At the foot of Mt. Sinai is a gray stone monastery staffed by Greek monks and dedicated to St. Catherine. It's a bleak place in the dusty Egyptian wilderness, protected by high walls and heavy wooden doors. The monastery was established in the 6th century A.D.. People have been living, dying and collecting things within the walls of this complex for nearly 1500 years. That this monastery must have one of the most interesting attics in the world must have been on the mind of the German Bible scholar, Count Constantin von Tischendorf back in 1843, when he started searching through the monastery's library.

Tischendorf was interested in St. Catherine's because it is said to have one of the finest ancient libraries in the East. It seemed to Tischendorf to be a likely place to search for very old copies of the Bible. His purpose being, finding the oldest copy of the Bible still in existence and comparing it to more modern copies. By matching the old and the new, the accuracy of the newer Bible manuscripts could be checked. Tischendorf's hunch paid off. He found one of the oldest copies of the Bible known in his day, but how he found it is was what is amazing.

In his book Search on Sinai, Dr. Ludwig Schneller tells how Tischendorf's search had reached a dead end, and then what happened next.

"As he was about to leave the library, deeply discouraged, he saw in the middle of the room an enormous wastepaper basket which contained all kinds of rubbish, papers and scraps of books. So as not to miss anything, he emptied out the basket and investigated the contents. Smilingly, the librarian stood by and said: 'Lately the basket has twice been filled with such rubbish, but we have thrown it all into the fire so as to get it out of our way. This lot will also be in the fire soon.' And while he spoke, Tischendorf was picking out one valuable piece after the other, and examining it."

Of his discovery, Tischendorf said, "What was my surprise to find amid this heap of papers a considerable number of sheets of a copy of the Old Testament in Greek, which seemed to me to be one of the most ancient I had ever seen. I knew that I held in my hand the most precious Biblical treasure in existence---a document whose age and importance exceeded that of all the manuscripts which I had ever examined during my twenty years' study of the subject."

From the trash bin, Tischendorf had saved a copy of the Bible dated 360-375 A.D.. His find consists of 346 pages, 145 of which are the New Testament. This ancient manuscript is considered a treasure because none of the original copies of the Bible have ever been found. Therefore the nearer the manuscript is to the originals, the more useful it is to scholars. Thankfully, over the years, the Providence of God and the efforts of people like Count von Tischendorf, have confirmed that the Bibles we use today are the accurate Word of God. You can trust your Bible.

Blessings in your study of God's Word!

Marvin Hunt

There is never a charge for my articles, and if you have a good reason, there is no limit to how many you may request. However, if you find them valuable you may want to order my latest book, History, Mystery and Facts About the Bible. Order at 1-800-845-7618 (ext. 301). You may also order from Amazon.com. Proceeds from the book go to support this ministry.

Blessings!
Marvin Hunt

Http://www.biblehistory.com

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