Biblical Hebrew Forum

["kymsabq" <kymsabq AT yahoo.com>]

Howdy Bill,

 

I also have the facsimile edition, Eerdmans / Brill edition, of Codex Leningradensis here, but it is a little easier to work with Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia, recently published.  It is generally regarded as a Ben Asher text as a colophon in the work notes that Samuel ben Jacob wrote and pointed and provided with massorah as per books prepared by Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, the teacher.

 

The massoretical "rules" were expressed in varied forms and no two codices have the same massorah.  It is generally construed that the consonantal text was prepared by scribes, who then handed off the work to the massorites that did the pointing and accenting, and, as well, provided the massoretical notations in side columns, headers and footers, and at the ends of various books.  Such notes include counting of letters, words, notating of "center" words, etc., as well as rubrics that all serve to explain the meaning of texts that could be interpreted in various ways, so as to serve as a locking device on the scriptures so that no words would be lost or added and so that the meaning of what was said would be accurately transferred from mind to mind, disallowing inaccurate interpretation.  The massorah magna, massorah parva, and massorah finalis are the names attached to the various notations which serve to safeguard the Word of God.

 

In the late 19th century, Dr. Christian D. Ginsburg took up the task of collating the various massorah from a large number of codices, generally of the middle ages.  His work was published in a four volume set and is very rare today.  I am fortunate to have a set of it here.  Dr. Ginsburg also took the various notes and published his own Hebrew Bible through the Trinitarian Bible Society in Great Britian in the late 1800s.  This Hebrew Bible has been since published by the British & Foreign Bible Society and is yet available through the Trinitarian Bible Society.  I have the newer Trinitarian version along with the 1926 B&FBS version at my disposal, both of which are very interesting texts.

 

Along with Dr. Ginsburg's Hebrew Bible (of which he did have major assistance by many other scholars), he published a work called _Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible_ , which is a descriptive volume of the contents of the Hebrew Bible aforementioned.  This work is also difficult to obtain.

 

Part of the reason that the massorah is not widely studied is that much of it is in abbreviated Aramaic and some of the rubrics require some spiritually symbolic thinking in order for them to be brought to light.

 

Other sources of information on the Massorah would be :

 

_Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah_ by Israel Yeiven, translated by E.J. Revell, which I understand is once again in print.

 

_The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia_, by Kelley, Mynatt, & Crawford.

 

Introductory notations in very old printings of the Letteris Hebrew Bible include information on the Massorah.

 

_The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia_ by Daniel S. Mynatt

 

_Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible_ by Emanuel Tov

 

_Old Testament Textual Criticism_ by Ellis R. Brotzman

 

_Two Treatises on the Accentuation of the Old Testament_, by William Wickes

 

As well, Dr. James Price has authored various works regarding accentuation of the Hebrew Manuscripts, of which I own none of and am unfamiliar with their content.  Few people today are interested in the Massorah, which, incidently is correctly spelled various ways, and finding works with accurate information regarding the various "rules" that are being published in our current generation is a rare instance.

 

I hope this information is a blessing to you.

 

kymsabq