06-01-2012, 04:10 AM
ScorpioSniper2 Wrote:One thing I've noticed about a lot of Peshitta primacists is that they claim that they claim that the Khabouris Codex is the oldest manuscript of the New Testament...this manuscript was carbon dated back to the 12th century.
Shlama Akhi SS2:
There is an undeniable problem in trying to find the oldest Peshitta Manuscript of the New Testament. Whereas today we have electronic media, storable printed material and various ways of storing media for very long periods of time, the media used as a substrate for the ancient manuscripts was rather limited. Therefore, the best scribal method of reproduction was to hand copy a new manuscript and bury the older one in a geneza (sacred manuscript )burial plot. Te Jews had the best system for doing this, being passed down from generation to generation, and handled very carefully. This method of scribal copying ensured the most precise transfer of the media to ensure that there were no errors in the new useable copy.
This is true for every every ancient manuscript. Nevertheless, the Jews definitely had the very best system and those that used the Jewish method, which included counting all of the letters per line reduced to a bare minimum, the errors that might crop up. Each manuscript after being copied was carefully proof-read by more than one scribe to verify the count per line.
Now, when we look at the Khabouris Codex we can safely assume that it was copied under very careful scrutiny, using the Jewish method, the method of the Sofer. When taking this into account we can be reasonably sure that what we have now is an 11th or 12th century copy of a Fifth Century Manuscript and that Fifth Century copy can be knowledgably traced to the First Century. It's reasonable to assume that at the time of copying, several new manuscripts were scribed and passed around to various congregations throughout
What little we know about the Yonan Codex seems to correspond verbatim with the Khabouris Codex. The Yonan, as far as is known is from the Fifth Century and is the oldest known manuscript of the Eastern Peshitta New Testament. I have a lot of confidence in the Jewish Scribal tradition but do not have the same confidence with any of the Greek manuscripts because the Greeks were not as careful in there copying procedures.
Shlama,
Stephen