Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 11:23 PM, Harold Holmyard wrote:
> Steve,
>> Can someone explain why there are so few Old Testament manuscripts as
>> compared to the the New Testament?
>>
>
> http://southwestcc.org/Portals/2/Purposes/Grow/DownloadableResources/Bible%20Basics%20Series%20-%20How%20We%20Got%20the%20Bible%20Part%202.pdf
>
> "The Jewish scribes looked upon their
> copies of the Scriptures with an almost
> superstitious respect, which led them to
> give a ceremonial burial to any copy which
> was old or became worn."
> Neil Lightfoot
> (How We Got the Bible, 1998)

This is not the reason for the lack of manuscripts.  It is
the repeated burning and destruction of Jewish
manuscripts by Christians that prevailed for centuries
during Medieval times that is the reason you don't see
many early manuscripts.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708654713&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
http://www.jewishmag.com/117mag/booksonfire/booksonfire.htm

Yitzhak Sapir