Bedouin Goat Herders and The Bible
In 1947, the greatest discovery of modern times was found.
There was a small group of Bedouin goat herders making their way across the Judean desert by the Dead Sea. One of the boys liked to throw rocks in the caves as they were walking along. As he was doing that, he heard something crash.
He didn’t have time to investigate because he as trying to keep up with his goats. So he came back later to check it out.
His cousin climbed up the cliff into the cave and found 10 pots. Most of them were empty. But one of them had a scroll. He took it, wondering if it might be something of value.
They took that scroll all the way to Bethlehem to an antiquities dealer. He thought it might be something important. So he looped in the Arch Bishop from the Syrian Orthodox church. He began to loop in scholars from around the world.
What they had found stashed away in that cave at Qumran beside the Dead Sea was the complete scroll of Isaiah.
One of the scholars they asked to look at it was Dr. Albright at John Hopkins University. In a letter dated March 15, 1948, Dr Albright wrote,
“My heartiest congratulations on the greatest manuscript discovery of modern times. There is no doubt in my mind that the script is more archaic than that of the Nash Papyrus, I should prefer a date around 100 BC… what an absolutely incredible find! And there can happily not be the slightest doubt in the world about the genuineness of the manuscript.”
Remember the Telephone Game?
The gap between the original copy and the most recent copy of Isaiah was just closed by 1000 years! And you might be wondering, over that 1000 year period between the manuscript that was found at Qumran, among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the copy of Isaiah we had that was written a 1000 years alter, how much had changed?
Let’s just look at one chapter to give you an example.
There are 166 words in Isaiah 53. Out of those 166 words, there are 17 letters in question.
10 of those letters are simply a matter of spelling. 4 are stylistic changes like conjunctions. And 3 letters that spell the word light are found in verse 11, but don’t change the meaning of the text.
What does Isaiah 53 say?
1 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people.
9 He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.
10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
Preservation for Invitation and Transformation
Where in the world could God preserve that scroll and others just like it for thousands of years? God said I know a place. The lowest place on earth with the highest salt content, an arid climate and lots of caves. That will work. And at just the right time I’ll send some Bedouin goat herders through that place and let them discover a complete scroll of Isaiah that dates back to 100 BC and points the world to my Son Jesus!
God has done an incredible job of preserving his word for us!
So after 1000 years, after handwritten copy after handwritten copy, can you believe that what you read is what they wrote?
YES!
And here’s why this is so important. I like the way my friend Ben Stuart says it…
“God’s preservation of His word was for invitation into His family and for transformation into a son or daughter of God, if you believe.” – Ben Stuart
Reasons 4 + 5:
If you’re praying, “Jesus, I want to see you,” You can see Him in His Word. You can see Him in scripture!
But I’ve still got to give you my last two reasons we can believe that what we have is what they wrote…
4 // My faith isn’t built on a book, it’s built on a person.
His name is Jesus. And my faith is built on a historical event that happened 2000 years ago when he was murdered on a cross, buried in a tomb for three days, then rose on Sunday morning.
After 2000 years, no one has been able to prove that didn’t happen.
I believe it did happen. And I believe the Bible is true for once more reason…
5 // People were willing to die for it.
After that day when Jesus rose from the grave, his first disciples were so convinced that all of them except for one died because they believed this story is true. That Jesus lived, died, and rose again.
And 2000 years later were still telling the story.
But this is where you have to decide. Do you believe that the story is true?
Do you believe that what we have is what they wrote?
“the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.”
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