Egg Whites or Turnips?

Archaeology and Bible Translation

Paul J. N. Lawrence

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781725260368
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Religion antique

Why are Bible translations so different from each other in places? Don't Bible translators know whether it was peacocks or baboons that King Solomon brought into Israel? Why has "sapphire" been replaced by "lapis lazuli" in some more modern versions? What animal provided the leather for the tabernacle? A badger? A sea cow? Or did the term in question simply mean "leather"? Can archaeology tell us what David's harp looked like? What is the evidence for leprosy in Bible times? Is there evidence for cotton, silk, and chickens at the time of the Bible?Answers to these and many other questions are given in this book.But how are such questions to be answered? Essentially the answer is "from the ground"--what can be called "archaeology." This book explores how, over the past two centuries, archaeology has shed its light on the text of the Bible.

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Archaeology and Bible Translation

Why are Bible translations so different from each other in places? To the layman there seems to be no rhyme or reason why Job’s question in Job 6:6b “Is there any flavor in the white of an egg?” (NIV) should be changed in later editions of the same translation to “Is there any flavor in the sap of the mallow?” (NIV2).1 Let alone a third possibility: “Does a turnip have any flavor?”2 Don’t Bible translators know whether it was peacocks or baboons that King Solomon brought into Israel (1 Kgs 10:22)? Why has sapphire been replaced by lapis lazuli (Exod 24:10)? What animal provided the leather for the tabernacle mentioned in Exod 25:5?—A badger? A sea cow? Or did the term in question simply mean “leather”? How does archaeology give us fresh insight into well-known verses of the Bible, such as Heb 11:1?3 Can archaeology tell us what David’s harp (1 Sam 16:23) looked like? What is the evidence for leprosy in Bible times? Is there evidence for cotton (Esth 1:6) and silk (Ezek 16:10) at the time of the Bible?

Answers to these and many other questions are given in this book.

But how are such questions to be answered? Essentially the answer is “From the ground,” that is, from evidence extracted in some way or other from the ground—what can be called “archaeology.”

At a first glance the worlds of archaeology and Bible translation seem to have little to connect them. Archaeology may conjure up images of unwrapping Egyptian mummies, sifting through piles of dry potsherds, even an Indiana Jones–style treasure hunter finding the long-lost ark of the covenant. Bible translation may evoke images of living in a steaming tropical jungle with a remote tribe, learning their language, committing it to writing and, after many years of painstaking work producing a portion of the Bible. Or it may evoke the image of an elderly white-haired scholar in a hallowed library surrounded by piles of dusty tomes.

In this book I will attempt to show how the disciplines of archaeology and Bible translation do in fact intersect and I shall argue that such an intersection needs to be more frequently recognized and encouraged.

Defining Some Terms

“Archaeology” is derived from the Classical Greek word αρχαιολογια [archaiologia] which meant: “Antiquarian law, ancient legends, history.”4 In more modern usage it has come to mean: “The study of human antiquities, especially of the prehistoric period and usually by excavation.”5

The term “Bible” also comes from a Greek word βιβλια [biblia] meaning “books.” The Bible is a collection of books, judged by its Jewish and Christian compilers to be books divinely inspired (2 Tim 3:16).6 It is commonly stated that thirty-nine books comprise the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible and twenty-seven the New Testament.7 Which books constitute the Bible has been the subject of much debate. Some Christian traditions include a collection of writings called the Apocrypha or the Deutero-canon.8 These books, however, were not part of the Jewish scriptures and will not be considered here.

The Old Testament was largely written in Hebrew, with small sections written in Aramaic9—a related language that the Jews learned during their exile in Babylon. In general terms the Old Testament was written over a period of about a thousand years ending in ca. 400 BC, though, if its prophetic nature is recognized,10 it also describes events which took place after that date. The New Testament was written in Greek, which in the first century AD was the main language in the eastern half of the Roman Empire. The whole of the New Testament was written within that first century.11

A Brief History of Bible Translation

The Bible is the world’s most translated book. The complete Bible has been translated into over 400 of the world’s 7,100 languages and the New Testament into a well over a further thousand.12 Part of the motivation for this remarkable achievement lies in the last words of Jesus to his disciples:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and...

Table of contents

• Title page
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Archaeology and Bible Translation
• chapter 2: “Is There Any Flavor in the White of an Egg?”Job 6:6
• Chapter 3: “He [King Uzziah] Made Machines . . . to Shoot Arrows and Hurl Large Stones”
2 Chr 26:15
• Chapter 4: “Praise Him with the Tambourine and Harp”Ps 149:3
• Chapter 5: “He [King Solomon] Described Plant Life, from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hyssop That Grows Out of Walls”1 Kgs 4:33a
• Chapter 6: “He [King Solomon] Also Taught about Animals and Birds”1 Kgs 4:33b
• Chapter 7: “They Will Sparkle in His Land like Jewels in a Crown”Zech 9:16b
• Chapter 8: “Unclean! Unclean!”Lev 13:45b
• Chapter 9: “A Lion Shouted”Isa 21:8
• Chapter 10: “Woe to Me That I Dwell in Meshek”Ps 120:5
• Chapter 11: “Faith Is the Title Deed of Things Hoped For”Heb 11:1
• Chapter 12: Conclusion
• Appendix 1: Musical Instruments
• Appendix 2: Plants and Trees
• Appendix 3: Animals and Birds
• Appendix 4: Precious Stones in Exod 28
• Bibliography