Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Jerry:

On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 8:50 PM, Jerry Shepherd <jshepherd53 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Karl,

 

The problem was with how strongly you put things: "You can't trust the Masoretic points."  I believe rather that a great deal of trust can be put in the Masoretic points.

So the problem is not so much what I say, as how I say it. 

 

  And, as it turns out, in the example Chris brought forward, the Masoretic text was spot on.

 

Not surprising, as the consonantal text indicated the same reading. 

 

Also, I do not believe that the Masoretic points reflect the "Masoretic time and place."  Rather, they reflect the tradition that was passed down to the Masoretes, which may well indeed go back to biblical times in large measure.

Actually, not to Biblical times. But it was a tradition that evolved over a millennium of no native speakers in an Aramaic and later Greek milieus.

Years ago, I saw a history book on Nineva that mentioned that the contacts with Israel transliterated the Hebrew names with all consonants followed by vowels. Waltke and O’Connor mention that apparently the Amarna letters, archeologically dated to the Divided Kingdom period, indicated that the speech in Israel had every consonant followed by a vowel. Reading poetry gives a rhythm when read with every consonant starting a syllable. The Masoretic points have a different pattern.

Further, in that thousand years from the time Hebrew ceased to be a natively spoken language to the Masoretes, how many pronunciations were changed to reflect the changes in grammar that had occurred during that period? Nobody can answer that question today.

The only reliable thing that we can say is that the Masoretic points reflect the tradition that existed at the time of the Masoretes.

 

Blessings,

 

Jerry

Jerry Shepherd

Taylor Seminary

Edmonton, Alberta

jshepherd53 AT gmail.com

 

Karl W. Randolph.