Hidden Treasure: Doublet Catchwords in the Leningrad Codex 9781463240400

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Hidden Treasure

Texts and Studies

1 Series Editor H. A. G. Houghton

Editorial Board Jeff W. Childers Viktor Golinets Christina M. Kreinecker Alison G. Salvesen Peter J. Williams

Texts and Studies is a series of monographs devoted to the study of Biblical and Patristic texts. Maintaining the highest scholarly standards, the series includes critical editions, studies of primary sources, and analyses of textual traditions.

Hidden Treasure

Doublet Catchwords in the Leningrad Codex

David Marcus

gp 2019

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2019 by Gorgias Press LLC All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC.

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2019

ISBN 978-1-4632-4039-4

ISSN 1935-6927

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A Cataloging-in-Publication Record is available from the Library of Congress. Printed in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ v Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. vii Preface .............................................................................................................................. ix Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 What are doublets? ................................................................................................. 1 How catchwords work. .......................................................................................... 2 Previous publication of these catchwords. ......................................................... 3 Location of the catchwords in the Bible ............................................................. 5 Sample catchwords ................................................................................................. 5 Analysis of the catchwords .................................................................................... 7 Occurrence of the catchwords with doublets .................................................... 8 Relation of catchwords with the Mm .................................................................. 9 Clarifying difficult catchwords ............................................................................ 10 Some oddities ........................................................................................................ 10 Purpose of the catchwords .................................................................................. 11 1. Preserving the text ...................................................................................... 11 2. Protecting the text from alteration........................................................... 12 3. Highlighting significant forms .................................................................. 13 Exegetical use of catchwords .............................................................................. 14 Some exegetical suggestions ................................................................................ 15 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 19 List of the 507 Doublet Catchwords .......................................................................... 23 Genesis ................................................................................................................... 24 Exodus .................................................................................................................... 34 Leviticus.................................................................................................................. 40 Numbers ................................................................................................................. 43 Deuteronomy......................................................................................................... 46 Joshua...................................................................................................................... 49 Judges ...................................................................................................................... 51 1 Samuel ................................................................................................................. 53 2 Samuel ................................................................................................................. 55 1 Kings .................................................................................................................... 57 2 Kings .................................................................................................................... 58 Isaiah ....................................................................................................................... 59 Jeremiah .................................................................................................................. 63 v

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HIDDEN TREASURE Ezekiel .................................................................................................................... 66 The Twelve ............................................................................................................ 68 1 Chronicles ........................................................................................................... 70 2 Chronicles ........................................................................................................... 72 Psalms ..................................................................................................................... 74 Job ........................................................................................................................... 80 Proverbs ................................................................................................................. 84 Megillot ................................................................................................................... 87 Daniel ...................................................................................................................... 91 Ezra ......................................................................................................................... 93 Nehemiah ............................................................................................................... 94

ABBREVIATIONS A

Aleppo Codex

BHK (= BH3)

Biblia Hebraica, see Kittel

BHQ

Biblica Hebraica Quinta, see Schenker

BHS

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, see Elliger

ca

circa

CE

Common Era

cj

conjunction

etc

et cetra “and others”

e.g.

exempli gratia “for instance”

et al

et alii “and the rest”

fig.

figure

L

Leningrad Codex

lit

literally

Mm

Masorah magna

Mp

Masorah parva

ms

manuscript

no

number

v(v)

verse(s)

vii

PREFACE One of the most remarkable features of the Masoretic notes in the Leningrad Codex, which up till now have never been published, are the catchwords which are attached to many Masorah parva (Mp) doublet notes. Most Mp doublet notes are simply marked by the numeral  ¯ “two,” which indicates that an identical word or phrase occurs somewhere else in the Hebrew Bible. The reader is given no indication as to where that parallel doublet might occur. However, a special group of over 500 doublets have catchwords attached to the numeral indicating in what specific verse the parallel doublet occurs. In effect, the catchwords serve as memory aids explicitly reminding the reader where the second form of the parallel doublet is to be found. These catchwords are written in the margins of the Leningrad Codex but surprisingly were never included in previous editions of Biblia Hebraica neither in BHK (= BH3) nor in BHS. They will be published in the new BHQ, the first fascicles of which are in print but, until the completion of BHQ, the entire list of catchwords are offered here in print for the first time. The list contains 507 catchwords and their parallel references. It also includes all Masoretic notes at the parallel references, including those which have larger Masorah magna (Mm) notes. The Introduction analyzes these catchwords, discusses their location in the various books, how they are used, their relationship with the Mm notes, and their possible practical usages for biblical studies. This study was first published twelve years ago in the on-line journal TC, 1 and thanks are due to the publishers for permitting the author to publish this work in a revised and updated form. Because these doublets have up till now remained hidden and virtually unknown, their publication in this volume constitutes an opportunity for scholars to see how this veritable treasure may be of use for biblical studies, hence the title of this work “Hidden Treasure.” 0F

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rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol12/Marcus2007.pdf

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INTRODUCTION One of the well-known characteristic features of Masorah parva (Mp) notes is that they highlight minority or less common forms. 1 This major characteristic of the Masoretic notes was already pointed out by the sixteenth century grammarian Elias Levita, 2 and this typical Masoretic feature was often noted by the prominent nineteenth century Christian David Ginsburg. Ginsburg frequently stated that such and such a note was included for comment because the Masorah “safeguards the exceptions,” 3 or because the Masorah “records the minority.” 4 The most frequent minori¯ ty form is one that occurs only once, 5 and is indicated in the text by a Mp note +, which stands for ='+,— lit. “there is not (another form),” a hapax legomenon. 6 6F

WHAT ARE DOUBLETS? The second most frequent Mp note is one indicating doublets, indicating that a word or a phrase occurs twice, and only twice, in the Hebrew Bible. Doublets are far more useful for biblical exegesis than hapax legomena. For whereas hapax legomena only occur once, doublets occur elsewhere, thus enabling comparisons with other texts. 7 In the Leningrad Codex, Mp notations for doublets are indicated by the letter Breuer, The Aleppo Codex, 204. Levita, Massoreth Ha-Massoreth, 146. 3 Ginsburg, The Massorah, IV, 100, §813; 101, §827; 104, §851; 105, §855, §858; 106, §868, §870; 108, §886; 110, §908; 111, §916, and passim. 4 Ibid, IV, 117, §973, §974; 118, §978, §986 and passim. 5 Dotan, “From Masorah to Grammar,”158. 6 James A. Sanders has emphasized this protective nature of the Masorah: “a lamed in the mp… stands like a soldier to remind the next scribe that the word in question must be copied precisely as written… The word in question with a lamed in mp is a hapax… There is no other quite like it anywhere else in the Bible and it must be guarded in its particularity; it must retain its peculiarity and not be assimilated to another form of the word more common in the Bible or elsewhere” (Sanders, “Text and Canon,” 17). 7 Because doublets occur only twice there would seem to be a reasonable expectation that, just like hapax legomena, all doublets would be marked by the Masoretes. But in fact not all doublets are marked. For example, if we look at forms of the participle of the verb LC “to come” we see that a number of them occur only twice, but not all of these doublets 1 2

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, ¯ signifying “two,” thereby informing the reader that there is another reference to the same word or phrase somewhere in the Hebrew Bible. However, a number of these Mp notes occur with simanim or catchwords 8 which explicitly direct the reader’s attention to that reference. When the Masoretes note that words or phrases occur only twice, 9 unless one is familiar with the parallel text, it is necessary to consult a concordance to find the other text. But when the Masoretes actually write out the catchwords, then the interconnections between the texts are made more obvious. In effect, these catchwords serve as memory aids reminding the reader where the parallel text occurs.

HOW CATCHWORDS WORK. Here is an example how the catchwords work. At Neh 3:33, there is a Mp note on the word 24™ )  –Q ™# “he was angry” (see fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The catchword 2 on the doublet 24™ )  –Q ™# (Neh 3:33)

The subject of the verb is Sanballat, the arch enemy of Nehemiah, who is depicted as being angry with Nehemiah for attempting to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The Mp note reads 2 ,¯ which signifies that the form 24™ )  –Q ™# occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible and that the second reference is to be found in a verse containing the word 2š . š That verse is in 2 Chron 16:10 where the the text reads 2š 2 š 4™ )’ –Q ™#, referare marked. The ones that are marked are -'– Cš !¡+ ™ )š ’# (1 Sam 5:5; Ezra 3:8), -'– Cš !™ ’# (Gen 7:16; Neh 5:17), and-f-' š – Cš !™ (1 Sam 2:14; Ezek 23:29), but doublets such as -'– K š (Neh 10:30; 13:22), Cš +™ ’# (Zech 8:10; 2 Chr 15:5), or =œCš !™ (Gen 41:35; Isa 41:22) are not marked. 8 Israel Yeivin translates them as “references” (Yeivin, Introduction, 74), and Daniel S. Mynatt uses the term “identifying excerpts” (Mynatt, Sub Loco, 21–22). 9 The doublets are overwhelmingly exact doublets. Only on a few occasions are there slight differences between the doublets and these are usually differences of plene and defective writing. For example, at Exod 15:20 the lemma =Yœ%/’ K – is written defective, but at Judg 11:34 it is written plene as =L+œ%/’ K. – Other types of minor differences have to do with different vowels, such as 9h™ –' at Gen 41:10 with a SDʤDʚ, but 9hš –' at Prov 24:26 with a TDPHʜ, or forms with or without a waw cj, such as ™µ/Lf — ’# at Prov 15:32, but ™µ/Lf — at Prov 21:28, etc.

INTRODUCTION

3

ring to King Asa of Judah. Asa is likewise depicted as being angry, in his case with Hanani the seer for giving him an unfavorable prophecy. At the 2 Chronicles verse, there is also a Mp note on the word 24™ )  –Q ™# which reads !:!¯ (see fig. 2).

Fig. 2. The catchword !:! on the doublet 24™ )  –Q ™# (2 Chr 16:10)

Just like the note at Neh 3:33, this note signifies that the form 24™ )  –Q ™# occurs only twice in the Hebrew Bible and that the second reference is to be found in a verse containing the word !C— :’ !.™ This verse is the one in Nehemiah, where the text reads !C— :’ ! ™ 24™ )  –Q ™# “he was extremely vexed,” referring to Sanballat. Thus the Masoretic notes inform us that these verses, the one in Nehemiah and the other in Chronicles, are the only two to use the form 24™ )  –Q ™#. The catchwords serve as memory aids reminding the reader where the other reference is to be found.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION OF THESE CATCHWORDS. There are slightly over 500 catchwords attached to doublets in the Leningrad Codex 10 and, although they are written in its margins, up to now they have never been published. Even in the third edition of Biblia Hebraica (BHK = BH3), these catchwords were included only in isolated instances. 11 In BHS, although the Mp was presented in a revised and enlarged edition by Gérard E. Weil, these catchwords surprisingly are not printed at all. 12 Instead, where the manuscript contains catchwords, BHS provides the biblical reference as to where these catchwords occur. 13 But the BHS system has many limitations. In the first place, it is inconsistent. It does not include all the doublets. There are doublets that have catchwords for which no references are cited in BHS. For example, there is no reference on the lemma =L1=’ Vš that occurs at Gen 3:21 and Neh The exact number is 507, see below. Such as in the book of Isaiah (at 1:3; 25:5; 25:6; 26:3; 26:4; 26:9; 28:21; 29:13), and at Ezra 10:6 and at 2 Chr 4:15. However, the situation is a little better with catchwords attached to unique forms of the type %# +¯ “unique and once.” Here many more catchwords are included, but not all of them. For example, in the book of Numbers the cases where catchwords are attached to the notation %# +¯ are listed at 11:11, at 26:59, and at 32:26, but not at 2:16, 6:27; nor at 20:19. 12 It is surprising because Weil’s goal was to provide a complete Masorah. He intended to provide “a complete, revised, integrated, and intelligible apparatus” (“Prolegomena” to BHS, xv). 13 Ibid, xvii. 10 11

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7:69, and has catchwords at Neh 7:69. Nor is there a reference on the lemma ':™ š K, ’ that occurs at Isa 59:21 and Neh 6:19, and has catchwords at Neh 6:19. 14 On the other hand, there are references cited for doublets that have no catchwords. For example, at Gen 1:2 a biblical reference is given to Job 38:19 for the doublet Tfœ˜ % ’# leading the reader to assume that there is a catchword or catchwords at one of the references. But there are no catchwords at either reference. There are some fifty examples of this type of reference to passages which do not contain catchwords. 15 Secondly, there is no way the reader can tell on which doublet the catchwords can be found, or whether the catchwords occur with both doublets. For example, for the very first doublet that occurs in L, K!œ š#K!œ=, biblical references are given at both Gen 1:2 and Jer 4:23, but the catchwords are only written in the manuscript at the Genesis reference. Similarly, for the doublet :!™ ’^/– that occurs at Gen 15:18, biblical references are given at both Gen 15:18 and Ezra 8:31, but the catchwords are written in the manuscript only at the Genesis reference. On the other hand, as we noted earlier, the doublet 24™ )’ –Q ™# has catchwords at both its occurrences at Neh 3:33 and at 2 Chr 16:10 (see figs 1 and 2), but there is no way one could not discern this fact from the BHS note which simply indicates the cross-references at both locations. Thirdly, whenever a Mm note occurs with one of these doublets, a reference is given not to a biblical verse but to Weil’s companion volume on the Masorah magna (Weil, Massorah Gedolah). In these cases there is no way one can know that catchwords also exist in the parallel doublet. 16 It should be noted that one of the features of the new BHQ, of which to date seven fascicles has been published, 17 is that all these Mp catchwords are being printed in the margins of the Hebrew text. But, until the time that all the fascicles of 15F

Other doublets that have catchwords, which are not cited, are: L/i¡! ’ /™ at Exod 3:13 and Prov 30:4; ! š#! ’''/– at Exod 5:2 and Prov 30:9; š!Kf:'š –' at Deut 1:39 and Isa 34:17; -]š !ž +’ at Deut 2:15 and Esth 9:24; 94™ 8š at 1 Kgs 20:39 and Lam 2:18; !=š 4Kf š ’' at Jon 2:10 and Ps 3:3; =L6:š %” +™ at Ps 69:1 and Dan 12:2; and U=L ˜ 8’ /– at Ps 119:98 and Dan 9:5. 15 Some of these in Genesis are at 14:7 (Josh 15:7); at 24:7 (Jer 9:11); at 27:36 (Ezek 18:17); at 28:15 (Exod 32:34); at 28:19 (Num 11:34); at 32:24 (Ps 78:13); at 34:10 (Josh 22:17); etc. 16 Some examples from the Megillot of doublets with catchwords where only Weil references (and thus no biblical references) are given are: at Song 6:9 on š!K:i@ ’ ’' ™# (§3681), at Qoh 5:1 on -'P– 4™ /’ (§3388), at Qoh 5:6 on -':– š K’ (§74), at Qoh 5:12 on :K/fš (§1574), at Qoh 5:16 on 58˜ 9š š# (§3745), at Qoh 6:6 on !L& š ’# (§3771), at Lam 2:14 on K$%“ ˜Q ™# (§3779), at Lam 5:8 on 9:œ— a (§3202), and at Esth 9:24 on -]š !ž +’ (§3762). 17 The seven volumes that have been published to date are: Megilloth (Ruth [de Waard], Canticles [Dirksen], Qoheleth [Goldman], Lamentations [Schäfer], Esther [Sæbø], see Schenker, General Introduction and Megilloth, 2004); Ezra-Nehemiah (Marcus, 2006); Deuteronomy (McCarthy, 2007); Proverbs (de Waard, 2008); The Twelve Minor Prophets (Gelston, 2010); Judges (Marcos, 2011); Genesis (Tal, 2015). 14

INTRODUCTION

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BHQ appear, this present publication represents the first time that all the Mp catchwords in L will have been published.

LOCATION OF THE CATCHWORDS IN THE BIBLE There are slightly more than 500 examples of catchwords attached to Mp notes in L. 18 These catchwords occur with different degrees of concentration in different books. Almost three-fifths of the total number 303 appear in the Torah. The book which has the most amounts of catchwords, almost a fifth of the total, is Genesis with 122, followed by Exodus with sixty-two, Deuteronomy with forty-four, Numbers with forty-two and Leviticus with thirty-three. Ketuvim has the next highest concentration of catchwords with 176, about a third of the total. In this section, catchwords are most prevalent in Psalms (forty-one), Job (thirty-one), Megillot (twenty-six), and Proverbs (twenty-six). The prophetical sections have the least amount of catchwords. There are none whatsoever in the books of 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, nor Ezekiel. There are only twelve catchwords in the Former Prophets, six in Joshua, three in 1 Samuel, two in Judges, and one in 2 Kings. In the Latter Prophets, there are only sixteen in Isaiah, six in Jeremiah, and one in The Twelve . There is no obvious discernible connection of catchwords between any two books of the Bible. For example, catchwords in Genesis parallel every book except Daniel including Genesis itself. Of the other books, perhaps the most notable book parallels are of Numbers and Deuteronomy with Psalms, of Leviticus and Proverbs with Isaiah, and of Daniel with Nehemiah. This is the way the catchwords are distributed in L however, it should be pointed out that each manuscript has its own system of recording doublets and catchwords. Doublets and catchwords which appear in other manuscripts may not appear L and vice versa. For example, as mentioned above, there are no catchwords in L in the book of 2 Samuel, yet the Aleppo Codex (A) records many catchwords in this book. 19 Similarly, if we compare the catchwords in the first chapter of Joshua (see the Catchwords for Joshua list in the body of this book), we see that there are only three catchwords in L (at vv. 1, 4, & 6), but there are six in A (at vv. 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, & 12). The manuscripts differ also with respect to the use of catchwords. For example, in L the catchwords at Josh 1:4 on the lemma :Cš ’ ]– !™ /— are the words #'1=(:+ that occur in 1 Sam 25:14, but in A a different catchword from the same verse is recorded, namely -')+/.

SAMPLE CATCHWORDS A representative selection of catchwords is presented in the following chart and these catchwords will be used in the ensuing discussion to illustrate the usages of the Or, if we compare the catchwords in the first chapter of Joshua, we see that there are only three catchwords in L (vv. 1, 4, & 6), but six in A (vv. 1, 3, 4, 7, 8 & 12). The manuscripts differ also with respect to the use of catchwords. For example, the catchwords at Josh 1:4 on the lemma :Cš ’ ]– !™ are #'1=(:+ in L, but is -')+/ in A. 19 At 2:16; 3:21; 3:29; 4:10; 7:23; 8:2; 11:23; 12:14; 12:17; 13:13; 13:15; 13:18; 13:22; etc. 18

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various catchwords. In the chart the first column indicates the reference numbers of the doublets; the second column lists the verses, where the doublet occurs, in the standard chronological order of biblical books; the third column lists the Masorah parva (Mp) note attached the doublet at that verse reference. It is this Mp note that contains the catchwords. The fourth column lists where the second occurrence of the doublet is to be found. Finally, the fifth column lists the Mp note that is found for the second occurrence of the doublet. Table 1. Sample Doublets and their Catchwords No.

Verse

Doublet

Masorah Note

Masorah Note

#!=!1!#¯

Second Verse Jer 4:23

1

Gen 1:2

K!œ š#K!œ=

2

Gen 1:18

+'G– ’ !™ ”+K