Page 86 - Yahwehs Book

centuries. But a close examination reveals the fact that, jealously guarded as it thus has been, there
must have been an earlier period in its transmission, during which errors and alterations crept in.
The existence of such errors may be easily shewn, without passing beyond the limits of the Hebrew
text itself, by a comparison of the corresponding chapters in the Books of Samuel and Kings on the
one hand, and in the Chronicles on the other. Of the MSS. which have as yet been examined, but few
date back as far as the 10th century A.D., and these few contain only portions of the Bible. But the
ancient Versions at once carry us back to a period from 500 to 1000 years anterior to this: they thus
reflect, with more or less exactness, a text far older than that represented by the earliest Hebrew
MSS. Certainly to classify and account for all the divergences which they exhibit is a problem of
extreme complexity, and perhaps insoluble: but, if used with tact and sobriety, the ancient Versions
afford invaluable aid in restoring order and sequence where the Hebrew, as we possess it, appears
involved in much confusion.

Cases, however, occur in which a suspicion of corruption attaches to the text, which even a
comparison of the Versions does not avail to remove. Here, then, nothing remains but to make a
temperate use of critical emendation. However reluctant we may be to admit the principle of
conjecture, an exceptional application of it is justified in the case of the Old Testament (1) by the
long interval which elapsed between the composition of most of the books and the earliest date to
which we can trace them, and (2) by the nature of the Hebrew characters, which, in every phase
through which the alphabet has passed, are very liable to be confounded. Purely arbitrary
emendations are, of course, inadmissible; but there are many passages which become at once
intelligible on a slight alteration in the form of one or two of the letters. Changes of the vowel-points
are also occasionally of service, but these do not in the same sense fall under the head of conjecture,
for the vowel-points merely represent a valuable, but still post-Christian, exegetical tradition.

The editors of the Variorum New Testament utilized Westscott and Hort’s Greek New Testament,
which had not yet been published. The pre-publication manuscript was made available to them. This
Greek New Testament utilized more ancient and more reliable manuscripts than Erasmus’ Textus
Receptus. Westscott and Hort’s Greek New Testament is considered a much more accurate and
valuable Greek translation than that which the KJV Bible translators used.

The editors of the Variorum Bible collated a great many writings from both modern and ancient
Bible scholars. When citing a variant reading, they frequently mention some scholarly authority’s
thoughts on that particular rendering. The list of Bible scholars whose works they consulted is
extensive, and is found in the introductory material at the front of the Bible.

These Bible scholars themselves made reference to a large number of sources in setting forth their
comments on plausible variant readings of the Scriptures. Among these sources are the following:

• Papyri Manuscripts
• Uncials (Ancient manuscripts written in capital letters)
• Minuscules (Slightly less ancient manuscripts written with lower case letters)
• Lectionaries (Arrangements of the Bible created to be read in congregational meetings)
• Early Bible Translations (Latin Versions, Syriac Peshitta, Septuagint, Coptic translations
from Egypt, etc.)