Together Again

Maybe I am a just a Bible Geek and hardly anyone else really cares, but I find this exciting news.

The Associated Press is reporting that “two parts of an ancient biblical manuscript separated for centuries are going on display together for the first time.” “The pieces of the 1,300-year-old manuscript include the text of the Song of the Sea from the Book of Exodus.” The particular passage is Exodus 15:1-8.

I love the Biblical songs, especially the really, really old ones like the Song of the Sea. They remind me of the songs in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and I am almost certain in part inspired Tolkien. Reading and especially singing text over 1,300 years old sends shivers up my spine and causes the hair on my arms to stand on end.

The accidental discovery that these two previously separated parts of a single biblical manuscript actually belonged together is evidence that our biblical resources and ties to ancient biblical texts is constantly growing and improving. This can in no way be compared to the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls but I do think it shows that there are still ancient biblical manuscripts waiting to be discovered, manuscripts once tucked away in dusty libraries and later forgotten about or stored in clay jars and buried beneath feet of earth or hidden in caves, or maybe inserted into other folios that have not been opened in ages.

Maybe someday we might discover a copy of a letter Christians in Corinth wrote to Paul.