Roll Scroll

ROLL (SCROLL)

rol: The usual form of book in Biblical times. It had been in use in Egypt for perhaps 2,000 years at the time when, according to the Pentateuch, the earliest Biblical books were written in this form. The Babylonian tablet seems to have been the prevailing form in Palestine up to about 1350 B.C., but by 1100 B.C., at least, the roll had been in established use for some time as far North as Byblos. Two Hebrew words, gillayon, meghillah, one Aramaic, cephar, and one Greek word, biblion, are so translated in the King James Version. Cephar (Ezra 6:1, the Revised Version (British and American) "archives, margin "books"), with the corresponding Hebrew form cepher, is the generic word for any whole work large or small, but as a book form (Isaiah 34:4) it may mean "roll," and, according to Blau (pp. 37, 45, etc.), it never does mean anything else. Both the other words seem to be connected with galal, "roll," which is the technical term for opening or closing a book. The meghillath cepher (Jeremiah 36:2) means the unwritten roll, or the roll considered in its material form as contrasted with the work. Meghillah, which is found in Ezra 6:2 (English Versions of the Bible, "roll"), Jeremiah (often), Ezekiel (often) and Zechariah, is a somewhat late word, and came to mean a small roll (but with a complete work) as distinguished from a book, corresponding thus to the modern distinction of pamphlet and book or document and book. The word gillayon is translated in the Revised Version (British and American) as "tablet," and is universally regarded as meaning (Isaiah 8:1) some smooth surface, corresponding to the same word in Isaiah 3:23 which is rendered "hand-mirror." But "cylinder-seal" would possibly fit the sense in both cases; this being hung round the neck as an ornament in one case and inscribed with a personal name in the other.

Biblion is regarded by the Bible translators as equivalent to meghillah in the sense of small roll. It is in fact 4 times in the Septuagint of Jeremiah 36 used as the translation for meghillah, but very much oftener it is the translation for cepher, for which in fact it is the correct technical equivalent (Birt, Buchrolle, 21). Indeed the "small book" (Thayer, Lexicon, 101) is hardly consistent with the ideas of the heavens as a scroll, of the Lamb's Book of Life, or of the vast quantity of books of John 21:25, although in Luke 4:17 it may perhaps correspond closely with meghillah in the sense of a complete roll and work, which is at the same time a whole part of a larger work. Its use in Revelation 6:14 is reminiscent of Isaiah 34:4 ("scroll"), and is conclusive for the roll form. It is indeed always technically a roll and never codex or tablet.

It is not likely that Isaiah and John (here and in his Gospel, 21:25) refer directly to the Babylonian idea that the heavens are a series of written tablets or to the rabbinic saying that "if all the oceans were ink, all reeds pens, the heavens and earth sheets to write upon, and all men writers, still it would not suffice for writing out the teachings of my Masters" (Blau, op. cit., 34). Nevertheless, the "whole Cosmos" does suggest "the heavens and earth" as sheets to write on, and under all there does perhaps lurk a conception of the broad expanse of heaven as a roll for writing upon.

LITERATURE.

Birt, Die Buchrolle in der Kunst, Leipzig, 1907; Jew Encyclopedia, XI, 126-34, "Scroll of the Law"; Blau, Studien z. althebr. Buchwesen, Strassburg, 1902, 37-66, etc., and the literature under the article "Writing," especially Gardthausen, 134-54.

E. C. Richardson

4428. ptusso -- to fold, ie roll up
... up. Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: ptusso Phonetic Spelling: (ptoos'-so)
Short Definition: I fold, roll up Definition: I fold, roll up (as a scroll). ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4428.htm - 6k

976. biblos -- (the inner) bark (of a papyrus plant), hence a ...
... hence a scroll, spec. a book. Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: biblos
Phonetic Spelling: (bib'-los) Short Definition: a written book, roll, or ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/976.htm - 6k

2777. kephalis -- a little head, a roll
... a book). Word Origin dim. of kephale Definition a little head, a roll NASB
Word Usage scroll (1). volume, roll of a book. From kephale ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2777.htm - 6k

975. biblion -- a paper, book
... book, scroll, writing. A diminutive of biblos; a roll -- bill, book, scroll, writing.
see GREEK biblos. (biblia) -- 3 Occurrences. (bibliois) -- 1 Occurrence. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/975.htm - 6k

380. anaptusso -- to unroll
... I unroll, roll back, unfold. Word Origin another reading for anoigo, qv. to unroll
From ana (in the sense of reversal) and ptusso; to unroll (a scroll or volume ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/380.htm - 6k

4039. megillah -- a scroll
... Word Origin from galal Definition a scroll NASB Word Usage scroll (18), scroll*
(3). roll, volume. From galal; a roll -- roll, volume. see HEBREW galal. ...
/hebrew/4039.htm - 6k

4040. megillah -- a scroll
... Word Origin (Aramaic) corresponding to megillah Definition a scroll NASB Word Usage
scroll (1). roll. (Aramaic) corresponding to mgillah -- roll. ...
/hebrew/4040.htm - 6k

Athor, the Golden
... the young sculptor had gazed, the old servant nervously undid the roll, and showed ...
I doubt much, if the messenger with the other scroll hath passed Memphis yet ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the yoke/chapter vii athor the golden.htm

The Friend of Sinners
... goes forth into the world and is numbered with transgressors in the scroll of fame. ...
Judge, shows that he too considers him to be in the roll of transgressors ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 8 1863/the friend of sinners.htm

Unfailing Stabs and Fainting Men
... a creative energy that set the universe in motion, and leaves it to roll or spin ...
and look down upon the stars that are 'rolled together as a scroll,' we shall ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture h/unfailing stabs and fainting men.htm

Expatriation
... table and, fumbling about the compartments under it, drew forth a wrapped and addressed
roll. ... After a silence, he took up the scroll and made as if to return ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the yoke/chapter xlii expatriation.htm

The Flight into Egypt and St. John the Baptist in the Desert
... She had a roll of wool fastened at her right hip and she held in her hands ... A scroll
lay on this table, which the Blessed Virgin unrolled and hung up on the wall ...
/.../emmerich/the life of the blessed virgin mary/xvi the flight into egypt.htm

Some Other Writers of the New Testament
... [Illustration: (drop cap L) Ancient engraving of man reading scroll] ... [Illustration:
VERY ANCIENT FRAGMENT OF A PAPYRUS ROLL, WITH PORTIONS OF THREE PSALMS ...
/.../duff/the bible in its making/chapter xii some other writers.htm

Note on the Jewish Synagogue.
... At one end of the synagogue was an "ark" or receptacle where the roll of the ... The
Law from which they read was a veritable Hebrew scroll, secured from a Rabbi ...
/.../the new testament commentary vol iii john/note on the jewish synagogue.htm

It is Well with My Soul. PM
... peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows, like sea-billows, roll; Whatever
my ... faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll, The trump ...
//christianbookshelf.org/lorenz/the otterbein hymnal/251 it is well with.htm

"The Pharaoh Drew Nigh"
... Kenkenes took the scroll thrust toward him, and ripped off the linen wrapping. ... The
roll of papyrus, with its seals, still in the young man's hands, was ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the yoke/chapter xliii the pharaoh drew.htm

David's Dying Prayer
... the ocean"the prayer of a mighty king, when he saw the scroll of prophecy ... We look
on nations that are almost too debased lo be included in the roll of mankind ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 3 1857/davids dying prayer.htm

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