Why Study the Old Testament?

12/10/17

M – Manuscript Evidence

A – Archaeological Evidence

P – Predictive Prophecy

S – Statistics Probability

Manuscript Evidence

We know for a fact that there aren’t any original documents in existence today. So, we must look at the copies and ask the question; How good are the copies? There are two criteria we must use in answering that question.

1. Number of copies available.
2. Span of years between the originals and the copies.

How does the Bible compare with other ancient writings? We also don’t have any original copies of Plato, Aristotle, or Caesar. So, what is the time span of the copies?

Caesar and his Gaelic Wars: The earliest manuscript is 950 years after Caesar lived.

Demosthenes, the great orator of Greece: The manuscript is 1,200 years after he wrote.

Plato, the great philosopher: 1,300 years. (w. 400BC – e. mss. 895AD – 210 copies)

Herodotus: also 1,350 years.

The Greek dramatists: 1,400 years.

Cattalos, the Romans writer: 1,600 years.

Homer and his classics, The Iliad and The Odyssey, which you’ve probably read: 400 years later. 1,757 copies.

Quotations from the New Testament are found in the writings of virtually every one of the early church fathers- those writers living during the first four centuries after Christ. We also have the earliest fragment of a manuscript, the John Rylands papyri manuscript, which is a small portion of the Gospel of John, and it is dated at A.D. 117-138. (Some scholars, notably Adolf Deissmann, say it may date even earlier.)

John wrote this Gospel, it is generally believed, sometime in the 90s; so, you have a portion of the Gospel of John not 1,000, 1,200, 1,400, 1,600, or 2,200 years later, but as few as 30 or 35 years after it was written.

By these standards of antiquity, the Bible is an amazing credible document. We do not have two, three, or five copies, but 5,800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. In various other translations, we have up to 25,000 more copies. (2) Armenian (2587), Coptic (975), Gothic (6), Ethiopian (600+), Latin (10,000+), Syriac (350+), Georgian (43+), Slavic (4,000+), plus quotations from the early church fathers.

Secular historians confirm the many events, people, places, and customs chronicled in the New Testament. Secular historians like Josephus (before A.D. 100), the Roman Tacitus (around A.D. 120), the Roman Suetonius (A.D. 110), and the Roman governor Pliny the Younger (A.D. 110) all affirm historical New Testament references.

Archaeological Evidence

William F. Albright, recognized throughout the world as a leading Palestinian archaeologist, attests that there is little doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historical accuracy of Old Testament tradition. (4) A biblical skeptic, Sir William Ramsay, trained as an archaeologist and then set out to disprove the historical reliability of the Books of Luke and Acts became converted as one after another of the historical statements of Luke were proved accurate.

For example, higher critics of Scripture doubted the Bible’s description of King Solomon’s wealth. But archaeologist Henry Breasted, between 1925 and 1934, unearthed the remains of one of Solomon’s “chariot cities” at Megiddo in northern Palestine. Breasted found stables capable of holding more than four hundred horses and the remains of barracks for Solomon’s chariot battalions which were stationed to guard a strategic trail that ran through Megiddo. Nelson Glueck, another archaeologist, found the remains of a huge refining factory for copper and iron, two metals Solomon used when bartering for gold, silver, and ivory (see 1 Kings 9:28; 10:22).

For years, critics dismissed the book of Daniel, partly because there was no evidence that a king named Belshazzar ruled in Babylon during that period. Later archaeological research, however, confirmed that the reigning monarch, Nabonidus, appointed Belshazzar as his co-regent while he was waging war away from Babylon.

Predictive Prophecy

Careful research affirms the predictive accuracy of the Bible. For example, the book of Daniel (written before 530 B.C.) accurately predicts the progression of kingdoms from Babylon through the Medo-persian Empire, the Greek Empire, and then the Roman Empire, culminating in the persecution and suffering of the Jews under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, his desecration of the temple, his untimely death, and freedom for the Jews under Judas Maccabeus (B.C.165).

Old Testament prophecies concerning the Phoenician city of Tyre were fulfilled in ancient times, including prophecies that the city would be opposed by many nations (Ezekiel 26:3); its walls would be destroyed and its towers broken down (26:4); and its stones, timbers, and debris would be thrown into the water (26:12). Similar prophecies were fulfilled concerning Sidon (Ezekiel 28:23; Isaiah 23; Jeremiah 27:3-6; 47:4) and Babylon (Jeremiah 50:13, 39; 51:26, 42-43, 58; Isaiah 13:20-21).

Since Christ is the culminating theme of the Old Testament and the Living Word of the New Testament, it should not surprise us that prophecies regarding Him outnumber all others. Many of these prophecies would have been impossible for Jesus to deliberately conspire to fulfill- such as His decent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 12:3; 17:19); His birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2); His crucifixion with criminals (Isaiah 53:12); the piercing of His hands and feet on the cross (Psalm 22:16); the soldiers’ gambling for His clothes (Psalm 22:18); the piercing of His side and fact that His bones were not broken at His death (Zechariah 12:10; Psalm 34:20); and His burial among the rich (Isaiah 53:9). Jesus also predicted His own death and resurrection (John 2:19-22).

The Bible has an amazing track record concerning prophecy 100%!

Statistical Probability

The Bible was written over a span of 1500 years by 40 authors in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek), on hundreds of subjects. And yet there is one consistent, noncontradictory theme that runs through it all: God’s redemption of mankind. (9)

The chance of one person fulfilling just 8 out of the 61 specific prophecies in the OT is 1 in 10 to the 21^st power, that is 10 with 21 zeros after it.

 

As we can see the evidence concerning the Bible’s trustworthiness is overwhelming. I believe that even the hardest skeptic if he looks at this with an open mind should be convinced that the Bible is the Word of God. But remember we should always follow 1 Peter 3:15, which states, “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”