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Many people are surprised when I tell them that the Bible was originally written to be heard rather than read.

The earliest religious texts were written on papyrus which was made from reeds commonly found on the banks of the Nile River. Later, scrolls made from animal skin came to be used as they were more durable. People therefore simply did not have individual copies of the Scripture. This meant that biblical content had to be verbally passed down - from one generation to another, through homilies by priests and rabbis, and from parent to child.

There is, in Nehemiah 8, an amazing account of God's people coming together to hear the Book of the Law of Moses - which was the terminology for the Word of God. Nehemiah who witnessed the scene recalls:

So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

It seems that as the people listened to the words of the Law there was much excitement: they first worshipped the Lord, then wept, and finally experienced great joy (verses 5, 9, 12, 17). Such was their hunger for the Word that the listening went on for days! (see verse 18).

The value of hearing God's Word certainly did not escape St Paul's attention. To the church in Rome, Paul write, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom 10:17 KJV).

In a well-known collect from the Book of Common Prayer, the church prays to be granted the wisdom to hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest Holy Scripture. The prayer underlies the primacy of hearing God's Word, an activity which also complements and augments the other forms of intake of Holy Scripture.

The activity of listening to the Bible holds great promise for people who are bed-ridden, visually challenged or illiterate: they may now hear the Word, even if they were not able to read it before. Even for people who can read but are too busy to do so, hearing the Bible read is now a practical option that should not be overlooked.

Lim K Tham
General Secretary of Bible Society of Singapore
Published in June issue of Word@Work