Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SCROLL

A roll used by ancient scribes for writing significant literary works or important and detailed letters. Scrolls (Heb. mĕgillâ; Gk. biblíon) were made by gluing together, side by side, separate strips of papyrus, leather, parchment, or vellum and then winding the long strip around a pole, which would often have handles at both ends to facilitate transporting and reading the scroll. Papyrus, or specifically the pith of the papyrus reed, had been used as a writing surface since the early 3rd millennium b.c.e. It was probably a papyrus scroll, written by Baruch while Jeremiah dictated, that King Jehoiakim ordered burned (Jer. 36). The leather of tanned animal skins was also employed, but rarely used because papyrus existed in abundance. The OT makes no specific reference to leather scrolls, though some were found at Qumran. Parchment, which gradually replaced papyrus, was made by removing the hair and rubbing very smooth the skins of sheep, calves, or goats. The major advantage of parchment was that it could be used more than once by simply erasing the text (cf. Num. 5:23). A reused scroll is called a palimpsest (lit., “rescraped”). Vellum was simply a finer grade of parchment made from kids and calves that became popular for more important texts.

Scrolls was seldom longer than 9 m. (30 ft.); the Isaiah scroll from Qumran included 17 sheets of sheepskin joined by linen thread and measured 7.3 m. (24 ft.). The English word “volume” is derived from Lat. volumen, “a roll or scroll of writing.” The restrictions on length saw the scroll eventually replaced by the codex since it could include several books in a single volume.

Scrolls figure in the visionary experiences of Ezekiel (Ezek. 2:8–3:3), Zechariah (Zech. 5:1-4), and Revelation (Rev. 5:1-14; 10:1-11).

Tony S. L. Michael

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SCROLL

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)