The Practical Use of the Masorah for the Elucidation of the Story of Samuel’s Birth (original) (raw)

How to Use the Masorah in Teaching of the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Higher Education, 2013

In the past, there have been many studies on the importance of the Masorah in the area of biblical Hebrew grammar, as well as a few articles showing how the Masorah can be helpful in the interpretation of some biblical passages, but these articles have usually focused on isolated examples. This paper will attempt to show that the Masorah can be used as a supplementary tool for elucidating a unified Hebrew text as in the well-known story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife that occurs in chapter 39 of the Book of Genesis. I will endeavor to show that the Masorah can assist the elucidation of this text by determining its parameters, by paying attention to its accents, by pointing out its connectiveness to other texts, and by implicitly pointing out the literary structure of the text.

The Text of the Hebrew Bible. From the Rabbis to the Masoretes (Elvira Martín-Contreras and Lorena Miralles Maciá eds.)

2014

This volume starts to discuss the so far unstudied period from the apparent stabilization of the Hebrew biblical text until the standardization reflected in the manuscripts of biblical text. What happened from the time of the standardization of the consonantic text until the appearance of the first Masoretic codices? How was the biblical text preserved in the meantime? What about the body of notes that makes up the Masorah formed? How to explain the diversity of the textual traditions contained in the Masorah, and last but not least, is it consistent with the idea of a text established and standardized centuries before? Contributors: Emanuel Tov, John van Seters, Arie van der Kooij, Günter Stemberger, Julio Trebolle, Pablo Torijano, Nathan Jastram, Alexander Samely, Willem F. Smelik, Lea Himmelfarb, Yosef Ofer, David Marcus, Elvira Martín-Contreras, Lorena Miralles-Maciá.

The Hebrew Text of Samuel: Differences in 1 Sam 1 – 2 Sam 9 between the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint, and the Qumran Scrolls

2018

This dissertation is a text-critical study of the Hebrew text of 1 Sam 1 – 2 Sam 9 in the Hebrew Bible. The entire Hebrew text of Samuel is known today only in its Masoretic text form, which is itself the result of a standardization process that began around the onset of the Common Era. Before this standardization process, the Hebrew text was evidently fluid, and several different textual editions of the Book of Samuel would have existed. This is evidenced by the manuscripts of Samuel found at Qumran (2nd – 1st c. BCE) and the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint (translated 2nd c. BCE). The purpose of this dissertation is to study how these three main witnesses—the Masoretic text, the Qumran manuscripts and the Hebrew source text of the Septuagint—differ from and are related to one another. Such a study entails an investigation of what kinds of changes took place in each textual tradition and what were the possible motivations behind the changes. These results are ...

Comments on Textual Details: Relationships between Masorah and Midrash

Journal of Jewish Studies 54:1, 2003

In the talmudic literature there are numerous references to the work of sopherim, e.g. the tiqqune sopherim and the >ittûr sopherim 2 . Moreover, the rabbinic sources point out that the Bible contains words, which are read although not written in the text, words written in the text which were not read 3 , dots on certain letters 4 and other special signs.

Methodology, Speech, Society: The Hebrew Bible

Scriptura, 2013

The appearance of this book has been made possible by the input of a number of dear people who believed in the project and thus contributed to its accomplishment. I would like to thank Professor Hendrik Bosman, the Chairperson of the Department of Old and New Testament of the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, for his kindness and hospitality, and for being so trustworthy. Our numerous meetings and conversations have enriched my wife, Tzfira, and me. Spending time with his wife, Daléne, has shown us what a woman who is not only a teacher, but also a wife and mother, can achieve. The graduate Old Testament seminars, those Wednesday afternoon meetings, have been a source of inspiration to both Tzfira and me. In the course of the seminars, we have dealt with significant issues that gave birth to a number of the essays that are presented in this volume. Words of thanks to Liezel Meintjes, the chief editor at SUN MeDIA Stellenbosch, and her staff for their warmth and friendliness. Funlola Olojede took it upon herself to prepare the index, check the coherency of the manuscript, and edit skilfully some of the additions.