Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Gabe Eisenstein <gabe AT cascadeaccess.com>]

Jim wrote:

Although the Samaritan Pentateuch is not nearly as accurate as the Masoretic 
Text regarding substantive content, the Samaritan Pentateuch (a) may be as old 
as the Masoretic Text, and (b) may well be better than the Masoretic Text in 
reflecting the vulgar speech of both non-Hebrew Canaanites and the northern 
Hebrews.

The SP as we have it surely has a very late (2nd-1st cent.) layer, 
containing the polemical 10th commandment. Another layer down, we have 
the extensive harmonizations which must be later than the base that 
agrees with MT. Somewhere down at the bottom there is a core that, in 
isolated cases, preserves readings that are probably older than those in 
MT. But most of the differences, including plene and other spelling 
differences, must be representative of Samaria from the 4th century on, 
not the kingdom of Israel. So I think it inappropriate to invoke 
Canaanites and "northern Hebrews".

A limit on the age of the SP and its variations may be deduced from the 
fact that the Torah was edited in Jerusalem. When the Samaritans 
embraced it (possibly as late as the transfer of priests from Jerusalem 
to Shechem described by Josephus), they were accepting some implicit 
enemy propaganda (as opposed to the overt propaganda in Samuel-Kings, 
which they rejected).


Gabe Eisenstein