We can also appreciate the trustworthiness of God’s Word from an archeological perspective because of a number of scrolls which were found in caves situated near the Dead Sea in modern day Israel. In 1947, a shepherd boy discovered a jar in one of the caves containing scrolls inscribed with the words we have today pertaining to many of the books in the Old Testament. These scrolls were manufactured by the Essenes, a monastic group of people who were engaged with the preservation of documents meaning scrolls. Just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman ruler Titus in 70 A.D., the Essenes were tasked by the local rabbis to manage and preserve the scrolls of the Old Testament books so that they would not be destroyed by the Roman invaders.
What is amazing is that the words contained in these scrolls have little to no variation when compared with the Bibles we now have today. In one of the scrolls, the book of Isaiah had minor, but insignificant variations:
Of the 166 words in Isaiah 53, there are only seventeen letters in question. Ten of these letters are simply a matter of spelling, which does not affect the sense. Four more letters are minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions. The remaining three letters comprise the word, “light,” which is added in verse 11, and does not affect the meaning greatly. Furthermore, this word is supported by the LXX [the Greek translation of the Old Testament] and IQ Is (one of the Isaiah scrolls found in the Dead Sea caves). Thus, in one chapter of 166 words, there is only one word (three letters) in question after a thousand years of transmission – and this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage.[1]
Now let’s consider for the moment the textual accuracy of the New Testament. The twenty-seven books in the New Testament were written between 65 and 100 A.D. The authors hired professional scribes to record the words of the authors in what we would call the original manuscript. There were then numerous copies made in the first few centuries (24,300, in fact[2]). Today, textual experts from the Middle East studied these copies and found only minor variations which did not change the meaning of the passage. Examples like this indicate that God’s Word has been preserved over many centuries and is trustworthy.
[1] Bill Bright, “Is the Bible Trustworthy?” last modified May 20, 2004, accessed January 11, 2022, https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/is-the-bible-trustworthy-1262196.html.
[2] David B. Curtis, “Is the Bible Trustworthy?” last modified January 7, 2001, accessed January 11, 2022, https://www.bereanbiblechurch.org/transcripts/2timothy/is_bible_trust.htm.