What many believe to be the original copy of the Bible’s Book of Genesis was found hidden away in the drawer of a hotel in eastern France yesterday.
The discovery was made by French biblical scholar Simon Claude Mimouni, who was staying at the Hôtel de Guise in the small city of Nancy. It was there that he says he found the book tucked away in the top drawer of his bedside table, where bibles are customarily found in most guestrooms.
“I came back to my room with intention of going to sleep,” said Mimouni. “But before doing so, I thought I would peruse the hotel’s bible. So I opened the drawer, and there it was. I couldn’t believe that I was the first to find it.”
Bernard LaPierre, owner of the hotel, says he wasn’t surprised that the book had gone undiscovered for so long.
“No one opens those drawers,” he said. “Absolutely no one. We are actually very surprised that someone did.”
Preliminary analyses of the book have dated it to between 600 and 500BC, making it the oldest known copy of the book in existence, and likely the writing of the original author.
Mimouni said that, while he hadn’t had time to explore the book in depth, it seemed to differ somewhat from modern translations.
“For example, in the copy of Genesis we have today, we are told that God made man in his image, but if you read this version, what it actually says is that God made dinosaurs in his image.”
He also revealed that the original copy of Genesis portrays God as “less pleased” by his creations than modern versions, and implies the formation of the oceans was entirely an accident.
The find has caused worldwide fascination in the Christian community, with even Pope Francis addressing the book’s discovery.
In a statement released by the Vatican today, the Pope said the discovery was a “true miracle” and he encouraged the world’s Catholics to check their own hotel drawers “just in case we find some more.”
LaPierre believes that his hotel may have once housed some other ancient manuscripts, but said they would be long gone by now.
“There were some other quite old, crumply books lying around here somewhere,” he said. “Well, not even books. Just piles of papers. But no writing on them. Just lots of weird scribbles. We burned them.”
The discovery is the second major religious find in recent days, coming after a group of excavators in Jordan angered the Muslim world when they found a centuries-old illustrated copy of the Quran.