Secrets to Successful Biblical Writing: Goat Hide and Fish Bones

Step One: Goat Hide

I sometimes wonder how the writers of Scripture managed to get their words down on parchment or papyrus or whatever they had available to write on. Imagine having to get hide from an animal before sitting down to write those words that the Lord gave you before they went out of your head. Of course, things could have been worse. Some verses in Ezekiel and Jeremiah were written on clay. Some parts of Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Joshua were written on stone. Other items included metal, wax, and potsherds. Somehow, I can’t see myself chiseling words into stone. I would probably injure myself or break the tablet just as I finished the last sentence. Then I would say a bad word and have to sacrifice a goat to atone for my sin. But on the plus side, I’d probably have lots of parchment from all the sacrifices I had to make.

Step Two: Fish Bones

Then there was the matter of the ink. One didn’t just run down to the Dollar Tree and pick up a package of ten ink pens. The ink had to be made from various substances such as fire soot, charred fish bones, oils, lamp black, and gum Arabic. My problem in writing something down is to find a pen that writes or a pencil with a point. I’m grateful I don’t have to collect soot or fish bones to be an author. I have a vision in my head of saying, “Don’t throw away those fish bones from dinner. I need them to write my blog.”

And when did the authors of Scripture have time to write? I have enough trouble finding time to sit down at my computer with ten uninterrupted minutes to get something in writing before I forget the great thought I had. I suppose having the Lord to remind them helped, as His ideas are infinitely better than mine.

Step 3: Stay Hydrated, But First You Need to Stomp Some Grapes

I usually have a glass of ice water at my writing station. But these people had no running water, so they had to make regular treks to the wells just to have a drink to sip while at the writing desk. But before taking a swig of well water, the water had to be mixed with wine because water in Biblical times was unsafe to drink. Making wine involved stomping grapes and waiting for fermentation and aging to take place. Of course, this process presumes one has the grapes to begin with. And I complain about merely having to open the freezer door to obtain ice for my ice water because my ice dispenser doesn’t work.

Step 4: Chop Some Wood For a Desk

Speaking of writing desks (were we speaking of writing desks?), people in Biblical times had to chop and plane the wood by hand, and somehow bind it together with rope, which I’m sure they had to make from something like plant fibers or animal hair. Then I suppose they had to go through the same process if they wanted a chair to sit in while writing. So before they could ever begin to sit down to write, they had multiple steps to get through to furnish themselves with a piece of furniture on which to write, as well as writing materials—unless they simply sat and wrote on the floor. Maybe they did. If I tried to write on the floor, someone would have to call 911 to get me up. But back in Biblical times, there was no 911. At least I have a computer desk from Walmart that I complained about having to put together. (Okay, actually my husband put it together.)

If I had to build my own desk, make my own rope, and make my own parchment and ink, I would probably give up before I ever started. I’m afraid I would have to beg the Lord to please just write everything down on a stone with his finger like He did at Mount Sinai. But even then, Moses had to supply the tablets.

Step 5: Catch a Fish, Bake Some Bread, and Gather Some Figs

When I get hungry while writing, I forage in the pantry or refrigerator for a snack I can munch on while at my computer. The ancients had to go catch a fish or kill some game, then skin and debone it, and cook it over a fire while making sure it didn’t burn. Or perhaps they baked bread from scratch, which we all know takes a while to rise and bake, assuming you have ground the flour and fetched the water from the well. Maybe they tossed back some figs or grapes to stave off hunger, but these fruits still had to be gathered, assuming you had a tree. It wasn’t as though the Biblical writers could order a pizza or call for DoorDash.

Simply thinking of all these people had to do before they could begin writing wears me out—even though they didn’t have to learn about search engine optimizations and keywords and driving traffic to their websites. But it makes me feel guilty for complaining about having to run a load of wash or nuke dinner instead of writing. However, now that I think about it, the Scriptures were written by men. Their wives probably attended to all these picky details. I guess that’s why women in Biblical times weren’t taught to read or write.