what access would mary have had to scripture?

[Eoghan]

i was pondering marys song when she visited elizabeth. am i correct in thinking there would have been no family bible for her to read? when you think about it the scriptures would be kept at the synagogue as a collection of scrolls?? what access wpuld the layman have to the OT scrolls? how would a laywoman read isaiah for example?

the service seems to have permitted laymen to go to the front and read the portion for that week - what would there be beyond that?

imagine bible study when the only bible was in the church _ the lecturn bible!

 

[Username3000]

And we have a dozen Bibles at our fingertips, with no fear of persecution for reading them.

From those who have been given much, much will be required.

 

[Eoghan]

I have the impression that NT saints (Mary & Joseph) memorised scripture more than contemporary Christians, perhaps because we have one volume bound copies.

It is hard to imagine what it was like but the injunction to Timothy to give himself to the public reading of scripture has a very different context when you have no bibles in every home.

I wonder what the average NT saint would have thought of hotels and B&B's having a bible in every room!

 

[iainduguid]

You are correct that she would not have had a personal copy of the Scriptures. Many synagogues would not necessarily have had a complete copy of the Scriptures either. But don't ignore the fact that people memorized much more of the Bible in those days; Psalm 1 almost certainly has in view someone recalling from memory the Torah in order to meditate on it. She may well have had parts of the Bible memorized, from hearing them repeatedly. Isaiah was a popular favorite, as we can tell from citations and from the preservation of particular scrolls.