In commenting on the way the ancient manuscripts were copied, an Old Testament scholar, Floyd Hamilton put it like this, “The words and verses in the whole Old Testament were counted, and the middle verse and word were ascertained. The number of words and verses in each book was likewise found and the middle verse and word were ascertained. The middle verse and word of the law were found and even the middle letter in each book and section was accurately made sure and recorded. Whenever any scribe copied the Old Testament, in whole or in part, he counted the verses, words and letters of his copy and checked up the middle verses, words and letters in each section, book, and the whole Old Testament, thus assuring meticulous accuracy in the copy.”

The Dead Sea Scrolls are today housed in an air-conditioned bunker at the Shrine of the Book, part of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Only four trained people can touch them. The reason they survived in the jars found in the caves is because the dead sea is a barren and dry environment much like Egypt, where artefacts survived in a similar climate.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were Old Testament Documents that date from the first century BC. When compared with the 10th century Masoretic texts, they showed that there had been no change to the Old Testament text in 1000yrs.The New Testament is the best attested ancient document in existence. There are over 24,000 ancient manuscripts in Greek and other languages. Most ancient documents outside the Bible have existing manuscripts that approximately number the fingers on your hand.

For anyone to claim that all we have in our Bible is a “close approximation” of the original text is wildly inaccurate. Sir Frederic Kenyon, director of the British Museum for 21 years, expressed confidence in the Bible text: “The Christian can take the whole Bible in his hand and say without fear or hesitation that he holds in it the true word of God, handed down without essential loss from generation to generation throughout the centuries” Quoted by Josh McDowell in ‘Evidence That Demands a Verdict’ p58

The only place we can learn about eternal life is in God’s Word, so the Lord has promised to preserve it to all generations. “Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens” (Psalm.119:89).
Isaiah 40:8 NLT, “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
Psalm 12:6-7 NKJV “The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.7 You shall keep them, O Lord, You shall preserve them from this generation forever.”
Isaiah 46:9-10 NLT “I am God, and there is none like me. Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish….”

Nearly one third of the Bible is prophecy. The rise and fall of nations were predicted with uncanny accuracy. Every one of these prophecies has stood the test of time e.g., if anyone were to go and live in Babylon or Petra the Bible would fail because the Bible prophets said they would never be inhabited ever again. This is where we will go next as we follow the evidence.