Biblical Hebrew Forum

[davedonnelly1 <davedonnelly1 AT juno.com>]

Since the extant Leningrad Codex of 1008-1010 A.D. has been studied on
b-hebrew for several years, during which time Peter Kirk [ before he
left] provided information on the number of times each of the 6 variants
of YHWH are found in Codex L. , we have the following information.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-7/264290/VariantsofYHWHinCodexL.andBe
nChayyim.JPG  
  
While I created the table found at the link above, Peter Kirk provided 
the numbers posted in the "Occurrences in the Leningrad Codex [1008-1010
A.D.] column.

Note that only 50 occurrences of the "Adonai" reading occur in Codex L.,
while 6518 occurrences of the  "Adonai" reading occur in the Ben Chayyim
Hebrew text of 1525 A.D.

Note that only ONE occurrence of the "Elohiym" reading occurs in Codex L.
, while 305 occurrences of the Elohim reading occur in the Ben Chayyim
Hebrew Text of 1525 A.D.

What was going on in the minds of the Masoretes when they wrote the
Leningrad codex of 1008-1010 A.D.?

Dave Donnelly
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James Christian writes to Ted:
Hi, obviously there is no real debate over the Elohim readings. 
The debate is over the adonai readings. 
We accept that in the places where we see YHWH 
[with vowel pointing in some respects similar to that of adonai] 
and in some respects conforming to expected usage under the consonants of
YHWH 
the modern reading tradition is adonai and has been for quite some time. 
The question is: Did the massoretes who pointed the text 
put the vowels of adonai under YHWH 
while conforming to pointed rules dictated by the yodh of YHWH 
or are the similarities just coincidence? 
After all if we already know the general rule that YHWH should be
replaced by adonai 
(if you follow the superstition) 
then we only really need to know about the exceptions 
(those that are read elohim). 
To resolve this question we need to ask what the evidence is. 
When is the oldest explicit reference to the vowel pointing below YHWH in
the MT explicitly named as the pointing of adonai? 
Only by honestly asking yourself this question can you truly understand
what I meant by 'no real evidence'. 
Your reply "the universal synagogue practice of substitute readings, 
a tradition that goes back over a thousand years
by the only keepers and preservers of the Hebrew text" 
is not backed up by any data other your assumption that this is the case.

Can you really honestly point the members of the list 
to an explicit reference to this practice that dates to over a thousand
years? 
And if so, 
can see that such a reference would fall short of the mark by at least a
thousand years 
if we are to take seriously some of the claims we generally hear 
about when the name fell out of use? 
James Christian 
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