Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 23
23 The Bible itself records evidence of interpolation in its text. One such example is to be found in the "Book of Ezra", which is also known as the "Greek Book of Ezra", "The Third Book of Ezra", or "the Second Book of Ezra," and was part of the earlier Bible. It was later dropped from the Bible on the recommendation of Jerome, a notable Christian priest who was entrusted by the then Pope with the task of editing the Bible (ca 370-420 A. D. ). Jerome's recommendation was based on the ground that the book was unreliable as its Hebrew original was no longer available. 2 The very fact that a whole book could be excluded from the existing Bible is ample proof of human interpolation. The book of Ezra provides evidence that Ezra rewrote it from memory after the original Bible was destroyed. Behold, Lord, I will go, as thou hast commanded me and reprove the people which are present: but they that shall be born afterward, who shall admonish them? thus the world is set in darkness, and they that dwell therein are without light. For thy law is burnt, therefore, no man knoweth the things that are done of thee, or the works that shall begin. But if I have found grace before thee, send the Holy Ghost into me, and I shall write all that hath been done in the world since the beginning, which were written in thy law, that men may find thy path, and that they which will live in the latter days may live. And he answered me, saying, Go thy way, gather the people together, and say unto them that they seek thee not for forty days. But look thou prepare thee many box trees, and take with thee Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Ecanus, and Asiel, these five which are ready to write swiftly; And come hither, and I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out, till the things be performed which thou shalt begin to write. 3 In forty days they wrote two hundred and four books. 4 From this it appears that Ezra and the five scribes worked hard for forty days in seclusion and with God's help composed 204 books. It can thus be concluded: (a) that in the time of Prophet Ezra, who lived about 450 years before Jesus, the Torah and the books of the other Prophets had become extinct. (b) that no reliable copy of these books was then in existence. (c) that Ezra rewrote the books from memory. According to Jewish history, Ezra himself doubted parts of the restored text on the ground of unreliability of his memory, and left the final decision about them to Elijah. Evidence to this effect is provided in the Jewish Encyclopedia: 5 He showed his doubts concerning the correctness of some words of the text by placing points over them. Should Elijah, said he, approve of the text, the points will be disregarded; should he disapprove, the doubtful words will be removed from the text. The Jewish Encyclopedia also provides additional evidence of Ezra re-writing the Old Testament up to his time: