For those who think the Bible is just one more book ...
Since the printing press was not invented until the 15 th century AD l, copies of the Scriptures before that date were made by hand. The Hebrews had such respect for the law of God which emerged a group of scholars of the law which responsibility was to study and copy the books of the Old Testament. They called the scribes, experts in the Law of Moses or the doctors of the law.
rules to copy the biblical text were strict as shows the Talmud (Jewish commentary on the Act). Below is a partial list of transcription rules:
1-was preparing the parchment, animal skin clean, and the sections were joined with strips of a clean animal. Only a Jew could be used to prepare the parchment copy of Sacred Scripture.
2-No word or letter was to be written from memory, which he wrote had to have a copy authentically within reach and had to read aloud each word before writing it.
3-The scribe had to clean the pen before writing the word "God" and had to bathe and change clothes before writing "Jehovah."
4-The scribe had to follow special rules of the Talmud for the formation of letters, spaces between them, the type of pen used in the transcription and the color of parchment. 5-
had to review the manuscript within 30 days after completion. A fault on a page condemning the entire page, are three faults were discovered on a page, the entire manuscript was condemned.
6 - count every word and every letter, if a letter is omitted, or added, or if one letter touched another, the manuscript was condemned and destroyed immediately.
These standards demonstrate the care and respect that Jews had the Scriptures.
(INSTE, 1992)
