The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia 9781463238834

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The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

Texts and Studies

15 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.

The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

Daniel S. Mynatt

gp 2017

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2017 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. ‫ܛ‬

1

2017

ISBN 978-1-4632-0734-2

Printed in the United States of America

ISSN 1935-6927

TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ..................................................................................... v List of Tables............................................................................................ ix Preface to the Revised Dissertation...................................................... xi List of Abbreviations ............................................................................ xiii Foreword to the Gorgias Reprint of The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of BHS ................................................................................... xv Manuscript Editions ...................................................................... xv Hebrew Bible Editions ................................................................ xvi Reference Editions and Other Works ...................................... xvii Corrigenda to the 1994 Edition ...............................................xviii Conclusion ..................................................................................... xix Works Cited ................................................................................... xix Chapter 1. Introduction Background Information ................................................................ 2 Definitions ........................................................................................ 3 Methodology .................................................................................... 3 Identifying the Sub Loco Notes in the BHS Text...................... 4 Organizing Principles for the Masoretic Apparatus................... 4 Presentation of the Entries ............................................................ 9 Statement of Location............................................................ 9 Evidence for Analysis .......................................................... 10 Discussion .............................................................................. 11 The Mp of the Aleppo Codex ............................................ 12 Weil’s “Completion” of the Mp .................................................. 12 The Practice of “Completing” the Mp .............................. 12 Supplying Correct Notes to Texts with Other Notes ..... 13 Supplying Corrected Notes ................................................. 16 Other Changes in the Mp ............................................................. 17 Abbreviations ........................................................................ 17 Standardization of Abbreviations and Spelling ................ 18 Standardization of Vocabulary ........................................... 18 v

vi

THE SUB LOCO NOTES IN THE TORAH OF BHS

Combination of Mp Notes for a Single Word ................. 18 Small Clarifications ............................................................... 18 Corrections Not Marked “Sub Loco” ........................................ 19 Primary Resources ......................................................................... 20 Usage Information ........................................................................ 20 Qĕrê/kĕtîb Situations ............................................................. 20 Mp Notes with Identifying Excerpts ................................. 21 Repeated References ............................................................ 22 Columns and Partitions in L ............................................... 22 Contra Textum Situations ................................................... 23 The Abbreviation TM .......................................................... 24 Oklah we-Oklah .................................................................... 24 A Circule Constituting an Mp Note .................................. 24 Citation of Hebrew Bibles ................................................... 25 Dots Versus Slashes in Mp Abbreviations ....................... 26 The Absence of Circules in Phrases in L ................................... 26 Explanation of Appendices.......................................................... 26 Chapter 2. The Catalog of Entries Genesis ............................................................................................ 28 Exodus ............................................................................................ 98 Leviticus ........................................................................................135 Numbers .......................................................................................153 Deuteronomy ...............................................................................179 Chapter 3. Classification of Errors in the Sub Loco Notes Introduction .................................................................................223 Methodology........................................................................223 Complicating Factors .........................................................224 Categories of Errors ....................................................................226 No Error ..............................................................................227 Error .....................................................................................229 Unsolved ..............................................................................238 Chapter 4. The Sub Loco Notes and the Aleppo Codex Introduction .................................................................................239 Methodology........................................................................239 The Extent of the Aleppo Codex ....................................239 The Extent of the Corresponding Notes ........................240 Mp Notes in Parallel Texts ................................................240 Presentation of the Entries ........................................................241 Evaluation of the Results ...........................................................245 No Note ...............................................................................245

TABLE OF CONTENTS

vii

Textual Issue ........................................................................245 No Error ..............................................................................245 Error Remains in A ............................................................245 Error Alleviated in A ..........................................................246 Summary .......................................................................................246 Appendix A. Number of Sub Loco Notes in the Torah by Chapter ..........................................................................................247 Appendix B. Verse Enumerations and Divisions in the Torah ....249 Notes ......................................................................................................256 Bibliography ..........................................................................................273

LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Word Form, Frequency of Occurrence, and Mp Notes for the Occurences of the Root ‫ גדל‬in Genesis 26:13

2. The Form and Location of the Six Exceptional Spellings of the Word ‫ְבּ ֻצרוֹת‬

3. The Location, Form, and Mp Note in L for the Six Defective Occurences of ‫שׁוּﬠה‬ ָ ְ‫ י‬and ‫שׁוּﬠה‬ ָ ‫ְתּ‬

4. An Outline of Categories for Explaining Errors in the Sub Loco Notes of the Torah

5. Inaccurate Mp Notes in L which may be Explained by Proximity Error

6. The Counterparts of the Sub Loco Notes in A Arranged According to Category

ix

Page 67 183 217 226 236 246

PREFACE TO THE REVISED DISSERTATION My interest in masoretic studies began while I was a graduate student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Until then, I had dutifully ignored the masoretic notes in the margins of BHS, and, to a lesser extent, the accents because I had always been told that nothing of importance was there. Students of Hebrew should be encouraged to spend the little time it takes to become familiar with the basic masoretic formulations. A great repository of learning and tradition is locked in those notes, and it is my hope that this research project will shed light on some of the more difficult ones. This dissertation has been thoroughly revised and corrected in preparation for its publication by BIBAL Press. I found a number of errors which slipped by me when I submitted the dissertation for my degree, and I have probably overlooked several more. I invite the reader to bring errors of any kind to my attention via Gorgias Press. Obviously, a work of this type requires the utmost accuracy to be useful, and reference errors, etc. are very easy to commit. Much thanks goes to Dr. Page Kelley for introducing me to this field of study and to BIBAL Press for bringing it to publication. Recognition should also be given to Dr. Darrell Pursiful who patiently answered my questions regarding Latin. Likewise, much gratitude goes to Mr. Jeff Mellon who assisted me in the Arabic section of Kitab al-Kilaf in note 73. Last, I must express appreciation to my wife, Marcy, who supported and encouraged me throughout this dissertation and my entire graduate program.

xi

xii

PREFACE

The BHS (copyright 1971) masoretic annotations cited in this volume, prepared by G. Weil, have been reproduced by permission from the United Bible Societies (New York) and the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome).

Daniel S. Mynatt Anderson College, Anderson SC June, 1994

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A

The Aleppo Codex

BHS

K. Elliger, and W. Rudolph, ed. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

BDB

BHK 1

BHK 3 L

Mf

Mm MP

Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, eds. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament R. Kittel, ed. Biblia Hebraica 1 R. Kittel, ed. Biblia Hebraica 3 The Leningrad Codex Masora Finalis

Masora Magna Masora Parva

xiii

FOREWORD TO THE GORGIAS REPRINT OF

T HE SUB L OCO N OTES IN TH E T ORAH OF BHS

It is a great privilege to be able to write a new Foreward to this book, 25 years after its original completion. The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia was my PhD dissertation, submitted in August 1992. BIBAL Press then worked with me to produce a revised and corrected version which was published in 1994. This new version is substantially a reprint of the 1994 edition. In this Foreward, I attempt to provide a brief update on materials which have been published since 1992 that might help the reader interpret the Masoretic notes in the Leningrad Codex (L). This is not an attempt to update the entire field of Masoretic Studies, 1 nor is it an attempt to survey the Masorah of the great Tiberian manuscripts. Instead, the focus will be consistent with the purpose of my original research: interpreting sometimes difficult notes in the margins of L.

MANUSCRIPT EDITIONS

Before the internet enabled so many easily available resources, large facsimile editions of manuscripts were the only resource for scholars who had no access to the manuscripts themselves. In the case of the L, the Eerdmans edition is the best of the published photographic editions (see Freedman). Although the volume now apFor a thorough and recent update on the field, see MartinContreras. 1

xv

xvi

FOREWORD

pears dated, the articles are relevant to this day, and the photographs are clear. There is an online archived version of L: https://archive.org/ details/Leningrad_Codex. Readers who depend on the chapter/verse designations will be challenged, since those are missing, and the photographs are, in my opinion, not as good as the Eerdmans edition; however, this edition is very convenient. In my dissertation, I also used several other sources which are now available online. The Aleppo Codex has an extraordinary site devoted to it: http://www.aleppocodex.org/homepage.html. The introductory articles alone merit several visits to the site, and the manuscript has clear photographs with a search engine that will allow the reader to quickly access the correct passage. The site also addresses the folios which are missing from the Codex. The Mikra’ot Gedolot HaKeter uses the Aleppo Codex for both its text and Masorah, so a student could use the copious electronic tools associated with that volume for reference also. 2 British Museum Or 4445 is available in a viewer that makes the manuscript easy to read, but with limited search capabilities: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_4445. There is an online archived version of the Second Rabbinic Bible: https://archive.org/details/The_Second_Rabbinic_Bible_ Vol_1, which shares the same advantages and disadvantages of the archived version of the Leningrad Codex. It is awkward to use but very convenient.

HEBREW BIBLE EDITIONS

Several editions of the Hebrew Bible based on L are available, but the only one which significantly interacts with the Masoretic notes in L is Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ). There are currently seven fascicles available: Genesis (see Tal), Deuteronomy (see McCarthy), Judges (see Marcos), The Twelve Prophets (see Gelston), Proverbs (see de Waard), The Megilloth (see Schenker), and Ezra-Nehemiah (see Marcus). 2

See mgketer.org. The site is in Modern Hebrew.

THE SUB LOCO NOTES IN THE TORAH OF BHS

xvii

The advantage of the BHQ editions is that they contain a commentary on many of the notes in the Masorah Parva and the Masorah Magna. The editors themselves have normally consulted the usual resources in Masoretic Studies, such as Ginsburg’s Massorah (see Ginsburg), and attempted an explanation of the more difficult notes. The editors also acknowledge when a Masoretic note is in error; this goes unnoted in the text itself, since BHQ is a diplomatic edition. Thus, the reader has an easily accessible opinion from an expert as to the resolution of a thorny Masoretic problem, whereas 25 years ago the best one could do was to hazard a guess.

REFERENCE EDITIONS AND OTHER WORKS

The world of Masoretic Studies received a valuable gift when Accordance Software decided to publish the Dotan/Reich Masora Thesaurus (see Dotan). This work analyzes every Masorah note in the book of Genesis, including references for the numerical notes. The Thesaurus is an update of the original printed 1977 sample volume. It relies on a system of sigla that the reader must learn, and the annotations are in Modern Hebrew. Nonetheless, the Thesaurus is a gold mine of information and suggested solutions for difficult notes. In 2016, Chris Dost published The Sub-Loco Notes in the Former Prophets of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, which is a continuation of the general methodology that I used in my dissertation (see Dost). Dost uses the Aleppo Codex and the Cairo Codex extensively, as well as other resources that were not readily available to me in 1992. He also advances my methodology so that the book is more thorough, but it is limited to the Former Prophets. This book was Dost’s doctoral dissertation. So all that is needed is two more dissertations (one for the Latter Prophets and one for the Writings) to complete the project! Although the Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (see Kelley) is largely a textbook on how to use the Masorah, it is based on the terminology of BHS. Since BHS is based on L, then Chapter 5, “A Glossary of Masoretic Terms,” is useful for understanding less than common Masoretic terms. BHQ is also based on L, so the Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia is equally helpful for reading the notes there. David Marcus (who also edited Fascicle 20 of BHQ) has written a forthcoming six volume set entitled From Joshua to Kings,

xviii

FOREWORD

which analyzes the Masoretic notes in L for those books. The publisher, Gorgias, describes the set as such: “This work represents the first time that a major part of the masorah of the great Leningrad Codex, that of the Former Prophets, is being published with an English translation and commentary. Almost nine-thousand notes are transcribed and annotated with biblical references.” 3 Although not directly related to the sub loco notes, Marcus has also studied the Aramaic catchphrases in L which serve as a mnemonic device for the location of the Hebrew verses (see Marcus, Scribal Wit: Aramaic Mnemonics in the Leningrad Codex).

CORRIGENDA TO THE 1994 EDITION Page 83

1994 Edition

The Mp of L in Gen 35:6 lacks ‫מ־פ‬, but it is probably implied. See the Mp of 1 Chr 10:12 for an example of the full note with ֗‫ נ‬as the total and ‫ מ־פ‬included. Page 92

1994 Edition

Corrected

The Mp of L in Gen 35:6 lacks ‫מ־פ‬, but it is probably implied. See the Mp of 2 Chr 10:12 for an example of the full note with ֗‫ נ‬as the total and ‫ מ־פ‬included. Corrected

Occurs 7 times, and one of 7 Occurs 7 times, and one of 7 cases spelled plene in this form. cases spelled plene in this and similar forms. Page 113

1994 Edition

Corrected

The Mp of BHS is not including The Mp of BHS is not including Exod 13:9. The Mp note ֗‫ ז‬is Exod 13:9. The Mp note ֗‫ ז‬is found in Josh 4:7 and Zech 4:7. found in Josh 4:7 and Zech 6:14. 3

www.gorgiaspress.com

THE SUB LOCO NOTES IN THE TORAH OF BHS Page 117

1994 Edition

The Mp of L tells us the ‫ַה ַטּל‬ occurs only once; however, the word actually occurs 3 times: Exod 16:3, Num 11:9, and 2 Sam 17:12. Page 129

1994 Edition

Furthermore, Ginsburg comments that all but one list in his collation included an excerpt for Deut 32:13.

xix

Corrected

The Mp of L tells us the ‫ַה ַטּל‬ occurs only once; however, the word actually occurs 3 times: Exod 16:13, Num 11:9, and 2 Sam 17:12. Corrected

Furthermore, Ginsburg comments that all but one list in his collation included an excerpt for Deut 23:12.

CONCLUSION

In 1992, it was difficult to meet with colleagues who enjoy studying the Masorah. There is now a Program Unit at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature dedicated to Masoretic Studies. Internationally, the International Organization for Masoretic Studies holds meetings at regular intervals. Because of these regular meetings and electronic communications between meetings, it is now much easier to ask colleagues how to solve a perplexing Masoretic note. I wish to express appreciation to my colleagues in the Masoretic Studies unit at SBL for their support throughout the years. We have enjoyed great fellowship, and they have consistently promoted the 1994 edition of my dissertation. I dedicate this reprint to all colleagues who enjoy studying the mysterious ways of the Masorah.

WORKS CITED

de Waard, Jan, ed. Biblia Hebraica Quinta, Fascicle 17: Proverbs. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2008. Dost, Christopher. The Sub-Loco Notes in the Former Prophets of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2016. Dotan, Aaron and Nurit Reich. Masora Thesaurus. Accordance Software, 2013.

xx

FOREWORD

Freedman, David N., ed. The Leningrad Codex: A Facsimile Edition. Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans, 1998. Gelston, Anthony, ed. Biblia Hebraica Quinta, Fascicle 13: The Twelve Minor Prophets. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2010. Ginsburg, Christian D. The Massorah: Compiled from Manuscripts Alphabetically and Lexically Arranged. IV vols. New York: KTAV, 1975. Kelley, Page H, Daniel S. Mynatt and Timoghty G. Crawford. Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B. Eerdmans, 1998. Marcos, Natalio Fernandez, ed. Biblia Hebraica Quinta, Fascicle 7: Judges. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2011. Marcus, David, ed. Biblia Hebraica Quinta, Fascicle 20: Ezra and Nehemiah. Stuttgart: Deutsche Biblegesellschaft, 2006. ———. Scribal Wit: Aramaic Mnemonics in the Leningrad Codex. Piscataway: Gorgias, 2013. Martin-Contreras, Elvira. “The Current State of Masoretic Studies.” Sefarad 73.2 (2013): 423-458. McCarthy, Carmel, ed. Biblia Hebraica Quinta, Fascicle 5: Deuteronomy. Stuttgart: Deutsche Biblegesellschaft, 2007. Schenker, Adrian. et al., ed. Biblia Hebraica Quinta, Fascicle 18: General Introduction and Megilloth. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2004. Tal, Abraham, ed. Biblia Hebraica Quinta, Fascicle 1: Genesis. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2015.