, the marriage of Esther, who was a Jew, to the Persia King
was against the norms of the community. This book also contains The Purim
festival which was scheduled to be celebrated at each fourteenth day of Adar.
The
festival was intended to celebrate the deliverance of the Jews from the cruelty
of Haman who had planned to be killing them on specific days. Esther convinced
her husband to rescue them from the evil plans of Haman. While under emotions,
the King ordered Haman to be killed and declared freedom of the Jews.
Therefore, this ceremony did not involve the Qumran community. This became a reason
as to why it was not included in the Biblical Scrolls (Albiani, 2005).
Another
possible reason according to the ancient Scholars of the scrolls, it could be
because Esther was the only book in the Bible which did not make references to
God. Moreover, the book puts more emphases on retaliation which was against the
teachings contained in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The
other books of the Old Testament were included though in fragmentary texts
which made it hard for scholars to follow the teachings contained in the
Scrolls. However, the information which was obtained from the Scrolls enabled
them to compare the ancient prophecies with the ones which existed after the
birth of Jesus Christ and established the possible similarities. Except the
Isaiah Scrolls, the other scrolls contained incomplete texts which could only
be used to provide a clue of the original texts. The scholars managed to
discover the important teachings about integrity and other moral values which
were contained in the Scrolls.
These
Scrolls did not contain any texts from the New Testament though there were
claims that some texts from the books of Mark, Acts, James, Romans, and 1Timothy
were included in the scrolls. The Scholars of the scrolls did not agree with
the claims hence it was not proven whether it was true.
Most
of these Books contained in the scrolls gave guidelines to the Israelites about
the will of God and the way they were expected to live as the Chosen Nation (King, 1992). They contained stories about
ancient leaders who made certain decisions and the consequences which
accompanied them. They were aimed at warning the Israelites from making the
same mistakes which were made by their fore-fathers in order to avoid the wrath
of God.
They
also compared different leaders of the land and indicated the differences in
their leadership skills. They compared the weaknesses and achievements of the
leaders to determine the best values to be emulated by the Israelites. They
also showed how God fulfilled the promises He made to His people, if they
remained faithful to Him. Some texts showed cases whereby God did not answer
some Prayers due to various reasons.
This
helped the Israelites to be aware that God had good plans for them and He was
ready to punish those who mistreated His people. It also made them aware that
some Prayers may take long before being answered hence showing them the
importance of being patient. Moreover, these books showed the importance of
repentance since some sins which were committed by the fore-fathers were inherited
through generations (Bruce M., 1994).
Interesting Readings found in the
Biblical Scrolls
These
readings were contained in scrolls such as the Isaiah Scroll, The Habakkuk
Commentary, and the Psalm Scroll. They were aimed at enabling the people to
acquire good moral values and they include;
1.
Reading
about Creation
The story about creation is
contained in the book of Genesis from chapter 1. It explains how the world was
brought into existence and the way the Holy Trinity agreed to create man in
God’s likeness.
The purpose of creating man was to
take care of the things which existed in the world. God created man on the
sixth day and put him in the Garden of Eden which contained all types of plants
and animals. He allowed him to take care of everything which existed in the
Garden and to eat all the fruits from the garden except the ones from a tree
which was at the middle of the garden.
However, man was deceived by the
serpent and sinned against God. God became angry and punished him. Man was sent
out of the garden and instructed to be working in order to earn a living.
Later, God decided to forgive human
kind. The only way He could achieve that was through sacrificing His Son Jesus
Christ to die for the sins that man had committed. Disobedience made man to
upset the Lord and it caused him to lose the opportunities that God had given
to him. Before committing the sin, man communicated with God directly but
because the sin made him to fall short of the glory of God, the only way which
was left for man to communicate to God was through Prayers. Other consequences
of the sin included suffering and death. God had given man the opportunity to
live without dying but when he disobeyed Him, death was introduced.
The story explains how God made the
whole world and what existed before the world was made. It also shows how God
is organized since he planned the creation process in a series of days. God
appreciates all the things that He created and says that they were wonderful.
Christians are warned against committing
sins since they can result to severe consequences. After the creation process,
God rested and set the day for man to worship Him. This means that after the
working days in every week, man should set the day which God recommended to
worship Him.
It also shows that there is need for
every person to repent and accept salvation since the sins which were committed
by Adam and Eve were inherited by the successive generations. The love of God
to man is evident in the story since God did not destroy the human kind because
of the disobedience but instead He decided to forgive and reconcile with them.
2.
Deliverance
from Oppressors
This reading is found in Psalm
10:1-18. The Psalmist is upset by the way the wicked people mistreated the
God-fearing. This Psalm is divided into three portions whereby in the first
portion the Psalmist presents a claim, the second portion he asks God to deal
with the wicked people, and the last portion confirms the ability of God to
protect His people.
The Psalmist describes the behavior
of the wicked man who boosts of having a good life and blesses those who love
and praise him. He says that the tongue of the wicked man is full of praises about
his achievements and curses those who go against him. He is not humble to the
Lord and mistreats the poor to console his soul. He does not follow God’s rules
since he thinks that God is not aware of the evil things which he does to the
poor.
He oppresses the poor through making
harsh judgments on them and he pretends to be good-hearted in order to trap and
persecute them. He uses his gang to mistreat the poor and assumes that the Lord
is not aware of his wickedness.
The Psalmist asks God to prove to
the wicked man that He is aware of the mistreatments done to His people and
punish him. He says that the world is full of wickedness and God’s people
suffer under the oppression by the evil doers. He asks God to rescue His people
from the humiliation they face in the hands of the wicked man.
He says that the poor have been
suffering and there is no one who is willing to defend them. However, he is
aware that God is able to defend His people and asks Him to prove to the evil-doers
that their actions do not make them superior to Him.
In the last part, his faith proves
to him that God has heard the prayers of His people and He will protect them
from being oppressed. He believes that God cannot let His people to continue
suffering because they have no one else to protect them. He says that the
wicked man humiliates them in order to show how superior he is. In verse 18, he
believes that God is ready to answer Prayers and He will cleanse the world.
3.
The
Valley of dry Bones
This reading is found in Ezekiel
37:1-14. It is about the prophecy of prophet Ezekiel which is also known as the
end of times prophecy. Ezekiel was shown a valley full of dry bones and God led
him back and forth through it. He asked him whether it was possible for the
bones to be brought back to life. Ezekiel replied that it was only Him who knew
whether it was possible or not. Then the Lord instructed him to prophesy to the
bones that life would be restored back to them.
He told him to prophesy that
Tendons, flesh and skin would cover them and become whole again. During the
time Ezekiel was prophesying, he heard some noise followed by a rattling sound.
He saw the bones joining to each other and they were covered by tendons, flesh
and skin.
God told him to further prophecy
breathe to them. After he finished prophesying, breathe entered them and they
become alive and formed a large army. The Lord said to Ezekiel that the bones
represented the people of Israel who thought that He had forsaken them.
He told him to go and prophesy to
the Israelites that He would raise them above their enemies and restore their
land back to them. He said that the Israelites were like the dry bones since
they thought that God had forsaken them and hence they could not survive the
dangerous battles which they were engaged in with their enemies. He assured
them that He will make them victorious and help them to claim their land back.
4.
Exodus
of Israelites from Egypt
This reading is found in the book of
Exodus from chapter 1. The Israelites were held captives in Egypt and they were
made slaves. The Israelite women were forced to cut grass for the Egyptians while
the men were exposed to other strenuous manual work. They were captured during
the reign of King Pharaoh.
God heard their Prayers and decided
to rescue them from the suffering which they were undergoing in the hands of
the cruel leadership of King Pharaoh. He sent Moses to rescue and lead them
back to their land. However, Pharaoh was not willing to release them since he
knew that they contributed towards improving the economy of his country through
providing labor.
Moses performed several miracles as
he was instructed by God to do but that did not make Pharaoh to change his
mind. Even after a series of plaques which invested the land affecting only the
Egyptians, Pharaoh kept his decision to continue holding them as slaves.
During the last night before the
Israelites left Egypt, they organized a Passover feast whereby they were
instructed to smear all their doors with blood of the rum that they had
slaughtered. This made it easy for the Angel of death to identify the houses of
the Egyptians and kill all their firstborns including those of their animals.
This plaque forced Pharaoh to change his mind and allowed the Israelites to
leave Egypt and go back to their land (Jacobs
Louis et al., 2007).
However, he realized that the
economy of his nation would deprive due to inadequate labor and ordered his
army to follow them and take them back to Egypt. After the Israelites reached
the red sea; they got stranded since they had no means to cross to the other
side and the Egyptian army was approaching them.
God told Moses to strike the sea
using his stick and the water separated allowing them to cross to the other
side. After they had all crossed, the water joined again hence drowning the
Egyptians who were closely following them.
This assured the Israelites that God
was determined to rescue them from their enemies despite the sins that they had
committed against him. The reading about their Exodus shows that disobedience
makes God angry and hence it may lead to punishment. God proved to be superior to
any human being since He used all the means to make sure that Israelites got
out of Egypt safely.
5.
Naboth’s
Vineyard
1
Kings 21:1-29 contains the story about Naboth; who had a vineyard in Jezreel,
near the palace of King Ahab. The King of Samaria approached him and offered to
buy it since it was near his palace in order to use it for planting vegetables
(1 Kings 21:2). He also suggested that
if Naboth was not interested in having the money, they would exchange it with
another vineyard but Naboth declined. He claimed that he could not sell it
because it was an ancestral land. Moreover, according to the Jewish customs, it
was not acceptable for one to sell an ancestral land.
The King became upset and when he
returned to the palace, he lay down with his face towards the wall and he
refused to eat (1 Kings 21:4). His wife, Queen Jezebel, investigated to know
what made her husband so sad. When she realized that it was because his offer
to buy the vineyard was turned down, she promised to help him to acquire it by claiming
that since he was the king, he should have whatever he needed.
She ordered the elders to hold a
public meeting and put Naboth on a high place. They were then instructed to get
two children of Belial to accuse him of blasphemy publicly. When they did as
they were instructed, the crowd became very angry with Naboth since blasphemy
was a major crime in Israel, and they stoned him to death.
The King became happy since he could
then acquire the vineyard freely. Prophet Elijah was very upset with what the
king had caused and visited him while he was on the vineyard. He told him that
because of being greedy, he had sinned against the Lord and prophesied doom to
him.
This shows the consequences of being
greedy which caused the king to commit murder indirectly. Christians should be
contented with whatever they have and be wiling to accept the decisions of
other people.
The king probably wanted the
vineyard to plant herbs and set it for worshipping of Baal and decided to deceive
Naboth that he wanted it to plant vegetables. He knew that Naboth was
God-fearing and he could not let his vineyard to be used for worshipping of
idols. This teaches Christians to declare their faith without fear in order to
be distinguished from the evil-doers.
It also gives a warning to
Christians to be keen when making some decisions and avoid acting under fear or
in favor of some people. Though Naboth died, he did not lose anything since he
stood firmly to defend his decision and acquired the Eternal Life after death.
The King remained to be the loser since the vineyard did not benefit him and
instead he was faced by plaques.
In addition, he lost the love of God
hence making him unable to enjoy the Eternal life. Every decision made has its
own consequences and Christians should avoid making decisions which are driven
by personal interests.
Summary of the
Essay
The essay talks about the different
texts which have been derived from the original Biblical manuscripts which
where preserved in caves. Different scholars have compared the messages which
were contained in the ancient Scrolls with the present ones in order to
establish their similarities. Though some of the Original texts were lost,
efforts have been made to trace the original information through comparison of
some fragments of the Original documents. This helped to come up with the Bible
which was used to spread the Gospel to the entire world.
However, the translation process was
corrupted by the first translators who deliberately altered the meaning of the
original texts due to their own personal interests. When some of the original
texts got lost, it became hard for the scholars to translate the Bible into
more accurate versions. This was because they relied on the biased information
which was provided by the initial translators.
The illiteracy of the natives also
affected the translation process since there were no adequate people who
understood both the first languages and English since the original manuscripts
were written in Greek, Hebrew or Latin. Therefore, the few people who were able
to understand the languages were assembled in groups and did the translation. They were supposed to follow the specified
rules so as to avoid making the same mistakes which were made by the first
translators. During some regimes, the translators were forced to take Oaths
before commencing their work. This helped to produce Bible Versions which were
more accurate to be used in churches.
Conclusion
Christians are provided with the
relevant information about their faith in order to help them during making of
important decisions. The Scrolls contains many readings which show the
consequences which accompany sin.
All leaders are warned against misusing
their powers in oppressing the poor. This is because God is ready to protect
His people from humiliation which is caused by the evil-doers.
The
Scrolls also assure all Christians that God keeps His promises because some of
the prophecies which were made by the Early Prophets were fulfilled. They should
have faith that Whatever God promised, He is ready to fulfill if we remain
faithful to Him.
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