Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Garth:

Any analogy to physical objects will be less than perfect. However, I think
the analogy to training wheels on a bicycle is not far from how I used the
points.

For those who are interested in the development and history of the language,
the points remain valuable. For those more interested in meaning, the points
can actually be a hindrance as they are wrong often enough as to mislead
people. How many of the consonantal emendations are suggested by the points,
when apart from the points, the consonantal text makes sense most of the
time?

This is not to claim that the consonantal text is perfect. As in any human
effort, copyist errors have crept in. For example, Psalm 22:18 I noticed המה
יביטו יראו בי HMH YBY+W YR)W BY that, when I looked at it, concluded that
the יראו YR)W should read יראי YR)Y. When I got a photograph of the Nahal
Hever scrap with part of Psalm 22, one of the first things I did was to look
at that verse, and I found יראי YR)Y. However, these consonantal emendations
are far fewer.

One of the things that influenced me in reading without points is the fact
that synagog scrolls are without points.

I don’t know anyone on this list who recommends that the MT points be
totally ignored, but at the same time I don’t think they are to be slavishly
followed either.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 9:05 AM, Garth Grenache
<garthgrenache AT hotmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> What you have said is good, James! :)
>
> There is value in reading the text without vowel points and considering
> other possible interpretations where the pointing is ambiguous.  Jewish
> synagogue scrolls are typically unpointed.
>
> Also reading other pointings(e.g. Babylonian), and hearing the Samaritan
> reading would also be of value, as would reading ancient Greek and Latin
> transliterations.
>
> But the analogy of the MT points to training wheels on a bike or arm floats
> for learning to swim is naturally limited.  Arm floats and training wheels
> can be (and are) safely rejected once one is ready to swim/ride without
> them: such things have completely fulfilled their purpose and are now
> useless and a hindrance to movement.  But the MT points remain valuable, as
> you say: attesting at least one ancient tradition of vocalisation of the
> text -showing how at least one stream of people was reciting the text at a
> period in time.  They not only show how the text might be vocalised, but
> they evidence an ancient vocalisation when we might be caught between
> several modern ideas of how it could be vocalised.  They are not the only
> evidence, or the only tradition, but they are ancient evidence.
>
> On the other hand, emendation is sometimes necessary not only to the vowel
> points, but also to the consonantal text.  There are places where loss of
> words from the consonantal text has left the grammar unsatisfactory,
> regardless of how it be vocalised.
>
> Kind regards,
> Garth, Australia.
>
>