Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

How about another point-of-view: the Masorets knew Hebrew and did have a
valid tradition of vocalization, punctuation and meaning. This is not saying
that they were infallible, but that all in all they knew what they were
doing. However, they realized that the situation in the wider Jewish world,
especially that of the Diaspora, was different, and that if a unified system
of preserving the Masoretic tradition was not devised, unity of reading
Scripture in the Jewish word would fall apart. Something like the reasons
for the codification of the Mishnah and of the Talmuds. 

Yigal Levin

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Randall Buth
Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 3:25 PM
To: James Christian
Cc: Hebrew
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Unpointed

>>> The consonantal text is often ambiguous,
> [JC]
>> Or at least it was by the time of the Masoretes.

. . .

> Hi Randall,
> I'm not sure I see how communication is breaking down.
> James Christian

your statement could imply that the consonantal text was
unambiguous in earlier times, and that at the time of the Masoretes
maybe they didn't know enough Hebrew
so that it was becoming/became ambiguous.
That whole train of thought puts things out of perspective, makes
too many unwarranted assumptions, and it would have been
more trouble to fix than to drop.


-- 
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth AT gmail.com
Biblical Language Center
Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
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