Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <davidlwashburn AT gmail.com>]

On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 10:02 AM, K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com> wrote:

Bryant:

On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 9:30 AM, Rev. Bryant J. Williams III <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net> wrote:

Dear List,

It appears that the pointing of the MT is what would be the issue since the DSS does not have the pointing; also would the issue of Weak Verbs and Liquid verbs be an issue for the "apparent" differences?

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III

Why stop at those?

First of all, it’s pretty clear that the pointing of the MT reflects Tiberian Hebrew pronunciation, not Biblical Hebrew.

I'm not sure this has been established. I'm not sure it *can* be established. The consensus I've seen is that the Masoretes copied both the consonantal text and the pronunciation as represented in the pointings, based on what came to them. I don't know of many reputable scholars who believe they made up the Tiberian system. As far as they knew, Tiberian pronunciation *was* biblical Hebrew pronunciation. So this statement seems a little premature to me.

-- 
Dave Washburn

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