David:
First of all, when I read Tanakh, at least for the last few times I read it
through, I read it without the Masoretic points. There are a few reasons for
it: I read using a font derived from pre-Exile Hebrew writing, and the
points don't fit in it (I don't know when I deviate from their points); when
reading with the dots, I came across too many (I didn't bother to count)
instances where changing the points changed a difficult to understand
passage to a simple, easily read one; I think the Masoretes were more
interested in preserving the sounds that had come to them from their
tradition than in having the text make sense, i.e. preserving tradition was
more important than understanding it; and I don't think they were as
mechanically rigorous in their parts of speech as are modern day
grammarians.
Having said that, I have noticed that almost every time there is a dispute
as to the meaning of a verse, changing the Masoretic points of a word or two
is enough to clear up the dispute. Almost every time. And here is a verse
with a dispute.
Karl W. Randolph.
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