The Bible of the Voortrekkers
Carel Johann de Bruin, 12 November 2022
Why does a church have a political emblem? This is the question I hear a lot and have wondered about myself. A wise old professor then said to me, "Go look in the Bible of the Voortrekkers". Have you carefully examined a genuine Voortrekker Bible? This is a Bible whose roots lie in the 1500s Church Reformation.
Carel Johann’s talk was about his research on the Bibles of the Voortrekkers. The official Statenbijbel was published in 1637, near the end of the Eighty Years' War. Some of the Bibles had been reprinted with a few changes/improvements in the text. Initially, the Statenbijbel was printed in Gothic script and was available in three sizes.
On the title page of the Statenbijbel was the motto, From unity strength and it became the motto of the ZAR. Later it became the motto, Ex Unitate Vires of old South Africa as well, He gave reasons why relatively few Bibles have been preserved and where one can view them today.
