The Material Used To Make The Bible Essays - Textual Scholarship

The Material Used To Make The Bible Introduction The bible is most read book in the world today, as we know it. It is also the longest lasting book or should I say oldest, still available in our bookshelves across the world. The Lord has blessed us with the technology that we have today. We have computers, laptops, typewriters, and even pocket size machines that are capable of writing things down, or even voice recordings. But think back to the days when the words that fill the pages of the bible were being lived and mapped out. What was the time like in those days? Think, back of the tools that were used just to give us the book we know today as our guide to know the real God. I know that even now we still struggle with this process, but think how much harder it must have been for those people of that times period to write pages beyond pages of stories and accounts. The endless hours it must have taken to write just one book of the bible. The process of gathering information and the fact that all these books could have survived th e times and be brought all together to form just one single book that would last over a thousand years later. In this paper I will tell you al little about the various tools used by the writers of the bible. Papyrus Papyrus is a water plant whose fibers were used by the people of Egypt to make a writing material. It also was used as material for mats, sandals, and sailcloth. The brownish flowers were made into garlands for the shrines of the Egyptian gods. Many people think the mother of Moses hid her son in an ark made of Papyrus. The papyrus plant still grows in the Nile valley of Egypt. It is also found in Ethiopia, Syria, southern Italy, and Sicily. The plants reedlike stems grow 3 to 20 feet high. As many as 100 flowers stalks spring from the top of each stem. These stalks may be more than 12 inches long. The Egyptians made a writing material also called papyrus, by laying strips of the plants stems in layers, and then placing them under pressure. The crushed Strips matted into a loose-textured, porous, white paper. Time has been known to turn surviving papyrus manuscripts brown and brittle. The paper was sold as long rectangular sheets of different sizes. The sheets were at first rolled an d tied with string, Later there were bound together into books. Until the 100s BC, Egypt guarded its monopoly on the preparation of the paper. Then the more durable parchment gradually replaced papyrus. This is also known as the most popular writing material of the time. Parchment Parchment is animal skin that has been prepared as a surface for writing. The word parchment usually means a writing material, made from the skins of sheep, goats, or calves, thus meaning them to be very long lasting. Parchment scrolls have survived from about 1500 BC. In making parchment, the skins are first washed and then placed in lime to remove the hair and fat. Next, the skins are stretched on a frame and thinned with knives and scrapers. Finally, the skins are rubbed with chalk and pumice in order to create a smooth, white writing surface. A form of fine, high-quality parchment called vellum is made from the skins of calves or lambs. Vellum has been used for important writings such as charters, university diplomas, and wills. Heavy parchment is made from the skins of calves, donkeys, goats, and wolves. It is used for drumheads. Dipping pure, unsized paper into a cooled mixture of sulfuric acid and water, and then washing and drying it under pressure make parchment paper, also called vegetable parchment. This process makes the paper partly transparent and much stronger than ordinary paper. Parchment paper is used for legal documents and maps. Parchment was especially popular in the ancient cities of Asia Minor. The Jews, Persians, and other ancient people used it for sacred and literary writings. Beginning about 200 BC, parchment gradually replaced papyrus as the most commonly used writing material. Parchment remained the leading writing material in the