Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Steve:

Let me answer your final statement first: "Is a person who believes
(as I do) that every word of the Tanach is inspired by God, consistent
with this belief if he feels free to change the vowels, particularly
the holem?"

There is more than one level to this question: original autograph,
copies, added notes. While I agree with you that the original
autographs were inspired, were the copyists also inspired? Seeing as
they often included mistakes, the answer is "No". Then what about
added notes? In Hebrew, that includes the Masoretic pointing. If the
copyists were not inspired, then of course those who added notes that
were not in the original autographs certainly also were not inspired
by God. In this last group is included the holem. So while the
original consonantal text was inspired by God, the preserved
pronunciation is not. That is why I have no problem in saying at times
that the Masoretes were wrong!

As far as how far back the Masoretic pronunciation goes, it was a part
of a continuum that went back to Biblical times, however one that was
changing over the years. The question is, how much change was there?
We don't know. Greek transliterations show that there were different
pronunciations in different places at different times. Which were
closer to the Biblical pronunciations? We don't know. Furthermore, was
there major pronunciation change prior to the Exile? We don't know,
though the lack of spelling changes would argue for very little change
in spoken language.

The lack of written vowels in the original autographs means that those
that were added, one to two millennia later or more, could very well
be in error, and there is no question that at times they were.

Karl W. Randolph.