This past week has brought to the public’s attention the discovery of two important manuscripts: one of Leviticus and one of the Qur’an.
Leviticus
The Leviticus manuscript was actually discovered in 1970 in a Torah ark from a Byzantine-era synagogue excavated at Ein Gedi in Israel. It was burnt by a fire, however, and could not be deciphered until now. The scroll was found to contain Leviticus 1:1-8. It is dated no later than the 6th century A.D. (when the synagogue and village were burned).
Qur’an
Two pages of the Qur’an (portions of Surahs 18-20) were discovered inside the codex of another late 7th century Qur’anic manuscript at Birmingham University. Radiocarbon dating of the manuscript has revealed an age of A.D 568A- 645. Muhammad lived from A.D. 570 – 632, making it a live possibility that the manuscript fragment was composed while Muhammad was still alive.
This is quite an exciting find. While the news articles are claiming the text is “very similar” to the form of the text today, it would be interesting to see what the variations are. This is particularly important given the Muslim claims that the Qur’an they use today is identical to the Uthmanic version, which is identical to the revelations provided to Muhammad. If the earliest manuscript copy of these Surahs has textual differences, it would call this view into question.
More work also needs to be done to date the manuscript. While the vellum may date to the time of Mohammed, that doesn’t mean the writing does. It could have been written on much later, or it could be a palimpsest (a reused manuscript, in which the scribe scrapes off the earlier writing much like an eraser, and then reuses the manuscript for a new writing). To properly date the manuscript an analysis will need to be done on the ink, the script, etc.
Thinking to Believe 
August 4, 2015 at 11:59 pm
The best photo of this manuscript that the BBC provides shows clear traces of another text underneath the main text. It is not clear from the photo whether that is the text from the other side bleeding through on the photograph, or even if there is any text on the other side; nor does the BBC tell us whether or not the parchment shows signs of having been a palimpsest — that is, a parchment that was used more than once for different texts. There is also some red ink in the top lines of the manuscript in the photo but not in the succeeding lines. Has the red ink faded from the other sections, or is it itself evidence of the ink fading? Or is it a later hand filling in areas that had faded away (and possibly altering the text)? The BBC doesn’t tell us, yet this is an extremely salient point. Another recently discovered and much-touted fragment of the Qur’an, now in Germany and dated from between 649 and 675, shows clear signs of alteration, raising the possibility that the Qur’anic text was altered over time. If this is a possibility also for the University of Birmingham manuscript, the BBC should tell us so. But it doesn’t.
What’s more, if the text along with the parchment really dates from between 568 and 645, it may not be a fragment of the Qur’an at all.The Qur’an, according to Islamic tradition, was compiled in its definitive form in the year 653 by the caliph Uthman, who ordered all variant texts burned and the canonical version distributed to all the provinces within his domains. This traditional view if accurate is 21 years after Mohammed’s death in 632CE.
Source:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/07/oldest-quran-fragments-in-the-world-discovered-in-the-uk-maybe-maybe-not
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August 5, 2015 at 2:49 pm
A key point to keep in mind whenever considering the Old Testament is the pervasive influence generated by Masoretic Text in modern Christianity. It did not exist during Yahshua’s earthly ministry. As the following article states Masoretic text would have been unrecognizable to Abraham and Moses:
https://theorthodoxlife.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/masoretic-text-vs-original-hebrew/
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August 5, 2015 at 7:34 pm
The predominant theme of the Book of Leviticus presents the Holiness of YHWH. But as this study explains when one of its elements undergoes careful examination powerful evidence emerges supporting the inerrancy of Scripture. It even resolves a longstanding conundrum: How do we reconcile the many statements Messiah was to rise on the third day, referring to the two days of elapsed time from Friday to Sunday?
I thank Dr H. Davis for introducing me to Associates For Biblical Research.
http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2015/07/25/Evidence-for-Inerrancy-from-a-Second-Unexpected-Source-The-Jubilee-and-Sabbatical-Cycles.aspx#Article
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August 5, 2015 at 7:36 pm
Gee… WTF , interpretation, wouldn’t surprise me a bit to hear anything about anything…………
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August 5, 2015 at 8:02 pm
Okay. So here’s the next obvious question?……
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