The Great Isaiah Scroll
The Great Isaiah Scroll is one of the biblical scrolls found in the Qumran caves at the Dead Sea in 1946. It contains the book of Isaiah in Hebrew, and is complete except for a few small damaged portions. It is the earliest surviving manuscript of a complete book of the Bible, and is dated to 150-100 BC. To the dismay of unbelieving scholars, it turned out, when it was examined about 1950, to be very close to the Masoretic text (the standard text used by Jews) of the Hebrew Bible, and many of the incomplete manuscripts were even closer. The earliest complete Masoretic manuscripts date from about a thousand years later, and the enemies of inspiration had been claiming that the text of the Old Testament had “evolved” during that time.
The Great Isaiah Scroll differs in a number of small respects from the Masoretic text, one of the most significant being the addition of the word “light” in Isaiah 53:11: literally, “from the travail of His soul he shall see light and be satisfied”. Other Qumran manuscripts support this reading, along with the Septuagint (a very early translation of the Old Testament into Greek), and it has been adopted in several modern English translations. It was rejected by the Masoretes, however, and does not form part of the standard Hebrew text received by the Reformers and underlying the Authorised Version. The Masoretic reading is literally, “from the travail of His soul He shall see, He shall be satisfied”, with the expressions, “He shall see”, and, “He shall be satisfied”, being linked together. This reading suggests not only Christ’s seeing light, as when the three hours of darkness ended and the light returned immediately before His death on the cross, but also His seeing of the fruit of His travail in the salvation of His people, and being satisfied with this fruit. As so often, the Masoretic reading is more edifying and spiritually profitable than the erroneous variant that crept into the text.
The Great Isaiah Scroll is divided into two halves, with 27 columns and 33 chapters in each, but the handwriting in the two halves is very similar. It had been a matter of debate how many scribes were involved, but recently a group at the University of Groningen showed, using pattern recognition tools, that, notwithstanding the similarity, there are consistent differences between the handwriting in the two halves, and there were almost certainly two scribes. The significance of this is that it suggests that the copying of the scroll was a carefully organised project, and that it was done in an environment in which the text of Isaiah was regarded as settled; so the two scribes could exactly divide the work between them. Thought had already gone into how best to do this. The two halves of the scroll would have to match when they came to be sewn together, and there would be little scope for either scribe to make major changes. Thus the claim that the text of the Old Testament was “fluid” at the time has received a blow. Satan will not give up his struggle against the doctrine of inspiration, but the false claims that he puts into unbelieving scholars’ minds are gradually being exposed for what they are.
DWBS
God’s Blessing?
A joint report by two House of Commons committees has heavily criticised the UK Government over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is not the purpose of this note to discuss the findings of the report, but to make the point that a government acting as the present one does cannot expect God’s blessing on its handling of the country’s affairs. Almost no one in government in London (or in Scotland) seems to have God in their thoughts to any degree. Accordingly, we cannot imagine that they pray about any of the matters they are responsible for, or consult the Bible as to the principles that they ought to follow in making decisions about such matters. To deal with an outbreak of disease such as Covid-19 is too much for any government, apart from God’s help. Yes, they have to shoulder their responsibilities, but they ought to do so in dependence on the living and true God and acting in obedience to His revealed will. But, in particular, they have abandoned, as have previous governments, the scriptural principles in relation to sins forbidden by the Seventh Commandment, which is provoking to the Lord, who sees what happens and understands it all.
To have the Lord’s blessing is important, tremendously so. He has everything under His control, and He is totally righteous. He cannot “look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13) – that is, He cannot do so complacently. So to attempt to rule a country independently of God is a serious sin; it is a practical denial of the fact that the country needs God to protect us from all kinds of dangers, not least the danger from a serious, unexpected disease. Yet we should be thankful that God has not totally forsaken the UK. He has left a remnant who pray for blessings both temporal and spiritual. In great mercy, He is not turning away their prayers altogether. What a dreadful situation it would be if the Lord was to forsake us altogether, not least if He was to remove His praying people from the nation! “Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved” (Ps 80:19).