Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

At 11:17 PM 5/16/00 +0000, you wrote:
>There are a few readings in the MT which are labelled  as Tiqqune sopherim, 
>"the corrections of the scribes." Apparently these were not masoretic 
>changes but earlier ones introduced to avoid "objectionable readings,"
>
>I am interested in knowing if members of the list believe this tradition to 
>be true? If not, how would you describe the history of the Tiqqune 
>sopherim? Or, what other suggested traditions are there for the genesis of 
>the Tiqqune sopherim?

I think it is absolutely true.  That scribes often changed texts is fairly
self evident when one simply sets two texts side by side.  The tiq. soph.
are described by the Masoretes themselves.  So why wouldnt we believe it
when they themselves confess to changing the text?

best,

Jim

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

" The righteous man looks after his own soul, and the bodies of others, 
whereas the hypocrite looks after his own body, and the souls of others"
Rabbi Lionel Blue

Jim West, ThD
jwest AT highland.net
http://web.infoave.net/~jwest