Masora, Part 50 – Part 60

Masora · Part 50 – Part 60

p. 53L.

A great foreign is extant in the word foreign Adam, 1 Chron. 1. 1. that it might be a memorial of the firſt and only man, from whom the writer there intended to deduce the original and the Hiſtory of Mankind. That it was done to begin the Book, as ſome will have it, is the leſs probable, becauſe that is obſerved very ſeldome in the beginning of other Books. A great foreign in the word foreign in the beginning Gen. 1. 1. to mind us to conſider the greatneſs and ſublimity of the work of creation: which is twofold, of the Heaven and of the Earth, ſignifyed alſo by the numeral value of the Letter foreign. A great foreign in the word foreign He ſhall be ſhaven, Levit. 13. 33. ſome think it to be a memorial of three that were bound to be ſhaven; a Youth of thirteen year old, a Nazarite polluted by the preſence of a dead p. 54body, a Levite. A great foreign in foreign one, Deut. 6. 4. in that illuſtrious ſentence foreign Hear O Iſrael, the Lord our God is one Lord. In this ſentence the Letter foreign is alſo a great one: foreign to ſignifie that the Eternal Lord is the only God in the four parts of the world, that is, in the whole world, both in heaven and earth, and no other God in any part of the world beſides him. For the Letter foreign ſtands for four. The two great Letters in this ſentence conjoyned make the word foreign a witneſſe, as if they would thereby ſay unto us, Hear Iſrael and be a witneſs to me, that I have ſeriouſly admoniſhed thee concerning the one true and Eternal God: according to that, Ye ſhall be my witneſſes ſaith the Lord, Iſa. 43. 10. A great foreign in the word foreign, where 'tis ſaid, Do ye thus requite the Lord, O fooliſh people and unwiſe? Deut. 32. 6. to raiſe the greater admiration, that they ſhould make ſuch an ill requital to that Lord, Father, Redeemer, Maker, and Governour, by ſhewing themſelves to their fivefold benefactor five ways (which the letter foreign does withall denote) wicked and ungrateful, being corrupt, perverſe, crooked, fooliſh and unwiſe; as all theſe are expreſſed in the Text, &c. Cap. 14.

p. 55LI.

The little Letters ſignifie diminution and contempt; as a little foreign in the Word foreign, Prov. 30. 15. The Horſeleach hath two daughters, called Give, Give. The Horſeleach is a Symbol or ſign of a covetous man: their eſtate, to whom his Daughters are married, is ſucked out and diminiſhed. If at any time he doth good to a poor man, he never does it gratis, but requireth double by his Daughters Give, Give, till the poor man be brought to extremity; and this diminution is intimated by the ſmalneſs of the Letter. A little foreign in the Word foreign Prov. 28. 17. A man that doth violence to the blood of any perſon; to ſhew his miſery who is guilty of ſhedding of blood, that he is even unworthy of the name of man. A little foreign in the word foreign Gen. 2. 4. when they were created, to wit, the Heaven and the Earth; to declare that all created things ſhall decay and periſh; and as the letter conſiſts of broken parts, ſo ſhall they be diſſolved. The Hebrews affecting myſteries, ſay, a tranſpoſition of this letter is intimated, that of foreign may be made foreign for Abraham, i. e. for the faithful was the world created; for they alone praiſe God for his wonderfull works of creation, p. 56&c. But ſome, who have more throughly ſearched the letters and numbers, have given another cauſe of greater and leſſer letters; namely, that every ſuch Letter is the terme or bound of a certain number of letters, either from the preceding great letter, or the beginning of the book, or ſome other place, heretofore known by a peculiar index: as, the little foreign in foreign Gen. 2. is the term of the number from the beginning of the Book, to wit, that the letters hitherto are 1112. &c. Cap. 15.

LII.

Of the letter foreign inverted, ſaith the Maſora, Numb. 10. 35. at the word foreign in going fòrward, there are nine Verſes wherein is ſuch a ſign of Nun inverted. And the firſt is this, And it came to paſs when the Ark ſet forward, that Moſes ſaid, Riſe up Lord, and let thine enemies be ſcattered, and let them that hate thee flee before thee. Here foreign is conceiv'd to be inverted, to intimate that all the enemies of Iſrael ſhould ſo be turned back and overthrown. The ſecond Numb. 11. 1. And the people complained: where the inverted Nun is a token of the preverſneſſe of the people, in the midſt of ſo many ſignal deliverances and p. 57great bleſſings of God, bitterly complaining and ſhewing their contumacy and ingratitude, &c. Cap. 16.

LIII.

That the Maſoreths might have nothing untoucht, that was pertinent to the conſervation of the ſacred Text, and the notation of its genuine form, being thus intent upon the work, they eſpyed in the whole Text of ſacred Scripture fifteen words, wherein ſome one letter or other was noted extraordinarily with certain pricks above, not with Vowels, or the notes of Vowels, but Symbolical notes, the ſignes of ſome Arcane and ſecret ſenſe; the explication whereof being delivered and propagated Orally, was known to thoſe firſt and next following times, but among the poſterity, by reaſon of Wars and Perſecutions, went out of knowledge into Oblivion. Now the Maſoreths eaſily judging, they were not ſet down in vain by the Antients, but as remembrances of ſome point of ſecret wiſdome, would by no m…anes wipe them out of the Text, but rather mark them, thereby to hold poſterity to the duty of meditation. The pricked words, as I ſaid, are in the whole fifteen; ten in the Law, four in the Prophets, one in the Hagiographa. Firſt is in foreign p. 58Gen. 16. 5. The Lord ſhall judge between me and thee: the words of Sarah to her husband Abraham. The Maſora noteth there is a Prick above the latter foreign. The word foreign is not written fully with both Jods in all the Law, but in this place: whence the latter was pricked, to mind us, it was not put here in vain, &c. Cap. 17.

LIV.

Next, for the quantity of the Letters, or their number, that the Maſoreths comprehended in a certain number the Letters of all the Books of Holy Scripture, is evident enough out of ſome Remains to this day extant of the Maſora; for the Maſora noteth upon the Letter foreign in the word foreign Levit. 11. 42. that it is the middle Letter of the whole Pentateuch, or Law; and the Letter foreign in the word foreign Pſal 80. 14. is the middle Letter of the Book of Pſalms. At the end of Geneſis, after the number of the Verſes of that Book, it is added; and the Letters thereof are 4395. which is to be underſtood of the laſt Section of that Book, not of the Letters of the whole Book. Elias Levita Pref. 3. l. Maſ. writeth, that the Letters of the whole Law are Sixty thouſand thouſands forty five; and there he ſaith, the Letters of p. 59the firſt Section Bereſhit, are 1915. which is falſe; we believe they are more then 5000. We doubt not but an account was given of the number of Letters, in all the Books of the Bible, though this Maſora is not brought to light. But that this part of the Maſoretic Study was referred into certain places of their Books, and ſo delivered to the notice of Poſterity, appears by a certain Poem, which in a curious manner exhibites the number, how often every Letter in t…e Alphabet is contained in the whole Scripture. Cap. 18.

LV.

The Author of thoſe Verſes is affirmed by Elias to be Raf Saadia Gaon, who was Head of the Sorian Academy in Babylon, about the year of Chriſt 927. The Verſes are very difficult; but this Sum of them here followeth:

p. 60And hence it is clearly ſeen, how exceeding great was the Induſtry of theſe men, how laborious their Study, and how much their Zeal, that they might conſerve the Integrity of Scripture inviolate, even in the leaſt tittle to all poſterity. Cap. 18.

LVI.

We have ſeen the Matter, now for the Form of the Maſora; it was at firſt conſigned in ſeparate and diſtinct Books, but afterward the Scribes adjoyned it to the Text by parts, but confuſedly and defectively. In which Form it ſtood till the publick impreſſion made about the beginning of the laſt age by the ſingular Study and coſt of Daniel Bombergus, and by the Aſſiſtance of R. Jacob Ben Chajim at Venice. But notwithſtanding all the diligence of the man, the difficulty of the work cauſed him to leave innumerous Faults, a good part whereof we have corrected in our Edition. Cap. 19.

LVII.

The Form and Order of the Maſora in the Bibles printed at Venice, is in this ſort. Maſora is twofold, the Great and the Little; the p. 61Great Maſora which comprehends all the Critical Learning, with a full enumeration of the places of Scripture, called foreign is propoſed either ſeparately, without the Text of Scripture, in the end of the Bibles; or jointly with the Text in the higher and lower Margin thereof: the one is named Final, the other Textual. The little Maſora is that which is briefly and ſuccinctly written down at the ſide of the Text, in Numeral Letters, in ſhort and Symbolical words. Here is no citation of the places, but when a word occurs twice, which is ſignified by the Letter foreign; then the other place is noted by a word or two annexed to that Letter. A greater number ſometimes is expreſſed in a Symbolical Sentence, and in the Chaldee, where the ſingle words denote the ſeveral places of the Bible, alledged in the Great Maſora. This is the Form. Cap. 19.

LVIII.

We conclude with the end of the Maſora. This the more Sound and Learned Hebrews have excellently obſerved, that the Maſora is a ſure Safegard and Defence of the Sacred Text, to this end ſet round about it, to ſecure and keep it ſafe againſt all Errors. Here is p. 62pertinent what the wiſe Coſri ſaid to his Antagoniſt, objecting that the Study of the Maſoreths was placed foreign in an unlawful and unprofitable work: But ſaith he, Their Study was in ſuch an unprofitable Work, with which is joyned the conſervation of the Law, that there might never b… occaſion of changing any thing therein. To the ſame purpoſe is that of the wiſe Aben Ezra; Certainly a great Reward is due to the Authors of the Maſoreth▪ who are as it were the Keepers of the City-Walls; for by their endeavor perſiſteth the Law of the Lord, and the Holy Books in their Form, without any addition or detraction: And that of Elias Levita, After the Labour performed by the Maſoreths, it is impoſsible that any change at all in any Books of Scripture hath happened heretofore, or can hereafter happen. That of R. Jacob Ben Chajim is not to be omitted, who in his Preface to thoſe great Bibles, after he had declared largely the uſe of Maſora, ſaith, Had not the men of the Great Synagogue bin, who restored the Crown (of the Law) to its antient ſplendor (as it is written, So they read in the Book of the Law of God diſtinctly, and gave the Senſe, and cauſed them to underſtand the reading, Nehem. 8. 8.) We had walked in the dark, and bin as blind men, and had not had one Book corrected, nor a Copy of the Law, p. 63whereon we might rely. Thus the Jews. Cap. 20.

LIX.

The ſame hath been acknowledged by Chriſtians; as many as have attained to any better knowledge of this Art. Benedictus Arias Montanus, in his Preface diſcourſing of the various Reading in the Hebrew Books, and the way and uſe of the Maſoreths; Great, ſaith he, was the Religion, and great the care of the antient Iſraelites in the conſervation of the Reading of the Holy Books: and that treaſury intruſted by God and commended to them (wherein were contained the mysteries of eternal life) was eſteemed worthy of all their diligence, to keep it ſo, that by no meanes any one word of it, or ſo much as the leaſt tittle might be impaired. Hugh Broughton an Engliſh man upon the 9. of Dan. ſaith, There is one ſort of great renown, the Maſorites, whoſe diligence preſerves the Hebrew Text ſafe and ſound for ever; and Nicholas Fuller in his Miſcell. Theol. l. 3. c. 13. To this end that the Hebrew truth might be kept inviolate, was excogitated by the most expert Jewiſh Maſters a certain ſubtile and curious Art, which they called foreign, that is, a tradition, or the most accurate way of delivering through the p. 64hands of thoſe who do ſucceed, the Canon of Holy Scripture, alwayes pure and perfect. By the benefit whereof they exactly know, and have the number of, not the words only, but the very Letters too. So that, not the leaſt change can be made by any either unlearned, or raſh or negligent hand, but it is deprehended preſently. Whence it is fitly stiled by them foreign, as the hedge or mound of the Old Teſtament, to keep off thence all corruption and depravation. Cap. 20.

LX.

And this may ſuffice for the preſent concerning the Author, Matter, Form, End of the Maſora. I will cloſe up theſe Collections with a ſaying of Pliny uſed by my Author, Optima quaeque malunt contemnere plerique quam diſcere. Ʋery many there are who had rather deſpiſe the moſt excellent things, then take the pains to learn them.

FINIS.

End of the text · Johann Buxtorf, Masora (1665)