steve_bnk

From the Oxford Bible Commentary (or via: amazon.co.uk) (1300 pages)

1. The original Heberw morphed post exhile. Hebrew lacking vowels and requireing context makes reading/interpertation context based with the obvious modern translation ambiguities that presents. It wouild have been diffcult for 200BCE Jews to read the original Hebrew.

2. By 400-200BCE Hebrew was no longer generaly the first language of the Jews, many did not knoe Hebrew. Aramaic was the main mediteranean language with Greek the 'langua franca'. In this period Hebrew texts wrer being tanscribed to Aramaic.

3.Anechdotaly a Ptolemy commisioned a Greek translatioin around 250 BCE.

4. Literay analysis shows that the Pentateuch was wrteen by 4 groups indicated by word usage and focus of the tex, such as law versus theolgy versus history. Only the hard core who believe in ineerancy believe Moses sat down and penned the whole work.

5. There is no clear authorship of the gosples, it was a common literary practice to cite the main reference as the author. From the commentary, it should be obvious that if they were all first hand accounts by the disciples who had been there the gospels would be more aligned and comprehensive.

6. There are halh dozen or so historical interrfopetaion schools of thought leading up all with one or more deficiencieas, leading to a modern contextual approach using the bgeo-polirics of the day as a backdrop for translation and interpretation of the NT events.

7. As an example of difficulties, the actual words used for god in the two genesis tales are different, the two tales actualy have different meanings. As another, the interpretation in geneisis as to replenish the Earth clearly has a fault in the inference that something already existed which had to be replenished, Adam would then not have been the first.

8. Hebrew is part of the semetic language family and did not precede any language and did not preced other cuktuires with language and a known literay hisitory. Persoanaly, as a litereray/history work the bible stinks.As a comparison The Egyptian Book Of The dead is a chesive litereray work compared to the Pentateuch.


ISBN 0-19-875500-7

Both the actaul translation and the comentary wqs done over an extended period by a wide academic collaboration uisng all the available documents and scraps.

It investigates in depth authorship, dating, tanslation amiguities and alternate meanings, and of courese theologocal interpretiatoins.

A good balanced analysis.