The (Proto-)Masoretic Text:
A Ten-Part Series
by Prof. Emanuel Tov
A
composite image of Psalms scroll from Masada, a specimen of
the proto-Masoretic Text (Courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority) and
the Aleppo Codex.
— Part 1—
The Bible and the Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text (MT), whether in its consonantal
form (Proto-MT) or its full form, is the commonly used version of the
Hebrew Bible, considered authoritative by Jews for almost two millenia.[1]
From the invention of the printing press, all Hebrew editions of the
Hebrew Bible have been based on a text form of MT, with the exception of
publications of the Samaritan Pentateuch or eclectic editions.[2]
The roots of MT and its popularity go back to the
first century of the Common Era. Before that period, only the
proto-rabbinic (Pharisaic) movement made use of MT, while other streams
in Judaism used other Hebrew textual traditions.
In other words, before the first century of the Common Era, we
witness a textual plurality among Jews, with multiple text forms
conceived of as “the Bible,” or Scripture, including the Hebrew source
upon which the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the
Septuagint (LXX), was built.
The First Century C.E.
Around the turn of the era, the
consonantal (proto-)MT text was accepted as an authoritative form of
Hebrew Scripture by the proto-rabbinic movement, whereas other forms
were accepted as authoritative by other groups.
With the advent of Christianity in the first century C.E., the
LXX, which began as the biblical text for Greek speaking Hellenistic
Jews, was accepted as holy writ by this new group of early Christians,
and was concomitantly dropped by other Greek-speaking Jews and ceased to
be considered authoritative scripture by them. Around the same time,
the Samaritans adopted the version of the Torah known as the Samaritan
Pentateuch, and the Qumran community that had assembled texts of
different types ceased to exist.
Thus, since the first century C.E., the
consonantal (proto-)MT, and subsequently full MT, version of scripture,
including all the books that are contained in it, was accepted as
authoritative by all streams of the Jewish people. This text is the only
text quoted in rabbinic literature (the small deviations are
negligible) and Karaite works, and it is the only text used by organized
Judaism for the past two millennia.
The Medieval Masoretic Text
The Masoretes and the Codices
In the latter half of the first
millennium C.E., groups of Jewish scribes known as the Masoretes,
created a system of signs to ensure proper pronunciation and recitation
of the biblical text. They also attempted to standardize paragraph
divisions and maintain proper reproduction of the text by future scribes
by compiling lists of the Bible’s key orthographic and linguistic
features. Two main schools (or families) of Masoretes, ben Naftali and
ben Asher, created slightly different “Masoretic Texts.” The ben Asher
version prevailed and forms the basis of modern biblical texts.
The oldest source of the MT Bible is the Aleppo Codex (Keter Aram Tzova)
from approximately 925 C.E. Although it is the closest text to the Ben
Asher school of Masoretes, it survived in an incomplete form, as it
lacks almost all of the Torah. The oldest complete source for MT is
Codex Leningrad B 19A (codex L) from 1009 C.E.
The Contents of MT
MT includes five elements. Two of these were transmitted from previous generations (the proto-MT).
- The consonantal framework, i.e., the letters of the text without any additions.
- Para-textual elements, i.e., elements added to the written text, such as Ketiv-Qere readings and the division of the text into paragraphs.
Three further elements were added by the Masoretes:
|
Deuteronomy 32 -Aleppo Codex c. 925 C.E. |
- Vocalization,
i.e., the vowels that were added to the written text based on oral
traditions. Written vocalization signs only started to appear in the
eighth century, with the work of the Masoretes, though according to
tradition they were already there in a metaphysical sense, as an oral
tradition accompanying the written Torah.
- Accentuation (te’amim or
trope), the musical signs that added a musical dimension to the
consonants and vowels. At the same time, the accents also indicated the
syntactic relation between the words.
- The Masorah,
an apparatus of instructions for the writing and reading of the
biblical text written in the margins of the text as notes to scribes,
ostensibly to help avoid copying errors. The Masorah is divided into two parts: The Masorah Parva (מָסוֹרָה קְטַנָּה, “Small Masorah”), which appears in the vertical margins of the codices, contains notes on orthography and statistics on word frequency. The Masorah Magna (מָסוֹרָה גְּדוֹלָה, “Large Masorah”), which appears in the horizontal margins, explicates the Small Masorah with references to some of its notes.[3]
The consonantal framework (1), i.e., the letters themselves, are the focus of this article.
___________________
Professor
Emanuel Tov is J. L. Magnes Professor of Bible (emeritus) in the Dept.
of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Born in Amsterdam,
Emanuel Tov emigrated to Israel in 1961 and obtained his Ph.D. in
biblical studies at the Hebrew University in 1973. Tov specializes in
various aspects of the textual criticism of Hebrew and Greek Scripture
as well as in the Qumran Scrolls. Under his editorship, thirty-three
volumes of the Dead Sea Scrolls series, Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, appeared (1992-2008). Among his many publications are, Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in the Judean Desert, STDJ 54 (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2004); Textual Criticism of the Bible, 3rd ed., revised and expanded; (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012); ביקורת נוסח המקרא, פרקי מבוא, The Biblical Encyclopaedia Library 31 (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 2013); and The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research, 3rd ed., completely rev. and enl. (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015). For more of Tov’s work see his page on
Academia.
08-Dec-2017
[1] When using the words “Bible” or
“Scripture,” we refer to the group of authoritative writings that was
accepted by some or all Jews and Christians as authoritative, whether in
the form of the Masoretic Text or non-Masoretic forms. Actually, many
scholars prefer to speak about Scripture or Scriptures, which is less
specific than Bible, because different religions understand different
things when referring to the “Bible.”
[2] Eclectic editions are modern Bible editions that
reconstruct a scholar’s vision of the original text of the Hebrew Bible,
such as the series The Sacred Books of the Old Testament, A Critical Edition of the Hebrew Text, Printed in Colors, with Notes; ed. Paul Haupt (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrich, 1893–1904).
[3] Editor’s note: For a brief description of the Masorah as it appears in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS), see the the BHS section in “Tools for Studying the Hebrew Bible.” It should be noted that whereas in BHS the Masorah Magna appears only in abbreviated form, in the newer, not yet complete, BHQ (Biblia Hebraica Quinta), the Masorah Magna appears in its entirety and each volume even has a section with notes on the Masorah Magna.
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