Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-02-17
STORY OF THE BIBLE.
HOW 1T WAS COMPILED, PRESERVED
AND BROUGHT DOWN.

HOW 1T WAS COMPILED, PRESERVED ],
AND BROUGHT DOWN.
The Records Began With Abraham and
Were Collected by Ezra-It Yves Dorn
Tn the Little Land Of Canaan-Conquersd
Israel's Gift to the World.
New discoveries about the Bible are
being made almost daily. The religious
world is startled every now and then
BY the announcement that some old
manuscript has been found or some clay
tablet corroborating Biblical history has
been deciphered. The last few years
have been especially notable for remark
able finds, not the least of which has
been single leaf of papyrus bearing
few sayings of Jesus-logia, as they
have been called These discoveries
arouse q questioning frame of mind.
We ask, how did we get the Bible,
whence did it come, what was the
method of its transmission to us?
Learned volumes have been written, but
only scholars read them. One Of the
latest of these is by DR.. William A.
Coppinger, but it is SO expensive vol
ume-only $50 copies have been printed
for sale-that few can read it, even if
they would. The much talked of poly
chrome Bible, edited by leading Biblical
scholars of the world, is an answer to
this demand. Still, the question, how
did the Bible come down to us? ought
to be answered briefly, so that the mass
es of the people can read and under
stand. It is irreverent to the Bible and
the inspired men who gave us this
world classic-the classic-dealing with
the eternal theme of the relation be-
tween man and God to think of it as
ready made volume, dropped down from
heaven bound and gilt edged.
The Bible was born in the little land
Of Canaan as the weary caravan, led by
Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees,
pitched it's tents and the patriarch wrote
down the promises Of the Eternal on
the palm leaves which he found at hand.
This was more than 1000 years ago,
and that writing was in use SO early, is
proved by inscriptions found on Egyp-
tian steles or Assyrian tablets from
5000 to 5000 years old.
The records kept by Abraham and
his immediate descendants undoubtedly
formed the basis Of the book Of Genesis
and the earlier chapters of Exodus, to
be later utilized by the hand OF Moses
and his successors. With the advent OF
this great legislator of the Hebrews the
nation was formed, with his legislation
as it's heart and center. Tt is probable
that Moses wrote his portion of the BIZ
BILE upon the linen used for such pur-
poses in Egypt, for many large pieces
of this linen covered with hieroglyphie
writing have come down to us wrapped
around mummies The inscriptions are
still legible. The Pentateuch was the
nucleus of our Bible, the only Bible
known to the Hebrews for many gener
atoms. 1t was written in the ancient
Ibri character, closely resembling thu
Phmnician, as proved by the Sloan in
scription discovered near Jerusalem ant
| some ancient coins which have beer
found. Leaders like Joshua, Gideon ant
Samuel were needed In the promised
land. Singers and prophets, too, arose
| and the scribes Of the leaders recorded
what was done. The poets wrote dowr
their best songs. The prophets word
were treasured up by their disciples ant
followers. The official records were KEEP
in the national archives, and the song
of the poets and the speeches of tn
prophets were passed from hand t.
hand. When the kingdom was divided
records were certainly kept both in tn
southern kingdom of Judah and tn
northern kingdom of Israel. But nue.
of the earlier literature was forgotten
n the catastrophe of the destruction o
the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, an
the exiles refused to sing the songs o
Zion as they sssat by the waters Of Ba
bel and wept." When at last the tern
of exile was over and some of the NOR
devoted Jews returned to rebuild tn
walls and temple of Jerusalem, the lay
had to be brought back to them.
Ezra was the man for this work, an
he and his coadjutors, the elders, col
lected the scattered records of Garlic
days AMI made the first canon of tn
Pentateuch. They wrote it in ne1
i script-Kethav Ashuris, the Assyria
Or square character brought back fror
Babylon with them - and read an
taught it to the people. By this tim
some of the speeches delivered by th
prophets of the exile, the second Isaia
and his disciples, had become SO dear
the hearts Of the people that they wer
esteemed as classics. Some had presery
ed the addresses of the earlier prophets
| and gradually second set of accepte
: | writings was added to the law. Th
older songs, too, were found again, an
new singers were inspired for the ser1
| ice of the new temple, and the book {
Psalms became its hymnbook.
The proverbs of the nation were CO
lected by various hands. Other book
were found or written as late as the SET
ond century before the Christian ers
The book Of Daniel, for instance, We
composed to inspire people, faintin
under Syrian oppression, for the Maccs
bean revolution. And all this later Ii
erature was struggling for acceptanC
into the Bible until the canon of th
Old Testament as we now have it We
established in the first century of OF
era by the rabbinical school Of Palestine
AS the nation Israel sunk under til
waves Of Roman conquest the JEWS
| spirit held the Old Testament aloft {
| its gift to the world.-Clifton Hard
1 Levy in Review of Reviews.
Both Awake.
! First Burglar-It's no use tryin TIT