The ancient Hebrew holy writings used in the temple during the time of Jesus would have been written on long scrolls made of papyrus. To make a scroll, papyrus plants as much as fifteen feet high would be cut into page length sections and have the outer rind stripped off. The soft pith would be cut into strips and laid, slightly overlapping on a hard surface. On top of them would be laid another layer going in the opposite direction. The two layers would be made one by hammering and pressing them together. After drying, the sheet would be trimmed to size, smoothed with pumice stone and polished. Finally, the sheets were pasted together in lengths to 35 feet and rolled up to await use. The finished product was white or off-white in color and was a durable as the best hand-made paper produced centuries later. The ink was made from lamp-black or soot which was mixed with gum to help it to stick. A reed pen was used.
When some 20 or more papyrus sheets were glued together, producing a scroll about 25 to 35 feet in length, it was called a biblion, often translated "book" (see Rev.22:18). The longest ever found is called the great Papyrus Harris, which in now in the British Museum. It is 143 feet long!
The First Codex
A codex is the book form as we know it today. A book with separate pages held together on one side, and with writing on both sides. The codex or book has its beginnings in the writing tablets used by the Greeks and Romans. They took thin rectangular boards, slightly hollowed them out and filled the cavities with a thin layer of black wax. Information was written on the wax with a metal tool and erasures were done by turning the tool around and smoothing out the wax. Up to ten of these writing tablets were tied together with string, forming what we would call a notebook.
Romans improved the codex or notebook by substituting parchment sheets (very thin animal skins) for the wooden leaves and using carbon ink which could be easily washed off. The next step was to substitute papyrus paper for the animal skins. We do not know when this idea blossomed, but it is known that the event is directly connected to the earliest days of Christianity. Some feel that the inventor may have been a Christian and could have happened as early as 70 A.D. The word codex comes from the Latin word caudex which means "a log of wood."
It is interesting to note that the oldest piece of the New Testament we have is a scrap from John's Gospel, dated about 130 A.D. is from a codex.

For Further Study
The Cambridge History of the Bible, Volume 2, G.W.H. Lampe Editor, pp.54- "Early Christian Book Production."

Blessings in your study of God's Word!

Marvin Hunt

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