The copyists of the writings of Dioscorides (a Greek surgeon of the first century after Christ) distorted his writings. Boorstin informs us in The Discoveries:
A thousand years of Dioscorides’ manuscripts shows us what it meant to be at the mercies of the copyists. With the advancing centuries, the illustrations move farther and farther away from nature. The copies of copies grew imaginary leaves for symmetry, enlarged roots and stems to fill out the rectangular page. Copyists’ fancies became conventions. . . The hand of the scribe overruled the author. (Pages 410-411)
What is Boorstin telling us? He is noting that the eminent surgeon wrote on medicine, but that his work was distorted through the centuries by copyists who sometimes changed the material simply so that it would fit well on the pages looming before them. There were other excuses for distorting the writings, but convenience was a main one. The greatest tragedy, of course, was that for more than a millennium Dioscorides was followed by succeeding generations of surgeons who used the information on copyists’ pages to perform surgery on their patients. There is reason to believe that it cost lives. Such distortions of copyists may be assumed to apply also to the Bible.
Manuscripts from ancient times, and there are many, have been translated – but none with such precision as has Judeo-Christian Scripture. Every new discovery impresses the linguists with the faithfulness by which the oldest manuscripts have been copied. It has been said that if all disputed Bible passages in manuscripts were grouped they would occupy no more than a page or so of the hundreds of pages of the Bible. The Bible in my hand includes over 1100 pages in the Old Testament and over 300 in the New. It is rather firmly believed that there is no major issue that is distorted by any of the verses that appear unclear to translators. Usually the problem relates to some minor, unimportant detail. This is illustrated in the long time belief that Hannah took three bullocks to offer for baby, Samuel. Apparently the idiom, more recent scholarship has discovered, means that she brought one bullock, three years old. (Compare 1 Samuel 1:24 in a modern translation with the King James Version.)
I read the views of Lord Bertrand Russell, the skeptic, who heaped words of abuse on various ideas about God, but none stronger than his negative view of Scripture. Without adequate review, he asserted texts contradictory. He found Scripture fanciful, without admitting the fancifulness of his humanism. For example, he felt that persons might do as well taking a long walk as believing in God, prayer and Scripture. The day came when he was too weak to walk. Memory of former walks won’t serve. The person who embraces the faith revealed in Scripture is the one who will find that this resource goes with him to the end – to the door of death. It will serve me, to and through, the last responsible thought and belief of my life. I can’t imagine that anything could serve me more than confidence in biblical faith that works. Where else is hope? Scripture addresses life, both mortal and immortal. I made Christian commitment at seventeen years of age. I am past my 90th birthday and that commitment sustains my joy in life, feeling of worth, sense of hope in God’s forever – all in my biblical Christian faith. Earth for me is complete in the faith chosen by my children. If I am dreaming, let me dream on. If Jesus Christ, the only utterly vital issue for me is not true, we who are committed to meaning prove that the search for truth is not as valuable as alleged. In the end, a falsehood becomes the greatest treasure. This would hardly fit the larger mystery of truth and untruth that is of high value for us. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020