Ancient writing materials
The oldest writing material used in the Middle-East was clay. One could write with a stick in damp clay. The kind of writing used quickly developed into stylised pictures called cuniform script. Making straight lines is a lot easier than drawing actual pictures. Thousands of clay tablets have been found in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) and the surrounding area.
Another kind of writing developed in Egypt. Here the people used papyrus, a kind of reed, to make sheets which could be used to 'write' on. Because a brush is very versatile, this 'writing' continued to consist of recognisable pictures: hieroglyphics.
Around the time that the people of Israel left Egypt to settle in Canaan, a third sort of writing developed in the area, alphabetic script. The big difference was the limited number of characters which were easy to learn (22 in Hebrew, only consonants). This was in contrast to about 2000 characters in the cuniform and hieroglyphic scripts. In Egypt and Mesopotamia being a scribe was a profession. Even the kings were dependent on their scribes because they would not be able to read or write themselves. In Israel everyone (or possibly only the boys) learnt the alphabet, because there were no official scribes. Having an alphabet is very important because it allows abstract concepts to be written down which is almost impossible with pictures.
When 'ink' and 'brush' had been adopted from Egypt, it became possible to write on all sorts of different materials. Pottery shards were also used to write on. These are known by the Greek name ostrakon (ostracism was a Greek people's tribunal during which a secret (written) ballot was held about someone's banishment using ostraka as ballot slips). Such ostraka often had important official correspondence on them and should not be viewed simply as a sort of 'draft paper'. They were a welcome source of writing material. It is interesting to note that the form of the writing changed: the letters became 'thicker'. The Hebrew 'square script' we know today developed from this.
In much later times another writing material came into use, particularly by the Romans: the wax tablet. This comprised a wooden board, hinged in the middle, with a layer of wax on the inside. Letters could be scratched in the wax with a stylus. When wiped with the blunt side of the stylus, the writing was erased. These must have been the first ever notebooks. A similar wax tablet is probably what is referred to in Luke 1:63.
Materials in the Old Testament
- Clay tablets were used a lot for purchase agreements. They had to last for one generation; after that the buyer, seller and witnesses would be dead and nobody else would be interested in them. Later, contracts were often in two-fold; one copy was enclosed in a clay covering (an envelope) on which the buyer and seller put their seals and baked. In the event of a dispute the parties had two copies, one of which could not have been tampered with. We see this practice in Jeremiah 32:10-14. An even older purchase agreement is possibly 'hidden' in Genesis 23:17. The Hittites had the habit of describing a piece of land according to the number of trees on it: these were noted in the purchase agreement. The mention of trees in this verse in Genesis could indicate that the writer was quoting the original contract.
- Stone was used particularly for royal proclamations and legislation. These had to remain legible for many generations. Examples of these are steles such as those of Merneptah and Mesa or the stone with Hammurabi's legislation. Therefore it is logical that the main points of the law given on Sinai should be on stone. This image of something being etched in stone is used elsewhere for things that should not be forgotten (Job 19:24; Jeremiah 17:1).
- Ostraca, as indicated, were used mainly for correspondence of all sorts. In Lakish tens of ostraca have been excavated dating from the time when Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. One of them contains the sentence: "And see, the words of the prophet are not good...." This is compared to the accusations aimed at the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38:4).
- Writing of greater worth, which needed to be constantly consulted, was on papyrus or hides which, on a roll, could contain a large amount of text. Jeremiah's prophecies, for example, were written on such a roll (Jeremiah 36, see also Jeremiah 51:60-64).
The texts of the New Testament
The texts of the New Testament were probably written and copied on papyrus rolls. We know that the texts quickly became widespread. When their value as inspired writings was realised they were copied onto more durable materials, such as hides and parchment. Only a few people had the luxury of their own Bible rolls. We read about the Jews at Berea that they "searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). We must assume that they studied those Scriptures in the local synagogue. However, we read of the Apostle Paul that he asks Timothy "Bring... the books, especially the parchments" (2 Tim. 4:13). The parchments were undoubtedly rolls of Scripture which he used for study. But, of course, Paul was not just any Jewish commoner. The Christians would have had their own joint Scripture rolls, at first on papyrus, then on the more durable parchment. Copying was done with great enthusiasm, but with less accuracy than that with which the Jews copied the Old Testament. However, we have so many copies of the New Testament books that careful comparison allows the original text to be reconstructed. We have to rust that the message has reached us pretty well intact.
Later materials
From the second century onwards parchment was used more and more for copies of the text of the Bible. The hides of sheep, goats and sometimes calves were used. In the forth century people began to lay the sheets on top of one another, to make a book form, rather than attaching them end to end in a roll. The Romans were already used to binding their wooden wax tablets in this way to form a codex (from the Latin caudex - a piece of wood). These parchment books were also called codices. This remained the usual way of producing books until the middle ages. Due to the complicated production methods (copying) and the materials used (parchment) they were very expensive.
The invention of printing brought another development to Europe: paper. Gutenberg (probably the inventor of the printing press), printed one half of the first edition of his printed book - a Latin Bible - on parchment and half on paper. He needed the hides of 650 sheep to produce one Bible on parchment. Without paper printing would never have taken off. Killing animals for their hides on that scale would still have meant that books were very expensive, and in fact the number of animals necessary for large-scale book printing would simply not have been available.
After Gutenberg all books were printed on paper. Last century other forms of distribution, such as electronic, became available, and the Bible can now be found on the Internet in digital form. The only thing preventing free availability of all translations is the copyright on some of them. Older translations are readily available.