Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
Masorah or elsewhere, it is occasionally difficult to find them: occasionally also it is difficult to
decipher them. No satisfactory criteria have been yet established by which the ages of MSS. are
to be determined. Few existing MSS. are supposed to be older than the twelfth century. Kennicott
and Bruns assigned one of their collation (No. 590) to the tenth century; Deuteronomy Rossi dates
if A.D. 1018; on the other hand. one of his own (No. 634) he adjudges to the eighth century. Since
the days of Kennicott and Deuteronomy Rossi modern research has discovered various MSS.
beyond the limits of Europe. Of many of these there seems no reason to suppose that they will
add much to our knowledge of the Hebrew text. It is different with the MSS. examined by Pinner
at Odessa. One of these MSS. (A, No. 1), a Pentateuch roll, unpointed, brought from Derbend in
Daghestan, appears by the subscription to have been written previous to A.D. 580 and if so is the
oldest known biblical Hebrew MS. in existence. The forms of the letters are remarkable. Another
MS. (B, No. 3) containing the prophets, on parchment, in small folio, although only dating,
according to the inscription, from A.D. 916 and furnished with a Masorah, is a yet greater treasure.
Its vowels and accents are wholly different from those now in use, both in form and in position,
being all above the letters: they have accordingly been the theme of much discussion among
Hebrew scholars.
•Printed text .—The history of the printed text of the Hebrew Bible commences with the early
Jewish editions of the separate books. First appeared the Psalter, in 1477, probably at Bologna, in
4to, with Kimchi’s commentary interspersed among the verses. Only the first four psalms had the
vowel-points, and these but clumsily expressed. At Bologna, there subsequently appeared in 1482,
the Pentateuch, in folio, pointed, with the Targum and the commentary of Rashi; and the five
Megilloth (Ruth—Esther), in folio with the commentaries of Rashi and Aben Ezra. From Soncino,
near Cremona, issued in 1486 the Prophetae priores (Joshua—Kings), folio, unpointed with
Kimchi’s commentary. The honor of printing the first entire Hebrew Bible belongs to the
above-mentioned town of Soncino. The edition is in folio, pointed and accentuated. Nine copies
only of it are now known, of which one belongs to Exeter College, Oxford. This was followed, in
1494, by the 4to or 8vo edition printed by Gersom at Brescia, remarkable as being the edition
from which Luther’s German translation was made. After the Brescian, the next primary edition
was that contained in the Complutensian Polyglot, published at Complutum (Alcala) in Spain, at
the expense of Cardinal Ximenes, dated 1514-17 but not issued till 1522. To this succeeded an
edition which has had more influence than any on the text of later times the Second Rabbinical
Bible, printed by Bomberg al Venice, 4 vols. fol., 1525-6. The editor was the learned Tunisian
Jew R. Jacob hen Chaim. The great feature of his work lay in the correction of the text by the
precepts of the Masorah, in which he was profoundly skilled, and on which, as well as on the text
itself, his labors were employed. The Hebrew Bible which became the standard to subsequent
generations was: that of Joseph Athiais, a learned rabbi and printer at Amsterdam. His text Was
based on a comparison of the previous editions with two MSS.; one bearing date 1299, the other
a Spanish MS. boasting an antiquity of 900 years. It appeared at Amsterdam 2 vols. 8 vo, 1661.
•Principles of criticism .—The method of procedure required in the criticism of the Old Testament
is widely different from that practiced in the criticism of the New Testament. Our Old Testament
textus receptus is a far more faithful representation of the genuine Scripture; but, on the other
hand, the means of detecting and correcting the errors contained in it are more precarious, the
results are more uncertain, and the ratio borne by the value of the diplomatic evidence of MSS.
to that of a good critical judgment and sagacity is greatly diminished. It is indeed to the direct
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William Smith