Tiberias
a city, the modern Tubarich, on the western shore of the Sea of
Tiberias. It is said to have been founded by Herod Antipas (A.D.
16), on the site of the ruins of an older city called Rakkath,
and to have been thus named by him after the Emperor Tiberius.
It is mentioned only three times in the history of our Lord
(John 6:1,23; 21:1).
In 1837 about one-half of the inhabitants perished by an
earthquake. The population of the city is now about six
thousand, nearly the one-half being Jews. "We do not read that
our Lord ever entered this city. The reason of this is probably
to be found in the fact that it was practically a heathen city,
though standing upon Jewish soil. Herod, its founder, had
brought together the arts of Greece, the idolatry of Rome, and
the gross lewdness of Asia. There were in it a theatre for the
performance of comedies, a forum, a stadium, a palace roofed
with gold in imitation of those in Italy, statues of the Roman
gods, and busts of the deified emperors. He who was not sent but
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel might well hold himself
aloof from such scenes as these" (Manning's Those Holy Fields).
After the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70), Tiberias became one of
the chief residences of the Jews in Israel. It was for more
than three hundred years their metropolis. From about A.D. 150
the Sanhedrin settled here, and established rabbinical schools,
which rose to great celebrity. Here the Jerusalem (or
Palestinian) Talmud was compiled about the beginning of the
fifth century. To this same rabbinical school also we are
indebted for the Masora, a "body of traditions which transmitted
the readings of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, and
preserved, by means of the vowel-system, the pronunciation of
the Hebrew." In its original form, and in all manuscripts, the
Hebrew is written without vowels; hence, when it ceased to be a
spoken language, the importance of knowing what vowels to insert
between the consonants. This is supplied by the Masora, and
hence these vowels are called the "Masoretic vowel-points."
Version
a translation of the holy Scriptures. This word is not found in
the Bible, nevertheless, as frequent references are made in this
work to various ancient as well as modern versions, it is
fitting that some brief account should be given of the most
important of these. These versions are important helps to the
right interpretation of the Word. (See SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH
¯T0003203.)
1. The Targums. After the return from the Captivity, the Jews,
no longer familiar with the old Hebrew, required that their
Scriptures should be translated for them into the Chaldaic or
Aramaic language and interpreted. These translations and
paraphrases were at first oral, but they were afterwards reduced
to writing, and thus targums, i.e., "versions" or
"translations", have come down to us. The chief of these are,
(1.) The Onkelos Targum, i.e., the targum of Akelas=Aquila, a
targum so called to give it greater popularity by comparing it
with the Greek translation of Aquila mentioned below. This
targum originated about the second century after Christ. (2.)
The targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel comes next to that of Onkelos
in respect of age and value. It is more a paraphrase on the
Prophets, however, than a translation. Both of these targums
issued from the Jewish school which then flourished at Babylon.
2. The Greek Versions. (1.) The oldest of these is the
Septuagint, usually quoted as the LXX. The origin of this the
most important of all the versions is involved in much
obscurity. It derives its name from the popular notion that
seventy-two translators were employed on it by the direction of
Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, and that it was
accomplished in seventy-two days, for the use of the Jews
residing in that country. There is no historical warrant for
this notion. It is, however, an established fact that this
version was made at Alexandria; that it was begun about 280
B.C., and finished about 200 or 150 B.C.; that it was the work
of a number of translators who differed greatly both in their
knowledge of Hebrew and of Greek; and that from the earliest
times it has borne the name of "The Septuagint", i.e., The
Seventy.
"This version, with all its defects, must be of the greatest
interest, (a) as preserving evidence for the text far more
ancient than the oldest Hebrew manuscripts; (b) as the means by
which the Greek Language was wedded to Hebrew thought; (c) as
the source of the great majority of quotations from the Old
Testament by writers of the New Testament.
(2.) The New Testament manuscripts fall into two divisions,
Uncials, written in Greek capitals, with no distinction at all
between the different words, and very little even between the
different lines; and Cursives, in small Greek letters, and with
divisions of words and lines. The change between the two kinds
of Greek writing took place about the tenth century. Only five
manuscripts of the New Testament approaching to completeness are
more ancient than this dividing date. The first, numbered A, is
the Alexandrian manuscript. Though brought to this country by
Cyril Lucar, patriarch of Constantinople, as a present to
Charles I., it is believed that it was written, not in that
capital, but in Alexandria; whence its title. It is now dated in
the fifth century A.D. The second, known as B, is the Vatican
manuscript. (See VATICANUS ¯T0003766.) The Third, C, or the
Ephraem manuscript, was so called because it was written over
the writings of Ephraem, a Syrian theological author, a practice
very common in the days when writing materials were scarce and
dear. It is believed that it belongs to the fifth century, and
perhaps a slightly earlier period of it than the manuscript A.
The fourth, D, or the manuscript of Beza, was so called because
it belonged to the reformer Beza, who found it in the monastery
of St. Irenaeus at Lyons in 1562 A.D. It is imperfect, and is
dated in the sixth century. The fifth (called Aleph) is the
Sinaitic manuscript. (See SINAITICUS ¯T0003443.)
3. The Syriac Versions. (See SYRIAC ¯T0003549.)
4. The Latin Versions. A Latin version of the Scriptures,
called the "Old Latin," which originated in North Africa, was in
common use in the time of Tertullian (A.D. 150). Of this there
appear to have been various copies or recensions made. That made
in Italy, and called the Itala, was reckoned the most accurate.
This translation of the Old Testament seems to have been made
not from the original Hebrew but from the LXX.
This version became greatly corrupted by repeated
transcription, and to remedy the evil Jerome (A.D. 329-420) was
requested by Damasus, the bishop of Rome, to undertake a
complete revision of it. It met with opposition at first, but
was at length, in the seventh century, recognized as the
"Vulgate" version. It appeared in a printed from about A.D.
1455, the first book that ever issued from the press. The
Council of Trent (1546) declared it "authentic." It subsequently
underwent various revisions, but that which was executed (1592)
under the sanction of Pope Clement VIII. was adopted as the
basis of all subsequent editions. It is regarded as the sacred
original in the Roman Catholic Church. All modern European
versions have been more or less influenced by the Vulgate. This
version reads _ipsa_ instead of _ipse_ in Gen. 3:15, "She shall
bruise thy head."
5. There are several other ancient versions which are of
importance for Biblical critics, but which we need not mention
particularly, such as the Ethiopic, in the fourth century, from
the LXX.; two Egyptian versions, about the fourth century, the
Memphitic, circulated in Lower Egypt, and the Thebaic, designed
for Upper Egypt, both from the Greek; the Gothic, written in the
German language, but with the Greek alphabet, by Ulphilas (died
A.D. 388), of which only fragments of the Old Testament remain;
the Armenian, about A.D. 400; and the Slavonic, in the ninth
century, for ancient Moravia. Other ancient versions, as the
Arabic, the Persian, and the Anglo-Saxon, may be mentioned.
6. The history of the English versions begins properly with
Wyckliffe. Portions, however, of the Scriptures were rendered
into Saxon (as the Gospel according to John, by Bede, A.D. 735),
and also into English (by Orme, called the "Ormulum," a portion
of the Gospels and of the Acts in the form of a metrical
paraphrase, toward the close of the seventh century), long
before Wyckliffe; but it is to him that the honour belongs of
having first rendered the whole Bible into English (A.D. 1380).
This version was made from the Vulgate, and renders Gen. 3:15
after that Version, "She shall trede thy head."
This was followed by Tyndale's translation (1525-1531); Miles
Coverdale's (1535-1553); Thomas Matthew's (1537), really,
however, the work of John Rogers, the first martyr under the
reign of Queen Mary. This was properly the first Authorized
Version, Henry VIII. having ordered a copy of it to be got for
every church. This took place in less than a year after Tyndale
was martyred for the crime of translating the Scriptures. In
1539 Richard Taverner published a revised edition of Matthew's
Bible. The Great Bible, so called from its great size, called
also Cranmer's Bible, was published in 1539 and 1568. In the
strict sense, the "Great Bible" is "the only authorized version;
for the Bishops' Bible and the present Bible [the A.V.] never
had the formal sanction of royal authority." Next in order was
the Geneva version (1557-1560); the Bishops' Bible (1568); the
Rheims and Douai versions, under Roman Catholic auspices (1582,
1609); the Authorized Version (1611); and the Revised Version of
the New Testament in 1880 and of the Old Testament in 1884.
