Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <bsr15 AT cantsl.it.canterbury.ac.nz>]

Dr Altman wrote:-

>Then, when you come down to it, the Masoretes do not display fine ears
>for anything. They were accountants, bean counters, and they just went by the
>numbers  and copied what was in the texts at their disposal. If 14 texts
>has X+. and 12 had Y- ,by gum, X+ it was -- whether it made grammatical
>or musical sense or not.

One could interpret their actions in a kinder light. Perhaps they did
this because of their great reverence for the text before them. Copying
and preserving sacred texts was probably viewed as both a great
priviledge and responsibility. Your snide remark about them being
bean counters should really be seen as developing systems to ensure
the accurate transmission of the sacred. Bean counters or preservers
of the sacred? I'll take the second interpretation any day.

Bill Rea, IT Services, University of Canterbury \_
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