“THE last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed.” These words of Sir Frederic Kenyon, taken from page 289 of his book The Bible and Archæology (1940), are quoted on page 53 of the Watch Tower Society’s book You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth. Why had Kenyon come to this conclusion? It was because newly discovered papyrus manuscripts were dated so close to the time of the composition of the Scriptures that he could describe the interval as “negligible.” Yet these papyruses showed no significant variation from more recent manuscripts. This confirmed “the authenticity and the general integrity” of the later texts from which the Bible has been translated.

During the first part of his long tenure, Biblical manuscripts and the discovery of papyruses were his principal concern; later, he was responsible as Director for the archaeological expeditions to Carchemish and Ur. After his retirement he had a hand in the acquisition of the Codex Sinaiticus and the publication of the Chester Beatty papyruses that helped toward authenticating the Greek Scriptures.

“In conclusion, it is fitting to quote from his book The Story of the Bible as follows: ‘The Bible has a human history as well as a divine inspiration. It is a history full of interest, and it is one which all those who value their Bible should know. . . . It is reassuring at the end to find that the general result of all these discoveries and all this study is to strengthen the proof of the authenticity of the Scriptures, and our conviction that we have in our hands, in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God.’”