Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dewayne Dulaney <dewayne.dulaney AT gmail.com>]

Hi Jerry,

Well, I hope the moderators will allow this thread. It's a fascinating 
question.

Many Biblical scholars agree that 2 Timothy 4:13 in the New Testament
alludes to individually-owned copies of at least some books of the
Hebrew Bible. In the New International Version (1984 ed.) the passage
reads: "When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at
Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments." The writer, the
Apostle Paul, formerly a Jewish rabbi, and a trained scholar, would
almost certainly have had some personal copies of Biblical scrolls if
anyone did. Most NT scholars would agree that Paul knew both Hebrew
and Aramaic as well as the Greek he wrote in, so the scrolls he
possessed could have been in any of these languages.

As for your first question, there is also some first-century evidence
that suggests that the synagogues and at least some individuals had
access to the major part of the Hebrew Bible, if not all of it. Luke
4:14-21 shows Jesus reading from the scroll of Isaiah (Isa. 61:1-2) in
the synagogue at Nazareth. Jesus taught his early followers that the
writers of the Tanakh predicted his life and ministry, referring to
"the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms", the 3 divisions of
the Hebrew canon, in Luke 24:44. (The Psalms, the longest book in the
third division, came to stand for the entire division.)

Jesus also assumed that his followers would be familiar with the
writings of Daniel, in the Writings, the third division (Matthew
24:15). We also find a reference to the writings of Moses being
preached from in the synagogues in Acts 15:21.There is also the
intriguing reference in Acts 8:26-35 to an Ethiopian (i.e., Nubian)
official reading from Isaiah 53 while traveling home from worship in
Jerusalem, evidently from a personal copy.

Dewayne Dulaney



On 9/2/12, Jerry Shepherd <jshepherd53 AT gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi List,
>
> The moderators, of course, may feel free to consider this to be outside the
> list boundaries, but I have two questions.
>
> With regard to Judea, realizing that the the exact limits of the canon may
> or may not have been established in the early first century CE,
>
> (1)  Would every synagogue have had a complete collection of biblical
> scrolls?
>
> and
>
> (2) Is it possible that there could have been any private ownership of
> either individual biblical scrolls, or even a complete collection?
>
> What is your understanding of the possibilities here?  And do you think
> there would be a scholarly consensus on these questions?
>
> Blessings,
>
> Jerry Shepherd
> Taylor Seminary
> Edmonton, Alberta
> Jerry Shepherd
> jshepherd53 AT gmail.com
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> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
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>


-- 
"In the world you will have trouble. But, be brave! I have defeated the 
world!"
—John 16:33, DDV (Dewayne Dulaney Version)

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