Biblical Hebrew Forum

[RobertSumner0110 AT wmconnect.com]

That the Hebrew text upon which most Old Testament studies are based came 
into existence as a direct result of the demise of Hebrew as a spoken 
language is 
a fact that is frequently overlooked.  The Massoretic text, with its 
intricate system of vocalization and punctuation was created not only to 
standardize 
pronunciations, but interpretation as well.  The objective was the 
establishment of a uniform Judaism throughout the diaspora.
    Though the contribution of the Massoretes cannot be diminished, an 
unfortunate byproduct of this literary fixation of the text was the creation 
of an 
illusion of historical linguistic unity.  One dialect of Hebrew from a single 
historical period became the orthodox language.  
    The textual criticism of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 
accomplished much in terms of identifying possible variant readings which had 
been 
occluded by the Massoretic scholars, but the tendency was still to rely on 
the 
accepted consonantal spelling of the Massoretic text, taking into account 
occasional "scribal errors."  What is forgotten in the process is the 
fluidity of 
spoken language and the lack of consistency in the representation of that 
language with letters during the formative period of the written language.  
As a 
consequence, many associations and derivations become lost, and can only be 
recovered through the application of laws of consonantal equivalence; i.e. 
f=p=b, 
d=t=th, g=k=ch, etc.  The problem here is that all such application is 
speculative, AT BEST, and such reconstructive methodologies, though 
legitimate, should 
only be applied with caution.

Robert Shannon Sumner
Franklin, Georgia