Andrea Bakas: 00:31

You're listening to Vexed, a program on the Ephesus School Network. I'm Andrea Bakas, your curator through biblical literature and its world and culture. Just as a museum curator selects, acquires, cares for, repairs objects, and discovers frauds and counterfeits, I'll be sifting through our world and culture for examples to help us better understand the biblical text.

Andrea Bakas: 01:14

The twenty eighteen AMC series, The Terror, is a historical horror series inspired by the real life disappearance of the British Royal Navy ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror during their search for the Northwest Passage in the Arctic in the years 1845 to 1848. The series depicts the crew's harrowing struggle for survival against harsh Arctic conditions, dwindling resources, and a mysterious monstrous creature rooted in Inuit mythology. I was captivated by a particular scene in the show. It's the opening scene of episode eight. In it, we see the captain of the HMS Terror, played by Jared Harris, accompanied by first officer of the HMS Erebus, played by Tobias Menzies.

Andrea Bakas: 02:09

The two men have decided to venture out on foot, and you see their small figures slowly walking across the vast Arctic landscape. They come upon a large mound of stones, which functioned as a messenger station called a cairn. It's spelled c a I r n. Adventurers would deposit records of their journeys in the mound for safekeeping, which would then be preserved for future adventurers to find. The stone design provided enduring protection from the harsh landscape.

Andrea Bakas: 02:48

We see the two men standing at the stone mound. The first officer removes a few stones and reaches in and takes out a metal tube. The metal tube holds a document, which is now referred to as the victory point note written by captain John Franklin. Historically, it is the sole surviving official record of the expedition. Menzies reads the last entry and the date and then remarks that Graham, his shift's lieutenant, quote, died that very day.

Andrea Bakas: 03:27

Solemnly, he pauses and takes his pen and carefully adds to the document the words that he died on the June 11. Cairns, such as that depicted in the show, The Terror, are an ancient method of communication at least 6,000 years old. They are found all over the world and were particularly important in harsh winter landscapes. When the Norse explored Greenland and Baffin Island in the tenth to fourteenth centuries AD, they built cairns to mark routes and leave signals. European Arctic expeditions in the sixteenth to twentieth centuries AD used cairns as message depots.

Andrea Bakas: 04:14

They left behind travel logs or directions in the hope of rescue or simply for the benefit of later explorers. The explorer isn't as important as what he learned and documented. Let me say that again. The explorer isn't as important as what he learned and documented. He may not survive the journey, but he takes great pains to leave a record, a record of information that would be valuable to other explorers.

Andrea Bakas: 04:50

Paths, dangers, encounters, and discoveries. He does this for the benefit of others, for future explorers, for the benefit of future generations. This scene depicts so well that what's precious is not the individual, but what they learned and recorded, what they consigned to writing. This is what we have in the Bible. We have an ancient text which has survived and been passed along from generation to generation.

Andrea Bakas: 05:27

Its authors wrote for the benefit of future generations. As with many other ancient texts, we don't know who the authors were. They didn't sign their names. There were probably whole schools of individuals who wrote. This was the ancient way.

Andrea Bakas: 05:46

The author or authors didn't leave their signatures. Today, we can't conceive of an author who would write something, publish it, and not sign their work. Although it's true that authors sometimes use pseudonyms. Why didn't they leave their signatures? The ancients had a different understanding of authorship.

Andrea Bakas: 06:10

Writing was less about the individual and their wish to express themselves and more about preserving tradition and transmitting knowledge. Ancient texts were seen as belonging to a school, community, or tradition, not an individual. The great Greek epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are attributed to a poet called Homer, but there is no evidence that he was a historical figure. Moreover, it is not until the third to second centuries BC that we have written mention of the term Homer's Iliad or Homer's Odyssey, but we do not have the physical scrolls. The most complete physical manuscripts we do have are from the medieval period in the tenth century AD.

Andrea Bakas: 07:00

And although they are attributed to Homer, they are not signed in the way that a writer today would sign their text. An attribution is not proof of authorship. Let's consider the Bible. We don't know who wrote the biblical books. Scholars continue to debate this question.

Andrea Bakas: 07:21

The earliest manuscripts we have are not signed. We do not have written evidence of who wrote them. We have what I will call book titles. By titles, I mean, the names we came to know them by. They are not marks of authorship.

Andrea Bakas: 07:40

Let's take a look at two Old Testament books as an example. In the earliest manuscripts of the Old Testament books in Hebrew, there are no titles and no attributions. We do not know who the authors were. The books were identified by the first few words of text, and these came to be used as titles. For example, consider the book of Isaiah.

Andrea Bakas: 08:08

The earliest complete manuscript we have of the book of Isaiah is dated to January, and that is the text that is among the Dead Sea Scrolls collection. It's known as the Great Isaiah Scroll. The scroll has been digitized, and you can see it online. I have the link included in the show notes. If you have a look at it, you'll see that there is no title or author written on the scroll.

Andrea Bakas: 08:37

It just starts with text. We call the book Isaiah because that is the name that is written in the first verse of the book. The vision of Isaiah, son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Similarly, the first book of the Bible is referred to as Beresheit, which in Hebrew means in the beginning. It's called Beresheit because that's the first word of the book.

Andrea Bakas: 09:16

Beresheit bara. In the beginning created. The Septuagint Greek has a different convention for titles. They capture the theme of the book. For example, the second book, which in English is Exodus, comes from the Greek exodos, which means going out.

Andrea Bakas: 09:38

The title exodus reflects the story in which the children of Israel are led out of Egypt. Incidentally, the word exodus does not appear in the text of Exodus. The point is that the data we have does not reveal the author or authors. It's true that we have a body of letters referred to as the Pauline epistles. Several letters begin with Paul naming himself, and it can be argued that they are proof of authorship.

Andrea Bakas: 10:13

But I'm not sure. Perhaps this self identification is a literary device. Suffice it to say that the authorship of the Pauline epistles is still being debated. The biblical writers have disappeared. We are not meant to hold on to this question of who were they?

Andrea Bakas: 10:35

We are meant to hear their work. We are meant to hear what is written. The primacy of what is written is also attested to in the content of the Bible. We hear its characters and storylines express that it is God's written word of law and commandment that is central. Individual characters come and go in service of the story.

Andrea Bakas: 11:00

What remains as a thread through the whole corpus is a persistence, the emphasis on what is written. In the book of Exodus, we have the famous tableau of Moses receiving the written tablets from Elohim. Let's hear Exodus chapter 32 verses fifteen and sixteen. Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, Tablets that were written on both sides, on the front, and on the back, they were written. In the book of Ezekiel, we also have God's words consigned to writing.

Andrea Bakas: 11:42

It's interesting that this expression in Exodus, that God's words are written on both sides, front and back, is repeated in Ezekiel. In Ezekiel chapter two verse 10, the Lord spreads out his scroll in which his words are written on the front and on the back. The idea is that God's words, as he gives them, are complete, and nothing may be added. The importance of what is written pervades the entire biblical story. In fact, you might say that what is written, I use that in quotes, is its own character in the story.

Andrea Bakas: 12:24

In the book of Jeremiah, we have a vivid example in chapter 36. In this chapter, the prophet Jeremiah instructs his scribe, Baruch, to write down all the prophecies God had given him against Judah. King Joachim, upon hearing the scroll read, rejects God's word by cutting and burning the scroll. Despite this act of defiance, God commands Jeremiah to have Baruch rewrite the scroll. In scripture, God's words consigned to writing overpower kings.

Andrea Bakas: 13:01

We have an interesting variation on this in Isaiah chapter 30. God commands Isaiah to write down his words, a record of his people's disobedience and mistrust. His people did not trust that he would care for them. Instead, they seek protection from Egypt in the wake of Assyria's threat against Jerusalem. This written record will serve as a permanent witness against them so that God is vindicated in his judgment.

Andrea Bakas: 13:33

He doesn't arbitrarily render judgment. There is a reason. His people broke his law. The written record is the proof that he is the just judge. Let's hear Isaiah chapter 30 verse eight.

Andrea Bakas: 13:50

And now go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. Let us turn to the New Testament. The terms it is written in Greek, and as it is written, feature in the New Testament books. The book of Romans has the highest incidence of the term as it is written. Paul is making his case with repeated references to the Old Testament texts, and he will repeat this citation formula in one and two Corinthians.

Andrea Bakas: 14:36

In one Corinthians, we hear Paul's insistence on the primacy of what is written. In one Corinthians chapter four, verse six, we hear, I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. Paul is reminding them that the reference is what is written, not those in leadership positions who will try to outdo one another. It is written, is found in all the gospels. In every book, it is Jesus who utters these words the most.

Andrea Bakas: 15:24

He bows to the authority of what is written, meaning the text of the Old Testament books. We have said enough about this to be assured that in the Bible, we have an ancient text whose authors made their contribution and then disappeared. They made the anti-ego choice. The fact that they left no trace of their identity tells us that their interest was in the propagation of their work, not themselves. And they wove this commitment to what is written into the content of their Bible.

Andrea Bakas: 16:03

In the story, we hear that God's laws, commandments, and judgments are consigned to writing, and we then hear how this takes shape throughout the biblical story. All this is a caution not to personalize the Bible. Be careful what you focus on. Refrain from trying to relate to the authors, or let your curiosity take you down rabbit holes that prevent you from hearing the text. Coming back to where we started.

Andrea Bakas: 16:36

In a sense, that ancient structure, the stone cairn, is a metaphor for the Bible book, whose protective covers front and back house precious content. Many hands and minds contributed to the epic mashal, the instructional story that is the Bible. They shall remain nameless erudites who died long ago, but it is their work that lives on. Until next time. This is Vexed.