A dissertation concerning the antiquity of the Hebrew-language, letters, vowel-points, and accents

'

PRESENTED TO THE LIBRARY
OF

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

BY

jyirs. Alexander Ppoudfit.

3SW

A

DISSERTATION

CONCERNING THE

A N T I Q^U I T Y

OF THE

HE BR E W- L A N GU A G E,

LETTERS,
VOWEL-POINTS,

AND

ACCENTS.

By JOHN ^GILL, D. D.

Imo vero cenfeo, nullius mortalis, licet in Hebrseis Uteris
do&e verfati, tantum efle acumen, peritiam, perfpicaciam,
ut prophette noftro (Jefaiae) longe pluribus locis reddere po-
tuerit genuinum fuum fenium ; nifi le£llo antiqua fynagogica
per traditionem in fcholis Hebraeorum fuiflet confervata, ut
earn nunc Maforetharum punflulis expreflam habemus : quo-
rum proinde ftudium et laborem nemo pro merito depraedicet.
Quod enim in hoc viridario deliciari poflimus, ipfis debemus,
viris perinde do<3tis et acri judicio praeditis.

Vkringa, Praefat. ad Comment, in
Jefaiam, Vol.1, p. 5.

LONDON, Printed:
And Sold by G. Keith, in Gracechurcb. Street ; J. Fletcher,
at Oxford; T. and J. Merrill, at Cambridge; A. Donald-
son and W.Gray, at Edinburgh ; J. Bryce, at Glajgow j
A. Angus, at Aberdeen ; and P. Wilson, at Dublin.
M.DCC.LXVII,

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2011 with funding from

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http://www.archive.org/details/dissertationconcOOgil

[iii]

THE

PREFACE.

THE following Differtation has
long lain by me ; nor w s it
written at firft with any de-
fign to publifh it to the world; but
was written at leifure hours for my
own amufement, and by way of effay
to try how fir back the antiquity of
the things treated of in it could be
carried. And what has prevailed uoon
me now to let it go into the world,
and take its fate in it, are the confi-
dence which fome late writers on the
oppofite fide have exprefled, their con-
tempt of others that differ from them,
and the air of triumph they have af-
fumed, as if victory was proclaimed
on their fide, and the comrcverfy at

a an

[iv]

an end, which is far from being the
cafe; and what feeming advantages
are obtained, are chiefly owing to the
indolence and floth of men, who read
only on one fide of the queftion, and
fuch who write one after another, and
take things upon truft, without ex-
amining into them themfelves, either
through want of ability, or through
unwillingnefs to be at any pains about
it.

I confess, it has given me offence
to obferve the Jews called by fuch op-
probrious names, as villains, wilful
corrupters of the Hebrew text, & c. It
muft be owned indeed, that they are
very ignorant of divine things, and
therefore the more to be pitied ; and
many of them are, no doubt, very im-
moral perfons ; but have we not fuch
of both forts among ourfelves ? yet, as
bad as the Jews are, the worft among
them, I believe, would fooner die,
than wilfully corrupt any part of the
Hebrew Bible. We fhould not bear

falfe

witnefs againft our neighbours, let
them be as bad as they may in other
things. J have never, as yet, feen nor
read any thing, that has convinced me
that they have wilfully corrupted any
one partage in the facred text8, no
not that celebrated one in Pf. xxii. 16.
Their copiers indeed may have made
miftakes in transcribing, which are
common to all writings ; and the Jews
meeting with a various reading, they
may have preferred one to another,
which made moil: for their own fenti-
ments ; nor is this to be wondered at3
nor are they to be blamed for it. It
lies upon us to rectify the miftake, and
confirm the true reading.

It does not appear, that there ever was
any period of time, in which the Jews
would or could have corrupted the
Hebrew text ; not before the coming of
Chrift, for then they could have no dif-
pofition nor temptation to it; and to
a 2 at-

a See a good Defence of the Jews by F. Simon againft
Leo Caftrius, Morinus and Voiiius in his Difquifit. Cri-
tic, c, ix. and x.

[ vi]

attempt it would have been to have
rifqued the credit of the prophecies in
it; nor could they be fure of any ad-
vantage by it : and after the coming
of Chrift, it was not in their power to
do it without detection. There were
the twelve apoftles of Chrift, who
were with him from the beginning of
his miniftry, and the feventy difciples
preachers of his gofpel, befides many
thoufands of 'Jews in Jerufalem, who
in a fhort time believed in him ; and
can it be fuppoled that all thefe were
without an Hebrew Bible ? and parti-
cularly that learned man, the apoftle
Paul> brought up at the feet of a
learned Rabbi , Gamaliel \ and w ho out of
thofe writings convinced fo many that
Jefus was the Chrift, and who fpeaks
of the Jews as having the privilege of
the oracles of God committed to them
Rom. iii. i, 2. nor does he charge
them, nor does he give the leaft inti-
mation of their being chargeable, with
the corruption of them ; nor does

Chrift,

[ vii ] ,

Chrift, nor do any of the apoftles ever
charge them with any thing of this
kind. And befides, there were mul-
titudes of the Jews in all parts of the
world at this time, where the apoftles
met with them and converted many
of them to Chrift, who, they and their
fathers, had lived in aftateor difperfion
many years ; and can it be thought,
they fhould be without copies of the
Hebrew Bible, whatever ufe they may
be fuppcfed to have made of the Greek
verfion ? fo that it does not feem cre-
dible, that the Jews fhould have it in
their power, had they an inclination
to it, to corrupt the text without de-
tection. And here I cannot forbear
tranfcribing a paffage from Jerom k,
who obferves, in aniwer to thole who
(ay the Hebrew books were corrupted
by the Jews, what Origin faid, " that
cc Chrift and his apoftles, who re-
" proved the Jews for other crimes,
" are quite filent about this, the
a 3 " great-

* Comment, in Efaiam, c. 6. fol. 14. G.

U

[ VUi ]

greateft of all." Jerom adds " if
a they fhould fay, that they were cor-
" rupted after the coming of the Lord,
" the Saviour, and the preaching of
" the apoftles ; 1 cannot forbear laugh-
iC ing, that the Saviour, the evange-
cc lifts and apoftles fhould fo produce
u teftimonies that the Jews afterwards
" fhould corrupt." To all which may
be added, that the Jews are a people
always tenacious of their own wri-
tings, and of preferving them pure and
incorrupt : an inftance of this we
have in their Targums or paraphrafes,
which they had in their own hands
hundreds of years, before it appears
they were known by Chriftians ; in
which interval, it lay in their power to
make what alterations in them they
pleafed ; and had they been addicted
to fuch practices, it is marvellous they
did not ; fince they could not but ob-
ferve, there were many things in them,
that Chriftians were capable of impro-
ving againft them, fhould they come

. into

[ix ]

into their hands, as in fael: they have
done; and yet they never dared to
make any alterations in them : and
had they done any thing of this kind,
it is moft reafonable to believe, they
would have altered the paffages rela-
ting to the Meffiah; and yet thofe, and
which are many, ftand full againft
them. Indeed, according to Origency
as fome think, the Tar gums were
known very early, and improved a-
gainfl the yews in favour of Jefus be-
ing the true Meffiah, agreeable to the
fenfe of the prophets ; fince he makes
mention of a difpute between Jafon,
an Hebrew- ChYi&ian, fuppofed to be
the fame as in Acis xvii. 5. and Pa-
pifcusy a Jew ; in which, he fays, the
Chriftian (hewed from Jewifo wri-
tings, that the prophecies concerning
Chrift agreed with Jefus ; and what
elfe, fays Dr. Allix a, could he mean
by JewiJIo writings, but the Tar gums?
a 4. though

c Contra Celfum, 1. 4. p. 199. d Judgment of

the ancient Jewilh Church, &c. p. 376.

[ *]

though it is poffible the writings of
the Old Teftameant may be meant,
by which the apoftle Paul alio proved
that Jlujs was the Chrift. However,
if the Targums are meant, they do
not afterwards appear to have been
known by chriftian writers for fome
hundreds of years.

It may be faid, perhaps, that the
yews are fclf-condemned, and that it
may be proved out of their own
mouths and writings, that they have
in fome places wilfully corrupted the
Hebrew text ; as the thirteen places
they own they changed, on the ac-
count of Ptolemy king of Egypt ; and
alfo what they call Tikkwi Sopberim,
the ordination of the fcribes, and Ittur
Sopben'm, the ablation of the fcribes :
as to the firft of thefe, it is true, that
they fay e, when Ptolemy king of
Egypt defired to have their law, and
feventy men fent to translate it, that

they

e T. Hierof. Megillab, fol. 71. 4. T.Bab. Megillah,
fol. 9. 1. Maflechet Sopherim, c. 1. f. 8. fol. 8. 1.

they made alterations in the copy they
fent ; but then it fhould be obferved,
that they do not fay they made any
alteration in their own copies, only in
that they fent to him ; and which ap-
pears alfo to be a mere fable of the
Talmudifts, and that in facl no fuch al-
terations were made : but the ftory
was invented, partly to bring into dis-
grace the Greek verfion of the Seventy y
as if it was made after a corrupt copy;
and partly to make the minds of their
own people eafy, who difapproved of
that work, and kept a faft on occafion
of it f. My reafon for this is, becaufe
the Greek verfion does not correfpond
with the pretended alterations. There
are but two places out of the thirteen,
which agree with them ; the one is in
Gen. ii. 2. which the Seventy tranflate,
and on the Jtxth day God ended his
work ; the other is in Numb. xvi. 15.
which they render / have not taken the
dejire of any one of them, inftead of one

afs

f Schulchan Aruch, par. i. c. 580. f. 3.

[xii]

afs from them ; neither of which feem
to arife from a bad copy before them,
but from fome other caufe. The firft
of them is not peculiar to the Septua-
gint, it is the fame in the Samaritan
Pentateuch ; and the latter plainly
arifes from the fimilarity of the letters
Daleth and Rejh* There is a third,
Exod. xii. 40. in which there is fome
agreement, but not exact. Befides,
neither Philo the yew, nor JofepbuSy
though they wrote very particularly of
this affair of Ptolemy, yet make not
the leaft mention of thefe alterations,
in the copy fent to him, nor in the
tranilation of it, They obferve, there
never was any change made in the fa-
cred writings, from the time of the
writing of them to the age in which
they lived. Philo faysg, the Jews,
" for the fpace of more than two
" thoufand years, never changed one
i% word of what was written by Mofes,
u but would rather die a thoufand

<c times,

? Apud Eufeb. Prspar. Evangel. 1.8, c. 6. p. 357.

[ xiii ]

** times, than receive any thing con-
" trary to his laws and cuftoms."
Jofephus h obferves, u it is plain, in
u fact, what credit we give to our
iC writings, for that fo long a fpace of

" time has run out, vet no one ever

j •

" dared, neither to add, nor to take
iC aw v. nor to change any thing."
And Walton1 himfelfj i obferve, reck-
ons this ftory a^out the alterations for
the fake of King Ptolemy, to be a
Rabbinical fable ; and, as fuch, Je-
rom k had got a hint of it from one of
his Rabbins,

The Tikktm Sopherimy or ordination
of the fcribes, is fuppofed to be the
order of Ezra, as it is faid in the Ma-
forah on Exod. xxxiv. 1 1 . and on
Numb. xii. 12. and of his colleagues ;
though fome think * it is no other than
the order or inftruction of the infpired
writers themfelves. It refpects eigh-
teen paffages in the Bible, fo expref-

fed,

h Contra Apion, 1. 1. c. 8. ! Prolegom. Polyglott. 9.
f. 16. k Praefat. ad Quseft. He\ Tom. 3. f'ol. 65. c.

? Buxtorf. Epift. Glaflw jn Philolog. Sacr. p. 40.

[ xiv ]

fed, as that fome fmatterers in know-
ledge might gather from the con-
text, that fomething elfe is intended
than what is written; and fo fufpedt
a corruption in the text, and take
upon them to alter it. Now this or-
dination of the fcribes, as it is called,
is fo far from implying a corruption
itfelf, and from encouraging an at-
tempt to make an alteration in the
text, that it is juft the reverfe ; it is
an ordinaion that the text fhould be
read no otherwife than it is; and would
have it remarked, that the words fo
read, and which are the words of the
infpired writer, contain an Euphemy in
them, what is deceat and becoming
the majefty of God ; when, if they
were read, as the context might be
thought to require they fhould be
read, they wouid exprefs what is de-
rogatory to the glory of the Divine
Being. Thus, in the firft of the places,
this ordination refpec'ts, GW.xviii. 22.
Abraham flood yet before the Lord\ it

might
4

might feem to fome from the context,
that the Lord defcended to ftand be-
fore Abraham ; but as this might be
thought derogatory to the glory of
God, the infpired writer chofe to ex-
prefs it as he has done, ; and the de-
fign of what is called the ordination
of the fcribes, is to eftablifh it, and to
admonifh that none mould dare to al-
ter it m ; and fo it was to prevent an
alteration, and not to make one; they
made no change at all, far be it from
them, as Elias Levita fays n. As for
the Ittur Sopherimy or ablation of the
fcribes, that is only the removal of a
fuperfluous Vau in five places0; not
that it was in the text, and removed
from it by them, but what the com-
mon people pronounced in reading,
as if it was there ; which reading the
fcribes forbid, to fecure and preferve
the integrity of the text ; and which

pro-

m Halichot Olam, p. 47, 48. Prsefat. Ben Chayim
ad Bibl. Heb. Buxtorf. fol. 2. Buxtorf. Talmud. Lexic.
Col. 2631. n InTifbi, p. 270. ° B.. il Aruch, in
voce TlOy Praefat. Ben Chayim ut fupra. Buxtorf. ut
fupra. Col. 1597, 1598.

[ xvi ]

on of u to the common peo-
ple, is called a taking it away; though
in reality it never was in the text, only
pronounced by the vulgar.

There is a paiTage in the Talmud \
produced by fome q, as a proof that
the Jews ftudioufly corrupted the
fcriptures, and allowed of it, when an
end was to be anfwered by it ; which
is this, " it is better that one letter be
" rooted out of the law, than that the
" name of God fhould be prophaned
" openly ;" but their fenfe is not that
any letter fhould be taken, or that it
was lawful to take any letter out of
any word in the law, to alter the fenfe
of it, in order to ferve that, or any
other purpofe ; but that a leffer com-
mand fhould give way to a greater :
as for inftance, that the law concern-
ing not putting children to death for
the fins of their parents, and of not
fufTering bodies hanged on a tree to

remain

p T. Bab. Yevamot, fol. 79. 1. q Vid. Morin.

de Sincer. Beb. 1, 1. Exercitat. 1. c. 2.

[ xvii ]

remain fo in the night, fhould give
way to a greater command concern-
ing fanclifying the name of God pub-
lickly ; as in the cafe of Saul\ fons be-
ing given to the Gibeonites to be put
to death, and whofe bodies continued
hanging a conliderable time, which is
the cafe under confideration in the
Talmudic paflage referred to ; and the
fenfe is, that it was better that the law
in Deut. xxiv. 1 6. fhould be violated,
rather than the name of God fhould be
prophaned ; which would have been
the cafe, if the fons of Saul had not
been given up to the Gibeonites to be
put to death for their father's fins, be-
caufe of the oath of "Jojhua and the
princes of Ifrael to them. The fab-
rications charged upon the Jews by
yuftin and Origen refpecl: not the
Hebrew text, but the Septuagint ver-
fion ; and even, with refpecl: to that,
Trypho> the jfewy rejecls the charge
brought by Juftin as incredible ; whe*

ther,

[ xviii ]

ther, fays he r, they have detracted
from the fcripture, God knows; it
feems incredible.

It his been very confidently af-
firmed, that there is no mention made
of the Hebrew vowel-points and ac-
cents, neither in the Mijnah nor in
the 'Talmud : and this is faid by fome
learned men, who, one would think,
were capable of looking into thofe
writings themfelves, and not take
things upon truft, and write after
other authors, without feeing with
their own eyes, and examining for
themfelves, whether thefe things be fo
or no ; in this they are very culpable,
and their miftakes are quite inexcufa-
ble. But to hear fome men prate about
the Ta/mudy a book, perhaps, which
they never faw; and about the Majo-
rat) and Major etic notes, one of which,
as fhort as they be, they could never
read, is quite intolerable. Thefe men
are like fuch the apoftle fpeaks of, on

another

r Juftin. Dialog, cum Tryphone, p. 297, 299.

[ xix ]

another account, who under/land^ nei-
ther what they fay^ itor whereof they
affirm. What is this Maforah* ? who
are thefe Maforetesf and what have
they done, that fuch an outrageous cla-
mour is raifed againft them ? to me,
they feem to be an innocent fort of
men; who, if they have done no
good, have done no hurt. Did they
invent the vowel-points, and add them
to the text, againft which there is fo
much wrath and fury vented ? to af-
fert this is the height of folly ' ; for
if they were the authors of the points,
the inventors of the art of pointing,
and reduced it to certain rules agree-
able to the nature of the language, and
were expert in that art, as, no doubt,
they were, why did not they point the
Bible regularly, and according to the
art of pointing at once ? wThy did they

b leave

s Plane divina res eft Hebraeorum Critica, quam ipfi
Maflbram v'ocant. If. Cafaubon. Epift. ep. 390. Por-
thaefio, p. 467. c Pun£tationem Hebraicam non

efleMaflbra, neque dici, norunt qui nondum aere lavantuiv
Owen. Theologoumen. par. 4. DigreflT. 1. p. 293.

[XX]

leave fo many anomalies or irregular
punctuations? and if, upon a furvey
of their work, they obferved the irre-
gularities they had committed, why
did not they mend their work, by
cafting out the irregular points and
putting regular ones in the text itfelf,
and not point to them in the mar-
gin ? or there direct to the true read-
ing? is it ufual for authors to ani-
madvert on their own work in fuch
a manner? if they make miftakes in
their work at firft, is it ufual in an
after edition, and following editions,
to continue fuch miftakes in the body
of the work, and put the corrections
of them in the margin? The Mafo-
retes, had they been the inventors of
the vowel-points, would never have
put them to a word in the text, to
which they were not proper, but what
better agree with a word placed by
them in the margin ; had they in-
vented them, they would have put
proper ones to the word in the text ;

or

[ xx{ ]

or have removed that, and put the
word in the margin in its room, with
which they agree, fee Gen. viii. 17,
and xiv. 3. and it may be obferved,
that their critical art and notes are not
only frequently exercifed and made
upon the points, but even upon the
points without confonants, and upon
confonants without points ; which
would not have become them, had
they been the inventors of them ; fee
an inftance of each in Jer. xxxi. 38,
and li. 3. The truth of the matter,
with reipecl: to the Maforetes, is, that
the pointing of the Bible was not their
work j they confidered it as of a di-
vine original, and therefore dared not
to make any alteration in it ; but only
obferved, where there was an unufual
pun&uation, that it might be taken
notice of; and that fo they found it,
and fo they left it ; and that thofe
who came after them might not dare
to attempt an alteration. Punctuation
was made before their time, as their
b 2 work

[ xxii ]

work itfelf {hews ; and Walton °, an
oppofer of the antiquity of the points,
has this obfervation ; il The Major e-
tic notes about words irregularly
pointed, and the numbers of them,
neceflarily fuppofe that pointing was
" made long before." Have thefe
Maforetes employed their time and
ftudy, in counting the verfes and let-
ters of the Bible, and how many verfes
and letters there are in fuch a book ;
and where exactly is the middle of it;
where a word is deficient or lacks a
letter; or where it is full and has them
all ; or where one is redundant and has
too many ; where one letter is larger
and another lefTer than ufual, and an-
other fufpended ; fuppofe now this is
all trifling, and of no manner of im-
portance, yet who or what are injured
by it ? the mifpending of their time in
fuch trifles, is a lofs not to others, but to
themfelves ; and, as a learned man "

remarks,

n Prolegom. 8. f. 12. w Cbappelozv's Com-

mentary on Job ix. 34, See alfo on ch. xi. 14.

[ xxiii

remarks, cc how trifling foever this
fcrupulous exactnefs of the Mafo-
retes (with refpect to the letters in
the Hebrew text] may appear, yet it
fuggefts to us one obfervation, that
the yews were religioufly careful to
preferve the true literal text of
fcripture ; and confequently, not-
withstanding their enmity and ob-
ftinate averfion to chriftianity, they
are not to be charged with this ad-
ditional crime of having corrupted
the Bible :" and after all, have not
the Chriftians had their Maforetes al-
fo x, who, with like diligence and
faithful nefs, have numbered all the
verfes, both of the Greek verfion of
the Old Teftament and of the books
of the New ? and have they been
blamed for it? yerom1 numbered the
verfes of the book of Proverbs, and
favs they were 915, exactly as the
Major ah. Some words, through length

b 3 of

x Vid. Croii Obferv. in Nov. Teft. c. I. & c. 10.
y Quaeft. feu Trad, Heb. lib. Reg. 3. fol, .80. 1. Tom. 3.

[ xxiv ]

of time, became obfcene and offenflve
to chafte ears, at leaft were thought
fo z; hence the Major etes placed other
words in the margin, which, perhaps,
is the boldeft thing they ever did, and
of which the Karaite yews complain ;
but then they never attempted to re-
move the other words from the text,
and put in theirs in their room ; they
only placed them where they did, that,
when the paffages were read in pub-
lic, or in families, the reader might be
fupplied with words that fignified the
fame, only more pure and chafte, and
lefs offenfive ; at leaft which were
thought fo ; and which were left to
their own option to read them or not.
The paffages are Deut. xxviii. 27, 30.
1 Sam. v. 6. 9. If. xiii. 16. Zech.
xiv. 2. 2 Kings vi. 25. x. 27. and
xviii. 27. ]/. xxxvi. 12. and it would
not be improper, if, in the margin of
our Bibles over-againft the laft, and
others that have the fame word, an-
other

* Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c, 8.

[ xxv ]

other Engli/h word or words were put
to be read lefs offenflve. And, by the
way, from the change of words pro-
posed in thofe paffages, may be drawn
an argument in favour of the anti-
quity of the Maforetes. For this part
of their work muft be done, whilft
the Hebrew language was a living
language, when only the difference of
words offenfive or not offeniive to the
ear could be difcerned, and a change
of them neceffary : and certain it is,
thefe notes were made before the Tal-
mud, for mention is made of them in
ita: yea, thefe variations are followed
by the ancient Targums, by Onkelos, and
the jerufalemon Deut. xxviii. 27. 30.
and not only by Pjeudo -Jonathan on
1 Sam. v. 6. 9. 2 Kings vi. 25. x.
27. and xviii. 27. but by the true
Jonathan on If. xiii. 16. and xxxvi.
12. and Zech. xiv. 2. who and On*
kelos are fuppofed to live in the firft
century. As for the word Sebirim^
b 4 fome*-

a T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 25. 2.

[ xxvi ]

fometimes ufed by the Maforetes in
their notes ; this only refpects the con-
jectures of fome perfons, who thought
a word fhould be otherwife read or
pointed ; but it is what the Maforetes
object to, and fay of fuch perfons, that
they are miftaken : and this they ob-
ferve, that no one may prefume to
make any alteration upon fuch conjec-
tures : and are they to be blamed for
this ? and, befides thefe things, what
have they done, except tranfmitting,
from age to age, the marginal or va-
rious reading's, which had been ob-
ferved by collating copies, or which
arofe from their own cbfervations, by
comparing different copies that lay be-
fore them ; and from delivering them
down to pofterity, they obtained the
name of Maforetes ; and can this be
thought to be culpable in them ? they
left the text as they found it ; nor did
they offer of themfelves to infer t a va-
rious reading, different from the com-
monly received copy, but placed fuch

readings

xxvii

readings in the margin, that others
might make what ufe of them they
pleafed ; or rather they took this me-
thod, to prevent the infertion of them
into the text, fuggefting, that fo they
found them, and there it was proper
to continue them : and is a Bible with
fuch readings the worfe for them ? is
a Greek Teftament to be dif-efteemed,
for having the various readings in it
collected from different copies ? or are
our Englijb Bibles with the marginal
readings in them, placed by the tran-
slators themfelves, with references to
other fcriptures, the lefs valuable on
that account ? nay, are they not the
more valued for them ? and it may be
obferved, that thefe Keries or marginal
readings of the Hebrew text, are fol-
lowed in many places, by fome of the
beft tranflators of the Bible, both an-
cient and modern. Aquila and Symma-
chus, the beft of the antient Greek in-
terpreters, almoft always follow themb.

yerom

b Montfaucon. Hexapla Origen. vol. 2. p. 549.

cc
((

it

[ xxviii

jferom had knowledge of them, and
teftihes to Aquilas following them, in
a particular inftance. His words are c,
AJferemoth in Jer. (xxxi. 40.) for
which, in a Hebrew copy it is writ-
ten Sedemoth, which Aquila inter-
prets fuburbana." And which rea-
ding is preferred by jerom d, as is the
marginal reading of v. 38. And if
he was the author of the Vulgate Latin
verfion, that agrees with the marginal
readings of the Maforetes in feveral
places; fee Jojh. iii. 16. and xv. 47.
2 Sam, viii. 3. 2 Kings xix. 31. all
which fhew the antiquity of thefe
readings. So modern interpreters, Ju-
nius and TremelliuS) our own tran-
slators, and the Dutch e, often follow
them, as do various interpreters, both
Papifts and Protejlants. Nay, fome of
thefe readings and notes are confirmed
by the infpired writers of the New
Teftament. Thus, for inftance, in

pf-

c De loc. Heb. fol. 89. B. d Comment, in

Hieremiam, c. 31. 40. fol. 161. F. e Leufden.

Philolog. Heb. Mixt. Differt. 10. f. 9. p. 84.

C xxix ]

Pf. xvi. 10. the word rendered holy
07te^ is written with ajW, as if it was
plural ; but the Maforetic note on it
is, that the yod is redundant, and fo
the word is to be confidered as of the
lingular number.; and this is con-
firmed by two infpired writers, the
apoftles Peter and Paul, Ac~ls ii. 27.
and xiii. 35. Again, in Prov. iii 34.
the Cetib or textual writing is, XZPyh
the poor 1 but the Keri or marginal
reading cw^ the humble or lowly,
which is followed by our tranflators
of the text, and is confirmed by two
apoftles, "James and Peter% yam. iv.
6. 1 Pet. v. 5. And what have the
Maforeles done in this refpect, but
what the learned Dr. Kennicott is now
doing, or getting done in the federal
libraries in Europe \ that is, collating
the feveral copies, and collecting from
them the various readings ; and which,
if I underftand his defign aright, is
not to form, upon his own judgment,
a new copy of the Hebrew text ; but to

do

[ xxx ]

do with the prefent copy in common
life, what others have done with the
New Teftament ; let it ftand as it is,
with the various readings thrown into
the margin as they may be collected,
and leave them to every one's judge-
ment, with fome critical rules to form
it, to make ufe of them as they pleafe:
and when this learned gentleman has
fini fried his large Major etic work, he
will be the greateft Maforete that ever
any age produced ; fince not only
eight hundred and forty-eight various
readings, as Elias f has reckoned thofe
of the Maforetes to be, but as many
thoufands, and more will now appear.
I fay not this, to depreciate his labo-
rious undertaking, far be it from me ;
he has my good wifhes for the finifh-
ing of it, and what little affiftance
otherwife I can give him in it. For I
am not fo great an enthufiaft, for the
integrity of the prefent printed He-
brew copy, as to imagine, that it is en-
tirely

f Praefat. 3. ad Maforet.

xxxi ]

tirely clear of the miftakes of tran-
fcribers in all places : to imagine this,
is to fuppofe a miraculous intcrpoli-
tion of Divine Providence attending
the copiers of it, and that conftant and
univerfal ; and if but one copier was
under fuch an influence, it would be
very extraordinary indeed, if his copy
fhould be lighted on at the firft print-
ing of the Hebrew Bible ; and befides
the firft Hebrew Bible that was print-
ed, was not printed from one copy,
but from various copies collated ; nor
is there more reafon to believe, that the
Hebrew text of the Old Teftament,
which is more antient, fhould be pre-
ferved from the efcapes of librarians,
than the Greek of the New Teftament,
which it is too notorious are many :
nor is fuffering fuch efcapes any con-
tradiction to the Promife and Provi-
dence of God, refpecting the prefer va-
tion of the Sacred Writings, fince all
of ?jiy moment is preferved in the fe~
veral copies ; fo that what is omitted,

or

[ xxxii ]

or ftands wrong in one copy, may be
fupplied and fet right by another,
which is a fufficient vindication of Di-
vine Providence ; and this may ferve
to excite the diligence and induftry of
learned men, in collating the feveral
copies for fuch a purpofe ; and be-
tides, the Providence of God remark-
ably appears, in that the efcapes fuf-
fered to be made do not affect any
doctrine of faith , or any moral prac-
tice^ as has been obferved and owned
by many B : and after all, if from the
prefent collation of manufcripts, there
fhould be publifhed, what may be
thought a more correct and perfect
copy of the Hebrew text, we fhall be
beholden to the Jews for it, againft
whom the clamour rifes fo high : for by
whom were the manufcripts written,
now collating, but by Jews f for the

truth

s Amamse Antibarb. Bibl. 1. i. p. 20. 22. Bochart.
Phaleg, 1. 2. c. 13. col. 91, 92. Walton. Prolegom. 6.
f. I. 3. and 7. f. 12. 15 and Confiderator confidered, p.
127. 162. Capellus de Critica. Epift ad UfTer. p. 116.
Dr. Kennicott, Differt. 1, p. 11. 301.

xxxiii

truth of this, I appeal to the learned
collator himfelf ; and who, if I mis-
take not, in his printed DhTertations
always reprefents the feveral Hebrew
copies, whether more or lefs perfect,
as the work of Jewifo tranfcribers ;
and indeed the thing fpeaks for itfelf ;
for from the times of Jerom to the
age of printing, there were fcarce any,
if any at all among Chriftians, capa-
ble of tranfcribing an Hebrew copy ;
that interval was a time of barbarous
ignorance, as with refpect to arts and
fciences, fo with refpect to languages,
efpecially the Hebrew, To know a
little Greeks in thofe barbarous times,
was enough to make a man fufpe&ed
of herefy ; and to ftudy Hebrew^ was
almoft fufficient to proclaim him an
heretic at once : the ftudy of which
lay much neglected, until it was re-
vived by Reuchlin and others, a little
before, and about the time of the Re-
formation. There might, in the above
fpace of time, rife up now and then

one,

xxxiv

one, who had fome knowledge of the
Hebrew tongue, as Raymund in the
thirteenth century, the author of Pu-
gio Fideiy and friar Bacon^ who wrote
an Hebrew grammar in the latter end
of the fame century, and which per-
haps was the firft, at leaft one of the
firft Hebrew grammars written by a
Chriftian ; though fince, we have had
a multitude of them : for almoft every
fmatterer in the Hebrew language
thinks himfelf qualified to write a
grammar of it. However, there is no
reafon to believe, as I can underftand,
that any of our Hebrew manufcripts
were written by Chriftians, but all by
Jews, I mean fuch as were written
before the age of printing ; for what
have been written fince, can be of no
account.

I observe there is much talk about
the Maforetic Bible, and about Mafo-
retic authority. As to the Maforetic
Bible, I could never learn there ever
was fuch an one, either in manufcript,

or

[ XXXV

or in print, that could with any pro-
priety be fo called. Is a Bible with
points to be called Maforetic f it mud
be with great impropriety, fince the
Maforetes, as has been obferved, were
not the authors of pointing : are any
called fo, becaufe they have various
readings, and other notes in the mar-
gin ? as well may a Greek Teftament,
with various readings and notes in the
margin have fuch a name. Let it be
fhewn, if it can, that there ever was
in manufcript, or in print, a copy of
the Hebrew text, in all things con-
formable to the Maforetic notes and
readings in the margin, or in which
thefe are inferted in the body of the
text, call them corrections, emenda-
tions, various readings, or what you
pleafe ; but if thefe cannot be fhewn,
then whatfoever Bible, that does not
conform in the text to the Maforah in
the margin, with much greater pro-
priety may be called Ami- majorette
than Maforetic. As to authority, the

c Ma-

[ xxxvi ]

Maforetes never claimed any ; their
Keri is no command to read io or fo,
nor even a direction how to read, and
much lefs a correction of the text, as
if it was faulty ; it is only a fuggeflion,
that fo it is read in fome copies ; for
the word for which p {lands in the
margin of fome Bibles, is not the im-
perative pi? Kere read, but is *?P ; and
is either the fame with ,;nP fomething
read, or with ~pP a reading, i. e. a
various reading. And if the Maforetes
ever pretended to any authority, as
they have not, it is not regarded • for
notwithstanding their antiquity, their
readings, and what is agreeable to their
notes and obfervations, are not admit-
ted into the text, but are obliged to
keep their place in the margin ; and
where then is their authority ? thus,
for inftance, in defiance of Major etic
authority, as it is called, and notwith-
jfianding the Majorette note in the
margin, the fecond yod is continued
Jn 3'T?il Pf xvh IP- and in defiance
3 °f

£ xxx vii

of the punctuation of the word, which
is different from all other places, where
the word is manifeftly plural, as in
Pf. Hi. 9. lxxix. 2. cxxxii. 9. and
cxlv. 16. 2 Chro?i. vi. 41. in all
which places Segol is put under Da-
leth ; but here Sheva> as it is in other
words, in which the yod is redundant
alfo, and the word to be read fin^u-
lar, as Debareca, 1 Kings viii. 26.
and xviii. 36. Dameca, 2 SdtfiA. 16.
Yadeca, 1 Kings xxii. 34. Prov. iii*
27. Abdeca, 1 Kings i. 27. Rdgkcay
Eccl. v. 1. with others : and in de-
fiance of the Talmud alfo. There are
but two places h I have met with in
the Talmud, where the text is quoted \
and in both o[ them the word is with-
out the yod; fo that if thefe, efpecially
the firft, had any authority, the yod
would not continue in that word.

The different fchemes men have
formed, for reading Hebrew without
the antient points, (hew the neceflity
c 2 of

* T. Bab. Eruvin, fol. 19. 1. et Yoma, fof. 87* i>

[ xxxviii ]

of them, and the puzzle they are at
without them ; but what need men
rack their brains to find out a fcheme
of reading that language, when there
is one fo fuitable, readv at hand for
them,con(i fling of vowel-points,which
for their figure and pofition cannot be
equalled by any ; which are fo con-
trived, that they take up fcarce any,
or very little more room, than the
words do without them ; which nei-
ther increafe the number of letters in
a word, nor make it longer, nor give
it any unfightly appearance ? whereas,
for inftance, Majclef's fcheme, befides
the augmentation of letters, makes the
word look very aukward : and if it
was thought the prefent vowel- points
were too numerous, and too great an
incumbrance to words, one would
think, men might content themfelves
with reducing their number, and not
throw them all away : but the great
offence taken at them is, that they tie
down to a certain determinate fenfe cf
2 tie

[ xxxix ]

the word, and that they cannot bear,
but chufe to be at liberty to fix what
fenfe upon it they pleafe.

Great complaint is made of the
ignorance of the Maforetes in point-
ing ; and an inftance is given of it, in
their pointing the word Cyrus, as to
be read Corejh or Chorejh, though in-
deed they had no hand in it ; but ad-
mitting they had, and whoever had,
there does not appear to be any juft
blame for it. It is true, it may be
thought foy if the Greek pronuncia-
tion of the word mull be the rule of
punctuation : but the original name
is not Greek, but Per fie ; and winch,
in that language, lignifies the fun. So
Ctejias ■ and Plutarch k fay : whether
Cyrus had his name from the fun be-
ing feen at his feet, while fieeping,
which he three times endeavoured to
catch with his hands, but it ilipt from
him; and which, according to the Ma-

1 In Perficis ad Calcem Herodot. Ed. Gronov. p. 687,
k InArtaxerxe, p. 1012.

[XI J

giy portended a reign of thirty years ',
is not certain : now the word for the
fun, in the Perjic language, is Chor or
Cor, the fame with Or, Job xxxi. 26.
and it is now called Cor/had™ : hence,
the god of the Perjians is called Oro-
maxes, and fometimes Oromafdes n,
Hormufd, and Ormufd ; this (hews
the propriety of the frrfl: point put to
the word, a Cholem and not a Sburek ;
and it may be obferved, there is a
iimilar word ufed for the fun in other
eaftern languages, and is pronounced
ChereSy Job ix. 6. to which may be
added, that the oriental verfions, both
Syriac and Arabic, read the word for
Cyrus in all places in the Bible, with
0, e, and Shin, according to the Bible-
pronunciation. It was ufual with the
Perjtans j to give men names taken
from the fun, as Garjhenax Efth. i.
14. and Or Jims in Curtius°: as for

the

' Cicero de divinatione, I. i. Vid. Hiller. Onoma-
ftic facr. p. 615. 617. m Vid. Hothart. Phaleg. Li.

c. 15. co). 61. n Plutarch, ut fupra, p. 1026* et ii>

Vita Alexandri, p. 682. ° Hilt. 1. 10; c. 1.

[xli]

the Greek pronunciation of the word,
it is not unufual with the Greeks to
pronounce a Cholem by an Ypfilon, as
Tzor, Loci, Beerot, by Tyrus, Lydda,
Berytus, In like manner may the
punctuation of Darius be vindicated,
which is Darjavefch, Da?i. v. 31. in
much agreement with which, this
name is Axpeiouos Dareiaios with Cte-
Jias p, and is a word confiding of four
parts, and fignifies a great, vaft, ve-
hement fireq; and EJch> fire, is well
Jcnown to be the deity of the Perjia?is,
which was taken into the names of
their kings and great perfonages, as
was ufual in the eaftern nations. So
V aft hi, the wife of Ahafuerus, or
Va-ejloti, a great fire, Eftb. i. 9. Ze-
re/hy or Zehar-efo, the wife of Hamany
ch. v. 10. the brightnefs of fire ; and
jt appears in A fly ages, a king of the
Medes. Strabo fays r, fome people
called Darius, Darieces, Cafaubon *

thinks,

p In Perficis, ut fupra, p. 641. 643. * Hil'er. ut

i'upra, p. 635. r Geograph. 1. 16. p. 540. ■ Com-
ment, in ib. p, 217.

[ xlii ]

thinks, that Strabo wrote Aapiav^
Dariaoues, which is near the Hebrew
punctuation.

I have fentthe following DiflTerta-
tion into the world, not to revive the
controverfy about the things treated
on in it, nor with any expectation of
putting an end to it ; no doubt, but
fome will be nibbling at it : and tho'
I may be very unfit to engage further
in this controverfy, through weight of
years upon me, and through the du-
ties of my office, and other work upon
my hands, fome third perfon may
perhaps arife, to defei i what may be
thought defenfible in it. Should any
truly learned gentleman do me the
honour, to animadvert upon what I
have written, I am fure of being treat-
ed with candour and decency; but
fhould I be attacked by fciolifts, I ex-
pect nothing but petulance, fuperci-
lious airs, filly fneers and opprobrious
language; and who will be righteoufly
treated with neglect and contempt.

To

[ xliii ]
To conclude; if what I have written
fhould merit the attention of men of
learning, and caufe them to think
again, though ever fo little ; and be a
means of directing fuch, who are en-
quiring after thefe things ; and of en-
gaging fuch who may hereafter write
on thefe fubjedts, to think more clofely,
to write with more care, caution and
candour, and with lefs virulence,
haughtinefs and arrogance, than have
appeared in fome writings of late
upon them, my end will be in a great
meafure anfwered.

A

ERRATA.

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Lately Publijhed,
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I. An Exposition of the Old Teftament, 6 Vols.
Folio.

II. An Exposition of the New Teftament, 3
Vols. Folio.

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Sermons, Quarto.

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A

D I SSERTATION

CONCERNING THE

H E B R E W L AN G UAG E,

Letters, Vowel-Points, and Accents.

CHAP. I.

Of the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language \

A CORDING to the Targum of
Onkelos, on Gen. ii. 7. when God
breathed into man the breath
of life, that became in man vHlttD mi
a fpeakingfpirit, or foul ', or, as yonathan
paraphrafes it, the foul in the body of
man became a /peaking fpirit; that is,
man was endued with a natural faculty of
fpeech ; fo that he may be defined as welt
a b oratione, a fpeaking animal, as a rationet
B a rea-

C * J

a reafonable one ; for fpeech is proper
and peculiar to men : when it is faid, man
is endued, as all men are, with a natural
faculty of fpeaking, it is not to be under-
ftood, as if he was endued with a faculty
of fpeaking fome particular language j
but with a power and capacity of fpeak-
ing any language he hears, or is taught ;
I fay hears, becaufe unlefs a man has the
fenfe of hearing, he cannot exprefs any
articulate founds, or words : hence fuch
perfons as are totally deaf from their birth,
are always dumb, and can never fpeak any
language. Adam firft heard the Lord
God fpeaking, before he uttered a word
himfelf, as it feems from the facred hiftory.
The language Adam fpake, and which,
perhaps, he received not the whole inftan-
taneoufly, but gradually ; in which he im-
proved, as circumftances, and the necef-
iity of things required, and which was
continued in his pofterity : this very pro-
bably is that which remained to the con-
fufion of the tongues at Babel, and the
difperfion of the people from thence. But
of this more hereafter.

Some

[ 3 ]

Some have fancied, that if children, as
foon as born, were brought up in a foli-
tary place, where they could not hear any
language fpoken, that at the ufual time
children begin to fpeak, they would fpeak
the firft and primitive language that was
fpoken in the world. Pfammitichus, king
of Egypt, made trial of this by putting
two children, newly born, under the care
of a fhepherd ; charging him, that not a
word mould be uttered in their prefence ;
and that they mould be brought up in a
cottage by themfelves ; and that goats
mould be had to them at proper times to
fuckle them ; and commanded him to ob-
ferve the firft word fpoken by them, when
they left off their inarticulate founds. Ac-
cordingly, at two years end, the fhepherd
opening the door of the cottage, both the
children with their hands ftretched out
cried bee, bee. This he took no notice of
at firft, but it being frequently repeated,
he told his lord of it, who ordered the
children to be brought to him ; and when
Pfammitichus heard them pronounce the
word, he enquired what people ufed it,
and upon enquiry found that the Phrygians
B 2 called

[ 4 ]

called bread by that name , upon this it
was allowed that the Phrygians were a
more ancient people than the ILgyptians,
between whom there had been a long con-
tend about antiquity. This is the account
given by Herodotus a ; but the Scboliaft of
Ariftofhanes% fays, that it was at three
year's end the king ordered a man to go in
filently to them, when he heard them pro-
nounce the above word. And fo Suidas c
relates, that at the fame term of time, the
king ordered one of his friends to go in fi-
lently, who heard and reported the fame ;
and all of them obferve, that the ftory is
differently related by others ; as that the
children were delivered to a nurfe or nurfes,
who had their tongues cut out, that they
might not fpeak before them ; and fo fays
Tertullian d : yet they all agree in the word
ipoken by the children. But, as Suidas
obferves, if the former account is true, as
it feems moft probable, that they were
nourished by goats, and not women ; it is
ixo wonder, that often hearing the bleat-
ing of the goats, be-ec9 be~ec, they mould

imitate

* Euterpe five, \.z: t'. i, %: b In Nubes, p.

i jo, c Voce Bsx*ure*w ,: Ad Nationes,

i. ». c. 8.

f 5 3
imitate the found, and fay after them bee,
which in the Phrygian language lignifled
bread y and fo food is exprelfed in Hebrew
by a word of a fimilar found jq beg, Ezek.
xxv. 7. Dan.i* 8. andxi. 26. and might as
well be urged in favour of the antiquity of
that language ; but this proves nothing.

It may feem needlefs to enquire what
was the firft language that was fpoken,
and indeed it mutt be fo, if what fome fay
is true, that it is not now in being, but was
blended with other languages, and loft in
the confufion at Babel; and alfo if the
Oriental languages, the Hebrew, Samari-
tan, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethio-
pic, are but one language ; which is more
probable, as Ravins c thinks, and fo may
go under the general name of the Eajiern
language; and it muft be acknowledged
there is a very great fimilarity between
them, as not only appears from Ravius,
but from the Pentaglot Lexicon of Scbin-
dler, and efpecially from the Harmonic-
Grammars and Lexicons of Hottinger and
Caftell ; and yet I caniaot but be of opi-
nion, that the Hebrew language (lands di-
B 3 flinguimed

' ADifcourfe of the Oriental Tongues, p. 38, 35.

[ 6 ]

ftinguimed by its fimplicity and dignity.
The celebrated Albert Schultens f reckons
the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic
languages, as fifter-dialetts of the pri-
maeval language ; which I am content they
mould be. accounted, allowing the He-
brew to be the pure dialed;, which the
others are a deviation from, and not fo
pure : though I fjiould rather chufe to
call them daughters, than fitters of the
Hebrew tongue ; fince, as yerom fays *,
the Hebrew tongue is the mother of all
languages, at leaft of the oriental ones.
And thefe daughters are very helpful and
afiiiting to her their mother in her decli-
ning ftate, and now reduced as to purity to
the narrow limits of the facred fcriptures -,
for I cannot prevail upon myfelf to agree
that (he mould be ftripped of her maternal
title, dignity, and honour ; fince fhe has
the bed claim to be the primitive language,
as will be feen hereafter. Dr. Hunth,
though he is of the fame mind with Schul-
tens, that the above languages are lifters,

having

f Pnefat. ad Comment, in Job. & in Prov. & Orat. de
Ling. Arab. Franeker. 1729 & altera Lugd. Batav. 1732.
* Comment, in Soph. c. 3. fol. 100. A. h Orat. de

Antiqu. &c. Ling. Arabic, p. 3. 49. 53. Oxon. 1738. 8e.
Orat. de ufu Dialett. Orient, p. 2. Oxon. 1748.

[ 7 ]

having the fame parent, the Eaftern lan-
guage, yet feems to allow the Hebrew
to be the elder fitter. And Scbultens 'l him-
felf afferts, that the primaeval language,
which was from the beginning of the world
fpoken by our firft parents, and the ante-
diluvian patriarchs, and after the flood to
the difperfion, is the fame which was af-
terwards called Hebrew, from Heber; from
whom it panned through Peleg and Abraham
to the nation of the Hebrews, and fo the
mother-language ; but how it could be
both mother and fifter, is not eafy to
fay.

That there was but one language fpo-
ken by men, from Adam to the flood in
the times of Noah, and from thence to the
confuiion and difperfion at Babel, feems ma-
nifeft from Gen. xi. i . and the whole earth
was of one language, and of one fpeech ; and
which is confirmed by the teftimonies of
feveral heathen writers, as by Sibylla in Jo-
fephus k , by Abydenus l , and others ; and
which continued in that interval without
any, or little variation : the longevity of the

patriarchs

JVid. Oratlones fupradi&as, p. 6, 41. k Antiqu.

1. 1. c. 4. $.3. l Apud Eufcb. Evangel, Pr«par

I.9. c. 14. p. 416.

[ 8 ]

patriarchs much contributed to this, for
Adam himfelf lived to the ioth century, and
the flood was in the 17th. Methufelah,
who died a little before the flood, lived up-
wards of two hundred years in the days of
Adam, and 600 years cotemporary with
'Noah, and who doubtlefs fpoke the fame
language that Adam did ; yea Lamech, the
father of Noah, was born 50 years or more
before the death of Adam -, fo that the lan-
guage of Adam to the days of Noah is eafi-
ly accounted for as the fame : if any varia-
tion, it mufl be in the offspring of thofe of
the patriarchs who removed from them, and*
fettled in different parts of the world, but
of this there is no proof; the feparation
of Cain and his poflerity on account of re-
ligion, does not appear to have produced
any alteration in language ; but the fame
language was fpoken by one as another, as
is evident by the names of perfons in the
line of Cain, and of places inhabited by
them to the time of the flood ; when, no
doubt, the fame language was fpoken by
Noah, from whom his fons received it,
and was continued unto the difperfion,
which before that was but one ; and it is
1 the

[ 9 ]

the opinion of the Perfian prieils or Magi,
that the time will come when the earth will
be of one language again § ; and if fo, it is
probable it will be the primitive one, but
what that was, is the thing to be enquired
into. The Targums of Jonathan and On*
kelos on the place, add, by way of expla-
nation, "and they fpoke in the holy tongue,
f* in which the world was created at the
" beginning," meaning the Hebrew lan-
guage, ufually called the holy tongue -, and
this is the fenfe of Jarcbi, Aben Ezra,
and the Jewifh writers in general, and of
many Chriftians. But moll nations have
put in a claim for the fuperior antiquity of
their nation and language, the Europeans
not excepted. Goropius Bee anus pleaded
for the Teutonic language, or that which is
fpoken in lower Germany and Brabant ;, to
be the original one, and attempted to de-
rive the Hebrew from it ; but it has been
thought he was not ferious in it, only did
it to mew his acumen, and the luxuriancy
of his fancy and imagination ; the eaflern
nations have a much better pretext to an-
tiquity, and moft, if not all of them, have

put

$ Plutarch, de Ifide & Ofir. p. 370.

[ 1° ]

put in their claim for it. There was a long
conteft between the Egyptians and Phrygians
about this matter, as before obferved. The
Armenians have urged in their favour, that
the ark refted on one of the mountains in
their country, where Noah and his pofterity
continued fome time, and left their language
there. The Arabs pretend, that their
language was fpoken by Adam before his
fall, and then changed into Syriac, and
Was reftored upon his repentance, but again
degenerated, and was in danger of being
loft, but was preferved by the elder Jor-
bam, who efcaped with Noah in the ark,
and propagated it among his pofterity.
The Chinefe make great pretentions to the
primitive language, and many things are
urged in their favour, as the antiquity of
their nation, their early acquaintance with
arts and fciences, the Angularity, fim-
plicity, and modefty of their tongue k.
A countryman of ours, in the laft century,
publifhed a treatife, called (i An historical
eftay, endeavouring a probability that the
language of China is the primitive lan-
guage, by y. Webby Efq; London, 1669,

8vo."

* Sec the Univerfal Hiftory, Vol. 1. p. 346, 347,

[ i* J

8vo." But as when many candidates put up
for a place, they are generally reduced to a
few, and, if poflible to two * the fame
method mud be taken here; for the contert
lies between the Syriac or Chaldee, and the
Hebrew.

The Chaldee or Syriac language has its
patrons for the antiquity of it -, not only
<Theodoreti who was by birth a Syrian, and
Amyra the Maronite, who are not to be
wondered at, and others who have made it
their favourite ftudy ; but even the Arabic
writers, the more judicious of them, give it
not only the preference to their own lan-
guage in point of antiquity, but even make
it as early as Adam. Elmacinus fays !, there
are hiftorians (Arabic ones) who affirm,
that Adam and his pofterity fpoke the Syriac
language until the confufion of tongues j
and fo Abulpharagius fays ", "of our
dodlors, Bafilius and Ephraim aflert, that
unto Eber the language of men was one,
and that that was Syriac, and in which
God fpoke to Adam j" and it mud be al-
lowed, that there are many things plaulibly

faid

1 Apud Hottinger. Smegma 1. I. c. %. p. 228. ■ Hilt
Dynail. Dyn. i.p. 16.

[ >? )

£aid in favour of this language being primi-
tive: it mult, be owned that the Chaldean
nation was a very antient one, Jen. v. I $.
and that the Syriac language was fpoken
very early, as by Laban -, but not earlier
than the Hebrew, which was fpoken at the
fame time by Jacob -, the one called the
heap of ftones which was a witnefs between
them Jegar-fahadutha in the Syro- Chaldean
language, and the other Galeed in Hebrew,
which both fignify the fame thing : what
is commonly urged is as follows :

I. That the names of a man and wo-
man are as much alike, if not more fo,
in the Chaldee or Syriac language, as in
the Hebrew, a man is called Gabra and a
woman Gabretha, which is equally as near
as Ijh and Ijhah produced to prove the
antiquity of the Hebrew, Gen. ii. 23. But
neither in the Chaldee of Onkelos, nor in
the Syriac verfion of that place, is it Ga-
bretha, but Ittetha in the one, and Ante-
tha in the other. Theodoret * inflances in
the names Adam, Cain, Abel, Noah, as
proper to the Syriac language ; but the de-
rivation

* In Gen. quaeft. 59.

[ 13 ]

rivation of them from the Hebrew tongue
is more clear and manifeft.

2. That it is rather agreeable to truth,
that the primaeval and common language
before the confufion mould remain in the
country where the tower was built and the
confufion made, which was in Cha/dea, and
therefore the Chaldee language, mufl be that
language0; but rather the contrary feems
more natural, that the language, confounded
and corrupted, mould continue in the place
where the confufion was made, and that
thofe pofleffed of the pure and primitive
language mould depart from thence, as in
fact they afterwards did.

3. It is obferved ?, that both Eber and
Abraham were originally Chaldeans, and
were brought up in Cha/dea, and fb mufl:
fpeak the language of that country, which
therefore mufl be prior to the Hebrew z
but it mould be confidered, that not on!y
Eber but Abraham lived before the confu-
fion and difperfion -, for if the confufion
was in the latter end of Pe/eg's days % A->

braham,

0 Myricsei Prxfat. ad Gram. Syro-Chald. p Ibid.

1 So R. Jofe in Seder Olam Rabba c. 1. p. 1. Abarbine!
in Pentateuch, fol. 51, 3. Juchafm, fol, 8. 1. Shalihalec Ha-
kabala; fol. 1, 2,

[ H 3

braknm, according to the Jewijh chrono-
logy, mull be 48 years of age -f, and con-
fequently poffeffed of the pure and primi-
tive language, be it what it may; and
iince it does not appear that either he or
any of his pofterity, as Ifaac and Jacobs
ufed the Chaldee language, but the Hebrew
only, it feems to follow, that not the Chal-
dee* but the Hebrew, mull be the language
fpoken by him, and fo the primitive
one.

4. It is faid ', the Hebrews fprung from
the Chaldeans, Judith v. 5. and fo their
language muft be later than theirs -, this is
founded on Abraham's being of Ur of the
Chaldees, from whence he came ; but it
does not follow, that becaufe he was born
and lived in that country before the con-
fufion of Babel, that therefore he fpoke
the language ufed in that country after-
wards, fince he was foon called out of it ;
and it appears that he fpoke not the Chal-
dee or Syriac language, but the Hebrew, as
before obferved.

5. It is urged', as highly probable, that
the language the fecond Adam ipake, the

nrft

f Seder Olam, ib. \ Myricaeus, ut fupra. s Ibid.

[ '5 3

firft Adam did ; now Chrift and his Apo-
ftlcs, and the people of the Jews in their
times, fpoke in the Syriac language, as ap-
pears from Matt, xxvii. 46. Mark v. 41 . and
vii. 34. but according to fome learned men,
asMaJzus*, and Fabricius Boderianusr, this
was not the ancient language of the Syrians
and Chaldeans, but a new language, which
had its firft rife in the Babylonijh captivity, and
was a mixture of Cbaldee and Hebrew, tho'
rather the mixture began in the times of
the Seleucida, the Syrian kings, who
entered into and diftrefted Judea ; and
therefore no argument can be taken from
it in favour of the Syriac being the primi-
tive language. I proceed now to propofe
the arguments that are, or may be ufed in
favour of the Hebrew language being the
primitive one ; and the

Firji, may be taken from the alphabet of
the tongue itfelf, which appears to be the
firft alphabet of all the eaftern languages.
The Chaldee or Syriac, Phoenician or Sama*
ritan, have their alphabets manifeftly from
it; the names, the number, and order of
their letters, and even the form and duels of

them
J Prsefat. ad Gram , Syr. r Prsfat. ad Diftion. Syro-Chaldr

[ >6 ]

them feem to be taken from thence, and
to be corrupt deviations from it -, and
the Arabic language, tho' the order of its
alphabet- is fomewhat difturbed, yet the
names of moft of the letters are plain-
ly from the Hebrew -, and fo indeed is
the greater part of the names of letters in
the Greek alphabet, from whence the Ro-
mans have taken theirs, and other Euro-
pean nations. Hermannus Hugo* obferves,
that it is agreed among all, that from the
names of the Hebrew characters, the let-
ters of all nations have their names ; now
that language, whofe alphabet appears to
be the firft, and to give rife to the alpha-
bets of other tongues, bids fairefl to be the
firft and primitive language : let it be ob-
ferved that the Hebrew alphabet, as it
now is, is exa&ly the fame as it was in the
days of David and Solomon, fo early it
can be traced ; for it is to be feen in the
119th Pfalm, and in others, and in the laft
chapter of the book of Proverbs, as well
as in the book of Lamentations, written
before or at the beginning of the Babylonijh
captivity.

Secondly,

0 De prima fcribendi orig. c. 7. p. 65.

[ *7 1

Secondly, Another argument for the an-
tiquity of the Hebrew language, may be
formed from the perfection and purity of
it. Abraham de Balmis w fays of it, that
%< it is perfect in its letters and in its points.
*' Our language, fays he, is the moft per-
V feci language, and in its writing the mod
* perfect of ail writings of all languages ;
** there is nothing wanting, and there is
" ^nothing redundant in it, according to the
*c laws and rules of things perfect: and com-
<( pleat." It confifts of words which moil
fully and effectually exprefs the nature of
the things iignified by 'em ; its roots, which
are of a certain number, are, for the moft
part, of three letters only, and it has no
exotic or ftrange words uied in it. Who-
ever compares it with the Syriac or Cbal-
dee, will eafily perceive the difference as
to the purity of 'em, and that the Chaldee
is derived from the Hebrew, and is later
than that ; for as Sca/iger long ago obfer-
vedK "pD Melech muit be before 8Db? Mal-
ca, the latter being derived from the for-
mer ; and the fame may be obferved in a
multitude of other inftances : now that
C which

w Mikneh Abraham, p. 39. lin. 13, 14, 15. * Epifi:.

ad Thompfon. £p. 24Z.

t 18 ]

which is perfect, pure, and underived, mufl
be before that which is imperfect, corrupt,
and derived; or, as the philofopher7 ex-
prefTes it, that which is vicious and cor-
rupt muft be later than that which is in-
corrupt.

Thirdly, The Paronomafia which Adam
ufed when he called his wife woman, may ba
thought to be a good proof of the antiqui-
ty of the Hebrew language ; fince it will
agree with that language only, jhe Jhall be
called IJhah, woman, becaufe Jhe was taken,
meijh, out of man, Gen. ii. 23. which pa-
ronomafia does not appear neither in the
Syriac verlion, nor in the Chaldee para-
phrafes of Onkelos and "Jonathan, in which
tho' Gabra is ufed of a man, yet never Ga-
bretha of a woman, not even in places
where men and women are fpoken of to-
gether; fee the Syriac vernon and Chaldee
paraphrafe of Exod. xxxv. 22. Deut. ii. 34.
and many other places j and the reafon for
it is plain, the word is expreffive of power
and might, and fo not fo proper to be ufed
of the weaker fex. ^Fhe Syriac or Chaldee
language will not admit of fuch an allufion.

as

y Ariftot. de Republica, 1. 3 . c. 1 .

[ 19 ]

as is in the text ; for on the one hand, as
Gabra is ufed for a man, and not Gabretba
for a woman, fo on the other hand, Itta,
Ittetha, and Intetha or Antetha, are ufed
for a woman, but never Itt for a man.
Now as we prove that the additions to
the book of Daniel were written in Greek,
from the p aronomajia in ch. xiii. 55. 59. fo
this feems to prove that the language A-
dam fpoke in to his wife muft be the He-
brew language, and confequently is the pri-
mitive one.e

Fourthly, The names of perfons and pla-
ces before the confufion at Babel, are in
the Hebrew language, and are plainly deri-
ved from words in it; as Adam from HD"!tf
Adamah, earth, out of which he was for-
med, as is generally thought. Eve, from
«Tn Chayah, to live, becaule the mother
of all living ; Cain from H3p to get, ob-
tain, poffefs, being gotten from the Lord ;
Abel, from bnn Hebe/, vanity, as his life
was; and Setb, from TW Sbetb, put, ap-
pointed, becaufe put, fet, or appointed
another feed in the room of Abel* : and fo
all the names of the Antediluvian patri-
C 2 archs

z Vid. Berertiit Rabba f. 18. fol. 15. a. » Vid. Se-

pherCofri, par. 1. 0 68.

t 2° 1

archs down to Noah and his fons, and their
names alfo, with all thofe before the con-
fufionand difperfion at Babel-, and likewife
the names of places, as of the garden of Eden,
from *?# delight, pleafure, it being a very
pleafant place -, and the land of Nod from
*TI3 to wander about; Cam being an exile
and wanderer in it : now thefe being the
names of perfons and places before the
confuflon of tongues, ckarly fhew what
language was fpoken before that time,
namely., the Hebrew, which therefore ieems
to be the primitive one.

Fifthly 'y It is notorious that the law and
the prophets, or the books of the old te-
ftament, were written in the Hebrew tongue.
The law was written in it on two tables of
ftone by the finger of God himfelf, and the
facred books were written in the fame lan-
guage, under divine infpiration. Now it
is reafonable to conclude, that the fame
language God wrote and infpired the pro-
phets to write in, he himfelf fpoke in to
Adam, and infpired him with it, or how-
ever gave him a faculty of fpeaking it, and
which he did fpeak, and therefore may be
concluded to be the firft and primitive

tongue.

It

[ 21 ]

It now remains only to be enquired into,
why this language is called Hebrew. It is
fuppofed by fome to have its name from
Ebert the father of Pe/eg, in whofe days
the earth was divided, and from whom
the Hebrews fprung and have their name b;
and which opinion has been mod: generally
received. Others think it has its name from
*yytAbar, to pafs over, from Abr abams paf-
fing over the river Euphrates into the land
of Canaan ; this notion Aben Ezra makes
mention of on Exod. xxi. 2. and has been
eipouled by Tbeodoret c among the ancients,
and indeed according to Origen\ the word
Hebrew fignifies pajfer over, and fo Jerom;
and by Scaliger* and Arias Mont anus*
among the moderns, in which they have
been followed by many. The matter is
not of very great confequence, but I muft
confefs I am mod inclined to the former j
fovasAuftin* obferves, before the confulion
language was one, and common to all,
and needed no name to diftinguifh it; it
was enough to call it the fpeech of man,
or the human language; but when there

was

b Suidas in voce E£f«ioi. c Theodoret, in Gen.

Qu. 60. \ Comment, in Matth. p. 23^. Ed. Huet. et

in Num. Homil. fol. 19. 1 9. E. Reuchlin. de verbo mirific.
I, 3. c. 13. d Ej^ift. ad Thompfon. et ad Ubertum.

■ Canaan c. 9.10. i De Civ. Dei, 1. 16. c. 11.

r « i

was a confufion of tongues, and fo more
than one, it became neceiTary to diftinguifh
them by names; and what name morepr o-
per for the firll language than that of He-
brew, from Eber, the laft man in whofe
days it was alone and common to all ? for
in his fon's days the earth was divided into
different nations, fpeaking different lan-
guages. Moreover, Shem is faid to be the
Father of all the children of Eber, Gen. iv.
21. or as Jonathan paraphrafes it, of all
the children of the Hebrews, or of He-
brew children : refpect is had, as the learn-
ed Rivet* obferves, to the bleffing of Shem,
in oppofition to the curfe of Ham, Gen.
ix. 25. 26. Now as Canaan fprung from
Ham, and was the father of the Canaanites,
fo Eb.r fprung from Shem and was the fa-
ther of the Hebrews-, and as afterwards
they were called the children of IJrael,
and Ifraelites from IJrael, and the children
of J ud ah and Jews from Judah ; fo the
children of Eber or Hebrews from him,
and with equal propriety the language they
fpoke may be called Hebrew from him .
and their country likewife, as in Gen. xl.
15. for it does not feem probable that the

land

f In Gen. Exercitat. 66. p. 319.

[ 23 ]

land of Canaan mould be called the land of
the Hebrews, as it is there, fo early' as in
the youth of Jojepb, from a fin gle family
being paffengers, travellers, and ftrangers
in it, which are characters not very re-
fpectful and honourable, nor diftinguiihing;
but rather from Eber, who, and his im-
mediate offspring, might inhabit it, • it
being that part affigned and divided to 'em
at the divifion of the earth, Dent, xxxii.
8. out of which they might be dri-
ven by the Canaanitesy fee Gen. xiii, 7.
and xiv. 1, 4. therefore it was an act of ju-
stice to difpoffefs them and replace the chil-
dren of Eber in it : and this may alfo ferve
to account for the names of places in pure
Hebrew in old Canaan^ by which they were
called, when Jofiua made a conqueft of it,
as well as in the time of Abraham r, lince
it was the land of Eber before it was the
land of Canaan -, if Melchizedeck was Sbem,
as the yews in general believe, he was
king of a city in it, and Eber his firft born
had a right unto it, claim'd by Chedarlao-
mer, a defcendant of his, who attempted
the refcue of it from the Canaanites, who
had ufurped a power over it, at leaft over

fome

' See Dr. Llghtfoot, vol. ii. p. 327.

[ 2+ ]

fbme part of it ; and it is eafy to obferve*
that in the prophecy of Balaam, Numb.
xxiv. 24. as the AJj'yrians are called AJJmr,
from their original progenitor, fo the He-
brews have the name of Eber from him J
and fo the word Eber there is rendered
Hebrews by the Septuagint and other tran-
ilators; and as they, fo their language, may-
be called from him. As to what is objec-
ted h, that Eber and Abraham were Chal-
deans, and fpokethe Chaldee language, this
has been reply'd to already ; and whereas
it is obferved, that from the time of Eber
to Abraham, no one is ever called an He-
brew from him ; it is not to be wondered
at, fince Eber lived to the time of Abraham,
and even to the time of Jacob, according
to both the Jewim and Scripture-chrono-
logy.

The foundation of the other opinion,
that the Hebrews and their language have
their name from Abraham's puffing over
the Euphrates to the land of Canaan, is
the Septuagint verfion of Gen. xiv. 13.
which inftead of Abraham the Hebrew,
reads to tt^cctih the tranfitor or paffer over;

tW

b F-rpen. Orat. de Ling Heb. ' Seder Olam Rabba>

«• i.'p. 4.

[ 25 ]

tho' perhaps no more is meant by that ver-
fion, than that he was, as Juvena/k ex-
prelfes it, natus ad Euphratem, born near
the river Perat, for that is its name in He-
brew ; but whatever may be faid for Abra-
hams being called an Hebrew from fuch a
circumftance, it can fcarcely be thought
that a whole nation mould be denominated
from fuch an action of a remote anceftor,
when they themfelves palled not over the
fame river -, befides there were multitudes
who palled over the Euphrates belides A-
braham, who yet never were fo called ; as
Canaa?i and his polterity mull pafs over it,
when they removed from Shinar to the
land afterwards called by their name ; and
indeed Erpenius1 is of opinion that the Ca-
naanites were firft called Hebrews, or paf-
fers over, by the Chaldeans, becaufe they
palled over the river Jordan into the country
which lay between that and the Mediterra-
nean fea, afterwards called from them the
land of Canaan ; and that Abraham had not
his name from his palfage into it, but from
his dwelling there, and learning their lan-
guage ; hence his polterity were called He-
brews, and the Hebrew language the lan-
guage

k Satyr, i. v. 104. l Ut fupra.

[ 26 ]

guage of Canaan, If. xix. 18. and the fame
writer thinks, that if the Hebrews were
only thofe of the family of Jacob, they
would not have been fo well known to the
Egyptians in the time of Jofeph as they
were : but to all this it may be reply'd,
that the Canaanites were ever called He*
brews, does not appear from any writers,
facred or prophane ; nor is it probable that
the pure and primitive language, that is
the Hebrew, as has been (hewn, mould
be left with and continued in the race of
Canaan ; and ftill more improbable, that
Abraham mould learn it of them, who
was porTefTed of the firffc and primitive lan-
guage before the confulion of tongues, as
has been obferved, and before he came in-
to the land of Canaan-, befides he feems
to be called Abraham the Hebrew, Gen,
xiv. 13. to diftinguim him from Mamre,
Eficol, and Aner, who were Canaanitesy
confederates with him ; nor is the Hebrew
language called the language of Canaan,
btcaufe firft fpoken by the Canaanites, but
becaufe the people of IJrael fpoke it, who
for a long time had inhabited the land m

which

* Vid. G!ofs in T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 109 2 & Abar-
binei. in U. xix. 18.

t m 3

which bore that name ; nor need it feem
ftrange, that the name of Hebrew mould
be Co well known in Potiphars family, and
to the Egyptians in Jo/eph's time, when he
himfelf told them, no doubt, that he was
an Hebrew, as he told the chief butler,
Gen. xxxix. 17. and xli. 12. and efpecially
if what has been before obferved concern-
ing the land of the Hebrews, can be efta-
blifhed, Gen. xl. 15. as being inhabited
by Eber and his fons, before the Canaa-
nites poiTeiTed it.

There are other etymologies of the
jiame of the Hebrews and their language,
which fcarce deferve any notice -, as that
they have their name from Abraham ; fo
Artapanusn, an heathen writer, fays the
Jews are called Hebrews from Abraham, but
there are but few that have embraced this no-
tion ; others fay, they are fo called from Eber-
hanaar, which fignines beyond or the other
fide of the river, that is, of the Euphrates,
where Abraham and his father Terah dwelt,
and from whence Abraham is faid to be
taken ; but there were many befides them,
even whole nations who dwelt beyond that
river, who were never called Hebrews,

nor

■ Apud Eufeb. Evangel. Praspar. 1. 9. c. 1 %.

[ ** )

nor can any good reafon be given, why
thefe and their pofterity and their lan-
guage mould be called Hebrew from thence,
tho; many, both Jews and Chrijiians, have
imbibed this notion*: Ei/febius-f, tho' he
thinks the Hebrews had their name from
Eber, yet as the word figriifies a paiTer
over, not from one country to the other, but
from the vanity of the things of this pre-
fent world, to the ftudy of divine things,
and in which they retted not, but palled on
in fearch of more recondite knowledge :
pe5 haps, after all, the true original of the
name may be taken from the place of A-
brabams birth, who is firft called Hpyft the
Hebrew , or rather the Ibrite> Gen. xiv. 13.
the place of his birth was Ur of the C/jal-
dees, as Abe/2 Ezra7 rightly judges, fince
it is exprefsly faid to be the land of his
brother Haran's nativitv, and therefore
moft probably his alfo ; now Ur of the
Chaldees is called NTD frmy lbra Zeira*
and fo Abraham might have this epithet
from the place of his nativity, the Ibrite,
to diftinguiih him, as before obfened, fiom

the

• Vid. Buxtorf de Ling Heb. Confervat f 32, 33.
f Evangel. I'raepar. 1. 9. c 6. p. 5.-0. p Comment.

in Gen. xi 28. * T. J^ab. Bava Bathra, fol. ,91. 1. &

Gloff. in lb.

[ 29 J

the Amorites, among whom he then dwelt,
and whence his pofterity frequently after-
wards have the name of -D^QV or Ibrites,
Gen. xxxix. 14. 17. and xl. 15. and xliii.

One thing more I would juft obferve,
that whether the Hebrews and their lan-
guage are fo called either from Eber, the
father of Pe/eg, or from Abar, to pafs over,
or from Eber, beyond, or the other tide
of the river, or from Ibra the native place
of Abrchiim ; tho! cuftom has prevailed to
write the word with an afpiration, Hebrew
and Hebrews, it ihould be written without
one, Ebrew and Ebrews, as words begin-
ning with 37 ufually are, as Amminadib, lm~
manuel, &c.

CHAP,

[ 3* ]

CHAP. II.

Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew
Letters.

IT has been a controveriy among learned
men, for a century or two pail, whe-
ther the modern letters ufed by the Jews,
and in which their facred books are now
extant, are the fame in which the law and
the prophets were originally written. This
is denied by fome, and it has been affirm-
ed, that the original letters of the Hebrews,
and in which the books of the Old Tefta-
ment before the times of Ezra were writ-
ten, were what are called Samaritan ; and
that Ezra, after the return of the Jews
from the captivity in Baby/on, changed thefe
letters for the Merubbah, or fquare ones
fince in ufe ; and in them wrote all the fa-
cred books then in being, and gave thean-
tient letters to the Samaritans ; and this no-
tion has been embraced upon the teftimo-
nies of Enfebius and Jerom -, the foundation
of which appears to be a tradition of the
Jews, and that far from being generally re-
ceived by them. The former of thefe in his

chro-

t 31 ]

chronicle at A. M. 4740, writes, that " it
" is affirmed, that Ezra, by the ftrength
«* of his memory, compiled or put together
** the divine fcriptures, and that they (the
4( Jews) might not be mixed with the Sa-
u maritans, changed the Jewifh letters:"
now this pafTage of Eujebius, as Marckius*
obferves, is not to be found in Sca/iger's
editions of his chronicle, neither in the
original Greek, nor in the Latin verlion ;
and the illuftrious Spanheim ' has fully pro-
ved, that it is fpurious, and added to the
text by fome modern hand ; and admitting
it to be genuine, it fmells rank of a Jewijh
tale, particularly that Ezra compiled the
fcriptures memoriter ; and it is no difficult
thing to account for it, from whence Eu-
febius had it, if he had it at all -, for fince
he was bifhop of Ccefarea, where both Jews
and Samaritans lived, he might receive this
notion from the one or from the other;
from the Samaritans, as Buxtorfft conjec-
tures, who were continually boafting of
their language and letters, in which, they
fay, the law was given, a copy of which
they pretend to have, written by Phine/oas

the

r Exerci:at. in Matt. v. 18. f. 6. p. 6j. s Apud

Carpzov. Critic, par. i. p. 240. • De LiterisHeb.

f, 61.

[ 32 ]

the Ton of Eleazar ; or rather he might
have this account from the Jews that refi-
ded there. Jerom, who lived a little after
Eufebius, and who might take what he
writes from him, or rather from fome of
the Jewijh Rabbins he had for his precep-'
tors and inftruclors, for he had four of
them at different times, is more confident,
and faysu, " certumque eji, &c. it is certain
•' that Ezra thefcribe, and teacher of the
" law, after Jerujalem was taken and the
" temple rebuilt under Zerubbabel, found
" other letters, which we now ufe, when to
" that time the characters of the Samari-
" tans and Hebrews were the fame ;" but
how could Jerom be certain of this, who
lived near a thoufand years after the fup-
pofed facl ? do Ezra or Nehemiah give the
leaft hint of fuch a change of letters, tho'
they relate things of much lefs confequence
than this ? or do any of the other prophets
fuggeft any thing of this kind ? not the
leaft fyllable. Do Jofephus or Philo the
yew fay any thing about it ? not one
word, but the reverfe, as will be feen
hereafter : from whence and from whom
then could Jerom be allured of it ? from

no

» Praefat. in lib. Reg. Tom. 3-fol. 5. L.

t 33 J

no other than his Jews and their traditions;
from whom it is certain he received many
things, as his treatife called §>ucejliones feu
Troditiones Hebraicce> on various parts of
fcripture mew ; which are all or moil: of
them to be found in the Tabnud, and other
writings of the Jews, and particularly this.
The Jerufalem Talmud was printed about
the year 230, long enough before Jerom,
for him to have knowledge of it at lead
from his inft-ructors. The Babylonian Tal-
mud was compiling in his time, tho' not
finimed before the year 500 ; but the tradi-
tions it confifts of were well known be-
fore, being handed down from one to ano-
ther, and with which Jeroms Jews could
furnifli him, and did. But what puts this
matter out of all quefcion, is a fragment of
On'gen's, publimed by Montfaucm w, who
alfo fpeaks of letters ufed by Ezra after
the captivity, different from the more an-
tient ones, and plainly declares from whom
he had it, and opens to us the true fource
of this notion : " in fome accurate copies,
" he fays, it (the word Jehovah) is writ-
<l ten in antient Hebrew letters, but not
*' in thofe now in ufe, <pu<rt yap, for they fay,
D " (that

w Prasliminar. in Hexapla Origen. p. S6,

[ 34 ]

" (that is, the Jews) that Ezra ufed others
" after the captivity." fo that it clearly ap-
pears to be a Jewijh tradition ; and it is
not improbable, that Jerom had what he
calls certain, from this paflage of Origen,
as well as from Eufebius, fuppofing the
pafTage in him to be genuine ; and in which
he might be confirmed by his Rabbins ; fo
that all that has been faid about this mat-
ter comes from the fame fountain, a Jewijh
tradition. And the tradition refpe&ing it
in the Jerufa/emTa/mud x is as follows: " it
'* is a tradition; R. Jofe fays, Ezra was
<c fit to have the law given by his hand,
" but that the age of Mofes prevented it ;
" yet tho' it was not given by his hand,.
" the writing and the language were;.
" the writing was written in the Syriac
" tongue and interpreted in the Syriac
" tongue, Ezra iv. 7. and they could not
" read the writing, Dan. v. 8. from hence
" it is learnt, that it was given on the fame
" day. R. Nathan fays, the law was
" given in breaking, (in rude, rough, and
" broken letters, fuppofed to be meant of
" the Samaritan) and agrees with R. Jofe;.
"but Rabbi (i. e. Judah HakkodepJ fays
3 « the

* T. Hierof. Megillah, fol. 71. t, 3.

[ 35 3

" the law Was given in the Afjyrian cha-
*f racter (the fquarc letter) and when they
*' finned, it was turned into breaking,
u (into a rough, and broken character) and
" when they were worthy, in the days of
" Ezra, it was turned to them again in
" the Afjyrian character, according to Zach.
" ix. 12. It is a Tradition ; R. Simeon ben
" Ekazer fays, on the account of R. Ele*
" azer Ben Parta, who alfo fays, on the
a account of Ellezer Hatmnodai, the law
u was written in the Afjyrian character."
As it Hands in the Babylonian Talmud J, it
is thus exprerTed : «< Mar Zutra, or as
" others Mar Vkba, fays, at firft the law
t( was given to IJrael'm the writing beyond
44 the river, (or the Samaritan) and the
«c holy tongue ; and again it was given to
•' them, in the days of Ezra, in the A[[y~
44 rian writing, and Syriac tongue ; tney
" chofe for the Ifraelites the Afjyrian wri-
" ting and the holy tongue, and left to the
'* Ideots the writing beyond the river, and
*' the Syriac tongue. Who are the Ideots ? R*
44 Cbajda fays, the Cut bites (i.e. the Sama^
" ritans) : what is the writing beyond the
D 2 ** river ?

y T. Bab. Sanhediin, fol. 21.2. and 22. j. and Zeba-
chim, foi, bi. 1. and Glofs. inib.

[ 36 ]

" river ? R.Cbafda fays, the Libonaanvrvi-
" ting ;" which the Glofs explains of great
letters, fuch as are written in amulets and
on door-ports. Now tho' this account is
far from being clear and plain, as to what
is the fenfe of thefe Rabbins j yet admit it
to be the fenfe of R. Jofe, and of Mar
Zutra or Ukba, that the law was written
in Samaritan characters ; to which if you
add R. Nathan, as agreeing with them,
there are but three on that fide of the que-
ftion ; whereas there are four who affirm
it to be written in the Ajfyrian, or iquare
character, namely, R. Judah the faint, R.
Simeon, and the two Eleazers ; and as for
R. Judab, he was of fo much account
with the Jews, as to weigh dov/n all
others ; the decifion of any matter in de-
bate was, for the moll; part, according to
him ; and it is to the latter fcntiment that
the Jews nowuniverfally agree. There is but
one, R. Jofepb Albo, on the other fide of
the queftion, unlefs Nachmanides can be
thought to be, which yet is doubtful",
now this feems to be the whole and fole
foundation of the above notion, which
has prevailed fo long among chriftian wri-
ters.

-' Vld. Buxtorf. de Uteris Heb. f. 20. 52, 53, 54.

f V ]

ters. I cannot but remark the foible of
fome learned men, that if any thing againft
a received opinion is produced from the
Talmud, and other Jewifa writings, it is at
once condemned as a Jewijh dotage, dream
and fable ; but if it accords with a favou-
rite hypothecs, how greedily is it eatched
at ? how tenacioufly is it held ? It is ama-
zing that fo many learned men mould give
into the change of the Jewifh letters by
Ezra. It is not likely that the law
mould be given to the Jjraelites, and the
facred books be written in Samaritan let-
ters, that is, in the old Phoenician charac-
ters, which belonged to the race of Canaaii-,
and if they were, that the people of the
yews could be prevailed upon to part with
them, in which their hoiy books were
written ; and if they were written in them,
as then, befides the Pentateuch, the books
of Jojhua, fudges, Samuel, the Pfalms of
David, and books of Solomon, and the
Prophets before the captivity, mult be
written in the fame character ; and if fo,
it is ftrange that not one copy of either
of thefe mould be heard of, feen, or known ;
nor is it probable that the books of the
Old Teftament fhould be written in two
D 3 dif-

[ 38 ]

different characters ; thofe before the cap-
tivity in Samaritan letters, and thofe after
it in the fqaare letters, as they muft be
according to this hypothecs. It is not to
be believed, that Ezra would attempt fuch
a change of himfeli without an order from
God, which no where appears, when fuch
a charge againil innovations Hands in Deut.
iv. 2. nor does it feem poffible that he
fhould be able effectually to do it ; it could
never be in his power to cell in all the co-
pies of the facred books, which the Ifra-
elii.cs had carried into the feveral parts of
the world, thro' their captivities ; nor is it
probable that the Samaritans* if pofll-fled
of the fquare character, which is grand
and majeitic, mould ever be prevailed upon
to part with it, for a character fo ugly,
fo iii ihaped and deformed as the Samaritan
is ; nor was it in the power of Ezra to
oblige them to it : to which may be added,
that furely it can't be thought that thofe ugly
and ill -ihaped letters were formed by the
finger of God, and the law written by him
in them, the contrary to which is now uni-
verfally affirmed by the Jews ; and yet with
what confidence has this been afferted, and
thofe of a different fentiment treated with

mofj

[ 39 ]

moil abufive language, unbecoming men of
learning, by fuch as Sca/iger, Dnijius, and
Vojfiusi as if they were men but half
learned, half divines, mere fools, fceptics,
&c. but of late I obferve this confidence
abates, and learned men begin to think
that it is far from being a determined
point, what were the original characters of
the Hebrews. The learned authors of the
Univerfal Hijlory a have taken the fide of
thofe who are againrl the Samaritan cha-
racters, and are for the fquare letters be-
ing the original Hebrew, and have given
their reafons for it ; and I hope to make it
appear, at leafl probable, that the Jews al-
ways had and retained their letters and cha-
racters, and alfo the Samaritans theirs ; and
that there has been no commutation of let-
ters between them: and to begin

With the Jews; though we cannot
come to any certainty of their ancient letters
and characters, yet there is a probability that
they were the fame in which their facred
writings are now extant ; and this is all I
(hall attempt to mew.

It has been obferved that the Hebrew

alphabet is the nrft of the oriental lan-

D 4 guages,

a Vol. xvii. p. 302, 304.

[ 4° ]

guages, from whence the reft have re-
ceived theirs; but in name only, not in
fignification ; for the fignification of the
names of the letters in the alphabet only
correfpond with the figures of the fquare
letter j indeed though the Hebrew alpha-
bet is obierved in order no lefs than
twenty times in the Old Teftament, Pfal.
xxv, xxxvii, cxi, cxii, cxix. eight times,
cxiv. Prov. xxxi. Lamentations fix times,
yet not the name or one letter is given ; but
in the Septuagint verfion of the Lamenta-
tions, made three hundred years before
Chrift, the names of all of them are
given juft as they now are. The Greeks
h ii the names of their letters very early,
not only before the writing of the New
Teftament, in which mention is made of
fome of them, as of lota, Alpha, and
Omega ; and in Jojepbus * of Theta, and
Taw, but Herodotus*, who wrote his hif-
tory between four and five hundred years
before the birth of Chriit, obferves, that
the Perjian names end in a letter which in
the Doric dialed is called San, and in the
Ionic dialed Sigma. Plato -)-, as early, makes

3 men-

* Antiqu. 1. i. c. 6. b Clio, five 1. i. c, 139.

f in Cratylo, p. 271, 284, 28 j, 289, 2^i, zgj, E<!4
Ficin.

[4i ]

mention of the names of feveral of the
letters of the Greek alphabet; and Homert
fome hundreds of years before them, has
the names of the whole Greek alphabet;
for his works, both his Iliad and his Odyf-
Jey, the feveral books of them, have their
titles from thence, and are called by their
names; unlefs it mould be thought, as it
is by fome, that the titles are added by
fome ancient Grammarians ; which names
are chiefly taken from an Eajlern alphabet:
and as the Greeks are generally fuppofed
to have their letters, at leaft mod of them,
from the Phoenicians, they doubtlefs had
the names of them along with them ; and
Diodorus Siculus j exprefsly fays, that as
Cadmus brought the letters from Phoenicia
into Greece, fo he gave to every one their
names, as well as formed their characters;
and as the Phoenician, or old Samaritan
alphabet confifted of letters of the fame
name, though of a different character from
the Hebrew, it may reafonably be fuppofed
that the names are derived from thence, as
the language is but a dialect of the He-
brew, with a little variation and deflexion
from it; fo that the Hebrews had thefe

names

\ fiibliothec. lib. 3. p. 200.

[ 42 3

names originally; and it cannot be thought
otherwife but that when their letters were
firft invented, and marks made for them,
but names were given unto them; and Ca-
pellus a himfelf is quite clear and exprefs
in this matter : " before the age of Cad-
*' mus the Phoenician, he fays i. e. 1450
<" years before the birth of Chriit, the He-
4t brew letters had their own names, and
i* indeed the fame with thofe by which
*' they are now called, as is plain by com-
" paring the Greek alphabet with the He-
w brew," and alittle after he fays, the fame
names of Hebrew letters are as they were
three thoufand years ago : now the names
of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet,
though adopted by others, only correfpond
in their fignification with the figure of the
fquare letters now in ufe : thus according
to various writers w , M Aleph the firfr.
letter, lignifies an ox, and its figure refem-
bles the head and horns of one, and as
that, gives the lead to the reft; 2 Beth, an
houfe, and it reprefents one, its foundation,

wall,

* Arcaaum punftat. Revelat. I. 1. c. 12. b Vid.

Schiridler. Lexicon Pentaglott. Herman. Hugonem de
prima Scribend. Orig. c. 7. p. 69. &c. Wafmuth Vindicice
Heb. par. i.e. 1. p. 58, <^6. Marckii Exercitat. ad Matt.
v. 18. Bedford's Chronology, p. 497, and Dr. Gregory
Sharpe's Origin of Languages, p. 60, &C

f 43 1

wall, and roof, which with the Hebrews
was fiat; JJ Gimel a camel, and it has
the figure of its long neck and bunch
on its back ; 1 Daletb a door, and it de-
fcribes the lintel and port, of one ; n what
it fignifies and reprefents is not eafy to fay :
1 Vau, an hook, and it refembles one;
t Zajin, fignifies armour, and has the figure
of a dart, fpear, or club ; n Cheth a bead,
and its polition is like that of a qua-
druped ; o Teth, folding or involving, as
is the form of it ; * Jod, an hand, the fmall
part of it the finger, it reprefents ; 3 Caph,
the hollow of the hand, or a curvature,
as its figure is ; 1 Lamed, a goad, and it is
like one ; D Mem, a fpot as is imprefTed on
the hollow of the hand; 3 Nun, a fon, child,
or infant, and it is thought to refemble
one fitting ; D Samech, a fupport, the pede-
ftal of a column, to which it is not un-
like ; V Ain, an eye, and it is the figure
of one open ; 5 Pe, a mouth, an open
one ; ¥ Tzadde, 2. fork, and fuch is its fi-
gure; p Kopb, a revolution, a femicircle,
with a defcending line, or a monkey, hav-
ing the tail of one 1 Rejh, the heaci, the
hinder part of one it refembles ; W Schin,
a tooth, and is the figure of three teeth ;

D T/jau

[ 44 ]
H T/batx, a mark, fign, or border, being
the boundary of the alphabet. Now the
figures of the letters of the alphabet, nei-
ther in the Samaritan characters, nor in
any other but the fquare, will anfwer to
the fignification of thefe names.

As the Hebrew language was the firfl
and primitive language, and was fpoken by
Adam, as has been ihewn, it is probable
the letters were firft invented by him, as
ibme have thought *; fince as man is not
only a fpeaking, but a focial animal,
it can hardly be imagined that Adam
fhould live fo many years, and not conlider
the advantage of letters to his poiterity,
and atempt to form fuch for their ufe ; nor
could arts and fciences, which no doubt
were found out in his time, be well culti-
vated without the ufe of etters. It is
certain iome of the arts and fciences were
in ufe before the flood, Gen. iv. 21. and
very probably afironomy, as it muft be, if

there

c Si idas in voce A&s/n. Hermannus Hugo, utfupra c. 3.
p. . Bibliander & alii in ib. The Jews afcibe feveral
writings to .'dam, Wolni Biblioth. Heb. p. 1 io, HI. In the
1 ud they {peak of the book of the firft Adam, T Bab.
Bava Metzia, fol. 85, 2 and of a book the angel Raziel
gave him, which bears the name oi that angel, Zohar in
G . fol. 4!, 3 Some writers make mention of a book
compofed by Abel the fon of Adam. See Bangi Cceluni
Qiient. p. 103, 123.

[ 45 ]

there is any truth in the hiftory of the
pillars erected by the posterity of Setb,
which muft make writing neceffary, as
Huygens d obferves : befides, it is not rea-
fonable to fuppofe that Adam himfelf
fhould be without the knowledge of the
fciences, fince the very firft light of the
heavenly luminaries would lead him into a
contemplation of them, and to make fu-
ture obfer/ations upon them ; and by ob-
ferving their motions, appearance, and dif-
appearance, their revolutions, and the
diftinctions they made of days, months,
and years, and of the feafons, of fummer
and winter ; he muft obtain by degrees a
confiderable knowledge of this fcience.
Some have thought e that the knowledge
of all things natural, both terreftrial, as
plants, &c. and celeltial, was of God in-
fufed into him, and implanted in his na-
ture , and in whatibever way he had it, it
may be reafonably concluded that he
would communicate it to his pofterity,
which feems to require the ufe of letters ;
and Scaliger f made no doubt of it that
the art of printing was known by him;

though

d Cofjmotheorof. fol. 10. p. 56. e Vid. Lydiat de-

tent tra&. de ann. form. c. 8. p. ?6. f Apud Lydiat. ib,
p. 125.

[ 46 ]

though that is not very probable, yet he
might have the knowledge of letters, and
of the ufe of them ; indeed the Indian
Brachmans g, and the ancient Druids h and
Pythagoras 1 taught their doctrines without
the ufe of letters -, but it was not through
want of them, nor through mere neglect
of them, but becaufe they had fome pe-
culiar ends to anfwer thereby : now if let-
ters were invented by Adam, it feems mod
reafonable that as his language, fo his let-
ters were continued to the times of Noah,
and were communicated in the times of
Sbem through the families of Eber and A"
braham to the people of Ifrael; and though
the precife character cannot be determined,
it is moft probable, it was the iquare cha-
racter, as being the molt expreffive, per-
fect, and elegant, The Jewifh writers
are quite clear in this matter, that not only
the letters but even the points and accents
as they now are, were known to Adam,
being taught him of God -, as the author
of the book of Cofrik, and his commen-
tator R. Judah Mufcatus K

If the pillars {ct up by the fons of Setb

could

R Alex. ab. Alex. Genial, dier. 1. 2. c. 30. h Caefar.
Comment. 1. 6. c. 13. ' Alex ab. Alex, ut fupra. k Colli
par. 4. f. 25. i Comment, in ib. fol. 229. 1.

[ 47 3

could be depended on as genuine, there
would be proof not only of the arts and
fciences, particularly auronomy, being
known and taught, but of letters, and
their ufe in their days; and to Setb himielf
the invention of letters has been afcribed™!
yofephus n fays, the pillars erected by his
pofterity continued to his time : but it is
not likely that thefe pillars, the one of
brick, the other of ftone, mould furvive
the flood ; and the account he has given of
the place where they flood, is very dark and
intricate ; he calls it the land of Syriad,
but whether he means Syria, or a place
in the land of Egypt, or Seirath near G/7-
gal, Judg. iii. 26. each of which is guefled
at °, cannot be determined ; nor does he
give us the leaft hint what kind of charac-
ters were upon them; and indeed had the
pillars been really in being, it can fcarcely
be thought that the characters could be
legible, or that even conjectures could be
made of what they were. In Syria and
Mefopotamia are faid to be fome ancient
books of the Zabia?is, which they pretend
to be the patriarch Setb's p ; and the, Arabic

writers

m Vid. Suidam in voce Z«9. n Antiqu. 1. i. c. 2.

* Vid. Marfham Canon, fecul. 1. p. 3. f Prideaux.
Prsfat. ad Marmor. Arundel. & Voffium de a-tate mundi,
c. 10. p. 37. p Praefat. Hyde ad Hilt. Relig. Perf.

[ 4§ ]

writers fay ', that Seth was the inventer of
writing letters, and {hewed them in the
Hebrew tongue. If the account that is
given of Cainan, the grandfon of Seth,
could be credited, it would not only prove
the ufe of letters in thofe early times, but
that the Hebrew letters were then ufed ;
the account is what is faid to be fent by
Alexander the Great, when in India, to
his matter Arijlotle, and is as follows :
*' When I came to fuch a place in India,
«' fays he, the natives told me that they
" had with them the fepulchre of an an-
" cient king that ruled over all the world,
" whofe name was Cainan, the fon of
" Enos, who forefeeing that God would
' *' bring a flood upon the earth, wrote his
" prophecy of it on tables of ftone, and
*< they are here ; the writing is Hebrew
u writing."

Enoch, the feventh from Adam, deli-
vered out the prophecy referred to by the
apoftle Jude, ver. 14, 15. but whether it
was written is not certain ; it is not im-
probable it might be : the Jews make men-
tion of a writing of his in their ancient

book

1 Elmacinus apud Hottinger. Smegma, p, 228. r Ju..
chafin, fol. 3.2. fa Ben Gorion, 1. 2. c. iS. p. 131.

[ 49 J

book of Zohar f, and in the ¥ar?iim of
'Jonathan on Gen. v. 24, he is called the
great fcribe ; and feveral of the chriflian
fathers fpeak of a book of his as authen-
tic, as Tertuiiian ' and others; and the Ara-
bic writers u tell us of pyramids and pil-
lars erected by him, on which he engraved
the arts and the imtruments of them; and
fome writers w afcribe the invention of
letters and writing of books to him ; but
what characters he wrote and engraved in
are not faid : others * have pretended to
give the alphabets of Adam, Setb, Enoch,
and Noah-, but the characters they give
neither agree with the Hebrew nor with
the Samaritan, and are mere figments,
and are no more to be depended on than
in what the prophecy of Ham the fon of
Noah was written, out of which Phere-
cydes the Syrian, is faid to take his allego-
ries y. If Abraham the anceftor of the
Jewifh nation was the inventor of letters, as
fome fay, the Hebrew characters might
E bid

8 In Gen. fol. 53. 2. and 74. 1. * De Cultu faemirt.
1. i.e. 3. vid.Bangi Ccelum Orient. Exercitat. i. 24. Qu. 5.
u Abulpharag. Hill, dynaft. dyn. 1 p. 9. w Vid. Hugo, de
orig. fcribendi, c. 3. p. 41. Shalfhalet Hakabala fol. 94, 2.
xVid. Bangi ut fupra, Exercitat. 2. Qu. 1. p 100, 101. 104.
105. y Vid. Clem. Ale. Stromat. 1, 6. p. 642.

[ 5° ]

bid fair to be the farfl -, nay, Suidas fays r
they were the facred letters he invented ;
and to him is fometimes afcribed the caba-
lijlic book of the Jews called Jetzirah a.

Some of the Jewifh Rabbins fay, that
the grains of manna which fell from hea-
ven about the tents of the lfraelites in the
wildernefs were figured with the character
of the Hebrew letter i Van very perfectly
exprerled ; and that that is the principal
reafon why the wondering lfraelites faid one
to another KIP! ]D Man hu, which ac-
cording to them is to fay, what means this
van f the reafon of which figure they fup-
pofe to be, becaufe the manna was only to
be gathered on thtjix days of the week,
which that letter numerically fignifies :
this is to be, treated as a mere fable, nor
have I met with it in any writer but Gaf-
farellns b ; all the advantage I mak< of it
is this, that thofe Rabbins who relate this,
believed that the fquare letters were in ufe
before the giving of the law, for fo early
was the original defcent of the manna;
and indeed if the Israelites did not under-
3 ftand

2 Tn voce AgfKxp, vid. Herman Hugo, ut fupra, p. 41.
a Cofri par 4. c. 27. Juchafin fol. 52. 2. b Unheard of
Curiofuies, par. 4. c. 12. p. 352.

[ 51 ]

ftand letters before the giving of the law,
of what ufe could the writing of it be
unto them ? and to what purpofe was it
written and brought unto them.

It is not only the opinion of fome
Chrirtian writers ■ that the Hebrews re-
ceived their letters firft. from Mofes thro'
the giving of the law unto them, but even
Enpolemns, an heathen writer, as quoted
both by Clement of Alexandria d, and Eu-
febius e, affirms that Mofes firft. delivered
letters to the Jews, which is received by
manyf ; however this be, it is certain, the
law was written in letters engraved by
God himfelf, and given to Mofes for the
Ifraelites ; and it is mofl probable, as has
been already obferved, that thofe letters
were not the ill-fhaped letters of the Sa-
maritans, the fame with thofe of the old
Phoenicians or Canaanites, but the noble,
majeftic fquare letters, in which the books
of the law and prophets are now extant.
E 2 Phih

c Vid. Aug. de Civ. Dei, 1. 18. c. 39. Ifidor. Origin. 1. 1.
c. 3. and chronic, p. 263. d Stromat. 1. 1. p. 343.

e Praspar. Evangel. 1. 9. c 26. f So Clemens Roman.
Cornelius Agrippa,Crinitus,Textor, Gyraldus apud Herman.
Hugo, ut fupra, MS. in Vatican. Biblioth. apud Wafer, de
Numis Heb. 1.2 c. 3. vid. Owen. Theologoumena 1. 4. Di-
greff. 1. p. 301.

[ 5* ]

Pbilo the Jew 8, fays, the law was anci-
ently written in the Chaldee language, that
is, in the Hebrew language, properly fo
called ; for, as Jerom h obferves, Pbilo
thought the Hebrew and Chaldee were the
fame language ; and nothing is more com-
mon with the Jews \ than to fay the writ-
ing in which the law was given, is the AJfy-
rian language and writing, by which they
mean the modern Hebrew letters, in dif-
tindlion from the Samaritan, as appears
by what has been quoted out of the cTahmidi
and which they exprefly fay k is what they
now write in. This they call the Affyrian
tongue and writing, from the word Afiery
which fignifles happy aad bleifed, being
happy and blefled above all languages ; or
becaufe they had it from their anceftor A-
braham, who came out of Ajfyria, and as
they carried it into Affyria, when led cap-
tive thither, fo it came out of Ajfyria with
them, when they came from thence1;
and that the tables of the law were
written in it, is generally agreed on, by

them,

t De vita Mofis. 1. i. p. 657, 658. h Comment, in

Dan. i. 4. l Balmefii mikneh Abraham, p. 2. lin. 26.

k GI01T. inT.Bab. Megillah, fol. 8 2 Shalfhalet Hakabala,

fol. 74 2 ' T. Bab. Sanhedn . fol. 21. i.and Bal-

pief. utfupra, lin. 24, 25. and p. 6. lin. 13. 14.

t S3 1

them. R. Jacob fays m, the whole world
acknowledge that the tables and book of
the law, which were in the ark, were
written in the Ajfyrian character, by
which they mean the fquare character ;
that is, the whole Jewijh nation, a few,
only excepted, not more than two or
three ft. If the mediums of proof made
life of by the Jews could be admitted as
valid, as they cannot, it would put the
matter out of all doubt, that the fquare
letters were as early as the law : they ob-
ferve, that the hooks of the pillars in Exod.
xxvii. 10. are called Vans, and as the pillars
were not changed, fo the Vaus were not
changed; from whence they conclude the
Vans were made like hooks, and that in
the days of Mofes the Vans were like thofe
now in ufe °; and v/hat is true of one let-
ter is true of the reft $ and that their let-
ters were never changed, and which they
alfo conclude from Efth. viii. 9. They
have likewife a notion that the letters of
the law were perforated, fo that the figures
of the letters could be fcen on both fides,
E 3 where-

m In En Ifrael Megillah, c. I. fol. 415. x. n Vid. Buxtcrf,
de lit. Heb. f, 20. 23. ° T. Hierof. Megillah, fol. 71.3,
T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 22. I. and Glofs. in ib.

[ 54 ]

wherefore they obferve D Mem c/aufumand
D Samecb which were in the tables,
flood miraculoufly * -, for they being near
or like to a circle or an O, they had no-
thing to adhere to, or fubfift by, but muft
fall, unlefs fupported by a miracle. Now
though thefe notions cannot be allowed of,
they ferve to mew the fenfe of the Jews,
that the fquare letters were then in being,
fince thefe obfervations will not agree with
the faid letters in the Samaritan alphabet ;
nay, they fay that the forms of letters,
vowels and accents were written by God
on the tables, as we now have them «.

It was ufual in ancient time to infcribe
things on rocks and mountains, in order to
perpetuate them to pofterity, to which
Job may allude, ch. xix. 24. thus Semira-
mis engraved her image and an hundred
fhield-bearers by her at the bottom of a
rock, and wrote upon the rock in Syriac
letters, as Diodorus Siculus relates r j fo the
Arabians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians ', and
others, before the ufe of paper, engraved
their fentiments on rocks and ftones •.

The-

p T. Bab. Sabbar, fol 104. * Tipheret Ifrael in

Bioughton's works, p. 506.670. 684.703. r Biblioth.
1. 2. p 100 101. * Plin. 1. 6. c. 28 . vid. Huet. Demon-
ftrat Evangel, c. 2. f. 15.

[ 55 ]

Hhemijtocles cut letters upon ftones which
the lonians, coming the day after to Arte-*
mifium, read, as Herodotus reports ' ; and it
was uiual with the Danes to write the acts
and deeds of their ancestors in verfe, and
engrave them in their own language on
rocks and ftones \ In a journal made
about forty years ago, from grand Cairo to
mount Sinai, a tranflation of which is pub-
limed by Dr. Clayton, late biihop of Clog-
her, it is related w, that thofe who made it
came to fome hills near mount Sinai, cal-
led the written mountains; on which with
others they palled for an hour together,
were engraved ancient unknown cha-
racters, cut into the hard marble rock,
twelve or fourteen feet diftant from the
ground -, and though they had feveral in.
company acquainted with the Arabic,
Greek, Hebrew^ Syriac, &c. none of them
had any knowledge of thofe characters.
The biftiop thought it probable that thefe
were the ancient Hebrew characters, which
the Ifraelites having learned to write after
the giving of the law on mount Sinaj, di-
E 4 verted

1 Urania, five, 1 S.c. 22. vide Melpomene, five I. 4. c. 87.
u Salmuth. in Pancirol. par. 2. p. 256. w Journal
Sec. p. 45, 46. Ed. 2.

[ 5« ]

verted themfelves with practifing it during
their forty years abode in the wildernefs ;
and he was of opinion that the ancient He-
brew characters might be recovered by
them ; wherefore he propofed to the Soci-
ety of Antiquarians in London, to fend a
proper perfon thither for that end, and
offered to bear a proportion in the expence
of it ; and could thofe characters be reco-
vered, and an alphabet formed out of
them, it would doubtlefs determine what
was the ancient figure of the Hebrew let-
ters. About an hundred years before the
above journal was begun, Petrus a Valle
and Thomas a Novaria tranfcribed feveral
of them, which the former had in his pof-
fefiion, and mewed them to fome Jews,
to whom fome of the letters feemed to be
like to thofe of the Hebrew now in ufe,
others like the Samaritan, and others
agreed with neither ; but the fenfe of them
none could understand p. Now thefe let-
ters were no doubt of one and the fame
alphabet, form and figure originally, and
if many of them are of the fquare form,
or like thofe Hebrew letters now in ufe,
and thofe the greater part of them, as it

mould

f Antiq. Eccl. oriental, p. 147.

[ 57 1

mould feem by their being mentioned firft -,
I mould think they were all when firft
written of the fame form ; and that fuch
of them as are now broken and disjointed,
are thofe faid to be like to the Samaritan
letters, which are rough and deformed ;
hence the Jews call them \*yn, a fracture,
broken, and uneven ; and fuch that agreed
with neither, thofe that are greatly effaced
by time -, and I am the more ftrengthened
in this fuppofition by the relation of Cof-
mas JEgyptius, who travelled into thofe
parts in the fixth century, more than
twelve hundred years ago , who teftifies,
that he himfelf faw many flones in the
wilder nefs engraved by the Hebrews in
Hebrew letters, in memory of their jour-
ney in it * -, his account, as Montfaucon r
relates it is, that in the wildernefs of
Sinai 9 and in all the manfions of the He-
brews, you may fee ftones fallen from the
mountains, all engraved with Hebrew let-
ters, as, fays he, I teftify, who travelled
that way. Now I imagine that this man
in that age could have no other notion of
Hebrew letters than of thofe then in ufe

with

i Vid. Fabritii Bibliothec. Grajc. Tom. 2. p. 6i 5# f in Dr.
Kennicott's Diflert. 2. p. 147. 148.

[ 58 ]

with the Jews ; and he adds, fome Jews
who read thefe infcriptions told us, they
fignified fo and fo — fuch a journey — out of
fuch a tribe — in fuch a year — in fuch a
month — i. e. fuch and fuch things were
done. Now the letters which thefe Jews
were converfant with, and capable of rea-
ding and interpreting, feem more likely to
be the Hebrew letters, which they then
ufed, than the Samaritan, which it is not
reafonable to fuppofe they would give them-
felves the trouble of learning, having no-
thing to do with the Samaritans, but at en-
mity with them.

The plate of gold on the forehead of
the high-prieit, on which was engraven
holinejs to the Lord, the Jewsi difpute
about it, whether this was in more lines
than one, and what letters were in a line,
but it was never a queftion with them in
what character it was written. Jerom fays1
indeed, that the word Jehovah was in his
time found written in antient letters, in
fome Greek volumes ; but it mould be ob-
ferved, that Jerom fpeaks not of Jewifi or
Hebrew copies, but of Greek volumes,

meaning

s T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 63. 2. & Succah, fol. 5. 1. l Pra>
fat. in lib. Reg. fol. 5. L.

[ 59 ]

meaning the Greek verfions ofjfqm'/a and!
Tbeodotion in Origen's Hexapla, and of an-
tient Hebrew letters in the faid Greek ver-
fions, where the word Jebovab was written
jm Hebrew characters thus, nini, which
the Greeks not understanding, and being
deceived with the fimilarity of the charac-
ters to fome of theirs, read it from the
left to the right, as they were wont to do,
Pipi; whereas the word was to be read no
other than Jebovab, and was written nei-
ther in Greek nor in Samaritan characters,
but in Hebrew letters, as fometimes figur'd*
or however as formed by fome Greek wri-
ters not expert in the Hebrew letters, as
may be fecn in a fpecimen of fuch letters,
given by Montfaucon*, which feem to have
been written by fome Grecian who had but
little knowledge of the Hebrew tongue
and its characters, in which the Hebrew
letter He, tho' Scbindler would have it to be
the Samaritan He, refembles the Greek
letter Pit and the letters Van and Jod are
very fimilar in Hebrew, and both have fome
likenefs to the Greek letter Iota. Drujius
out of Procopius on If. lix. 13. obferves,
that in his margin were written A. Th.

u Praeliminar. ad Hexapla Origen. c. 2. p. 22.

[ 6o ]

£v ITini, that is Aquila, and Theodotion fo
read -, and he further obferves, that fo for- .
merly they wrote the letters of the name
tetragrammaton or 'Jehovah, which they
read Pipi, becaufe of the fimilitude of the
letterswj and Jeromx himfelf is as exprefs
for it as can be, he fays the name of four
letters is written with thefe, Jod >, He n»
Van 1, He H, which fome not understand-
ing, becaufe of the likenefs of the charac-
ters, when they found it in Greek copies,
ufed to read it Pipi; and elfe where y he fays,
the name of God, on the plate of gold,
was written in Hebrew letters, thofe above-
mentioned ; hence, becaufe as R. Afariah*
underftands him, he affirmed that thefe
were engraved in the Ajfyrian character, he
conjectures that Jerom had feen the plate
of gold at Rome, which R. Eliezer ben Jofe,
faw there, and that Jerom was of the
mind that the prefent Hebrew letters, were
then ufed by the Jews ; and indeed it is
not probable that this plate mould be en-
graved in the Samaritan, that is in the let-

ters

w Vid. etiam Drufium de voce Elohim & Tetragram. c.
20. &. Grotium in Matt. xxii. 44. Montfaucon.prseliminar.
adHexapla Origen. vol. 2. p. 90. 184. Lexicon col. 430.
* Epift ad Marcellam Tom. 3. fol. 31. B. * Ad Fabio-
lam fol. 20. B. z Meor Enayim, c. 58. fol. 178. 2.

[ 6i ]

ters of the old Phoenicians or Canaanitesi
the race of Canaan, whom the Jews, when
this order about the plate was given to
Mofes, were going to drive out of their land.
It mull be owned that Origen has the fol-
lowing words in a fragment3 of his; " with
" the Jews the name of the four letters
te f Jehovah J is ineffable, which was en-
" graved on the golden plate of the high-
*' priert, and with the Greeks is pro-
*' nounced Lord (xvpiog) ; but in correct He-
" brew copies it is written (that is, with
" its four letters Jehovah, which may be
" believed; but when he adds, it was writ-
*' ten) in antient letters, but not in thofe
" now in ufe." If he means the Samari-
tan letters, as it is fuppofed he does ; this
depends on a Jewifo tale he next relates,
which has been already confidered.

That the Pentateuch written by Mofes
was written in the fquare characters or let-
ters now in ufe with the Jews, feems clear
by comparing Gen. x. 3, 4. with 1 Chron.
i. 6. where the perfons called Riphath and Do-
danim by Mofes, are by the author of the book
of Chronicles m fome copies caed Diphatb
and Ro da mini ; and w ho is called Hemdan in

Gen.
* Apud Montfaucon. ut fupra, p, 86.

[ 62 ]

r<&7z.xxxvi.26.is Hemram in i. Cbrou. i. 41.
and Hadar in Gen. xxxvi. 39. is Hadad in 1
Chron. i. 50. The author of the book of
Chronicles i thro' the fimilarity of the let-
ters *1 and 1 Refo and Daletb, puts one for
another, and ftill fignify the fame perfons ;
£0 Riblah in Numb, xxxiv. 1 1 . and as it is
read in the 2d book of Kings, and prophe-
cy of "Jeremiah, is in Ezek. vi. 14. called
Diblath-, on which Jerom remarks, that
the near liken efs of the Hebrew letters 1 and
*1 Daletb and Rejh, which are diitinguifhed
by a fmall apex, it may be called Debla-
iha, or Reblatba , and fo Tbeodotion reads
it Deblatba in Jer. xxxix. 5. and this will
account for the fame man being called
Deuel and Reuel, Numb. i. 14. and ii. 14.
Now this can't be owing to the miftakes of
late tranfcribers, fince the fame difference
is obferved in the Septnagint verfion of thefe
places, at lead in moft of them, and were
fo from the beginning, from the writers
themfelves ; and thofe letters being much
more nmilar in the Hebrew than in the Sa-
maritan alphabet, the Samaritan Daletb
having a hook at the back of it thus ?
which ftrikes the eye at once, and eafily
diftinguiflies it from °* Rejh, (hews that Mo-

Jesy

f h ]

Jes, in all probability, wrote in the for-
mer and not in the latter; fo likewife dif-
ferences of names in the fame books plainly
arife from the fimilarity of the letters ! and
1 °Jod and Vau in the Hebrew fquare cha-
racters, when there is no fuch fimilarity in
the Samaritan character nt and t, as to
occafion fuch differences, thus Ahan in
Gen. xxxvi. 23. is Allan 1 Chron. i. 40.
Vaakan Gen. xxxvi. 27. is 'Jaakan 1. Chron*
i. 42. Zepho Gen. xxxvi. 11. is Zephl 1
Chron. i. 36. Shepbo in Gen. xxxvi. 23. is
Shephl 1 Chron. i. qo.Alvab Gen. xxxvi. 40.
is Allah 1 Chron. i. $i. P#« G^/z. xxxvi.
39. is Pal 1 Chron. i. 50. Heman Gen.
22. is Homam 1 Chron. i. 39. Klmchl on
I Chron. i. 6, 7. takes notice of the differ-
ence of thefe feveral words, as read in Ge-
ne/Is and Chronicles, and attributes it to the
fimilarity of letters ; and obferves, that let
them be read as they may, they are the
fame names, and fo Ben Melech after him.

Aben Ezra has helped us to another proof
of the Pentateuch being written in the
fquare character ; he obferves, " that the
word STn in Exod. i. 10. is irregular accor-
ding to the grammar, and mould be HJVn
for He radical is changed into Tau, accor-
ding

[ 64 ]

ding to ufual conftruction, as in Gen. i. 30.
but fo it is, becaufe thefe letters are near
alike in writing, there being only the duel:
of a point between them, which is in the
letter He, but in pronunciation and name
they differ ; for at firfl it is called He, and
when the point is protracted it is called Tau;
and this is a fign or proof that the writing
we now ufe is Hebrew :"*and as the Pen-
tateuch was originally written in this cha-
racter, fo it continued until the Samaritan
Pentateuch was written, wThich plainly ap-
pears to be copied from it, by its having
the interpolations of Ezra's copy in it,
which it would not have had, had it been
more antient than that; and if it was firft
brought to the Samaritans, as is probable,
by ManaJ/eh, when he fled to them, it was
in the fquare character firft introduced
among them, as Dr. Prideaux ownsb, who
otherwife is an advocate for the Samaritan
letter being the antient Hebrew character.
That this was the cafe, appears from the
difference between the Hebrew and Sama-
ritan Pentateuch, occafioned by the fimi-
larity of the letters in the fquare character,
the fame with that now in ufe with the

Jews,

b Connection, part i, p. -ft 6, 417.

[ 6; ]

yews, as has been obferved by many Teamed
menc, particularly in Rejh and Daleth, fee
Gen. x. 4. and xlix. 10. which fhews that
the Pentateuch was originally in the mo-
dern Hebrew characters, and which is fu-
perior in point of antiquity to the Samari-
tan, which is copied from it; and to the
fame caufe, in many instances, is owing
the difference between the Hebrew text and
the Septuagint verfion, namely the fimi-
larity of the Hebrew letters, as yerom fre-
quently obferves ; for that was made out
of the Chaldee tongue, as Philo the yewd
affirms, that is the Hebrew according to
him; and yufiin Martyr* afferts, that Mo-
fes, under a divine infpiration, wrote his
hiftory in Hebrew letters, (he does not fay
in Samaritan, tho' he himfelf was a Sa-
maritan) and that out of their antient books
written in Hebrew letters, the Septuagint
or 70 elders made fheir tranflation, which
books in Hebrew letters were then prefer-
ved by the yews in their fynagogues. Pto-
lemy, king of Egypt, had only at firfl the
Hebrew bible in Hebrew letters, tranfcri-
bed and fent him y but not being able to

F read

c Hottinger. Amii»orin. p. 50. Carpzov. Critic facr.
p. 229. 604.610. Univerfal Hiilory, vol 17. p. 305. i De
vita Jofephi, 1. 1. p. 658. * Ad Grsecos, p. ij.

[ 66 ]

read and underftand it, he fent for men
out of Judea to tranllate it into Greek* -,
and Tertullian% affirms, that i*z the Sera-
peum, or library of Ptolemy, the tranfla-
tion was to be feen in his time, with the
Hebrew letters themfelves, from which the
tranflation was made; and certain it is,
as the authors of the Univerfal Hi/lory h
have obferved, that the Septuagint verfion
is of higher antiquity than any of thofe
fhekels which arefaid to have the Samaritan
characters on them, the eldeft of which
did not precede the fettlement of the high-
priefthood in the Ajmonean family, that is
not much above 150 years before Chrift -,
and yet this is the main argument advanced
in defence of the Samaritan letters being
the antient Hebrew characters ; of the va-
lidity of which, and the genuinefs of the
Samaritan fhekels, more heareafter.

The argument in favour of the Penta-
teuch being written in the fquare character,
taken from the fimilarity of Daleth and
jR^7j, occasioning different readings of words,
nay be ufed with refpect to the fecond
book of Samuel, as written in the fame cha-
racter,

f Epiphan. de ponder. £ Apologet. c. 1 8-. h Us

fupra, p. 301, 304, 305.

[ 67 ]

racier, the penmen of which feem to be
Gad and Nathan* fee I Chron. xxix. 19. in
which the king of Zobah is called Hadade-
zer, 2 Sam. viii. 3. but the writer of the
book of Chronicles, generally fuppofed to
be Ezra, putting Rejh for Daleth, thro'
the likenefs of the letters, calls him Hada-
rezer, 1 Chron. xviii. 3. and fo one of Da-
vid's worthies is called Shammah the Haro-
dite, 2 Sam. xxiii. 25. but in i Chron. xi.
27. Shammoth the Harorite ; where may be
obferved another difference, arifing from
the fame caufe, the likenefs of the letters
H and n the fame man being called Sham-
mah in one place, and Shammoth in the
other; and that it cannot be owing to the
miftakes of late tranferibers, fince the fame
difference is to be obferved in the Septua-
gint verfion of both places ; betides there
is another difference in the name. Harodite
in Sam. is written with a n Cheth, and the
Harorite in Chronicles with an ft He, which
two letters are alfo very fimilar in the fquare
character ; whereas, neither the 3 He and
A- Tau3 nor the VL Cheth and x He are at
all alike in the Samaritan character. So
that the fame that is called Hiddai 2 Sam.
xxiii. 30. is Rural or Churai, 1 Chron.
F 2 xi. 32.

f 68 ]

xi. 32. and another is called the Gadite 2
Sam. 23. 36. and Haggerz, or the Hagge-
ritey 1 Chron. xi. 38. fo thro' the likenefs
of Jod and ^?# in the fquare character,
which have none in the Samaritan, as be-
fore obferved, the king of Tyre is called
Htraniy 1 Kings, v. 1, 2. and Huram 2
Chron. ii. 3. n.

^&7z Chabib or #. ilfc/fj- «S<r/^tfz T^, a
Jew, who lived about the year 1480, was
fhewn in the kingdom of Vakntia in Spain,
a fepulchral monument of a general of A-
maziah king of Judab, on the top of a
mountain ; which, tho' much effaced, he
was juft able to read a verfe or two in
rhyme and metre, at the end of which
was iTtfDN1?1; from whence he concluded
that fuch kind of verfe was in ufe with his
anceftors, when in their own land : and he
might have concluded alfo the antiquity of
the Hebrew letters, as Buxtorffk obferves,
could this infcription be thought genuine ;
but it is hard to conceive how a general of
Amaziab, king of Judah, mould be bu-
ried in Spain : and of like credit muft be
accounted the grave of Adoniram, the tax-
gatherer

1 R. Azariah,ImreBinah, c.6o fol. 182 k De liter.

Heb. f. 27. U de profod. metric, ad calc. Heb. Gram.

t 69 ]

gatherer for Solomon and Rehoboam, in the
fame country, and found at the fame time1;
and could the account be credited which
Benjamin of Tndela gives of the cave of
Machpe/ah, wherehe fays there are fix graves,
of Abraham, IJ'aac, 'Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and
Leahy oppofite to one another, on which are
written *f this is the grave of Abraham," and
fo on the grave of IJ'aac, and on the reft, it
would prove the very early antiquity of fuch
letters; but thefe are not to be depended on.
The Hebrews have five letters, which
they call double letters, or final ones, be-
caufe the figure of them is different at the
end of a word, from what it is at the be-
ginning of one, or in the middle of one ;
and thefe are Mem, Nun, Tzade, Pe, and
Capb, commonly called "|£)¥3D Manatzpach-,
thefe muft be of very antient ufe, they are
mentioned in Berefoitb Rabban, and in both
the Ta/muds ; in the one ° they are faid to
be ufed by the feers or prophets, and in
the other p to be an Halacah or tradition of
Mofes from Sinai; yea, by an antient wri-
ter*1 they are faid to be known hy A bra-
F 3 ham,

1 Vid. Hottinger. praefat. ad Cipp. Heb. p. 4. m fu-
neral-, p ;8, 49. n Parafh. 1. fol. 1, 4. ° T.
Bab. Sabbat, fol. 104.. 1. p T. Hierof. Megillah,
fol. 71 4 1 PirkeEliezerc 48.

f 7° ]

ham ; and indeed they feem to be as early
as the other letters in the alphabet. Hence
Abpqbam de Balmis* makes the Hebrew al-
pha^: :iiil' of tv/enty-ieven letters ; and
Jerom { . e"ak§ of theie five final letters as of
ls early, d equal ufe with the twenty-
tvo letters, and !h Et -'phanius l ; and Ire-
ncziis-\f before them, is thought, by Dr.
Grab- l i refer to a final Hebrew letter, when
he fays, uthatGod,infi^r<?w,.is called j&z-
rucb (blefled) which confifts of two letters
and a half;" Dr. Grabe's note upon it is,
that -j is taken for half of the letter n ; but
in that he is miftaken, for the word has
not that letter, nor has that letter a final,
but D, and the final of that does not fhor-
ten, but lengthen the letter. Now if thefe
final letters were of Mofes and the pro-
phets, then the law and the prophets mull:
be written in the Hebrew characters now
in ufe, and not in the Samaritan characters,
for the Samaritans have no final letters;
and particularly the book of the prophet
IJaiah, which was written 200 years or
more before the fuppofed change of letters
by Ezra, muft be written not in the Sama-
ritan

r Mikneh Abraham, pag. 2. tin. 12, 13. ' Fnefat. ad

lib. Reg fol. ij.M. ' De menfur. & ponder. f Adv.
Hsref. I. 2 c. 41.

[ 7' ]

ritan character, according to that notion,
but in the modern Hebrew, iince the Mem
final, contrary to common ufage, appears
in the middle of the word POTD1? If. ix.
6. which has occafioned much fpeculation
and enquiry, both among the Jews and
christians, which could not appear if writ-
ten in the Samaritan character •■, in which,
as before obferved, are no final letters j and
that it was fo read in the antient Hebrew
copies, is clear from both Talmud's u, where
it is written and reafoned upon, and the
Jeru/a/em Talmud was finifhed A. D. 230.
Jerom^ owns the reading of it, and of-
fers a reafon for it, and obferves that the
Mem claufimi, in the middle of the word
rD"luD7 is fo written for the fake of a myf-
tery, to (hew the exclufion of the jews
from the kingdom of Chriif ; even that
fame jferom makes this remark, who fays,
it is certain that Ezra changed the Jewifh
letters ; but if Ifaiah wrote in the Sama-
ritan character, as that change fuppofes, it
would fpoil the remark he has made; in this
he contradicts himfelf. This is an obfer-
vation oiWajmuttis ; but I fufpect that Waft-
F 4 tnuth

H T. Hierof. Sanhedrin, fol. 27. 4. T. Bab. ib. fol. 94 1.
w Apud Wafmuth Vindic. Keb. par. 1 . p. 44.

[ 7* ]

muth has miftaken Hieronymus de fancla
fide, a later writer, who wrote a book againfl
the Jews, for Hieronymus the antient father ;
fince I can find no fuch treatife as is re-
ferred to by him in Jeroms works, either
genuine or afcribed to him.

The book of Daniely if written by him-
felf, as it feems plainly to be, mud be
written before the pretended change of let-
ters by Ezra i the Jews in the Talmud* in-
deed fay it was written by the men of the
great fynagogue, that is the fynagogue of
Ezra i but the reafon given for it is frivo-
lous, as in the Glofs upon the place, that
prophecy was not fuffered to be written
without the land (of IfraelJ ; for did not
Mofes write the Pentateuch without the
land ? and was not Ezekiel ordered by God
to write among the captives at the river
Chebary Ezek. i. 3. and xxiv. 2. ? Jofe-
phusi is exprefs for it, that Daniel wrote
his own prophecies, and left them to be
read, and this is clear from the book itfelf,
ch. xii. 4. and from the words of Chrift in
Matt. xxiv. 15. now fince this book was
written partly in Hebrew, and partly in

Chaldee%

* T. Eab. BavaBathia, fol. 15. 1. * Antiqu.l 10

6, if. f. 7.

[ 73 1
Chaldee, I afk, in what letter it is mod proba-
ble it was written, whether in two different
characters ? which feems not at all pro-
bable, and whether in one character ; what
moft probably that was, whether the Sama-
ritan or the iquare letter? it liiould feem
more probable to be the latter, according
to the h/potheiis of thofe who are for the
change of letters by Ezra, who fuppofe
that was the character ufed in Chaldea and
Babylon, where Daniel lived; and I mould
think it more probable for another reafon,
becaule it was better known to the yews,
for whofe ufe chiefly that book was writ-
ten : and particularly it deferves confi-
deration, in what letter or character the
hand-writing Belfiazzar faw on the wall
was written, which the Chaldeans could
not read, only Daniel the Jew. It is
certain the words in Daniel v. 25. are
Chaldee, and had they been written in their
own characters, which were the fame lince
called Samaritan, as will be (hewn in the
following chapter; the Chaldeans, no doubt,
could have read them, though they might
not have understood the meaning of them :
now tho' we can't be certain of the charac-
ter, yet it is probable it was the fquare

character

[ 74 ]
character then and now in ufe with the
yews, to which Dame/ was accuftomed
before he came to Babylon, and therefore
could eafily read the hand-writing, tho'
without doubt it was by divine infpiration
that he gave the interpretation of it. Jo-
fephus ben Gorton * is quite clear in this ;
the letters, he fays, were the holy tongue,
that is, Hebrew, but the writing or words
were the Syriac tongue, or the Chaldee -,
and indeed if thefe words had been in a
different character from that which Daniel
wrote, it is much he had not given them
in it.

Bianconi*, the laft that wrote on the an-
tiquity of the Hebrew letters, is of opinion
that the Chaldeans ufed the fame characters
with the Hebrews. He fuppofes their lan-
guage to be the fame, which he argues from
the relation of Abraham and Nabor being
brethren, and from the Hebrews defend-
ing from the one, and from the other
the Chaldeans 'y hence Jofepbus* calls the
Chaldeans their kindred ; tho' perhaps
the latter rather fprung from Arphacfad-,

he

3 Hift. Heb. 1. t. c. 5. p. 25. a De Antiq. li-

ter. Heb. p. 6. Bononice 1748. b Contr. Apion.

1. 1. f. 13.

[ 75 1

he urges the converfation which railed be-
tween Abrahams fcrvant and Nabor's fa-
mily, when he was fent thither to take a
wife for Jja .,, and what palled between the
men of Haran, Nahor's city, and Jacob,
and between him and Rachel and Lab an,
in which there appear'd to be no difficulty
of under/landing one another. All which
is true, and yet the language might not be
exactly the fame ; the Chaldee being a dia-
lect of the Hebrew, might be underflood
by the Hebrews, elpecially in thofe earlier
and purer times, when the deviation from
the Hebrew might not be fo great as after-
wards ; and yet it is certain that "Jacob and
Laban -ifed a different language, at the time
of their covenanting together, and gave
different names to the heap which was the
witncfs between them, tho' to the fame
fenfe. This learned writer indeed thinks
that the Chaldean name of it was given by
anticipation, and that it was called fo by
Laban's fons afterwards, which being
known to Mofes, he inferted it : but be it
fo, that will prove the difference of that
language in the times of Mofes at leaft, and
which, in the times of Hezekiah, appears
to be (till more different from the Hebrew,
4 fince

[ 76 ]

fince the common people among the Jews
underftood it not, 2 Kings xviii. 26. and in
the times of the captivity, fome of the He-
brews, carried captive, were taught the
Chaldean tongue, Dan. i. 4. and the diffe-
rence between that and the Hebrew may
be feen in the books of Daniel and Ezra,
yea, it is called a language not known nor
underftood by the 'Jews, Jer. v. 15. now
from the famenefs of language, as this wri-
ter fuppofes, he proceeds to argue the fame-
nefs of character, which however probable
it may be thought to be, it is not conclu-
five. The Syriac and Chaldee are nearer to
each other, than either to the Hebrew, and
yet their characters are very different, at
leaft as we now have them. But what this
learned writer feems chiefly to depend up-
on, and what he thinks to be greatly to his
purpofe is, the inftance of Cyrus being able
to read the prophecies in Ifaiah, concern-
ing himfelf, according to Jofephus*-, which
he imagines he could not have done, if the
Chaldee and Hebrew characters were not the
fame. He fuppofes he underftood the Chal-
dee language, and could read that, having
been fome time in the court of Darius ;

but

e Anticj. 1. 11. c. 1. f. 2.

f 77 ]
but that is not quite certain, fince at his
taking of Babylon it does not appear that
the Chaldee tongue was much known in
his army ; for he then gave orders, accord-
ing to Xenophon d, to thofe who under-
ftood the Syrian or Chaldee language to
proclaim that fuch of the inhabitants that
were found in the ftreets, mould be flain,
but thofe that kept within doors mould be
fafe; and it was immediately after this,
even in the firft year of his reign with Da-
rius* that he gave liberty to the Jews to re-
turn to their own land, when he had know-
ledge of the prophecy of Ifaiah concerning
himfelf; and befides, why may he not be
thought to know the Hebrew character
alfo as well as the Chaldee* fuppofing them
different ? he was a very enterpriiing prince
and had conquered many nations, and
might be mafter of many languages, as
Mithridates king of Pontus was, and efpe-
cially of the Hebrew , if what is faid by an
Arabic writer e is true, that he married the
lifter of Zernbbabely and his mother alfo is
faid -j- to be a Jewefs; and after all, the
whole depends upon the teftimony of Jo-

fephus,

d Cyropoedia, 1. 7. c. 23. e Abulpharag. Hift.

Dynaft. dyn. 5. p. 82. f Hottinger. apud Pfeiffer.

Theolog. Jud. Exercitat. 7. c. 1. th. 1.

[ 78 ]
fephus, that he did read the prophecy of
Ifaiah, who produces no authority for it ;
and if he did read it, it might be through
an interpreter, or as tranflated for him,
fuppofing him ignorant of the Hebrew
language and its character : and it can
hardly be thought that when the fame Jo-
fephus fays f that Alexander was (hewn the
prophecy in Daniel concerning himfelf,
that he understood Hebrew, or the lan-
guage in which it was written, but that it
was read and interpreted to him. There is
a paffage I confefs in 'Jofephus % which
makes the Hebrew and Syriac character
very fimilar ; for according to him, Deme-
trius the librarian of Ptolemy Philadelphia
told the king when he acquainted him with
the Jewifh writings, that their character
was very much like to the Syriac letters,
and were pronounced like to them ; but ac-
cording to Arifiaus b, and whofe words
are alfo prefer ved in Eufebius c, Demetrius
faid very much the contrary -, that the
Jews, as the Egyptians, had a peculiar
character, and a peculiar pronunciation ;
fome think they ufed the Syriac, but it is

not

f Antiqu. 1. II. C. 8. f. 5. a Antiqu. I. 12. c. 2. f . 1 .

b Hiit. 72. Interpr. p. 4. 5. c Prsepar. Evangel.
b. 8. c. 2. p. 350.

t 79 ]

not fo, fays he, it is in another form and
manner.

Thus have I traced the Hebrew letters
and characters from the beginning of them
to the times of Ezra, when the fuppofed
change took place ; what I undertook to
mew was no more than that it is probable
that the ancient letters of the Jews, and
which they have always retained, are the
fquare letters, as they are commonly
called, or thofe in which the facred fcrip-
tures are now extant ; and I think I have
made it appear to be probable. I lay no
ftrefs on the pillars of Seth, nor the tables
of Caiman, and the writing of Enoch,
nor the letters of the law, and the fancies
of the Jews about them and the manna,
nor upon any infcription on fepulchral
monuments ; but I think it is probable,
that as the nrii language men fpoke and
was after the confulion of tongues called
the Hebrew language, to diilinguim it from
others, if there were letters before that
confulion, as it feems reafonable to fuppofe
there were, they were fuch as were proper
and peculiar to it, and it is probable that
they afterwards continued in it ; and where-
as the alphabet of the Hebrew language ap-
pears

r 8° ]

pears to be the firftof the oriental languages,
from whence the reft have the names, or-
der, and number of their letters, it is pro-
bable, yea it feems more than probable, that
the letters of the Hebrew alphabet were
thofe of the fquare kind, fince to them
only the names of the letters in their fig-
nification correfpond : it is probable that
the law of the ten commands, was written
and given in thofe characters, and not in
the Samaritan -, it is more probable the
letters on the written mountains, fuppofed
to be written by the Ifraelites in the wil-
dernefs, when encamped, and on their
travels there, were of the fame kind, ra-
ther than of the Samaritan, or any other ;
it is probable, that the letters on the plate
of gold the high prieft wore on his fore-
head were the fame as now in ufe, and
that Mofes wrote his Pentateuch, in the fame
character 3 that Ifaiah alfo wrote his prophe-
cies in the fame ; and that the book of Da-
niel, and particularly the hand-writing that
terrified Beljhazzar, were written in the
fame j nor is there any juft reafon to believe
that the Jews ever had any other fort of
letters, nor that Ezra changed their an-
cient ones for thofe; for, as has been already
4 obferved,

[ «i ]
ooferveef, he never Would have done it
without a divine command, which it does
not appear he had ; and if he would have
done it, and had had ever fuch an inclina-
tion to it, he never could have done it; nor
is it credible that the Jews in Babylon fo
forgot their language, and their letters, as
to make fuch a change neceiTary, which is
fuggefted*. Can it be thought that the men
who remembered the firit. temple in its
glory ,v and wept at laying the foundation
of the fecond, Ezra iii. 12. fhould forget
their language and the alphabet of it, when
the greater part were only fifty-two years
there ? for the feventy years are to be reck-
oned from the fourth of cJehoiakimi
eighteen years before the deftrudion of the
city and temple by Nebuchadnezzar 3 and
their being carried captive by him into
Babylon ; where they lived together in bo-
dies, did not mix with the Cbaldceans, nor
intermarry with them, and converfed toge-
ther in their own language, had their fa-
cred books in it to read, held a conefpon-
dence with 'Jeremiah bv letters, at the firft
of the captivity, and had the miniitry
and fermons of Ezekiel to attend upon in
it Ezek. i. 1, and iii. 15, and xxx. 30, 33.
G Jer*

* Elise Pracfat. Methurgeman.

[ 82 ]

Jer. xxix. i, 25, 31. nor is it true that
their language was corrupted in Babylon ;
the captives that returned fpoke the lan-
guage of the Jews purely, only the chil-
dren of fome few, whofe fathers had mar-
ried wives, not in Babylon, but women of
AJhdod, Amnion, and Moab, after the re-
turn from the captivity, who fpoke half
in the language of thofe peGple, for which
JNehemiah reproved them j and this fhews
it was not a general thing : and certain it
is that the prophets Haggai, Zechariah,
and Malachi wrote in pure Hebrew, as it
was in the days of Mofes -, the fame roots,
prefixes, fuffixes, idioms, conftructions,
and terminations, are to be obferved in
them as in the Pentateuch of Mofes, Up-
on the whole, the Jews certainly fpoke
the Hebrew language after their return
from the captivity, and fome when they
came back to Perfia again, in Nehemi-
ah's time ; nor had he forgot it, nor dif-
ufed it, for walking before Sufa, the chief
city of Perfia, as Jofephus * relates, he
overheard fome ftrangers lately come from
yerujalem difcourfing together in the He-
brew tongue, and understanding them, he

aiked

* Antiqu. 1. xi. c. 5. f. 6.

[ h ]

afked the queftions as in Neh. i. 2. he hirri-
felf wrote in Hebrew, as did Ezra, not
only his own book, but the books of Chro-
nicles, as is fuppofed ; yea, fome of the
Pfalms were written after the return from
the captivity, as Pf. cxxvi. cxxxvii. and even
as late as the times of Antiochus Epipbanesj
and all in pure Hebrew. Daniel in the
captivity wrote in Hebrew, excepting what
concerned the Chaldaam ; and fo did Eze-
kiel. The book of EJlber, fuppofed to be
written by Mordecai, was written in pure
Hebrew -, and if Ahafuerus was Xerxes, it
mufl be written many years after the cap-
tivity ; and in his time, Pf. lxxxviii. is by
fome thought to be written. It is the na-
ture and glory of the Hebrew language to
have been always conftant and invariable,
and fo it is probable its letters were 3 the
Jews glory in their facred writings, that
no innovation was ever made in them. y<j-
fephus 6 fays, " it is manifeft in fact in what
" veneration and credit we have our let-
<f ters or books ; for though fo many ages
" are pad:, (as almoft 3000 years, as he
" fays) yet no man has dared to add any
" thing to them, nor to take any thing
G 2 " from

s Cont. Apion. 1. i. f 8.

[ «4 ]

" from them, nor to change them :" it is
plain from hence, that this hiftorian knew
nothing of the change of the letters of
the facred writings made by Ezra, which
muft be an innovation in them. Philo
the yew h, fays " our law only is firm,
<c immoveable, unfhaken, fealed as it were
" with the feals of nature; it remains
" firmly from the time it was written,
" until now ; and it is to be hoped it will
" remain immortal throughout all ages,
" as long as do the fun and moon, the
" whole heaven, and the world." The
eighth article of the Jewi/b creed runs
thus : * " I believe with a perfect faith, i. e.
«c fincerely, that the whole law which is
" now in our hands, is that which was
" given to Mofes our mafter, on whom be
11 peace, without any change and altera-
" tion;" but we have a greater teftimony
than thefe, of the unalterablenefs of the
law, and even of the letters in which it
was written, the words of Chrijl in Matt,
v. 18. for verily I fay unto y on > 'till heaven
and earth pajs away, 07ie jot or one tittle
pall in no wife pafs from the law, till all be

fulfilled ';

11 De vita Mofis 1. z 656. * Seder Tephillah, fol. 86. 2.
Abarbinel. Paerfat. in Jer.

[ 85 ]

fulfilled', which though it is not to be un-
derstood of the bare letter Tod, which as
it is fometimes redundant, fo in fome
places wanting, as in i Sam. xxi. 2.
2 Sam. xvi. 23. and xxi. 8. Nebemiab xii.
46. and though it is a proverbial expref-
fion, fignifying the unchangeablenefs and
unalterablenefs of the law, with refpecl: to
the leaft precept in it ; yet it is founded
upon, and is an allulion to the writing of
the law, and the letters of it; not to any
copy of it in any language whatever ; but
to the original writing of it, and its letters,
in which it had continued unto his time,
and in which the Iota or Tod is the leait
of the letters ; and therefore could have no
refpecl; to the Samaritan copy of the law,
in which language it is not the lead letter,
but a very large one ; which has befides
the ftroke above, three large prongs, de-
fending from it, each of' which is as large
again as the Hebrew Tod; which is fo
fmall, that Irenceus ' calls it half a letter ;
and to which our Lord manifestly refers :
and this makes it at leaft highly probable,
that the law was originally written not in
the Samaritan, but in the fquare Hebrew
G 3 letters,

'Adv. Hjeref. 1. 2. c, 41.

[ 86 ]

letters, which had unalterably remained
unto the times of Chrift ; all which make
it greatly probable, that the Jews only had
one fort of letters, which always remained
with them, and are what are extant to
this day.

Bianconi^t the learned writer before-
mentioned, is quite clear in it, that the
Hebrew letters were never changed by
Ezra, nor by any public authority ; and
which he judges improbable, fince neither
he nor yofephus make mention of any fuch
change 5 and from the great numbers of
Jews left in the land at the captivity, and
the return of multitudes from it; and from
Ezras coming to them with a large num-
ber alfo, and that fixty or eighty years af-
ter the return of the firft ; and from the
prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah> and
from the fhekels in the times of the Macca-
bees, which fuppofing fuch a change would
have been not in the Samaritan, but in
the fquare character ; and from the unlike-
lihood of a conquered people-taking the
characters of an enemy's language, and
quitting their own, and that after they had
f)een many years delivered from them.

He

k De Antiqu. Liter. Heb. p. \ 8.-22, 25, 26,

I 87 ]

He fuppofes, that the Hebrews, Chaldce-
ans, Phoenicians, and Samaritans, had all
the fame characters originally, and that
there was a change made among the Jews
long after the times of Ezra, from the
ancient character to the fquare one ; and
that it began in the fhekels, in the time of
the Maccabees, in which he obferved a mix-
ture of the ancient and modern characters,
and fuppofes, that by little and little the
change was made, from frequent tranf-
cribing'the Bible, and daily writing -, and
that the modern letters were gradually
formed from ufe, and the fwift manner of
writing, and for the convenience of it :
but it does not feem probable that a cha-
racter mould be mended through fwiftnefs
of writing, and that fuch a grand, majeftic,
regular, and well-formed character, as the
fquare letter is, mould be produced in that
way ; but rather that the ill-fhaped, ragged,
rough, and deformed Samaritan character,
mould fpring from thence ; and which
feems to be the fact, but not fo late as the
times of the Maccabees ; but as early as
the divifion and difperiion of the nations,
in the times of Peleg ; fo Gaffarellus * ob-
G 4 ferves,

* Unheard-of Guriofities, c. 13. f. 6. p. 40 5 .

[ 88 ]

fervcs, that the Samaritan characters are
corrupted from the Hebrew ; and he adds,
this is {o certain a truth, as that it is a
point of infinite perverfenefs to offer to
doubt of it. According to Dr. Bernard's
table of alphabets, called Orbis eruditi
Literatura a charatlere Samaritico deducla,
it has been thought, that the letters of all
nations muft have fprung from the Sama-
ritan character; but this feems to depend
much on fancy and imagination; and I am
inclined to think, that all are deducible
from the Hebrew fquare character, the
Ajj'yrian firft, then the Phoenician, from
that the Greek, and fo on; according to
Hermatinns Hugo l, the Hebrew letters (the
prefent ones) were the firft ; next fprung
from them the Chaldcean letters, which he
fays are fcarce extant ; then the Affyrian,
or Babylonian, and the Syriac, or Ara-
maean, and from the Syriac, the Samaritan.

The principal argument by which
die hypothecs oppofed, is iupported,
is taken from fome coins or fhekels, laid
to be dug up in Judea, with thefe words
on them, Jerujalem the holy, and the foekel
of Ijrael, the letters of which, it is af-

ferted?

* De prima Scribencji orig. p. 54.

[ h ]

ferted, agree, in form, with the Samari~
tan. Now as the Samaritans, becaufe of
their averfion to the Jews, and the ten
tribes after their feparation from the other
two, had nothing to do with Jeriifalem,
nor any efteem for it, neither of them can
be thought to ftrike thefe pieces ; and it is
inferred from hence, that they mud have
belonged to the Jews before the captivity,
and to the Ifradites before the feparation
of the ten tribes -, and confequently the
Samaritan letters, fuppofed to be the fame
with thofe on the coins, were the ancient
Hebrew characters, and in which the books
of the Old Teflament were written -, and
this argument is thought to be unanfwer-
able : but it mould be obferved, that the
letters on the moil unexceptionable of
thefe coins differ considerably from thofe
in the Samaritan Pentateuch, and feem to
refemble, in fome inftances, the Hebrew
almoft as much as the Samaritan ; and be-
fides the oldeft of them do not precede the
fettlement of the high-priefthood in the
Afmoncean family, and were not much
above one hundred and fifty years before
the aera of Chrift, and fome of them are

later;
4

[ 9° J

later m ; to which may be added, there
are coins, both filver and brafs, with in-
fcriptions in the fquare character, which
according to them are much more ancient
than the other, and fo prove the fuperior
antiquity of the fquare character to that
of the Samaritan. Rab. Azariah fays n,
that he faw among fome ancient coins at
Mantua, a filver coin which had on one
fide of it the form of a man's head, and
round about it, King Solomon, in the holy
tongue, and fquare writing, and on the
other fide the form of the temple, and
round about it written the temple of Solo-
mon ; and Hottinger ° affirms, he faw one
of the fame fort in the collection of the
Elector Palatine. The Jews in their Tal-
mud p, ipeak of a yerufalem coin, which
had David and Solomon on one fide, and
the words, yerufalem, the holy city, on the
other fide ; and of a coin of Abrahams,
having on one fide, the Hebrew words for
an old man and an old woman, and on the
other fide, thofe, for a young man and a
young woman-, and the learned Chrifiopher

Wagenfeil

m See the Univerfal Hiftory, vol. xvii, p. 302, 303,
304. n Meor Enayim, c. 58. fol. 174, 2. See fol. 54.

0 Praefat. r.d Cippi Heb. p. 41. p T.Bab. Bava
Kama, fol. 97, z. vid. Wafer, de Num. antiqu. 1. 2. c. 5.

[ 9' ]

Wagenfeil * afTures us, he had both thefe
coins in his own poffeffion, of which he
gives the figures with the words on them,
in the fquare letters ; befides Abraham,
the Jews * fpeak of three more, that
coined money, Jojhua, JDavid, and Mor-
decai-, the coin of Jojhua had on one fide a
bullock, and on the other, an unicorn.
See Deut. xxxiii. 17. that of David's had
a ftaff and fcrip on one fide, and a tower
on the other j that of Mordecai's had
fackcloth and allies on one fide, and a
crown of glory on the other 5 elfewhere -j- it
is faid, it had Mordecai on one fide, and
E/iher on the other : there was alfo a coin
of Mofes -y I myfelf have feen a coin of
his r, having on one fide, his face, with
his ears horned, like rams horns, and un-
derneath is the word nt^D> in fquare cha-
racters, and on the other fide, the firft
commandment, in the fame character,
*p fVfV $h and thou Jh alt have no other God
before me -, and which exactly agrees with
one Mr. Selden ' had in his poffefilon,
found among fome rubbifh at Skene in

Surry.

« Sotah, p. 574, 575. * Berefhit Rabba, Parafh. 39.
fol. 34, 4. f Midrafli Efther, fol. 95, 4. r Penes
Mr. Richard Hall in Southwark. s De Jure Naturae,
1. 2. c. 6, p. 187.

t 92 ]

Surry, It will be faid, thefe coins are fpu-
rious -, the fame may be, and is faid of
thofe that have the Samaritan characters on
them; nor is there any reafon to believe
that thofe (hekels or coins which have on
them, Jerufalem the holy, and the fo eke I of
Jfrael, are any of them indifputably ge-
nuine. Ottius and Re/and, who have ap-
plied themfelves clofely to the ftudy of
thofe coins, have as good as confeifed it ;
and Spanheim, by what he has fai , ap-
pears to be in a very great doubt about it1.
The celebrated Charles Patin, fo famous
for his fkill in coins and medals, and who
had free accefs to the cabinets of all the
princes in Europe, declared many years
ago to the learned Chrijlopher Wagenfeil*
with great affurance, that he never found
in thofe collections, an Hebrew coin,
but what was manifestly fpurious : where-
fore thefe coins are not to be depended on,
nor can any fufficient argument be drawn
from them in favour of any hypothecs.
Moreover, it has been faid; that the anci-
ent Hebrew or Samaritan characters, were
given to the Cuthites or Samaritans, and

left

* Univerfal Hiftory, ut fupra, p. 303. u Ut fupra,
P. 576-

f 93 1

left with them out of hatred to them, and
that the fquare letters in the times of Ez-
ra were chofen, taken, and retained by
the yews . for their ufe ; but then how
comes it to pafs that the Samaritan charac-
ters were re-arTumed and infcribed on the
coins three hundred years after, namely,
on thofe of Simon the high prieft, of jfa-
nathan his brother, and of John Hyrcanusy
his fon, as the coins published by Mr.
Swinton (hew w ? and by Jobn Hyrcanus,
the 'aft of thefe, Samaria was deftroyed,
the temple in Gerizzim demolished, after
it had ftood two hundred years, and the
Samaritans made tributary to the yews;
and it is obfervable, that upon the coin of
HyrcamiSy on one fide are Samaritan let-
ters, and on the other Greek letters, and
which was ufual with the Carthaginians,
Syrians, and Sidonians ; and there is an in-
ftance of it in a coin of Demetrius : x and by
the way, this furnifhes us with an anfwer
to a queftion of Bianconi y, who afks, why
the Maccabees did not put Greek letters on
their money, a well known cuftom in

that

w Diflert. de Num. Samar. p. 46,49,61. x Montfaucon.
Diar. Italic, p. 355. / De Antiqu. Liter. Heb. p 23, 24.

[ 94 ]

that age, and common to all the eaft, for
it feems he never faw any -, and adds, that
Jewi/h coins with two forts of letters
Were never feen. But to proceed ; from the
different letters on the coin of Hyrcanus,
from the one, it can no more be inferred,
that Samaritan letters were in ufe among
the jfewsy than that from the other, Greek
letters were; and though I profefs no fkill
in coins, I mould think that the reafon of
thofe different characters were defigned by
Hyrcanus as an infult on both people, and
as a triumph over them, and to perpetuate
the fame of his conquefls both over the
Samaritans and the Greeks, or Syro Mace-
donians : however, it appears, that from
thefe coins no argument can be taken to
fupport the hypothens, that the ancient
Hebrew characters were the Samaritan ;
and indeed it is entirely inconnftent with
it ; for how does it appear that thofe let-
ters were left to the Samaritans, and
others taken by the Jews ? and it is alfo
clear that there is no neceffity to give into
the notion of a twofold character in ufe
with the Jews, the one facred, in which
their holy books were written, namely,
4 the

t 95 J

the fquare character ; and the other com-
mon, ufed in coins and civil affairs, as the
Samaritan-, to which fome Jews z and chris-
tians a feem to have been led by the above
coins ; for though the Egyptians b had their
facred characters and their common ones,
and fo had the Greeks e yet not the Jews,
whofe priefts had no juggling tricks to
play, as the priefts of Egypt and Greece
had -, and though fome later Jews have
given into the notion of a double charac-
ter, as in ufe formerly, yet it is not men-
tioned in their ancient writings, as if they
had one for the fancluary and facred ufes,
and another for common ufe ; the only
place I have met with, that feems to favour
it, is the Targum of "Jonathan, on Gen.
xxxii. 2. " and he called the name of the
" place in the language of the holy houfe,
" Mahanaim" which is not to be rendered
the language of the houfe of the fancluary,
or the temple, as by fome, fince that is
ufually called, t£Hp£ rV:i or tttJHplE, as ire
Gen. xxviii. iy3 22. and not KS^llp no as

here ;

*Maimon. & BartenorainMifn. Yadaim,c. 4. f. 5. a Vid.
Buxtorf. de Lit. Heb. f. 45 . b Herodot. Euterpe, five, 1 2.
c. 36. Diodor. Sicul. 1. i. p. 72. & 1. 3. p. 144. Clement.
Alex. Stromat. 1. 5. p. 555. c Theodoret. in Gen. Quseft.
60.

[ 96 ]

here ; but the language of the holy houfe*
or family, the people of God, that is, the
Hebrew tongue ; to which may be added,
an ancient writer among the chriftians, Ire-
nceus*, who fays, that" the ancient and nrfl
letters of the Hebrews, and called facer dotal,
are ten in number y but that he means to dif-
tinguifh them from any other letters or cha-
racters, ufed by the Hebrews, does not appear;
befides, he fpeaks only of ten, and what
he means is not eafy to fay -, however, by
them he cannot mean the Samaritan letters,
becaufe among thefe letters he reckons the
Tod, which he calls half a letter, which
cannot agree with the Samaritan Tod, but
does with that of the fquare character.

* Adv. Haeref. 1. 2. c 41.

CHAP.

[ 97 ]

CHAP. III.

Concerning the Original of the Samaritans*
their Language and Letters.

HAVING, in the preceding Chapter*
fhewn that it is probable that the
Hebrews always had the fame letters, with-
out any material change or alteration, and
which have been retained by them, and
are in ufe to this day; I {hall endeavour, in
this chapter, to make it appear as probable*
that the Samaritans always had diftinct
letters from the Jews, and retained them ;
fo that there never was any commutation
of letters between them : and in order to
fet this in as clear a light as I can3 it may
be proper to enquire into the original of
letters, and particularly of the Samari-
tans.

It is highly probable that there were let-
ters before the flood, as already hinted, and
fo before the confufion of tongues, which,
as the firft language they belonged to, were
pure and uncorrupt,and the original of others;
which firft letters were the Hebrew, that
H being

[ 98 ]

being the firft tongue, as Hermannus Hugo d
obferves ; nor, as he adds, did the figures of
letters begin to differ before the diverfity of
languages at Babel. But my enquiry is,
concerning the firft letters after the divifion
of tongues ; and thefe are claimed by vari-
ous nations : fome fay they were the inven-
tion of the Egyptians, others of the Phoeni-
cians, and others of the Chaldceans c. Many
afcribe the invention of letters to the Egyp-
tians, to the Thoth, Taautus, the Mercury
of the Egyptians, as Sanchoniatho f, Gellius g,
and others, as fome in Plato * ; but Pliny
fays h the P Phoenicians bear away the glory of
it ', and if fame is to be credited, as Lucan l
exprefTes it, they were the firft. that dared
to mark words by figures. Suidas -j- afcribes
the invention of letters to them, and i%
does Melak; but Vojfias, in hisobfervations
on him, is of opinion, that by letters he
means numbers, and that Arithmetic and
Ajironomy were the invention of the Phoe-
nicians,

d De prima Scribendi Orig. c. 3. p. 42, 43. e Theo-
philus ad Autolyc. 1. 3. prope iinem. f Apud Eufeb.
Evangel. Praepar. 1. 1. p. 31. s Apud Plin. Nat. Hift.
1. 7. c. 56. * In Philebo, p. 374. & in Phaedro, p.
1240. h Piin. 1. q. c. 12. l Phssnices primi, &c.Phar.
fal. 1. 3. v. 220. So Critias, apud Athenaeum, 1. i.e. 22.
p. 28. f In voce ypa.ppa.'w, and in Kao/xo?. k De Situ
Orbis, I. i.e. 12.

[ 99 ]
nicians, which need the affiftance of num-
bers ; and perhaps the true realbn why let-
ters have been thought to be found out by
them is, becaufe they firft brought them,
into Greece -, but as Dr. Cumberland 1 re-
marks, the Chaldeans and Ajfyridns will
not grant them this honour, but contend
for an earlier invention of them, and that
the inventors lived among them, and not
in Phoenicia, nor in Egypt ; and Pliny m is of
opinion, that the Ajjyrian letters were al-
ways, or that the Ajjyrians always had let-
ters ; which he confirms by the teftimonies
of Epigenes, Berofus and Critodemus, who
fay, they had obiervations of the ftars in-
fcribed on bricks, for a long courfe of years
paft ; as they might have from the begin-
ning of their nation, or nearly, and which
was very early : it was in their country the
confufion of tongues was made ; and their
language comes near to the Hebrew, the firft
and pure language, from which theirs is a
deviation ; and fo their letters might be
taken from theirs, though greatly cor-
rupted. Ellas * obferves that the Syrian
language is nearer!: to the holy, or Hebrew
language, of all languages ; and quotes
H 2 Aben

1 Sanchoniatho, p. igi. ™ Ut fupra, 1, 7, c. 56. * Pra?-
/"at. ad Methurgeman.

[ ioo ]

Aben Ezra as of opinion that the Syrian
language is no other than the holy tongue
corrupted ; which corruption Elias thinks
took place after Abraham departed from
Chaldea, though perhaps it might be fooner;
fo Ephrem Syrus, who well underftood that
language, fays *, that the Syrian language
has an affinity with the Hebrew, and in
fome refpects nearer reaches the fenfe of
the fcriptures ; and R. David Ganz -f* ob-
ferves, that thofe who were nearer! to the
place where the confufion was made, were
purer and nearer to the holy tongue, as th
Syrians and Arabians ; the Ajfyrian, Chaldee,
and Syrian language and letters were the
fame ; and they are of great affinity, if not
the fame, with the old Phoenician, now
called the Samaritan, as will be feen here-
after -, and the duels of their letters may
well be thought to be had from the He-
brew ; but as the Ajjyrians are the firfr. the
heathen writers had knowledge of, to
them they impute the original of letters,
as many do n. Diodorus Siculus ° relates,
that fome fay the Syrians (that is, the Af-

fyrians)

* Apud Bafil. in Hexaemeron, Homil. 2. f Tzemach
David, par. 2. fol. 4. 1. n Vide Alex. ab. Alex. Ge-
nial. Pier. 1, 2. c. 30. ° Bibliothec. 1. 5. p. 340. ,

[ 1°' ]

Jyrians) were the inventors of letters ; and
Eufebius alfo obferves p the fame, that fome
fay, the Syrians flrft devifed letters; and
he feems willing to allow it, provided that
by Syrians are meant Hebrews ; but no doubt
thofe writers intended the Syrians or AJfy-
rians, commonly fo called : fome, in Clemens
of Alexandria % join the AJfyrians and Phce-
nicians together, as the inventors of letters ;
but the real fact feems to be as follows :

The Phoenicians received their letters
from the AJfyrians or Syrians, and not from
the Hebrews, as fome have thought -, not
from Abraham the anceftor of them,
who, according to Suidas*, invented the
holy letters and language, the knowledge
of which he fays, the Hebrews had, as be-
ing his difciples and pofterity : that he in-
vented the letters and language, may be
doubted ; but that he fpoke it is not be
queftioned, fince he was forty-eight years
of age, when the confufion of tongues was
made, as before obferved, and therefore
fpoke the pure language ; yea, E/ias Le-
ruita • fays, it was clear to him that language
was confounded immediately after he went
H 3 from

P Praspar. Evangel, ut fupra. "J Stromat. 1. l. p. 307.
1 In voce A%xa/A. » Prsfat, ad Methurgeman.

[ I02 ]

from Chaldea, and that he and his ancef-
tors fpoke the holy tongue as received from
Adam, to Noab9 which may be admitted;
but it cannot by any means be admitted,
that when he came among the Canaanites,
that he either learned the primitive or He-
brew language from them, as fome have
fancied, which they neither had, nor he
needed, fince he fpoke it before -, or that
he taught it them. Eupo/emus and Artapa-
iius, who fay ', that Abraham taught the
'Phoenicians AJironomy, yet don't pretend
that he taught them letters ; nor is there
any foundation for the one or the other,
lince he chofe not to have fuch a free con-
verfation and fociety with them as thefe
required, who would not fo much as bury
his dead with them, nor fufFer his fon to
intermarry with them ; and the like pre-
caution ljaac his fon took with refpect to
Jacob, who for fome years was out of the
land, and when he returned, was but a
fojourner in it, as his fathers had been ; and
after a while went down with his pofte-
rity into Egypt, where they abode at lean:
two hundred years j and when they came

from

* A pud Eufeb. Prasnar. Evangel. I. 9. c 17, 18.

[ i°3 ]

from thence, and after forty years travel in
the wildernefs, and entered the land of Ca-
naan, the inhabitants were either deftroyed
by them, or they fled before them, and
even at the report of their coming*; and fo
had no time to learn a language of them,
or receive letters from them. Cadmus, the
'Phoenician, whom Ifocrates -j- calls the Si-
donian, is generally fuppofedtogo from Phoe-
nicia to Greece, in the times of Jojhua,
whither he carried letters, and therefore
muft be pofTerTed of them before Jq/bua
entered Ca?iaan ; he is faid to come to
Rhodes in Greece, and at Lindus to offer to
Lindia Minerva a brafs pot with Phoenici-
an letters on it ; and the huge ferpents,
who, upon his coming thither, are faid J to
wafte that country, feem to be no other
than the Hivites, the fame with the Cadmo-
nitesj Gen. xv. 19. which the word Bivites
fignifies, whom Cadmus brought with him
thither. Others of the Phoenicians or Ca-
naanites fled into Africa ', particularly the
Girgajites, as is alferted in the 'Jerufalem
H 4 Tat-

* Targum. in Cant. 3. 5. f Helens Laudat. in fine.
X Diodor. Sic. 1. 5 p. 329, ' T. Bab. Sanhedrii^

fol . 9 1 . 1 . 2

[ I04 ]
Talmud u, and is confirmed by Procopius w,
who fays they came into Numidia, where
they had a garrifon in the place where in
his time was the city of Tingis (now
called Tangier), where they erected two
pillars of white ftone, then in being, A. D.
540, which he himfelf faw and read, on
which inP/6^;z/<:/^ letters were written, "we
" are they that fled from the face of Jefus,
*' (ov jofouaj the robber, the Ion of Nave
u (or Nun J." Suidas * fays, it was written,
we are the Canaanites -, which is a full proof
they had letters before the times of Jo/hua,
and did not learn them of the Ifraelites
when they came into Canaan ; befides, it
is clear from the lcriptures alfo, that they
had letters before that time, as appears
from the names of fome cities among them,
particularly Debir, which in the Perjian
language, as Kimcbi* from the Rabbins fays,
fignifies a book; and which place was alfo
called Kirjath-fannab, and Kirjath-fepber,
which fignify, that it was a city where
either there was an academy for the in-

ftruction

n T. Hierof. Sheviith, fol. 37. 3. w Vandalic.l. 2. p. 13^.
apud Prideaux. Not. ad Marmor. Arundel. Tingit. p. 139,
140. Evagrii Ecclef Hift. I. 4. c. 18. * In voce yjawaiv, Co
Athanafius, contr. Gentes, p. 16. x Commen\ in Jud,
1. 1. T, Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 24. 2.

[ "5 ]

ilr uction of perfons, or a library of books,
or where the archives of the country were
kept, a city of Archives, as the Targum,
which fuppofes letters ; and the Septuagint
render it a city of letters, yofb. xv. 49. from
all which it feems plain, that the Phcenici-
ans or Canaanites did not receive letters
from the Hebrews, but rather from the Af-
fyrians or Syria?2s.

The Afyrians or Syrians, though they
may be difiinguimed, the one having their
name from AJhur, a fon of Shem, and the
other from Aram, 2. younger fon of his,
Gen. x. 22. hence they are called in Strabo y
Aramaeans or Arimei -, and in the times of
Ahaz king of Judab there were both a
king of Ajfyria, and a king of Syria, yet
thefe two names are often confounded, and
indifferently ufed by the ancients, as if the
fame people, Syria being commonly
thought to be a contraction of Ajfyria z >
fo Lucian of Samofata in Syria, calls him-
felf an AJfyrian % and on the other hand,
Tatian the AJfyrian, is called by Clemens of
Alexandria b, a Syrian ; thefe countries be-
ing contiguous, yea, the one a part of the

other,

yGeograph. I. 16. p. 540. 2 Univerfal Hiftory, vol. 2;
p. 255. * De Dea Syrise, p, 1 . b Stromac, 1. 3. p. 460,

[ "6 ]

other, they may very well be called the
one and the rfher -, the Syrians, according
to Suidas %;, have their name from the Af-
Jyrians -, hence IJidore c fays, whom the anci-
ents called Affyrians we call Syrians -, fo
Juftin d remarks, that the Affyrians, who
were afterwards called Syrians, held the
empire three hundred years ; and the fame
people who, according to Herodotus*, were
by the Greeks called Syrians, are by the
Barbarians called Affyrians, among whom
were the Chaldeans ; and Strabo obferves f,
that Semiramis and Ninus were called Syrians,
by the one Babylon the royal city was built,
and by the other Nineveh, the metropolis
of Affyria ; and that the fame language
was ufed both without and within the Eu-
phrates, that is, by the Syrians ftrictly fo
called, and by the Babylonians or Chaldcz-
ans : and it need not feem ftrange that the
Phoenicians mould receive their letters
from thefe people, fince they were their
neighbours, and lived fo near them. He-
rodotus g fpeaks of them as fpringing out
of Syria, and dwelling in Syria, and of

Phce-

* In voce Aa-crv^oi. e Orig. 1. 9. c. 2. d A Trogo
I. 1. c. 2. e Polymnia, five, 1. 7. c. 63. f Geograph.
1. 2. p. 58. 8 Clio, five, 1. i.e. 105. & Euterpe, five, 1, 2.
c. 116.

[ *°7 ]

Phoenicians and Syrians as together in Pa-
lefiine h. Phoenicia is often defcribed as in-
cluded in Syria, and as a part of it ; fo
Diodorus Siculus l, fpeaking of Caele- Sy-
ria, adds, in which Phoenicia is compre-
hended , and Strabo k fays, fome divide all
Syria into Coele- Syrians and Phoenicians ;
and Clemens of Alexandria x calls Phoenicia,
Phoenicia of the Syrians ; and IJidore m ob-
ferves, that £yr/tf has in it, the provinces
Comagene, Phoenicia, and Pale/line; fo P//-
#y n : P/&/7<? * the JVw afferts, that Phoeni-
cia, Coele- Syria, and Pale/line, went by the
common name of Canaan in the times of
Mofes ; and the Phoenicians and AJJyrians
are reckoned as one by Macrobius ° -, with
all which agree fome paffages of fcripture ;
the woman of Canaan, in Mat. xv. 22. is
called a Syro-Phcenician in .Mzr^ vii. 26.
fo the difciples are faid to fail into Syria,
and land at Tyre the chief city in Phoe-
nicia, ABs xxi. 3. and as their country
was much the fame, fo their manners ;
hence the proverb p, " the Syrians againft

the

h Euterpe, five, I. 2. c 104. & L 4. c. 89. f Bibliothec.
1. (8. p. 591. k Geograph. 1. 16. p. 515. ' Admon.
ad Grasc. p. 25. m Orig. 1. 14. c. 3. n Nat. Hilt. 1. 5.
c. 12. * De vita Mofis 1. 1. p. 627. ° Saturnal. I, i„
c. 21. p Vid. Suidam in voce <rv^o>, & Reinef. de Ling.
Funic, p. 1 j.

[ »°8 J

the Phoenicians" fignifying, their being a-
Jike as to temper and behaviour ; their re-
ligion and deities were the fame; the rites
of Adonis were common to them both ;
Adad, the god of the Ajjyrians \ is the fame
with the Adodus of the Phoenicians * ; fo
that, all things confidered, it may well be
thought they had the fame language and
letters, or nearly the fame. Annius of Vi-
terbo affirms % that the ancient AJfyrian
and Phoenician letters were the fame, who
certainly was a man of learning, for the
times he lived in, and very inquifitive, how-
ever culpable he might beinpublifhing fome
fragments as genuine, thought to be fpuji-
ous ; on which account perhaps he has been
a little too feverely treated by critics, as Dr.
Clayton late bi£hop of Clogher has obfervedb ;
and who is of opinion, that his fragment
of Berofus, fo much complained of, ought
not to be entirely rejected as fpurious ; and
the fame writer fays c, that the firft. Phoe-
nix, from whom the Phoenicians had their
name, and the firft Cadmus from whom

the

i Macrob. Saturnal. 1. i.e. 24. * Sanchoniatho apud

Eufeb. Prspar. Evangel. I. 2. p. 38. a Comment, in Xeno-
phon. de .^quivocis, p. 1 18. b Introduce. Chronolog. Heb.
Bible, p. 19 — 22. c Annii Comment, in Manethon. Sup.
plement. p. 97.

[ io9 1

the Greeks had their letters, fprung from
Syria; which Phoenix, who is faid by him
to reign in Sidon, according to Sanchoni-
atho d, was no other than Canaa?i the fon
of Ham ; for he fays, that <{ one of thefe
(the Phoenicians) IJiris was the inventor of
three letters, the brother of 'Chna (or Ca-
naan) who was firft called Phoenix.1'

The old Canaanitijh or Phoenician lan-
guage, and alfo the Punic, were the
fame ; hence Aujlin e fays, that the coun-
try-people living near him, who were a
colony of the Phoenicians, when afked who
they were, ufed to anfwer, in the Punic
language, Chanani, CanaaniUs. Now,
though this language was near the Hebrew
language, fo that the Hebrews and Cana-
anites could converfe together as to un-
derftand one another, which appears from
Abrahams converfation with them, Gen?
xiv. 1 8. — 24. and xxiii. 3. — 16. and from
the converfation of the Hebrew fpies with
Rahab the Canaanite, Jojh. ii. 9 — 21. and
from the names the Canaanites impofed on
their cities before they came into the hands

of

* Apud Eufeb. Prsepar. Evangel. 1. 2. c. 10. p. 39. * Ex-^
pof, Rom. Tom. 7. p. 363.

[ »° 3

of the Hebrews, as is evident from the
books of Jojhua and Judges, unlefs thofe
names were given them by Eber and his
fons, who dwelt here before the Canaan-
ites, as Dr. Lightfoot * fuggefts ; yet the
language was not altogether the fame, it
differed much, and efpecially in after-times,
and particularly in their colonies, where it
had the name of the Punic. Aujiin x hav-
ing remarked, that the Hebrews call Chrlft
MeJJiah, obferves, that " the word agrees
«c with the Punk language, as very many
ie Hebrew words, and almojl all do ;" which
may be true of proper names in particular,
but not of words in general. St. Jerom,
who underflood the Hebrew language bet-
ter than Aujiin, affirms, that the Canaan-
itijh or Punic language was bordering near
unto the Hebrew *, and in a great part near
unto it" 3 he does not fay, as Fuller w ob-
ferves, in the greater!: part, nor almoft in
every part, and ftill lefs in every part, but
in a great part ; and fo Origen x affcrts, that

the

s Works, vol. 2. p. 327. x Contr. Petil. 1. 2. p. 123.
Tom. 7. vid. Reinef. de Ling. Punic, c. 4. f. 4. p. 20.
* Trad. Heb. in Gen. fol. 71, M. u Comment, in
Ifaiam, c. 19. fol. 42. C. & in Hierem. c. 25. fol. 51. F.
Tom. 5. w Mifcellan. Sacr. 1. 4. c. 4. * Contr. Cel-
fum, ]. 3. p. 115.

t I" ]

the Hebrew language differs both from the
Syrian and the Phoenician, Jerom in one
place y fays, that the Canaanitijh or Punic
language is a middle language between the
"Egyptian and the Hebrew. Salmajius ■ fug-
gefts as if fome thought that the Punic
and Egyptian languages were the fame ;
which can by no means be admitted.

It feems mod probable what Jerom elfe-
where a obferves, that the Canaanitijh or
Phoenician language is the Syrian, or
nearly that -, and Aufiin b affirms, that the
Hebrew, Punic, and Syrian languages are
very near a-kin -, and mofl of the words
which he makes mention of as Punic,
are plainly Chaldee or Syriac ; fo mammon,
he fays % is the word for gain, in the Pu-
nic language, and is the Syriac word ufed
for riches in the time of Chrift, Luke xvi.
9. hence with the Phoenicians is the name
of a man Abdamamon d, which fignifies a
fervant of mammon, riches wealth, or gain,
fee Mat. vi. 24. fo he fays e blood, in the
Punic language is called Edom ; now in

the

v In Ifalam, ut fupra. * Not. in pallium Tertull.

p. 205. a In Ifaiam, ut fupra. " In Ioannem, Tr.

15. p. 58. Tom. 9. c De Sermon. Dom. 1. 2. p. 352.
Tom. 4. d Vid. Swinton. Infcript. Cit. p. 21. c £-
naxrat. in Pf, 136. p. 646. B.

[ H2 ]

the Hebrew tongue it is Dam ; but in the
Chaldee or Syriac tongue, it is, CHtf, or
CTtf, which are frequently ufed in the
Chaldee paraphrafes : he alfo obferves f Baal
in the Funic tongue, fignifies Lord, and
Samen heaven, and both together, Lord
of heaven, which with Sanchoniatho * a
Phoenician writer, is a deity of the Phoeni-
cians ; and fo Balfamen in the Pcenulus of
Plant us h, is manifeflly of a Chaldee or Sy-
riac termination : the above Phoenician
writer ' fpeaks of a fort of intelligible ani-
mals, whom he calls Zophajemin, and
which Philo Byblius, who tranllated his
work out of the Phoenician language into
Greek, interprets feers, or contemplators
of the heavens, which word alfo, is plainly
in the Chaldee or Syriac dialect; and
Kir c her k affirms, that he had in his pof-
feffion a fragment of Sanchoniatho, written
in the Aramaean or Syrian language. The
Maltefe, or the inhabitants of the ifland
called Melita, Acls xxviii. I . a colony of
the Phoenicians as Di odor us Si cuius l af-
firms,

f Qusft. fuper Jud. 1. 7. p. 130. B. Tom. 4. & A-

pud Eufeb. Przepar. 1. 2. p. 34. h Aft. 5. fc. 2. v. 67.

1 Apud Eufeb. 1. 2. p. 33. k Obelifc Pamphil.

p. in. apud Fabritii Biblioth. Gr. Tom 1. p. 164. ' Bib-

liothec. 1. 5. p. 294. 2

[ »*3 ]

firms, have in their language a great deal
of the old Phoenician or Punic unto this
day ; and it is obfervable, that their nu-
merals from two to eleven, end in a, and
from twenty to an hundred, in in m ;
which are exactly the terminations of the
fame numbers in the Chaldee or Syriac
dialect. The Carthaginians were another
colony of the Phoenicians, and the old
name of the city of Carthage was Car-
theda ; which, as Solinus n fays, in the Phoe-
nician language, Signifies the new city, be-
ing compofed of tfmp Kartha a city, and
KJ~nn new, which are both Chaldee words.
There was a city in Canaan, or old Phoe-
nicia, called Hadattah, or Hazor-Hadattah,
New Hazor, Jo/h. xv. 25. and another city
there is called Kerioth : another name of
Carthage we meet with in Plautus °, ap-
pears to be of Phoe?jician original, Gbadre-
anac, the chambers, lodging, or feat of A-
nak, that is, the Aiiakim, fuch as were in
old Canaan ; though, according to Dr.
Hyde p, the word fignifies, as he conjec-
tures, the new city alfo : and Bochart q has
I obferved

m See Univerfal Hiftory, vol. 17. p. 299. n Polyhiih
c. 40. So Ifidor. Orio;. 1. 14. c. 14. ' ° r'cenulus, Ad. 5.
fc. 2. v. 35. p Not. in Peritzol. Itinerar. Mundi, p. 44.

*» Canaan. 1, 2. c. 6.

[ H4 J

obferved many words in the Punic of Plait**
tus, which are in the Syrian dialedt ; and
there are feveral words in different authors
faid to be Punic or Phoenician, which are
manifeftly Chaldee or Syriac. Plutarch
fays % the Phoenicians call an ox Tbor,
which is the word ufed in Chaldee for it.
'Jonah's gourd, according to Jerom *, was
called Elkeroa in the Syriac and Punic lan-
guage,* as if they were the fame. Sanc-
tius l obferves, that in Spain a garden is
called by a Punic name Carmen, which
fignifies a vineyard, though fet with other
trees ; which Punic word, he makes no
doubt (as he need not) comes from the
Hebrew word Cerem, a vineyard, and
which in the Chaldee language in the plu-^
ral number is Cermin *, and Char mis * is the
name of a city given by the Phoenicians,
becaufe of the multitude of vines about
it. lfidore a, fays the Phoenicians call a
new village Magar-, the word is ufed by
Plautus in his Panulus w, where it fignifies
a place in Carthage, fome public building

there,

r Opera, vol. i. Vit. Sylloe, p. 463. s Comment, in
Jonam, c. 4. fol. 59. B. ' Comment, in Cantic. 1.6.
p. 58. * Stephan. de urb. ° Orig. 1. i$. c. 12. Co
Servius in Virgil. yEneid. lib. r. v. 369. w Prolog, v. 86.
rid. Philip. Pareum in lb. & Lexic Plautin.

[ i*5 ]
there, and it is the fame with the Syriac
word Magar, which fignifies an habitation 3
fo Anna in Virgil x, the fitter of Dido, or
£///#, who were both Phoenicians, and
daughters of Pygmalion king of Tyre, is
the Syriac name for Hannah. See Z,«£* ii.
36. Gtf^J or Cadiz, corruptly called
Cales, which belongs to Spain, the Phoe-
nicians called Gadir or Gadira, which in
the Punic language fignifies an hedge, as
is obferved by many y, and fo it does in
Chaldee ; the reafon of which name is, be-
caufe that place was hedged about on all
fides by the fea : the Syriac word Korean,
ufed by the Jews in Chritt's time for an
oath, Mark vii. 1 1 . is faid by Theophraf-
tus * to fignify the fame in the Punic lan-
guage ; and Lachman is ufed by Athenceus ft
for bread, which the Syrians fo call, and
which in Syria is the belt bread; and by
the Syrians and Syria, he means Phoenicians
and Phoenicia, where it feems it was fo
called, and is manifeftly a Chaldee word; as
is the word Nabla, the name of a mufical in-
I 2 ftrument,

x JEne\d. 1. 4. v. q. & paffim. 7 Feftus Avienus in Ora
Maritim.l. i. Solinus, c. 36. Plin. Nat. Hift. 1. 4. c. 22. Ifi-
dor. Orig. 1. 14. c. 6. 2 Apud Jofeph. contr. Apion, 1, 1.
f. zz. * Deipnofophift. 1. 3. c. 29 p. 113.

[ n6 J

Jftrument, faid by him * to be an invention;
of the Phoenicians ; as Sambuca is of the
Syrians, called the Phoenician lyre, the'
fame with the Chaldee Sabbeca, Dan. iii. 5.
there rendered fackbut. Paufanias -f ufes this
as a proof that Cadmus was not an Egyp-
tian, but a Phoenician ; becaufe Minerva
is not called by the Egyptian word Sais,
but by the Phoenician word Siga, which
comes from the Chaldee or Syriac word
tfJD to increafe or be increafed ; from all
which it appears, that the Chaldee or Syrian
language and the Phoenician are nearly the
fame, and fo the letters may be fuppofed
to be.

Let it be further obferved, that the
Greeks had their letters from the Phoenici-
ans, at leaft fixteen or feventeen of them, b'
which Cadmus, fome fay Linus J, brought
out of Phoenicia into Greece ; which, with-
out mentioning their number, is afferted
by Herodotus c, who fays, they were called
Cadmeian and Phcenicianlctters, and that he
faw fome of them at Thebes in Boeotia, en-
graved on fome Tripods there, and that they

were

* lb. 1. 4. c 23. p. 175. f Exotica, five, 1. 9. p. 560.
b Plin. 1. 7. c- 7. c. 56. Ireiisus adv. Haref. 1. i.e. 12.
Ifidor. Orig. 1. i. c. 3. I Suidas in voce Aoo,-. 'Terpfi*-
chore, five, i. 5. c. 58. 59.

[ *i7 1

were greatly like the Ionic letters -, the
iame fays Diodorus Sicu/us of the original
and names of thofe letters, and relates d,
that the brafs pot Cadmus offered to Mi-
nerva Lindia, had an infcription of Phoe-
nician letters on it : the Greeks therefore,
themfelves, acknowledge, that they had
their letters from the Phoenicians, as the
above writers affirm, and fo Euphorus %
Zenodotus f, and others -, hence Jofephus g
obferves, that they glory in it, that they
received them from them ; fo that this is a
matter out of queftion : and Bianconih is of
opinion, that the ancient Greeks ufed the
very letters of the Phoenicians ; and indeed
this feems to be the meaning of Herodotus,
in the place before referred to ; and Dic~iys
Cretenjis is faid l to have written his hif-
tory of the Trojan wars, in the Greek lan-
guage, but in Phoenician letters ; and fo
Linus and Orpheus wrote in the letters of
the Pelafgi, the fame with the Phoenician,
as fays * Diodorus ; and the Greeks for-
merly wrote as the Phoenicians did, from
1 3 the

d Bibliothec. 1. 3. p. 328, 329, 340. cApud Clem.
Alex. Stromat. 1. 1. p. 306. * In Laert. vit. Philofoph.
1. 7. p. 455. b Contr. Afion. 1. 1. f. 2. h De An-

tiqu. Liter. Heb. p. 59. i Vid. Fabritii Bibliothec. Gr.
1. i.e. 5. f, 10. p. 33 * Bibliothec. 1. 3. p, 200, 201.

[ "8 ]

the right to the left, for in this form was
the name of Agamemnon written, on his
ftatue at Olympiad ; and thus wrote the
Etrufci, who had their letters from the
Greeks -f, whofe ancient language was the
Aramaean or Syrian \ -, which way of wri-
ting by the Greeks, was gradually by little
and little difuied, and irTued in a form like
that of the ploughing of oxen, called
£vgoo(p'$ov, in which manner the laws of
Solon were written, as appears from Suidas c
and Harpocratiah d; that is alternately, from
the right to the left. Now as the Greeks re-
ceived their letters from the Phoenicians,
and there is a fimilarity of the letters of
the one to thofe of the other, as it is rea-
fonable to fuppofe there mould, and as He-
rodotus, upon his own fight, affirms there
was, as before obferved, nay, were the
fame ; fo there is a great likenefs between
the Greek and the prefent Samaritan let-
ters ; as the Samaritans wrote from the
right hand towards the left, if the poiition
of the Samaritan letters be inverted for that

pur-

* Paufan. Eliac. i. five 1. 5. p. 338. f Vid. Dicktn-
fon. Delphi Phaenic c. 10 & Reinefium <Je lingua, Pu-
nica, c. 12. f. 30. % Reinef. lb. c. 2. f. 16. c In
voce voftos. ** In OxecuSc*.

[ "9 ]

purpofe, as Mr. Bedford remarks k, the
letters will appear to be the fame , or, how-
ever, very much alike : the ufe to be made
of this will foon and eafily be perceived ;
for, as Bochart x reafons, this being the cafe,
it follows that the Samaritan characters are
the very fame which were\ifed in Phoenicia
in the times of Cadmus ; and it is acknow-
ledged by many learned men, that the letters
or characters of the ancient Canaanites,
that is, the Phoenicians, were either the
fame with, or very like to the Samaritan
characters m, or that the old Phoenician let-
ters, and the Samaritan are very fimilar,
and nearly the fame, fo that they may be
reckoned the fame *; and whereas theP/fo?-
nicians received their letters from the AJfy-
rians, or Chaldeans, it follows that the Sa-
maritan letters being fo like the Phoenician,
muft be the fame, or near the fame, with
the old AJfyrian and Chaldean characters ;
and that the people who are properly called
Samarita?is, had both theirlanguage and their
letters from the Chaldeans or Syrians, will

I 4 highly

k Chronology, p. 479. l Ep. Voflio col. 859.

m Univerfal Hiitory, vol. 2. p. 347. n Bochart. La-
naan 1. i.e. 20. col 451. Dr. Kennicott. Diflert. 2. p. ici,
1.56.

[ *20 ]

appear probable from the original of them,
next to be confidered.

It is amazing to me, that fome learned
men mould make the ten tribes of Ifrael
that revolted under Jeroboam, the original
of the Samaritans. Samaria indeed was
built in the times of Omri, a fuccefTor of
his, and not before, and by him, between
whom and Jeroboam, reigned Nadab, Ba-
afloa, Elab and Zimri, and this city alfo
became the metropolis of the ten tribes,
and was inhabited only by Ifraelites, tho'
never from hence were called Samaritans,
but Ifrael or Epbraim ; nor had they any
more connexion with the people after
called Samaritans than with the Scy-
thians and Tartars ; for it was not till after
the Ifraelites were carried captive into Af-
Jyria, that thofe, after called Samaritans,
were fent as a colony from thence to re-
people Samaria, which was entirely Grip-
ped of its inhabitants by the king of Affy-
ria ; nor does it appear that thofe who were
left in the land of Ifrael had any fociety
with this new colony, or mixed with 'em,
either in civil or religious things, but re-
turned, at leaft, many of them, to the
pure worfhip of God, and joined with the

tribe

f ?21 1

tribe of Judab, and put themfelves under
the government of the kings of it, and
went with that tribe captive into Babylon.
Nor is it clear that either thofe of the ten
tribes, or thofe of the two tribes, had any
thing to do with thefe Samaritans, for
three hundred years after their firft fettle-
ment in Samaria, nor they with them;
even until they were joined by fome rene-
gado Jews in the times of Manajfeb the
prieft, for whom a temple was built in.
Gerrizzim by Sanbal/at; the only inftance is
of the prieft fent from Ajfyria to teach
them the wormip of the God of the
land, which they very coolly and hypocri-
tically received, ftill continuing in the ido-
latry they brought with them, and in
which they continued to the times of Ez-
ra, 2 Kings, xvii. 27, 28, 29, 33, 44.
on which account the IJraelites that were
left in the land were obliged to keep at a
diftance from them, even when they firft
came among them, for had they joined them,
it may reafonably be thought, there would
have been a prieft, who, though of Jero-
boams religion, could have inftructed them
as well as the prieft fent from among the
captives in Ajfyria, who alfo muft have

been

[ 122 ]

been of the fame fort : now, either there
were no priefts left in the land, or, if there
were, they had not joined the Samaritans,
and though they had officiated in Jerobo-
ams idolatry, did not chufe to join them
in theirs ; and certain it is, that in the
times of Ezra and Nehemiab, the Je&s
would have nothing to do with the Sama-
ritans, efpecially in religious things, Ezra
iv. i, 2, 3. Nehemiab ii. 20. and though
under the influence of Sanballat their
governor, they received the renegado Jews
with his fon -in-law Manajfeh at the head
of them, it does not appear that they cor-
dially embraced them, fince in any time
of trouble the Jews were in, [they did
not care to own they had any connexion
with them ; fo in the times of Antiochus
Epif banes, by whom the Jews were greatly
diftrefTed, they wrote unto him, and de-
fired they might not be confidered as of the
fame religion with the Jews, and be in-
volved with them in the fame diftrefs ;
fince, though their anceftors had been
forced into a compliance with fome parts
of their worfhip, yet they affured him
they were different from them, both in
their manners or cuftoms, and in their

original ;

[ !23 ]

original ; and, whereas they had built art
altar on mount Gerizzim, not dedicated to
any deity, they defired it might, for the
future be called the temple of the Gn?-
cian Jupiter"; though, at other times,
when the circumftances of the Jews were
more favourable, then they claimed kin-
dred with them, and derived their defcent
from Jofeph, and his fons Manajfeh, and
Ephraim °, as they did from Jacob in the
times of Chriji ; and yet then the Jews
had no dealings with them, John iv. 9, 12,
and they are manifeftly diftinguifhed by
our Lord himfelf from the Jews, and from
the loft fheep of the houfe of Ifraef,
Matt. x. 5, 6. John iv. 22. What is faid
in favour of the Samaritans by Jewifli
writers, as by Maimonides *, and by Oba-
diah Bartenora -f-, mult be underftood as
expreffing the opinion their anceftors had
of them, after they embraced the Jewi/b
religion ; in which they thought they were
hearty and fincere, and fo gave credit to
them, until the wife men of Ifraef, as
they fay, made a ftricl enquiry about 'em,

and

" Jofeph. Antiqu. 1 iz. c. 5. f. 5. ° Ibid. 1. 11. c. 8.
f. 6. * Comment, in Mifn. Beracot, c. 8. 8. f Com-
ment, in. Ib.c. 7. 1.

I 124 ]

and found that they worfhipped the image
of a dove -, after which they reckoned
them as other idolatrous heathens, and would
have nothing to do with them, as is af-
ferted by them in thofe very paifages where
the character is given of them, as ftricl: ob-
iervers of the written law *.

A late writer p fuggefts, that Jerobo~
am not only coined a new religion by the
help of his priefts, but a new language
and letters, to keep the people clofe unto
him, which language he fuppofes to be
the Samaritan ; but this is faid without'
any proof, or ihadow of probability; and
with equal probability is what Genebrard q,
from a Jewijh writer, afferts, and which
perhaps may better fuit the hypothecs of a
change of letters, than where it is com-
monly placed j that " the Jews in Rehobo-
" ams time, that they might not join with
*' the fchifmatic Ifraelites, in anyufe of fa-
te cred things, contrived the form of letters
** which are now ufed, i. e. the fquare
■** letters, changing their former figures,

*< and

* Vide Guifium in lb. p Kalf. Diflert. Philolog. de
Ling. Heb. Natal, p. 72. «. Chronolog. ad A. M.

3203. e Mofe Gerundenfe.

t *«* i

u and left thofe which have been fincc
" called the Samaritan letters ;" but, the
Samaritans had their original language
and letters elfewere ; and from whence
they had them, may be concluded from
the account given of them in 2 Kings xvii.
24, 30, 31. where the places from whence
they came are expreily named, and the ido-
latry they brought with them fully de-
fcribed, and in which they continued } and
by confidering which, it will appear, that
they were originally Chaldeans or Phoeni-
cians, and had the fame religion, language,
and letters they had ; fome of them were
brought from Babylon, the metropolis of
the Chaldean empire, and perhaps the
greater part, fince they are firft mentioned ;
and whoy no doubt, brought with them
their language and letters, the Chaldean, as
they did their idolatry; for they made Juccoth
benoth, or the tabernacles of the daughters,
or booths of Venus, as Selden rthinks it may
be rendered ; and which may have refpect to
the apartments in the temple of Mylitta,
or Venus in Babylon, the like to which

thofc

7 De Dif. Syr. Syntagm. 2. c. 7 p* 71 1-

[ »26 ]

thofe people made in Samaria, in whicli
women, once in their lives, profKtuted
themfelves to whomfoever afked them, in
honour of Venus ; of which filthy prac-
tice, Herodotus s makes mention ; and from
the Babylonians the "Phoenicians had the
fame cuftom, their women proftituted
themfelves before their idols, and dedicated
their gain to them, being ftrongly per-
fuaded they would be propitious to them,
and they mould enjoy profperity, as Atha-
najius f affirms ; and Valerius Maximus " re-
lates, that they had a temple called the tem-
ple of Sicca Venus, which is near in found
to fuccoth Benoth, where their matrons be-
fore marriage proftituted their bodies for
gain; and there was ^Phocnici an colony, three
days journey from Carthage, called Sicca
Veneria w; to which may be added, that it
was a cuftom with the Cyprians, another
colony of the Phoenicians, for virgins be-
fore marriage to proftitute themfelves, and
give their gain to Venus x ; by all which, it is
plain from whom thefe Samaritans received
their impiety and impurity : others of thefe

people

3 Clio, five 1. i. c. 199. l Contr. Gcntes, p. 21. n Di£l.
& Fad. Memorab. 1. 2. c. 6. f. 15. w Ptolem. Geograph.
I. 4. c. 3. vid. Reinef. de Ling. Punic c. 8. f. 28. & Riviit.
deMajumis, c. 7. f. 26. x JuiUn. e ! rogo 1. 18. c. 5.

[ I27 I

people were brought from Cuthah, or
Cutba9 a city in Erec, a province of Baby-
lon y, where it is faid Abraham lived ; the
Samaritans are commonly called Cittbim, or
Cuthites in Jewifh writings * ; and fo thefe
were of the fame country with the former,
and had the fame language and letters in.
all probability ; the idol they made for
themfelves was Nergal, which is part of
the name of two of the princes of Baby-
Ion, it being ufual with great perfonages im
the eaft, to take their idols into their names,
See jfer. xxxix. 3. this name according to
Hillerus, fignifies the fountain of light,
and denotes the fun the Babylonians wor-
shipped : the next that were brought to
Samaria by the king of Ajfyria were brought
from Ava the fame with Iva, If xxxvii. 17.
and perhaps the fame with the Avim, Deut.
ii. 23. a people that formerly dwelt in
Bbcenicia, or on the borders of it, from
whence might be a colony of them in the
country ©f Ajfyria or Babylon ; in the Septua-
gent verfion of v. 31. they are c ailed Hivites,
which were one of the feven nations of

Canaan*

y Hyde Hift. Relig. Vet. Perf. c. 2. p. zq, 40. * T. Bab.
Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 1. Vid. Pirke EUezer, c. 26. fol.
a6. 2. and c. 38,fol. 44. z.

[ 128 ]

Canaan, or of old Phoenicia, the remain's
of which had fettled in thofe parts -, thefe
had for their idols, Nibhaz and Tartak,
which according to Hillerus b, fignify the
one the remote one feet h, that is, the fun
which beholds all things, and the other
a chain, denoting either the fixed liars
chained to their places, or the Satellites, of
the planets fixed to their orbs, worfhipped
by the Chaldeans and AJfyrians : the next
came from Hamath, a city in Syria, on
the northern borders of the land of Ca-
naan, Numb, xxx iv. 8. their idol is called
Afiima, which, as Hillerus c fays, was with
the Arabs, the name of a lion, the fymbol
of the fun j which might be worshipped by
thefe men, under this name, as the fun
was the chief object of the worfhip of the
AJfyrians and Phoenicians, as Macrobius d
obferves : the laft of this colony of the Sa-
maritans, were men that came from Se-
fharvaim, which was either the Sipharab
of Ptolemy*, in Mefopot ami a, or that which
was near Babylon. Abydenus f makes men-
tion

b Onomaftlc. facr. p. 6o5. c lb. p. 609. A Satur-

nal. 1. 4. c. 21, 42. e Geograph. 1 5. c. 18. f Apud

Eufeb. Prsepar. Evangel. 1. 9. c. 41. p. 457.

[ '29 J

tlon of, or rather, as Vitringa thinks*,
a city in Syro-Phcenicia9 or a province in
which Abydenus h places Heliopolis, namely
Ccele- Syria ; and it is certain the idolatry
thefe men were guilty of, is the fame
with that of the old Canaanites or Phoe-
nicians, who burnt their children in the fire
to Molech, Lev. xviii. 21. as thefe did to
Anammelech and Adrammelech, the fame
with Molech, as the word Melech with
which they end, (hews, which fignifies
king, as Molech does : that the Phoenicia
tins facrificed their children to Saturn or
Molech, is obferved by Pliny *, Eiifebius k,
and Athanajius \ hence thofe words of En-
nius, " poeni funt foliti, fuos facrificare
<c puellos," as did the Carthaginians, a co-
lony of the Phoenicians, which is affirmed
by Porphyry m, 'Jufiin n, Curtius °, Pefce-
nius Fe/lus p, Diodorus Siculus % and others ;
from all which it clearly appears, that the
Samaritans fprung from the Afjyrians or
Chaldeans, and the Phoenicians ; and fome-
times they would call themfelves Sido-

K nians,

s Comment, in Ifaiam, c. 36, 19. h Apud Eufcb. ut
fjpra c. 12. ' Nat. Hift. I 36. c. 5. k DeLaud.
Conftantin. p. 646. ' Contr. Gent. p. 21. m De Ab-
ftinentia, 1. 2. c. 27. n E Trogo, 1. 18. c. 6, and 1. 10.
c 1. ° Hift. 1. 4. c. 3. p ApudLa&ant. Inftitut. 1. 1.
c, 21. * Bibliochec. 1. 20. p. 756. 789.

[ *3° 1

nians ', from Sidon, a chief city in Phtem-
cia ; fo that they may well be thought to
bring with them to Samaria, the language
and letters of the A Syrians and Phcenicians :
and certain it is, that the Samaritans ufed
the Syrian tongue and letters, Ezra iv. 7.
the fame with the Chaldee, Dan. i. 4, and
2. 4. more than two hundred years after
they came to Samaria ; for their epiftle to
the king of Perjia was written, in that
language and letters ; and according to
yc/ep/jus*, the Syrians, Pheenicians, Am-
monites, and Moabites, joined the Samari-
tans in it ; and with great propriety did
they ufe them in writing to a king of
P<erjia, fince the Perjians and Syrians, for
the mod part, ufed the fame letters and
characters, as Epiphanius* arTerts. jferom*
is clear in it, that the old Canaanitifi or
old Phoenician language is the fame with
the Syrian ; and that the Samaritan lan-
guage approaches nearer to the Chaldee or
Syriac, than to the Hebrew, is affirmed by
Bochart u -, and whoever has but dipped

into

r Jofeph. Antiqu. I. It. c. 8. f. 6, & 1. 12.C. 5. f. 5.
* Antiqu. 1 n. c. 2. f. 1. s Contr. Hseref. \.z.

hreref. 66. f Comment, in If. xix. fol. 29. I. u Epift-
Voflio, col. 860.

[ »3* i

into the Samaritan verfion of the Penta-
teuch, will eafily perceive it is in the Chal-
dee dialed:, here and there an Hebrew
word ; and it is not to be wondered at,
that they mould get into their language,
when fome of the Jews had mixed them-
felves with them 5 and Walton w owns the
fame, that the dialect of the Samaritan
verfion is of the fame kindred with the
Chaldee language, though it has fome few
words proper and peculiar to itfelf j and fo
F. Simon * fays, that the Samaritan verfion is
Written in the Syro-Chaldean language, not
impure, which mews the antiquity of it.
There are three dialects of the Syriac lan-
guage, as Abidpharagius y, an Arabic writer
relates -, the Aramcean, the moft elegant of
all, which the inhabitants of Roha, Harran,
and outer Syria ufed ; that of Paleftine^
which was fpoken by the inhabitantsof Da-
mafcusy mount Libanus, and interior Syria %
and the Chaldee Nabatbean dialect, the mofl
unpolifhed of all, ufed by thofe who dwelt
on the mountains of the Affyrians, and in the
villages of Erac or Babylonia ; which latter
very probably, was fpoken by the Samari-
K 2 tans*

w Prsefat. ad Introduft. Ling. Oriental, f. 25. *Difqu,
Critic, c. 11. p. 88. r Hift. Dynait. p. 16, 17.

[ *32 1
tans. What were the antient Syrian or Af~
fyrian letters can only be concluded from
the old Phoenician, which appears to be
the fame with the modern Samaritan -, for
fince the Phoenicians received their letters
from the Syrians, or Affyrians, they mull
be nearly the fame. The ufual Syr lac cha^-
rafters, in which are written the verfions
of the Old and New Teftament, are com-
paratively of a late date and ufe, being in-
troduced by the chriftians of Antioch ;
who, in imitation of Daniel and Ezra,
had ufed the Hebrew character, but
changed it for thofe now in ufe, becaufe
they would have nothing in common with
the Nazarenes or Ebionites ?: the more un-
ufual, and more ancient character is the
Efirangelo, ufed only now for capitals, and
frontifpieces and titles of books, which is
rough and unpolifhed, and bears a refem-
blance to the old Phoenician or Samaritan ;
and Mr. Caflell z is exprefs for it, that the
EJlrangelo is the Chaldee character; for that
the Affyrians and Chaldeans ever ufed the
fquare character of the Hebrews cannot be

proved,

'■> Boderian. Prasfat. ad Lex Syro-Chald. Wahon Praefat. ut
iupr^, i 35. T Lexic. Heptoglott. col. 178. vid. Pfefferi

Critica facta, f. 2. problem. Queft. ».

[ *33 ]
proved, fince we have no writings of theirs
extant ; for what Chaldee books we havev
were written by Jews, either in, or after
the Babyhnijh captivity ', as by Daniel, and
Ezra, who wrote Chaldee in the fquare
character, becaufe it was what their facred
books were written in, they had been ufed
to, and the people alfo, for whofe ufe they
wrote •, and in after times, the Chaldee
paraphrafes were written by Jews-, and fo
both Talmuds, though lefs pure ; and it
feems this character was ufed by the Syri-
an chriflians, in imitation of the Jews, be-
fore their change of characters already
mentioned ; but after the Chaldee monarchy
ceafed, no books were written by any of
that people in their own language. Bero-
fus the Chaldean, and others, wrote in
Greek. Theophilus of Antioch a indeed fays,
that Berafus fhewed the Greeks Chaldee let-
ters ; but whether by them he means
their learning, laws, and hiftory, or the
characters of their letters, is not cer-
tain ; if the letters, it does not appear
what they were : hence Hottinger h con-
K 3 eluded

a Ad Autolyc.l. 3. p. i?9- b Smegma oriental, par. i.
p. 35. Gram. Chald. Syr. p. 4.

[ '34 ]

eluded that the ancient character of the
Ajfyrians and Chaldeans is unfeen, and un-
known, and that nothing certain is had
concerning it ; fome, he fays, think it
is the Samaritan) which is right, others,
the Ethiopic ; but he himfelf was in fu£-
pence, and hoped, that in fome time would
be publifhed by Golius, fome Chaldee wri-
tings, in the ancient tongue and character j
but whether any ever were publifhed, I
never heard. The Jews fayc, that after
the hand-writing of the angel upon the
wall, and the publication of the Hebrew
characters by Ezra, the Chaldeans left their
own characters, and ufed them ; but this
feems to be faid without any good founda-
tion, • =

Now, fince both the Samaritan language
and letters differ from the Hebrew, being
the old Vhcenician and Aflyrian-y it was ne-
ceffary that, when the Pentateuch of Mo-
fes was brought among them, it fhould
be copied, and put into Samaritan letters,
that they might read it? ask was, and that
from a copy in the fquare character, as

the

e Buxtorf, de Lit. Heb. Addit.

5

[ *f$ ]

the variations mew, before obferved ; and
it was necefTary alfo, that there mould be
a verfion of it in their own language, that
they might the better underftand it, and
which alfo has been done; and upon the
whole, I think it plainly appears, that they
always retained their own language and
letters, which were the Affyrian and old
Thcenician, to the times of Manajfeh their
high prieft, and ages after, as the Hebrews
retained their language and letters alfo,
the fquare ones ; fo that there feems to be
no foundation for any fuch change of let-
ters being made by Ezra, as has been con-
tended for.

CHAP.

t 136 ]

CHAP. IV.

Of the Antiquity of the Vowel-Points,
and Accents,

IPut the vowel-points and accents toge-
ther, becaufe, according to the doc-
trine of them, they have a dependence on
each other ; the points are often changed
according to the pofition of the accents,
and therefore the One muft be as early as
the other ; and as Elias Levita b himfelf
obferves, " there is no fyllable without a
" point, and there is no word without an
u accent." About the antiquity of thefe
there has been a controverfy for a century
or two part, and which is not yet decided;
nor do I expecl: it will be by this eiTay of
mine ; all that I propofe is, to try how far
back, or how high, in point of antiquity,
thefe things can be traced and carried.

There have been divers opinions con-
cerning them. Some think they are of a di-
vine original ; and others, that they are of
human invention. Some fuppofe that they

were

* Sepher TobTaam, five, de accent, c, 4.

[ 137 1

were firft invented by Ben A/her and Ben
Napbtali, about the year 1037'; others,
that they were devifed by the Jews of Ti-
berias, 500 years after Chrift at lead:, or
however were invented after the Talmud
was finimed f ; others afcribe them to Ez~
ra and the men of the great fynagogueg;
who they fuppofe, at lean: revived and re-
ftored them, and fixed them to the confo-
nants, which before were only delivered
and ufed in a traditionary way ; and others
are of opinion, they /were given to Mofes
on mount Sinai, as to the power of them
in pronouncing and reading, though not as
to the make and figures of them in wri-
ting, but were propagated by tradition to
the times of Ezra ; whilft others believe
they were ab origine h, and were invented
by Adam together with the letters, or how-
ever that they were coeval with the letters,
and in ufe as foon as they were : which ac-
count is mod probable, may appear by
tracing them ftep by ftep, from one period

of

e SoMorinus de Sinceritate Heb. & Gr. Text. 1.2. Ex-
ercitat. 14. c. 1. Genebrard. chronolog. p 181. Calmet.
&c. f Elias Levita, prsfat. 3. g Ben Chayim

praefat. Bibl. in principio & multi fcript. Jud " Cofri

par. 4. f. 25. Mufcatus in ib. fol. 229. 1. Meor Enayim.
c. 59.

[ 138 1

of time to another -, and to begin with the
loweft of them,

A. D. 1037.
In this year, according to R. Gedaliah*
and David Ganz f, flourifhed two famous
Jews, Ben AJher., and Ben Naphtali, to
whom fome have afcribed the invention of
the vowel-points; and fo early, however,
it is owned that they exifted, even 700
years ago and more : but that thefe were
the inventors of them is not probable, fince
in the following century lived many emi-
nent Jewifh doctors, jfarcfo', Kimchi, and
Aben Ezra, who often make mention of
the points, but never as a novel invention ;
which, had thefe been the authors of, it
can hardly be thought, but that they would
have made mention of them as fuch, and
commended them for it. Kimcbi* obferves
againft thofe that read Adonai lord, and im-
mecha with thee, in Pf. ex. I, 3. inftead
of Adoni my lord, and ammeca thy people,
" that from the rifing of the fun to the fet-
" ting of it, (i. e. throughout the world)

" you

• Shalfhalat Hakabala fol. 28. 2. f Tzemach Da-

vid par. » . fol. 37, 1 . s Apud Pocok. Porta Mofis

miicell. not. p. 58.

[ 139 ]

0 you will find, in all copies, Nun with
ft cbirek, and Aw with patbacb :" fo that in
his time pointed bibles were in common and
general ufe, Befides, he charges Jerom
with an error on account of the points, and
therefore muft believe they were in his
time. The author of the book of Cofri, h
even if R. Judab Hallevi was the author
of it, lived about 1 140, or as others, 1089 ;
and he fpeaks of punctuation as a divine
thing, as the effect of divine wifdom, and
does not appear to have the leaft notion of
its being of human invention, and much
lefs the invention of the prefent age or
preceding century 3 nay R. Judab Cbtjug,
laid* to be the firft grammarian and the
chief of them, he found the Bible pointed
and accented, as Elias Levita k fays ; and
he was coeval with Ben AJher, and wrote
a book of the double letters, and another
of pointing, l as if it was of long time
and generally received, and was become an
art ; he makes not the leaft mention of
Ben Ajher being concerned in it ; and lb
R. Jonab, another grammarian, a little af-
ter him, is filent concerning this matter1";

and

h Par. 3. c. 32. ' Balmefii Mikneh Abraham

p. 24. lin. 10. Elias prasfat. Methurgeman, fol. 2. I. k lb.
' Wolfii Bibliothec. Heb. p. 338. 424. m Vid. Buxtorf.

de Punft. Antiq. par. 2. p. 329.

[ HO ]

and Aben Ezra fpeaks 8 of Ben Labraf,
who was before 'em both, as having found
flinn with pat bach in Pf. ix. 6. in an an-
tient pointed copy; fo that there was an
antient pointed Bible before thefe men were
in being: and what puts it out of all doubt
that thefe men could not be the inventors
of the points is, as Elias Levita obferves, °
that their distentions and difputes were a-
bout the points and accents, and about
words before pointed, and not then pointed ;
wherefore it is not reafonable to fuppofe
that they would difagree and difpute about
what they themfelves had invented ; fo
that it moft evidently appears, that the
points muft be in ufe before their time.

A. D. 927.

About this time lived Saadiah Gaon,
who wrote a book concerning pointing,
which Jarcbi, on Pf. xlv. 9.mak,es mention
of, and fays he faw it -y the points there-
fore muft be before his time; for it cannot
be thought that he mould write a book
concerning an art, and the rules of it, which
did not exift : the accents alfo muft then
be in ufe, iince, as Gaon was for dividing

* Comment, in Pf. 9. 6. ° Praefat. 3.

[ Hi 1

Jehovah from righteoufnefs in Jer. xxiii.
6. making the latter to be the name of the
Meffiah, and the former the name of God,
who called him fo. Aben Ezra* replies
to him, that he miflook or perverted the
author of the accents, and made him guilty
of an error, who put Tarcha (or TtphcaJ
on IfcOp*; and again, whereas the word
Jehovah is repeated in Exod. xxxiv. 6. Gaon
obferves that the firft. name is to be con-
nected with fcHp1!, proclaimed-, but Aben
Ezra* replies, if it mould be fo, why did
not the author of the accents connect it ?
but fays he, it is right to repeat the name,
as Abraham Abraham, Jacob Jacob, Mo-
Jes Mofes. Now it would have been abfurd
in Aben Ezra to have charged Gaon with
a miilake or perverfion of the accents, if
they were not in beingin the times of Gaon:
he lived many years before Ben AJJoer and
Ben Naphtali ; this proves that they were
not the inventors of them ; and Aben Ez-
ra himfelf lived in the next century to
them, and he fpeaks of the accents not as
a novel invention, but of as early ufe as
the men of Ezra's great fynagogue ; and

ex-

* Comment, in Exod. 18. 3. 1 lb. in Exod 54. 6.

[ '42 3

exprelfes fuch an high opinion of them,
that he advifes not to acquiefce in any ex-
pofition that is not according to them, nor
hearken to it.

A. D. 900.

In the church of St. Dominic in Bononia,
a copy of the Hebrew fcriptures is kept
with great care, which is pretended to be
the original copy written by Ezra himfelf,
and is valued at a high rate ; fo that fome-
times the Bononians have borrowed large fums
of money upon it, and repaid them for the
redemption of it. It is written in a very fair
character, on calf-fkin drefs'd, the letters
retaining their blacknefs, and it is made
up in a roll, according to the antient man-
ner. This copy was prefented by the Jews
to Aymericus, the then mafler of the or-
der of St. Dominic, who exercifed that of-
fice about the year 1308, as Montfaucon r
relates, who faw it ; and who further ob-
ferves, that befides a Latin infcription
fewed to it in the middle of the volume,
which he gives, there is alfo one in He-
brew, " this is the book of the law of Mo-

* Diar. Italic, p. 399. 400. vid. ejufdem Prjeliminar. in
Hexapla Origen. p. zz.

[ 143 1
" fes, which 'Ezra the fcribe wrote, and
" read before the congregation, both men
" and women ; and he ftood in a wooden
" pulpit." Montfaucon fays not whether it
is pointed or no, but dean Prideaux f fays,
it has the vowel-points ; and Francifcus
<TiJfardus Ambaceus ailerts * the fame, who
fays he often faw it -, as did alfo Arias Mon-
tanus, u and who affirms that it has the Ma-
jorat), the fame as in the Venetian and
Bombergian editions. Now though there is
no reafon to believe it to be the autograph
of Ezra, nor near fo early, yet, according
to the account of it, it muft be antient -,
for it is near 460 years ago fince it was pre-
sented by the Jews to the monaftery, and
as they prefented it as a very antient copy,
even as the autograph of Ezra, it muft
have had then marks of antiquity on it,
and muft have been written fome ages be-
fore; and as Dr. Kennicott™ obferves, it
is a moderate fuppofition to imagine it was
written as long before it was prefented, as
it has been fince, and fo muft be of as
early a date as where I have placed it.

A. D.

r Connection, par. i . p. 362. * Gram. Heb. apud

Hottinger. Thefaur. Philolog. p. 512, 513. u Pras-

fat. de ver. Left, in Heb. Lib. * DiiTertation, voL

1. p. 310.

[ H4 ]

A. D. 740.

If the book of Cofrii before-mentioned,
was .not only compiled from loofe fheets
and put together by R. Jtidah Hallevi, as
fome think; but that the dialogue itfelf
was had between a Jew, whofe name, fome
fay, was Ifaac Sangari, and a Per pan king,
whofe name was C ho/roes, and which R. Ju-
dab fays, was 400 years before his time, fo
he fuggefls in the beginning of the book ;
and whereas he flourifhed about the year
1140, this book mufl be compofed, or
this dialogue held, about the year 740.
Now in this work the points and accents
are much ipoken of, in which the author
commends the excellence and elegance of
the Hebrew tongue on account of them;
gives many of the names of both, and
declares the ufefulnefs of them; afTerts
that they were received by tradition from
Mojes ; that they are the production of ad-
mirable wifdom, and would never have
been received had they not come from a
prophet, or one divinely affifted x ; and he
does not give the leaft, hint of their being
of an human, and much lefs of a modern

in-

x Cofri, par. 2. f. 8c. & par. 3. f. 31, 32.

[ HS ]

invention ; yea, exprefly afcribes the fevzn
kings or vowel-points, as Aben Ezra alio
calls them, to Ezra and the men of his fy-
nagogue, and which he fuppofes they re-
ceived by tradition from Mofes.

A. D. 600.
Those whoafcribe the invention of the
points to the Jews of Tiberias, fuppofe that
this was after the year 500, when the Ba-
bylonian Talmud was finifhed. Their rea-
fon for it is, becaufe, as they affirm, no
mention is made of them in that work, and
therefore the invention of them muff, bo
later than that; but of this more hereafter.
However, according to this hypothecs, one
would think they muft have been invented
and in ufe by the time above given ; though
indeed thofe who efpoufe this hypothecs,
are at a very great uncertainty about the ex-
act time of this invention. The firft per-
fon that broached this notion was Elias
Levita, a Germa?i Jew, who lived in the
16th century, contrary to the fentiments
and belief of his whole nation ; who either
fuppofe the points were from Ezra, and the
men of the great fynagogue, or from Mo-
Jes at mount Sinai, or from Adam who had

L them

f 146 ]

them from God himfelf. This man affer-
ted,y that after the finilhing of the Tal-
mud, which he places in the year 436, af-
ter the defolation of the fecond temple,
arofe the men of 'Tiberias ; wife and great
men, expert in the fcripture, and in pu-
rity and in eloquence of language excelled
all the Jews in thofe times ; and after them
did not arife any like them, and that thefe
were the authors of the points : this is faid
without offering the lead proof of it, and
by one that lived near a thoufand years af-
ter j it is ftrange that he only mould be in
this fecret ; that no hiftory, Jewifh nor
Chriftian, mould make mention of it for
fuch a courfe of years : it is not probable
that there were fuch a fett of men at Tibe»
rias about the time fuggefted, lince a great
destruction of the Jews was made at it,
in the year 352, by G alius 9 at the com-
mand of Conjlantius ; and fince promotion
to doclormip ceafed in the land of IJrael
with Hillell the prince, who flourifhed a-
bout the year 340, as the Jeivi/h chrono-
Jogers * obferve : and fince the flourifhing
university of the Jews was at Babylon at

the

* PraTat 3. ad Maloret! * Shallhalct Hakab-la

fjol. 25. z. Gau z. Tzraacli David, fbl. 33. I.

[ 147 1

the time of this pretended invention, very
unlikely it is, that it fhould be done with-
out their knowledge, advice, and afliftance,
and without either approbation of it, or
oppofition to it by any of them, for ought
appears ; and that it mould be univerfally
received by the Jews at once every where,
and not one Momus to find fault, this is
very extraordinary ; yea, that it fhould be
received by the Karaite Jews themfelves,
enemies to tradition and innovation, as
will be feen hereafter. It is ftrange that,
according to this fcheme, as many perfons
mull be employed in this work, that there
fhould be but one fort of pointing; that
they fhould all take the fame method,
throughout the whole Bible, without any
variation, except fome anomalies, and
which are to be obferved in letters as well
as in points; and that this mould be al-
ways continued with the 'Jews, and never
any other fcheme propofed and attempted;
and that it fhould not be known who be-
gan it and when. And indeed we are left
at a very great uncertainty about the place
where this wondeful affair was transacted;
Eliasy the relator of it, mould he be preffed
J< 2 hard,

[ 148 ]

hard, feems to have found a fubterfbge to-
retreat unto, and therefore he tells us that
Tiberias is Moe/ia* ; but where that is he
fays not, but leaves us to feek for it where
we can, and take a wild goat's chace into
Afia Minor, to Pontics, or Bithynia, or Pa-
phlagonia, where Moejia or Myfia is faid to
be , but never famous for Jewifi doctors,
nor have any been heard of in it : the Ti-
berias of the fcripture, and of Jofepfais,
and of the Jewi/h writers in general, was
a city in Pa/e/line, fituate on the lake of
Gene far ety famous in their writings for the
laft fitting of the Sanbedri?n in it, for a
very confiderable univerfity there, for the
refidence of R. Judah, the faint, in it,
where it is probable he compiled the Mif-
nah, and of many others of their cele-
brated doctors, in the 2d and 3d centu-
ries; and where it is certain the 'Jernfalem
Talmud was finished, in the 3d century ;
after which the univerfity in it began to
decreafe. and we hear but now and then
of a doctor in that place, the univerlities
in Babylon bearing away all the glory j

there-

* Prafat. 3. ad Maforet. he feems to have taken this name
0$ Tiberias from Ben Chayiin 2:1 Mafor. Mag. Lit. f] t'ol.
31. 2. or from David Kimchi, in Miclol. fol. 108. 2.

[ H9 ]

therefore it is not probable, that this bufinefs
of pointing the Bible was done by the men
of Tiberias in later times : and if it was,
it is ftrange that none of them mould de-
clare themfelves the authors of the points,
or that they had an hand in the invention
of them, or were affiiting in that work,
fince it would have gained them immortal
honour, it being allowed to be an inge-
nious and ufefulwork; andefpecially fince
the Jews are proud boafters and lovers of
fame and reputation : it-range, very ftrange
it is, that not one of the men concerned in
this work can be named ; nor any time
fixed when it was done by them, whether
ioo years after the finiihing of the 'Tal-
mud, or 200, or 300 or 400 -, neither of
which it feems the efpoufers of this no-
tion chufe to fix upon, neither on particu-
lar men, nor on a particular time, left
they mould be entangled. The only man
I have met with, that has ventured to
rix the date of the invention of the points,
is PoJJevinus the jcfuit, a who in his great
wifdom has pitched on the year 478, when
the points began to be in ufe; and fo fome

L 3 ye^rs

a Apud Herman. Htigonrm de prima fcribendi orig. c,
27. p. 168.

[ 'So J

years before the finifhing of the Talmud, ac-
cording to the moft early account of it ;
whereby he has deftroyed the hypothecs on
which this notion is built. It is incredible
that men under a judicial blindnefs, and
the curfe of God, ignorant of divine
things, mould form a fcheme which fo
well afcertains the fenfe of the fcriptures ;
that they mould hit on fuch an invention,
and publifh it, fo fubveriive of their own
religion, and i'o ferviceable to chriftianity
and its doctrines, and which in no one in-
ftance oppofes it ; and that after they had
feen, as they muft in the age they are fup-
pofed to invent them, what ufe the chri-
ftians had made of various paiTages of
fcripture againft fudaifm, and in favour
of chriflianity ; and yet mould point and
accentuate thofe very paifages againft them-
felves, and for the chriftians : take one in-
ftance in the room of many as to accents,
in Gen. xlix. jo. how gladly now would
they have the Athnacb removed from
i^A"i to iy and then read the words, as
they have attempted todob, the fcepter Jhall
not depart jrom Judah, nor a law-giver from

bet-ween

b Vid. Menaffeh. ben Ifrael. Conciliat. in Gen. Qua?ft. 6?
t 3. >

[ IJ" ]

between bis feet for ever ; for Shiloh fiall
come : but the accents are againft them, and
forbid this reading ; of what ufe they are
in Jer. xxiii. 6. has been already obferved :
nor is it credible, that the accents (hould
be invented by the Jews about the time
fuppofed ; fince one ufe of them was to
lead and direct in mufic, and that the ufe
of accents mould in profe and verfe be dif-
ferent, as they be in metrical and profe-
writings of the Bible, when at the time
fuppofed, metre was difufed, and the metre
of the Hebrews loft and unknown. He
that can believe fuch a romantic ftory as all
this is, need not be fqueamilh to believe
the moil: arrant lye and notorious fable, to
be met with in the wh-olzTahmid; a greater
I know not 3 a louder lve I believe was ne-
ver told by a few, nor by any other, that
ever met with the leaft degree of credit in
the world ; it is amazing it mould be be-
lieved by any : fome Proteftants at firft re-
ceived it, through their too great credulity,
and through their high efteem for the a-
bove-mentioned Elias, by whom they were
taught the Hebrew language, of the ufe-
fulnefs of which they were fenfible. Ma-
ny of the Papifts greedily catched at it,
L 4 and

E «5P ]

and commended the Protejlants for receiv-
ing it ; who might hope, in the iflue, to
•avail themfelves of it, fince it would appear
from hence, that the fenfe of fcripture the
Protejlants had given into, depended on the
invention of men, even of fome yews,
long fince the time of Chriflianity ; and
they might hope that on this account, they
would reject the points, and then, as words
would be fubject to various fenfes without
them, and fome contrary to each other,
they would at lad: be convinced of the ne-
ceffity of one infallible interpreter of fcrip-
ture. Morimis, a papift, and a very princi-
pal oppofer of the points, in a bookc, high-
ly commended by fome Protefiant writers,
fpeaks out plainly ; he fays, " the reafon
" why God would have the fcriptures writ-
«' ten in the ambiguous manner they are,
*c (i. e. without points) is, becaufe it was
" his will that every man mould be fub-
" jecl: to the judgment of the church, and
*' not interpret the fcriptures in his own
" way; for feeing the reading of the fcrip-
" tures is fo difficult, and fo liable to va-
*' rious ambiguities, (i. e. a mere nofe of

" wax,

e DeHeb. & Grsc. Text. Sinceritate, 1. i. Exercitat, 6.
c. zA 8. p. 198, 199.

[ 153 ]

*< wax, to be turned any way) ; from the
« very nature of the thing, he obferves, it
" is plain, that it was not the will of God,
" that every one mould rafhly and irreve-
iC rently take upon him to explain it, nor
" to fuffer the common people to expound
<c it at their pleafure, but, that in thofe,
" as in other things refpedting religion,
" his will is, that the people fhould de-
" pend upon the priefts."

A. D. 500.

About this time the Babylonian Tal-
mud was nnifhed ; according to Scali-
ger*, in 5085 in which it is faid no men-
tion is made of the points and accents :
but, upon enquiry, it will be found to be
otherwife ; for though the Talmudijis do
not mention the names, nor exprefs the
figures of the vowel-points, they mani-
feftly fuppofe them; which (hew they were
in being in their times ; as when they fay,
read not Jo, but fo, it is plain they have
no reference to the confonants, which are
the fame one way as another; they muffc
have refpect to the difference of the vowel-
points,

* De Emend. Temp. I. 7. p. 323.

[ 154 ]

points, the doctrine of which is the foun-
dation of their remarks, and therefore
mutt be known bv them : fo the Karaites
charge the Rabbins with perverting the
commands of God by their Al-tikrds, read
not fiy but fo, not changing the confonants
but the vowels and accents; for having faid
that the copies of theirs and the Rabbins,
with refpectto punctuation were the fame;
they obferve, that otherwife in the places
where they change the vowels and accents,
and fay, do not readfo, but Jo, they would not
have faid, do not read, but abfolutely would
have pointed according to their pleafure ;
but that it is fuggefted they dared not do ;
which, the Karaites add, is a proof, that be-
fore the finifhing of the Talmud, from the
days of old, the law was pointed and ac-
cented b ; thus when they fay c, with refpect
to Pf. 1. 23. do not read nrt^l but Dt^l,
they mean do not read Shin with a point
on the right hand, but with a point on the
left; fo quoting Prov. xix. 23. they direct d,
do not read y^W but y^jp that is, do not
read the word with the point on the left

hand

b Dcd Mordecai, c. u. p. 137. c. 12. p. 152. 153. c T.
Bab. Sotah, fol 5. 2. Mocd KatOD, fol 5. 1. d T. Bab,

Berucot, fol. 14. I.

t '55 ]

hand of Shin, when it would fignify fatif-
Jied, as the common punctuation reads; but
with the point on the right hand of
it, and then it fignifies /even; and fo
proves what it is quoted for, as they think,
that that man that lies feven nights without
a dream, is an evil man, and fo read what
follows ; he Jhall not be vifitcd, be is an evil
man: andfo inlf.'u. 22.U/tffayse, don't read
n&S but HD2, that is, to ferve his own
purpofe, don't read as if it was Bamah,
(i. e. pointed with a Patach and Ssgolj
which would fignify wherein, but Bamah,
(i. e. with two Kametzes) and fo fignifies an
high place ; like wife ml/lliv. 3. i.it is faidf,
dont read "pn (i. e. with a KametzJ thy
children, but -pl3, (i. e. with a van, and
cholern) thy builders ; fo quoting Ezekiel,
xlviii. 25. it is obferved*, don't read nEttS
Shammah there (i.e. with two Kametzes) but
H/DtP, Shemahy his name, (as if with Shevah,
and KametzJ and this form does not fuppofe
any corruption of the text, nor even a vari-
ous reading; but is a kind of allegorical fport
of thefe Rabbins among themfelves as F. Si-
mon * calls it; when to fhew their acumen,

obferve,
e T. Bab. Sotah fol. 4. 2. * T. Eab. Beracot,

fol. 64. 1. sT. Bab. Bathra, fol. 75. 2. * Difquif.
Crit. c. 3. p. 17.

I 156 ]

obferve, what different fenfes may be put
upon a word by its being differently
pointed, which they propofe to coniide-
ration, as if it was thus, or thus pointed ;
but then this fuppofes the points to have
been in being or they could not divert
themfelves after this manner : and it mould
be obferved, that this phrafe is ufed chiefly
in giving allegorical expofitions, and is not
by way of authority and command, as en-
joining fuch a reading ; but by way of
conceffion ; or fuppofing it was read fo, it
would yield a commodious fenfe, efpecially
if allegorical c : nor can I fee how this
phrafe could be ufed in writing by giving
inftances as above, without expreffing the
very marks and figures of the points as put
to the words in debate ; or otherwife they
muff, act like delirious men indeed: nor can
I fee how the ridiculous ftory, concerning
jfoab's flaying of his m after for teaching
him to read wrong could be related in the
Talmud6' without the vowel-points being
put to the word in it, which is told thus ;
zhzv^Joab had cut off every male in Edom,

I Kings

' Vid. Maimon. Moreh Nevochim. par. 3. c. 43. Hot-
tinger. Theiaur. phiiolog. 1. 1. c. 2. p. 214. Buxtorf.de
Punftuat. par. 1. p 97, 98. Surenhof. Biblos Kattalagcs.
p. 4 59. to, e T Bab. BavaBathra, fol. 21. 1. 2,

[ 157 ]
i Kings xi. 15, 16. when he came before
David he faid to him, what is the reafon
that thou haft Co done ? (i. e. that thou
haft not deftroyed the females, as the glofs
is) he replied, becaufe it is written (Deut.
xxv. 19.) thou (halt blot out "Of of AmOr
lecky David faid unto him, but behold we
read"DT; Joab anfwered, I was taught to
read it "Of : he went and afked his mailer,
faying, how didft thou teach me to read,
he told him "d?j he drew his fword to
kill him. Now where is the difference ?
they all fay the fame thing, David, Joab,
and his mafter, as the bare letters of the
word without the vowel-points are given.
What fenfe can be made of this ftory, thus
told ? No doubt but in the Talmud, as ori-
ginally written, the feveral vowel-points
were put to this word ; as faid to be read
by Joab, it was zacar, male, with two Ka-
metzes -, as by David and Joa6's mafter,
it was zecer, remembrance, with two Se-
gols; and fo in other cafes, of a fimilar kind,
the points were put, though in procefs of
time left out, through the carelerlhefs or
floth of tranfcribers ; and two inftances
of this I have met with where the very

figures

[ i5§ I

figures of the vowel-points are ufed; thus
having quoted Numb. xiii. 31. it is directed h
dont read ^jdd than us (with a ShureckJ
but faott than him (with a Cho/emJ; and in
another place *, with refpect to the paffage
in Deut. xxiii. 18, they fay, do not read
nnr (with a KametzJ but ?3V (with a £0
£<?//; the firfl word, pointed as directed,
iignifies a whore, being feminine, the other,
differently pointed, is mafculine, and Iig-
nifies a fornicator k. My Talmud is of the
.'Amfterdam and Frankford edition, and I
have no opportunity of confulting another :
ihould it be faid, thefe points are annexed
to the words by the editors of this work;
i alk why they are not added to the words
in the other inftances ? no doubt the rea-
fon is, becaufe they were originally fo in
the Talmud, and fo I found them; and I
make no queftion of their being put in all
other inftances, though omitted by copiers.
To thefe obfervations I would add, the
prick or point on the Vau in the word for
arofe, in Gen. xix. 33. is taken notice of
in the Ta/mud]; and fo are the 15 pricks

on

h T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 35. 1. ! T. Fab. Temurafa,

fol. 29. 2. • k Vid. Schindler. Lexic. Pentaglott.

col. 495. l T. Bab.-Horayot, fol. 10. 2, & Nazir,

fol 21. 1.

[ 159 ]

on feveral words in the bible, among which
this is onera and on the word for unlefs,
in Pf. xxvii. 13. n and on Dent. xxix. 29. °
Now if thefe pricks and points were fo ear-
ly, which are of fo little ufe, much more
the vowel-points ; and as for the accents,
they are exprelly mentioned : thus thofe
words in Nebem. viii. 8. are interpreted, fo
they read in the law of God, this is the Scrip-
ture -, diftinSlly, this is the 'Tar gum ; and
gave the fenfe-, thefe are the verfes pointed,
as R. Niffim on that place in the Talmud
interprets it, and can fed them to underflaiid
the reading, thefe are QWD 'pD>5 the di~
ftinciions of the accents p ; and fo in other
places mention is made of the diftin&ions
of the accents'1, and of the accents of the
law r, which might be mewn and pointed
at by the hand, and therefore mufl be vi-
able marks or figures ; and which are
to be underftood both of vowel-points, and
of accents ; and fo the glofs on that place
interprets it, both of pointing and the
elevation of the voice in fmging according

to

m Aboth. R. Nathan, c. 34. fol. 18. Sopherim. c. 1. f.
3. n T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 4. 1. ° T.

Bab- Sanhcdrin, fol. 43. 2. p T. Bab Megi laja,

fol. 3.1. & Nedarim, fol. 37. 2. 1 T. Bab. Cha-

gigah, fol. 6. 2. r T Gab. Beracot, iol. 6z- I. *

Glois in lb. Pefachwn, fol. 119. u

[ '6o ]

to the accents. And the marks and figures
of them, they fay in the Talmud, Solomon*
inflructed the people in ; for fo thofe words
are paraphrafed in it, he taught the people
knowledge, for he inftru&ed them Dȣj/D
^D'DH in the Jignsy marks, figures, or cha-
racters of the accents : and on the phrafe,
his locks are bufiy, it is obferved ; from hence
we learn that he f Solomon J fought out and
explained every tittle, prick, or point fin
the law) heaps of heaps of the conftitu-
tions or decifions of itf: and in one of
the above places8 referred to, they dif-
pute about giving a reward to fuch who
taught the accents ; which furely could ne-
ver be thought of, if the accents were not
yet invented ; to which may be added,
that in the Talmud* mention is made of
fome words in the Bible, " written but
<c not read," and of others, " read but
*' not written j" thofe that are written
but not read are alone without the vow-
el* points, as in jfer. li. 5. &c. Thofe
that are read but not written, are thofe

whofe

« T. B. Eruvim, fol. 21.2. f Ibid. s Neda-

rim, fol. 37. 1. * T. Bab. Nedarim, fol. 37. 2.

Mafiechet. Sopherim. c. 6. f. 7.. 8.

f 161 j

whofe vowel-points ftand alone in the
text, and the confonants in the margin, of
which there are ten, Jud. xx. 13. Ruth
iii. 5. 17. 2 Sam. viii. 3. and xvi. 23. and
xviii. 20. 2 Kings xix. 31. 37. y^r. xxxi.
38. and 1. 29. This mews that the flare
of the Hebrew text, with refpect to thefe
Keries and Cetibs, was the fame at the^
compofition of the Talmud as now ; and
that the Talmudifis mud have been acquain-
ted with pointed Bibles, and confequently
points mufl have been in ufe before the
finifhing of the Talmud-, and fo before the
pretended men of Tiberias: the ablation
of the fcribes is fpoken of in the fame traffi,
which forbids the reading the fuperfluous
Vau in five places ; and alfo the reading
of the fcribes, which (hews how they read
and pronounced fome words, as Arets^
Shamaim, Mitzraim\ as Aretz, fometimes
Aratz, and fometimes Erets, according to
the diverfity of the accents, as Buxtorff
obferves*; and Shamaim fometimes witlj
Kametz and Patacb, and fometimes with a
double Kametz, becaufe of the paufe ; and
fo Mitzraim. The note of R. JSliJJim on
M the

* Tiberias, c. 8. p. 11.

[ '62 ]

the place is, becaufe of the Athnach, A~
rets is read with a Kametz, and Sbamai?n
arid Mitzraim, though they have no Aleph
in them, are read as if they bad.

A. D. 400.

The Maforah, or Maforeth, as it i9
ibmetimes called, which fignifies tradition,
is a work confirming of remarks on feveral
things in the Bible, handed down topofte-
rity from one to another ; it does not appear
to be the work of one man, nor of a fett
of men, and living in one age or place, who
were jointly concerned in it, but of vari-
ous perfons, in feveral ages : it might be
begun by the men of the great fynagogue
of Ezra, to whom the Jewif/j writers ge-
nerally afcribe it ; and be carried on by
fcribes and copiers in after ages, and at laft
finifhed by the men of Tiberias ; not the Uto-
pian men of Tiberias, after the year 500, who
lived in the* 6th and 7th centuries, as pre-
tended, but by thofe who lived in the 2d
and 3d centuries, and in the beginning of
the 4th ; men of fame and note among
the Jews, and whofe names are given, and
an account of them in the 'Jerufalem Tal-
mud, of whom more hereafter ; though in
4 later

t 163 J

later times, fome things have Crept into
this work, and additions made to it, in
which the names of Jarchi and Ben Gerfom
are mentioned, and even fome are the
notes of Ben Chayim himfelf, the fir ft edi-
tor of it in printed Bibles ; who with much
pains brought it into fome form and order,
and difpofed of it in the manner it is in
fome printed copies : however, it is cer-
tain the work was in being before the Ba-
bylonian Talmud '; for the juit now mention-
ed editor of the Ma/oral?, in his preface
which ftands before Bomberg's Bible, and
which Buxtorffzlio has placed before his,
aflerts, that in many places the Talmud con*
tradicls the Major ah -, and befides it is expre-
fly mentioned in it. Such phrafes are fome-
time6* to be met with in it as JOpftV Dtf,
and rniDb1? Dtt; the meaning of which
is, that fuch an expofition of a word or
paflage, has its foundation in the Scripture,
or is according to that, and is the literal
fenfe of it, as it is commonly read; and that
fuch an expofition or interpretation of a
word or pafiage, has its foundation in the
M 2 Ma-

• T. Bab. Pefachim, fol. 86. 2. Succah, fol. *. 2. Kid-
dufhin,- fol. 18. I.. Sanhedrin, fol. 4. 1.

[ .64 ]

Maforah, or is according to that §; and is
the traditionary fenfe of it, as it may be
read and pronounced by other vowels : yea,
thofe men who are faid to have numbered
all the letters in the law, and the verfes in
it, and to have pointed out the letter
which is exactly the middle of the penta-
teuch, and in other books, are called DOjptO
the antients-, who had lived long ago, and
with whom the compilers of the Talmud
were not to be named * ; and are thought
by the learned bifhop UJher-f to be the
men of the great fynagogue of Ezra ', falfe
therefore it is what F. Simon fays J, from
Elias Levita, that the Maforah is later than
the Talmud: yea, Chrift himfelf, in his
time, fpeaks of a traditionary fett of men,
who, he fays, were of old time, and are
called by him, oc^x^^h the antients; who
delivered down peculiar fenfes of the law
from age to age, and may be truly faid to
be a fort of Maforetes, Matt. v. 28. the
fame who elfewhere are called elders, and
to whom traditions are afcribed, Matt. xv.
2. Mark vii. 3, 5. though perhaps the mif-

nic

% Vid. Halicot Olam, par. 4. c. 3. p. 187. * T. Bab.

Kiddufhin, fol. 30. 1. & Sabbat, fol. \iz. 2. f Epift.

ad Capell. in cake dcfept. interpr. p. zit. J Difquif. Cri-
tic, c. 4. p. 23.

[ '65 ]

nie do&ors are rather more peculiarly in-
tended : and certain it is, that the feveral
parts of the work of the Maforetes afcri-
bed to them, are made mention of in the
Talmud; as not only the numbering of the
letters and verfes in the law before afTerted ;
but the diitinclion of verfes themfelves is
ipoken of in it, and is afcribed to Mq/es,
though by Ellas Levita * made to be the
work of the Maforetes ; in the Talmud -f
it is faid, " whatever verfe Mofes did not
" diftinguim, we do not diftinguim :" yea,
we read of the diftinclion of verfes in the
Mifnab J, which was compiled fome hun-
dreds of years before the Talmud, The
various readings which the Maforetes are
faid to be the authors of, even divers
forts of them are mentioned in the Tal-
mud§; and their concern with the points
and accents will be prefently obferved: but
not only thefe parts of the work afligned
them, but the forms of letters, greater,
lefTer, or fufpended, marked by the Mafo-
retes in the Bible, are obferved in the Tal-
M 3 mud\

* Sepher Tob Taam, c. 2. f T. Bab.

Megillah, fol. 22, 1. I Mifn. Mcgillah.

c. 4.. f. 4. £ T. Bab. Nedarim, fol. 37. 2.

t 166 ]

mud || -, yea, the Maforah itfelf is mention-
ed in it. In the interpretation of Neh.
viii. 8. taken notice of- in the preceding
fection, that part of it, and caufed them to
underfiand the reading, as iome interpret it
of the diftinction of accents ; others fay,'
thefe are the Maforah *, or Majorette notes,
or astR, Niffim, on the place, explains it,
what is delivered in the Maforah: yea, not
only in the ferufalem Talmud* mention is
made of it, but in the Mifnah1 itfelf, finim-
ed in the year 1 50, as a faying of R. Aki-
ba, who died in the beginning of the fe-
cond century; " the Maforah is an hedge
f€ to the law ;" the note of Bartenora on
it is, the Maforeth, which the wifemen
have delivered to us, concerning words de-
fective and redundant in the law. I mufl
be fafe therefore in placing this work 100
years before the Babylonian Talmud, it cer-
tainly muft be in being fo early at lead:, and
much earlier; and Walton, an oppofer of the
points, acknowledges u that fome part of

the

|J MaiTech. Sopherim, c. 9. f. 5. 7. T. Bab. Bava Ba-
thra, fo). 1 09. 2. & Glofs in lb. T. Bab. Kidciuftiin, fol.
30. 1. T. Bab. SanhedYin, fol. 103. 2. 3 T. Bab.

Nedarim, fol. 37.2. Megillah, fol. 3. 1. * Megil-

Jah, fol. 74.4. l Pirke Abot, c. 3.f. 13. u Pro-

kgoat). 8. f. 12.

[ '6/ ]

theMa/bretic notes were collected before the
Talmud was finifhed ; and thinks it* proba-
ble, that though not immediately after Ez-
ra, yet about the time of the Maccabees,
when the fe€k of the Pharifees rofe, fome
might begin to make thofe obfervations ;
and Dr. Prideaux\ fuppofes that they be-
gan a little after the time of Ezra : now
the obfervations of the Maforetes were not
only about entire words, nor about letters
or confonants, but alio about the points and
accents : take a few inftances, inftead of
many which might be produced, on Gen.
i. 5. the note of the Maforah is, Titf1? is
written feveral times with a Kametz ; on
Gen. xiv. c. Chedarlaomer, one word with
two Sbevabs ; and on Exod. xxxii. 6. it is
obferved the word pr\'$b is no more found
with Segol and Siliuk ; on Job xix. 7. rWtt
is no more written with Segol and Kametz ;
and on Pf. lxxxiv. 11. it is remarked, that
Thx is twice with a Patach and Athnach.
See alfo on Gen. xvi. 13. and xix. 2. Exod,
xxvi. 5. Lev. x. 4. 19. Numb. ix. 2. Dent*
xviii. 17. Jofi. vi. 14. 1 Sam. x. 21. Pf,
xxvii. 4. Jer. xvii. 17. arid iii. 32. Dan.

M 4 i. 3*

t Conneft. par. i.B. 5 p. 353.

,

I 168 ]

i. 3. and iii. 21. Ezr^ viii. 16. and other
places ; wherefore the points and accents
muft be before the Majoretes, and not
invented by them.

A. D. 385.
Jerom died in 420, being upwards of
90 years of age, and therefore muft flourifh
about this time. He was the beft verfed
in Jewijh literature of any of the antient
writers, having had no fewer than four
jfews, at different times for his inftructors ;
and that he had knowledge of the points
and accents, which therefore muft be in
his time, I think is moft clear from his
writings. I do not infift upon the marks
and figures of the vowel-points, which go
along with the Hebrew words ufed by him,
which I fuppofe are added by the editors
of his works ; though I confefs, I cannot
perfuade myfelf that fo fenfible and learn-
ed a man as jferom was, would ever fay
what he does, unlefs not only he faw the
Hebrew words he mentions, with the vow-
el-points to them, but put them to them
himfelf, when be wrote them ; though in
length of time they might be difufed in
the copies tranfcribed from him ; for how
4 other-

[ i69 1

othervvife could he fay, of fuch and fucha
word, it is not written fo, but fo, in the
Hebrew text, and yet gives the word either
way with the fame con fon ants exactly ; fo
he gives the word n)D3» in If. ii. 2 1 . and
others, as will be prefently obferved : what
is there th^en to diftinguilh them ? or
how could he expect to be believed, or to
convince any by fuch a method ? this was
to make him appear very ridiculous -, but
fuppofing the vowels put to the words by
him, thefe would diftins:uim one word from
another, and make him act like himfelf, and
like a true critic ; and this being the cafe,
it is eafy to account for it, why the vowel-
points and accents are not mentioned by
him, there being no need of it; fince they
were prefented to the eye of the reader,
and fuppofed to be -underftood by him.
However, the fame Hebrew words exprelled
in Roman characters, I take for granted
were done by himfelf, and this I think is
owned by Walton *. I have indeed no o-
ther edition of his works, than that of £-
rafmus, nor an opportunity of confulting
any other ; now the words, as thus read,
greatly agree with, and very rarely differ

from

* Bibl. Polyglott, prolegom, 3. f. 47.

t J7° ]
from the modern punctuation, and where
they do, it may be owing to inadvertency,
or to too great confidence in his memory,
or to copiers ; but be this as it may, it is
certain he often fpeaks of the Hebrew
points and accents, and of the variety of
them, and that the fame words are pro-
nounced by different founds and accents,
and that Hebrew names are varioufly inter-
preted, according to the diverfity of accents,
and change of the vowel-letters * ; now,
befides the notice he takes x of the prick or
point on the word Kumab, in Gen. xix. 34.
which he calls pointing ; he makes many
obfervations on divers words, which mani-
feftly mew his knowledge of the Hebrew
points, without which he could never have
made them : thus he obferves y, that in PJl
xc. 8. in the Hebrew it is written lJJD^y,
alumenUj which he tranflates our negle5is9
and wonders at the Septuagint interpreters,
that they mould tranflate it our age, as if
it was olamenu ; and now how could he fay
it was written in the Hebrew^ alumenu and

not

wEpift. adEvagr. fol. 13. F.Tom. 3. Comment, in Ezek.
c. 28. fol. 220. C. Tom. 5. & in Hagg. 1. fol. 101. & fol.
102. B. 1. 6. & in Ephef. fol. 95. F. Tom. 9. * Qusft.
Heb. in Gen. fol. 68. 1. y Epift. ad Cyprian, fol.

35. B. Tom. 3.

[ *7l 1

not olamenu, fince the word without points
may be read either way, if he had not feen
it himfelf, nor had been told that it was
fo pointed? nor could he fay * that in Exod.
xiii. i 8. he found it written in the Hebrew
volume, carefully examining its characters,
Hamujim, and not Hami/im ; if the He-
brew volume he examined had no points ;
for this he had not from tradition, nor
from ufe and cuftom of reading, but found
it fo written ; he alfo obferves3, that the
word DHytp, written with the fame let-
ters, has a different iignification, as it may
be differently read ; if Searim (i. e. with a
Kametz) then it lignifies efimations, but if
Seorim, (i. e. with a Cholem) then it figni-
fies barley ; again b he remarks, that nyi,
written with the fame letters, if read Re,
(i. e, with a ShevahJ then it is a friend,
if Ro, (i. e. with a Cholem) then it is a
Shepherd; alike remark6 he makes on the
word r\Q2> m If h\ 22. that if it is ren-
dered wherein, then it mufl be n232> bameh,
but if an high place or high, then it mufl
be read r\Q2 bamah; fo the three letters
•"ON when we fay they fignify memorial,

or

z Ep. Damafo. 2 qu. fol. 12. A. B. a Quasft. Heb.

in Gen. fol. 70. 4. b lb. fol. 72. C. « Com-

ment, in 1{. c. 2. fol. 7. D, T. 5.

L !7-2 ]
or remembrance, then he faysd the word is
read zecer, (i. e. with two Segols) but if a
male, then it is read zacar, (i. e. with two
Kametzes) ; again6, theie three letters *\21
iignify according to the quality of the places,
if read dabar (i. e. with two Kametzes) it
fignifies a word, but if deber, (i. e. with two
Segols) then it fignifies the plague ; fo the
word IpKf, he obferves f, that if the accent is
varied, that is the point, it fignifies either
a nut or watching -, that is, if it is pointed
for a verb, then it fignifies to watch, but
if as a noun, then it fignifies a nut, an al-
mond-nut. And whereas in the Septua-
gint verfion of .Jonah iii. 4. it is three days
inftead of forty ; Jerom wonders g how
they mould fo tranflate, when there is no
likenefs in the Hebrew words, for three and
for forty, neither in the letters nor in the
fyllable, nor in the accents, that is vowels 5
and again he obferves1", the ambiguity of the
Hebrew word •>}&, which is written with
three letters, » and 3 and jy -, if, fays he, it is
read Skene (i. e. with a Shevah and a Tzere)

it

d lb. inc. 26. fol 50. H. • lb. inc. 9. fol. 19.

H. & in Habac. c. 3. fol. 87. H. Tom. 6. f Com-

ment, in Ecclef. fol. 43. G. Tom. 7. & in Jerem. fol. 133.
C. s Comment, in Jon. c. 3. fol. 57. M. h Com-

ment, in Ezek. 15. fol. 194. C.

[ i73 3

it fignifies two, but if Sba?ie, (i. e. with a
Kametz and a TzereJ then it fignifies years,
and fo in many other places. Jerom mud
have knowledge of the point placed fome-
times on the right hand of the letter tp, and
then called Tamin, and fometimes on the
left hand of it, and then called Smol, which
gives it a different pronunciation, and the
words a different fenfe : he obferves ', that
from Ifi, a woman is rightly called I/ha,
but Tbeodotion, he fays, fuggefts another
etymology, faying, me mall be called af-
fumption, becaufe taken from man -, and,
adds he, I/fa may be interpreted affumption,
according to the variety of the accents,
that is, the points ; his meaning is, that
if the word is derived from tttp}, with the
point on the left hand, then it may fignify
affumption, iince the word, fo pointed, fig-
nifies to affume : again, Berfabee, he faysk,
as differently accentuated, that is pointed,
may be tranflated the well of the oath, or
the well of fattety, or of the feventh ; the
reafon of which is, becaufe y2W with a point
on the right of £i% fignifies feveny and to
/wear ; but with the fame point on the left

of

1 Qusft. Heb. ad Gen. fol. 65. I. fc Comment,

in Amos, c. 8. fol. 99. B.

[ '74 j

of the letter, it fignifies fulnefs wtiAfatiety ,
the fame is obferved by him in another
place1, that it has different fenfes according
to the variety of the accents. Now could
Jerom pofiibly make fuch obfervatioris as
thefe without the knowledge of the points ?
for though from fome of thefe paffages it
maybe gathered, that unpointed books had
been ufed, and fo fome were deceived thro'
the ambiguity of words without points;
yet how came it to pafs that he himfelf
was not deceived ? and how could he be
fure of the true Hebrew reading, if he
had not feen pointed Bibles, or had
not been taught that they were fo pointed
in fuch and fuch places ? to fuppofe other-
wife is quite incredible. And it appears
alfo, that the punctuation in his time was
the fame wTith the modern punctuation,
which he follows and fcarce ever departs-
from 'y take, for inftance, his reading the,
title of the 45th Pfalm, " Lamanazeah al
" Sofannim, libne Corah, Mafchil fir je-
«' didothm"; there is but one point miffing,
and that is the Sbevab in the firft word,
and which is fometimes not pronounced,

and

1 Comment, in If. c. 65. fol. 115. C. m Ad P'rin-

cipiam, fol. 34. F. Tom. 3.

[ *75 3

and had no certain pronunciation with the
antients -3 fometimes by a, fometimes by /,
fometimes by an e, as now ufually ; accor-
ding to the Hebrew grammarians, it has the
nature of all the reft of the vowels, and is
equal to them, and pronounced like them,
at certain times under certain conditions §.
Three whole verfes in Ge?i. xvi. 18, 19,
20. are exactly pronounced according to
the modern punctuation"; his verfion of
the P/alms agrees with the Hebrew text,
as it now is, and as it is with the points :
befides what can he mean by faying °, that
he then in his old age could not read the
Hebrew text by candle-light, fince the let-
ters were fo fmall, that they were enough
to blind a man's eyes at noon-day ? for the
Hebrew letters, let them be wrote as fmall
as they well can be, can not be leiTer than
the common Roman character 3 he muft be
underltood fiirely of the fmall pricks or
points which belonged to the Hebrew let-
ters. How came he to put Adonai inftead
of Jehovah, in Exod, vi. 3. if he is the au-
thor

§ Vid. Balmef. Heb. Gram, five Mikneh Abraham, p.
?8. Sepher Cofri, par. 2. f. 80. & Mufcatum, in lb. fol.
128. 1. & R. Judah Chijug, & Aben Ezra, in Mufcat.
n Ad Evagrium, fol. 13. 6. lb. ° Proem, in Sept.

Comment, in Ezeki! c. 20. fol. 208. G.

[ 176 ]

thor of the vulgate Latin verfion, unlefs he
knew that the Jews put the points of Ado-*
?iai to Jehovah ? There is a paffage in Je-
rom* which is produced by fome to dif-
prove the knowledge and ufe of vowel-
points in his time ; when fpeaking of Enon
near Salim, " it matters not, he fays, whe-
" ther it be called Salem or Salim, fince the
" Hebrews very Jeldom make ufe of vowel-
" letters in the middle ; and according to
" the pleafure of readers and the variety
" of countries, the fame words are pro-
" nounced with different founds and ac-
«' cents." Now Jerom is here to be under-
stood either of the Matres LeSlionis >ltf ; and
it, is very true that thefe are feldom ufed in
the facred books of the Hebrews, and
which makes the ufe of vowel-points the
more neceffary; and if the Matres Leffio-
nis were expunged upon the introduction
of the points, as is fuggefted by fome, then
the points muft have been before Jerom %
time, and confequently not the invention
of the men of Tiberias ; fince it feems the
above letters were rarely ufed in his time as
placed between confonants, as Dabar, and

other

* Epift. Evagrlo, torn. 3. fol. 13. F.

[ l77 ]
other words obferved by him (hew : or elfe
he is to be underftood of vowel-points go-
ing along with letters; and thefc he might
truly fay, were 'very rarely ufed, becaufe
pointed Bibles in his time were very rare :
but then he fuppofes fuch were ufed, tho'
but feldom, and this Dr. Owen ° took to be
his fen fe; " either, fays he, I cannot un-
" derftand him, or he does poiitively af-
" firm, that the Hebrew, had the ufe of
" vowels, in his epiftle to Evagn'us ;" upon
which he obferves, " if they did it per-
" raro, they did it, and then they had
them ; though, in thefe days to keep up
their credit in teaching, they did not
much ufe them -, nor can this be fpoken
of the found of vowels, for furely, they
** did not feldom ufe the founds cf vowels,
" if they fpoke often." And to this fenfe,
the words of yero??i are quoted hy R. Aza-
riab*-, and from whence he concludes,
that the points were really in being before
his time, and fo they are underftood by
others J ; to fay no more, as not only the
vowel-points and accents are faid to be the

N in-

° Cf the Divine Original of the Scriptures, p, 285.
* imre Binah, c. 59 fol. 181. 1. X Simeon de

Mus, jofeph. de Voyfin. apud Owen. Theologoumcn, p,

4}2.

a

<(

[ 178 ]

invention of the men of Tiberias, after the
finishing of the Talmud, but the diftinclion
of verfes alfo ; it is certain, that Jerom, who
lived a century or two before thefe preten-
ded Tiber ians are faid to live, frequently §
fpeaks of verfes in the Hebrew books, and
diftinguifhed by him into colons and com-
mas which the accents make; and of which
mention is made before him in the Jeru-
falem Talmud, and even in the Mijnab, as
will be feen hereafter; yea, in the New
Teftament, Luke iv. 17. Aft* viii. 32.

A. D. 370.
About this time lived Epipbanitis, bi-
fhop of Cyprus; he flourifhed in the times
of Valens, Gratian, and Theodojius, and
wrote a book againft various herefies ; and
among them takes notice of thofe of the
Nicolaitans, and their followers the Gno-
fticks, &c. who had a fort of deities they
paid honour to, and v/hich they called by bar-
barous names ; and one of them was called
Caulaucauch, a word taken from If. xxviii.
13. as he obferves ; upon which he gives'
the text in Hebrew, thus, " Saulajau Sau-

" lafau,

$ Prsefat. in Jofuam, Paralipomen. Efaiam & Ezekiel.
p Eiiphan. contr. Hieref. 1. r. ha;ref. 25.

[ >79 ]

u, lafau, Caulaiicauch, Caulaucauch, Zier-
€i jam, Zierfam" exactly agreeing with
the prefent pun&uation, only the Sbeva
in the lad word is pronounced as an i;
which may be owing to the copier, and is
fometimes not pronounced at all, as before
obferved, and when it is. it is differently :
and very nearly to the fame manner of poin-
ting, is his quotation of Pf. ex. 3, accor-
ding to the Hebrew text, " Merem meffaar
u La&til ' jeledecbeth^ '; and fo of If. xxvi. 2,
3. the likenefs is very great and much the
famer. ] {u^obzILpiphanius took thefe He-
brew pafTages from Origens Hexapla, a work
in being in his time ; and if fo, this carries
the punctuation ftill higher \ of which more
hereafter. Moreover, the fir/ft word ob-
ferved, was fo pronounced by fome here-
ticks, if not in the firft, yet in the fecond
century.

A. D. 360.

About this time lived R. Afe, the head

of a fchool or academy at Sura in Babylon1-,

he is laid to write a large book concerning

N 2 point-

1 Tb. 1. 2. hser. 65. r lb. 1. 3. hasr. 76. vid. Mont-

faucon. Hexapla Origen. vol. 2. p. 130 ' Vid.

Ganz, Tzemacn David, par. i.fol.33. 1. 2.

[ iSo )

pointing, and the cabalijlic fecr^fs in it,
which book R. Nachman*, who lived about
the year 1200, fays, was then in th^ir acade-
my. IN ovv if this Kabli fo early wrote a book
about the points, they mud then, and be-
fore that time be in ufe, and mint have
been fome time before in ufe, to be reduced
to an art, and brought under certain rules,
and treated on at large.

A. D. 340.

About this time lived R. Hillell, the
prince, the lafl of thofe who was promo-
ted to doctorfhip in the land of IJrael, as
before obferved. Now R. Zacuth* ipeaks
of a copy of the book of 24, called the
Bible, written by R. Hillell, by which all
books were corrected in the year 956 or 984,
(according to the cJewijh account) and that
he faw a part of it fold in Africa, and that
it had been written in his time 900 years,
and obferves that Kimcbi fays in his gram-
mar, that the Pe?jtateuch was at Toletolo, or
Toledo. Some, as Schickard* and Cuntfus%,
are of opinion, that this Hillell, was the

famous

* Apud BuxtorfF. de Pun ft. Antiq. par. i. p. 55. u Ju-
chafin, fol. 132. I. w Bechinat haperuihim, p. 51-

& Jus Reg, Heb. c. 2. theor. 5. f. 4. x De Repub-

lic. Heb. i. i.e. 1*.

[ '8. ]

famous Hillell that lived before the times
of Chrijiy and flourished ioo years before
the deftruction of the fecond temple ; and
if fo, fince his copy was pointed, as will
prefently befeen, it would prove the points
to be as early; but he is more generally
thought to be Hillell the prince, before-
mentioned ; for that he mould be a Spanifl)
jfew, who lived about 600 years ago, as
Morinus y fuggefts, is not credible ; fince it
can't he thought he was an obfcure perfon,
but of fome note, from whom, for the
fake of honour, the copy had its name,
and efpecially as by it all copies were cor-
rected ; beiides, the above *Jewifo chrono-
loger, who gives the account of it, fays,
the copy he faw had been written 900 years
before his time, and he lived about the
year 1 500. Now this copy had the points,
as is certain from what Kimcbi fays, who
lived in the 12th century; he obferves',
that the word W\l, in Pf cix. 10. is writ-
ten with a broad Kamets, and in the copy
of Hillell, at Toletolo, or Toledo, it is writ-
ten concerning it in the Majorat, that it
is no where elfe with Chateph, i. e. with
N 3 Ka-

y Exercitat. Eibl.l. i.e. 2. p. 29. z Comment,

in Pfai. icg. 10.

[ 182 }

Kamets -Chatefh ; and in another work" of
his, he fays of the word nDl^n, in 2 Sam.
xiii. Mem is with Segol, which is not ufual,
and is in the room of Pat bach-, and in the
book of Hlllell, which is at Toletolo or
Toledo, it is with Pathach; and the learned
Mercer h obferves, that the word HJHj m
Prov. xxiv. 14. is, in a M S. written with
a Tzere, but in the margin it is remarked,
that in Hill 11 it is written with a Sfg"^/.
Wherefore the points mud: be annexed to
the Bible as early as the times of Hillell,
and before.

In the library at Berlin is a Hebrew
MS. written by £//^j> the pointer, con-
taining the Pentateuch, the 5 Megillot, with
the book of ^o^, and fome chapters out of
the Prophets, with Maforetlcal obfervations
in the margin ; which, if what is faid of it
could be eftablifhed, it would be full as
antient as Hillell\ copy : at the end of it
the writer has put his name, and declares
that he wrote it, and pointed it, and finiihed
it in the year fromthe creation of the world
4094; and Andrew Mullerus, fometime
provoft at Berlin, wrote at the beginning of

it,

a Seoher Shorafli. rad. £2*C'« k Ccmm^nt. in

Prov- xxiv. 14.

[ i83 ]

it, that this copy was written by Elias in
the ifland of Rhodes, A. C. 334; but La
Croze* the late librarian, fays, that at the
end of the book there are manifeft traces
of letters blotted out, and others put in,
and that the colour of the ink, and form
of the parchment clearly mewed, that it
could not then be written fcarce 400 years.

There are feveral antient copies of the
Bible pointed, but the precife age of them
cannot be afcertained. The yews in Chi-
na, have a very antient Hebrew Bible in
Pekin, 12.16. to be not at all differing from
ours c; by which it lhould feem that it is
pointed, or otherwife it would differ. A
copy called Sinai, a correct copy of the
Pentateuch, has the accents, as Elias Le-
vita acknowledges d, who obferves that the
nrft word in Exod. xviii. j . is with Gera-
Jhim, but in Sinai with a Rebiah -, and he
alfo gives another inflance of a different ac-
centuation, but adds, that he knew not
who was the compoier oi it. R. Nacb-
mant, who lived about the year 1200, fays,
he fearched mod diligently in all the Baby-
N 4 lo iian

* A} ud Wolf. Biblioth. Heb. p. 166. 16;. c Se-

medo's ii;itoryot China, par«iiC. d SepherShi-

bre Luchot. • Apud Buxtorff. ut fupra.

t «84 ]

Ionian' and Jerufalem copies, and in Hil-
fell's, and could not find any where a Da*
gejh in thofe three guttural letters, n n> V,
but found it in x,in three places, Lev. xxiii.
17. Cn?#. xliii. 26. and E;srtf viii. 18. by
which it appears, that not only HillelPs
copy, but the Babylonian and Jerufalem co-
pies were pointed. Ben Melech, on Ezek.
xxiv. 10. obferves, that R. Jonah writes,
that he found the word Harkach with a
Kamets under He in they erufalem copy, but
in the Babylonian copy, he found it with a
Fat hack. There was a Jerufalem copy
made mention of by feveral, that was a
pointed one; Muftatus* fays, that the word
^Htt, in Deut. vi. 4. is pointed with >SVg-<?/
arid Kamets, as it is found in the correct
Jerufalem copy ; and fo Kimchi affirms *,
that in the correct Jerufalem copy, the word
Vin* in Job xxix. 18. was with a Sburek for
thofe of Nahardea, and with zCbolem for the
wefterrt JeWs ; and feems to be the copy
R. Jonah the grammarian, and Maimoni-
de\ v.ho both lived in the 12th century,
truited to and depended on; and which the
fatter h calls the famous Egyptian copy, which

was

f Comment, in Cofri, par. 4. fol. 2^0. 4. £ Sepher

Shorath. rad. 7ffY« " Iiiichot Torah, c. 8 f". 4.

[ I*! 1

was many years at Jerufa/em, and which
Ben After fpent much time in correcting,
who lived there a long time, as Elias fays5,
and by which other copies were corrected ;
and this Azariabk confulted, and fays, it
was in 'Jerujalem from the times of the
mifnic doctors, and had in it the Tikkun
Sopberim, the ordination of the fcribes, and
the Bible-feclions open and fhut.

A. D. 300.

The Rabbot are commentaries on the
five books of Mofes, written by Rabbi Bar
Nachmoni, who flourifhed, according to
Buxtorff1, about this year. There are fif-
teen words which have unufual pricks
or points upon them, obferved by the Ma-
forab and in the Talmud ; ten of them in
the law, four of them in the prophets,
and one in the Hagiograpba ; thofe in
the law, moft, if not all of them, are taken
notice of in thefe commentaries m; in one*

of

1 Shibre Luchot & Prsefat. 3. ad Maforet. k Meor

Enayim. c 9. fol. 52. 2. ' Biblioth. Heb. p. 326.

m BereOiit Rabba, f. 48. fol. 43. 1/ & f. 51. fol. 46. 1.
&{. 78. fol. 68. 3. &f.84- fol. 73.3.BemidbarRabba, f. 3.
fol. 182.2. * Bemid bar Rabba f. 3 fol. 182. 2.

Abot R. Nathan, c. 34. vid. Aruch in voce ~?pj & tvjaaric
Philip. Aquin. fol. 343. 2. who from hence concludes that
Ezra put the points and accents.

3

[ i86 ]

of which are thefe words concerning them,
faid Ezra, if Elijah (another copy has
MoJesJ fhould come and fay, why haft
thou written them ? 1 will fay to him,
now have I pointed them ; if he fhould
' fay, thou haft written well, I will im-
1 immediately remove the points from
' them." In another of them, " expref6
1 mention is made of the accents, Neb.
1 viii. 8. is thus paraphrafed, they read in

* the book of the law of God, this is the fcrip-
' ture ; diftinBly this is the Targum ; and
' gave thefenfe, thefe are the accents ; and

* caufed them to widerftafid the reading,
1 thefe are the heads of verfes."

A. D. 230.

In this year the J 'en uj ale m Talmud was
finifhed, as is generally owned, though Sea-
tiger* places it in 370, and Whifton\ in
369, in which the accents are made men-
tion of". The paffage in Neh. is explained
much in the fame manner, as in the Ba-
bylonian Talmud, and in the Rabbot juft now
quoted ; the diftinclion of the verfes is ob-
ferved in it||, which is made by the accent

Silluk.

* De Emend. Temp. 1. 7. P. 323. § Chronolo-

|r"eal Tables, cent. 19. n T.

Hierof. Megiiiah, foJ. 74. 2, 4. || lb. fol. 75. 1. 2.

[ i»7 ]

Silluk. In this Talmud% the double reading
of a word in Hag. i. 8. is obferved, which
in the text is written "TIOK'I, but in the
margin it is read rHiDtfl ; the one is accor-
ding to the letters without the Jl parago-
gic, the other according to the points with
it, which, as Schindler faysn, is the true read-
ing; for becaufe the point Kametz is under
the laft letter, the quiefcent letter n is to
be afTumed, and fo the word is to be read
with n paragogic ; but if the word had no
points at the time this Talmud was compiled,
nor written with H in any copies, why
mould it be read, or directed to be fo read ?
I have placed this Talmud here becaufe it is
generally received, though fome think it
was not written fo early, iince mention is
made in it of Dioclefian the king ; and if the
Roman emperor ot that name is meant, it
muft be written in or after his time; though
it appears from the Talmud0 itfelf, that the
Doclet or Dioclefian fpoken of was, ac-
cording to that, fome petty king, that
lived in the times of R. Judab Hakkodejh,
the compiler of the Mifnab, by whofe

chil-

% T. Hierof. Maccot, fol. 32. I. & Taaniot, fol. 65. 1.
Lexic. Pentaglott. col. 830 ° T. Hierof. Trumot, 46. 2, 3.

3

[ 1 88 ]

children he had been beaten, as pretended,
and when he became a king, complained
of it ; which can not fo well agree with
the emperor Dioclejian : however, what is
quoted from it, is a proof of the accents be-
ing mentioned in it, which fome have de-
nied, and for the fake of which it is ob-
ferved.

About this time flourifhed that indefa-
tigable writer Origen, who had know-
ledge of the Hebrew tongue, and is almoft
the only one of the antients that had, ex-
cepting Jerom. This writer, in one of his
commentaries*, quotes the Hebrew reading
of Pf. cxviii. 25, 26. and agreeable to the
prefent punctuation ; in which he appears
to be inftructed by a Jew, fince he puts A-
Aonai inftead of Jehovaht and by which
it is evident that the Jews pointed as
they do now. The fame writer compofed
a work called Hexapla ; which, had it been
preferved, would have been of great ufe in
this controverfy about the antiquity of the
Hebrew points; for in this work he placed
in the firft two columns, iirft the Hebrew
text with its proper letters, and then the
fame in Greek characters : Fabricius* has

given

* Comment, in Matth. p. 438, 4.39. Ed. Huet.
r Bibliothec. Grace, torn. 2. p. 346.

[ i»9 3

wiven a fpecimen of it in the whole firft
chapter of Genefis, collected out of the
fragments of the antient Gretk interpre-
ters; and fo has Montfcucon* after him;
which I have compared with our pointed
Bibles, and find it exactly agrees with our
modern punctuation, with fcarce any va-
riation at all ; take as a proof the firfl two
or three verfes.

V"> n fiR* niriyrr ha
cznnn vis Sy'^rrV

* t • " :

3-

ni** yrm *viR rr OTtfw* "fcjh-

The reft of the fpecimen, throughout
the whole chapter, is agreeable to this;
both Fabricius and Montfaucon have given
another fpecimen of the Hexapla, on Hof.
xi. i. the fame which Walton* has tran-
scribed from a copy of cardinal Barberini,
from whom they feem to have taken it,
which does not fo exactly agree With the
modern pointing as the other does ; but
Montfaucon* has given two more fpecimens,

one

i Hexapla Origen. Tom. i. p. 2. &c. T Biblia Poly-

glott. Tom. 6. 72. Interpr. Ed. Roman, p. 133. s Prze-

liminar. ad Hexapla. c. i. p. 16.

BpsM^ TSxpix. EAw»/a
E3- cur ay. cup x& cazptq
uaapsq oluSx S'wa aCcotf
nfyuvix. «A (pvi SfWjU.
apax^ EAwtjW. |U.p«%j(p£.9- oA

2iu)y,ep E'Awjk m «p «[ji wp

[ igo ]

one out of the OBapla of P/l ii. 6. and an-
other out of the Fnneapla of Hab. ii. 4.
which perfectly agree with the prefent
punctuation; and it is furprifing they mould,
when it is confidered, that particularly the
fpecimen of the whole firll chapter of Ge-
nefis is collected from fragments preferved
in various writers, and thofe but little ikilled
in the Hebrew language, and who fbme-
times wrote differently one from another ;
and that thefe have patted through the
hands of various copiers, entirely unac-
quainted with that language ; and yet Fa-
bricius complains not of any difficulty in
collecting it; Montfaucon indeed does1, and
it is pretty much he mould, fince he wrote
after Fabricius ; this mews that he did not
confult him, and that he had not his ipeci-
menfrc: n aim; and therefore it is the more
furprifing that they mould fo nearly a-
gree, the difference between them being
chiefly not in the vowel-points, but in the
powers of fome few of the confonant let-
ters. With what precifion and exactnefs,
agreeable to the modern punctuation, may
it reafonably be fuppofed were the Hexa-
pla of Origen, as firft publifhed by him,

and

1 HexaplaGen. p. 14.

[ >9* ]

and as it would have appeared had it been
pfeferved; and who muft have had a poin-
ted Bib'h. before him when he compoled
it ; and the moft exqnifite care, circum-
fpeclion and diligence muft have been uicd
by him, to obfe~ve every letter and every
point, fo as to write each word in Greek
characters, and give them a proper regular
pronunciation. Though I muft confefs,
that fince Origen was but indifferently
fkilled in the Hebrew language, as Huetius*
has obferved, and fb father Simon*; I
greatly fufpect he had, by fome means or
other obtained a copy of the Hebrew Bi-
ble, written in Greek characters, perhaps
from a Jew with whom he was acquain-
ted, well verfed in the Hebrew language,
both letters and points ; for it was allowed
by the Jews * to write the Hebrew text in
the characters of any language, though not
to read it fo written in their iynagogues ;
and efpecially they allowed of writing it in
Greek characters, it may be for the ufe of
the Hellenijtic Jews ; nay they allowed the
facred books to be written in Greek cha-
racters

■ Origenian. 1. 2. c. 1. f. 2. p. 26. * Difquifir.

Critic, 0 9. p. 61. * T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 115. 1, &

Megillah, fol, 9. I, & Debarim Rabba, f. x. fol. 233. 1.

[ 102 ]

rafters only, for fo it is faid in the Mifnah*,
•* there is no difference between the (fa-
** cred) books, the Phylacteries, and Me-
«.* zuzah (the parchments on the door-
f* ports ) only that the books may be writ-
44 ten in every tongue, but the Phylacteries
" and Mezitzab may not be written but in
*' the A/fyrian (i. e. in Hebrew characters).
" Rabbi Simeon Ben Gamaliel fays, they

* don't allow the books to be written but in
*£ Greek;" and the deciiion was, according
to Simeon, zs Maimonides*obferves ; and who
agreeable to this fays, •« they may not
** write the Phylacteries and Mezuzah but
*l in AJfyrian characters, but they allow
*c the (facred) books to be written alfo in
" Greek, and in that only." I fufpect
therefore, I fay, that Origen lighted on one
of thofe copies, and what ferves to ftrength-
en the fufpicion is, that in his Hexapla, A-
donai is put for Jehovah, as the Rabbins
read it§. Now what he did in compiling
his Hexapla, was placing the feveral copies,
as he fou ad them, in order, in diftinct co-
lumns as follows; firft, the Hebrew text in
Hebrew letters, as then in ufe with the

Jews,

* Megillah, c. i. f. 8. T. Hierof. Sabbat, fol. 15.3.

* Tephiilin, c. 1. s. 19. % Vid. Epiphan. contr.
Hreref. 3. hisr. 76.

[ i93 1

Jews, as Eufebius afTuresx, who doubtlefs
law the work itfelf; and next a copy of
the fame in Greek characters, he had fomc-
where met with ; then followed the Greek
verfions oiAquila, Symmachus, the Septua^
gint, and Theodotion : but be it in which
way it may, whether the compofition of
the Hebrew copy in Greek characters, was
Orige?isy or another's, it feems a clear
cafe that a pointed Bible muft. then be in
being, and was made ufe of; -and that there
was a regular punctuation, and that by the
fpecimen the prefent punctuation agrees
with it; which obfervation fufficiently con-
futes and deftroys thofe notions and vulgar
mirtakes fo generally received, of the in-
vention of the points by the men of Tibe-
rias* and of their being invented after the
writing of the Talmud, and of their being
unknown in the times of Jerom; all which
muft now be retracted.

A. D. 2co.

In this century, and the preceding, lived
the Rabbins of Tiberias, fo frequently men-
tioned in the 'Jerufalem Talmud, fmifhed
in the year 230, as before obferved; at this
O time

* Ecclefiaft. Hift. 1. 6. c. 16.

[ J94 ]
time as there were many fynagogues of the
Jews at Tiberias, fo there was a famous
academy; and now lived the true men of
Tiberias, fpoken of in Jewi/Jj writings,
and at this time only, as to any number
of them; for in the following century, uni-
verfities and promotions ceafed in the land
of Ifrael. Thefe men, fo famous in Jew-
ijh writings for their knowledge of the He-
brew language, and the purity and ele-
gance of it, and the right manner of read-
ing and pronouncing it, lived before the
times of Jerom, and fo not after the nnifh-
ing of the Talmud, as E/ias fays ; for Je-
rom manifeftly refers to them, and to the
fentiments the J-ews had of them, for their
knowledge of the law, and the beauty and
elegance of their language*. But though
thefe men ftudied the Hebrew language,
and were very expert in it, and in the af-
fair of pointing, yet they were not the in-
ventors of the points •> which may be con-
cluded from what Aben Ezra fays* of
them ; " I have {ten, fays he, the books
t( which the wife men of Tiberias examin-
" ed, and fifteen of their elders gave it

9t upon

* Qu£eft. feu Trad. Heb. in Gen. T. 3. fol. 73. I. K.
y Comment, in Exbd. 25. 31,

[ W 1

" upon oath, that three times, they dili-
*f gently confidered every word and every
u point, every full and deficient word, and
f* behold, Tod was written in the word
" ntPVn"* i- e. in£;cW. xxv. 31. by which
it appears that the Bible was not pointed
by them, but pointed Bibles, which they
had, were examined by them ; fo that
pointed Bibles were in being before their
time -y they were pointed to their hands ;
they only fearched into them, and ftudied
them, and became very expert and accu-
rate in their knowledge of the points :
hence the fame writer, in another work * of
his fays, that from them, the men of Tibe-
rias were the Maforetes; from them
we have the whole pointing ; not that they
were the authors and inventors of the
points ; but that by them they were
handed down to them with great accuracy
and exadtnefs ; for he exprefly fays in an-
other work of his *, that " the men of the
great fynagogue taught the people the
fenfe of the fcriptures by the accents, and
by the kings and minijiers ; fo he calls the
O 2 vowel-

z Tzachut fol. 138, 2. npud Buxtorf. de Punft. Antiqj.
P- 11. * Mozne Leflion Hakodelh apud .Buxtorf. lb.

p. 13, 14.

[ 196 ]

vowel-points, Cholem, Shurek, &c. and
were inftead of eyes to the blind; there-
fore in their foot-fteps we go forth, them
we follow, and on them we lean in all
cxpofitions of the fcripture." But what-
foever fkill the men of Tiberias might at-
tain to in the ftudy of the points, they ap-
pear to be very unfit for, and unequal to
fuch a work as the invention of them.
Hear what Dr. Lightfoot a has obferved of
them, who was thoroughly acquainted
with their characters, as to be learned from
the above Talmud. " There are fome who
" believe the holy Bible to be pointed by
" the men of Tiberias ; I do not wonder
" at the impudence of the Jews who in-
" vented this ftory ; but I wonder at the
" credulity of Chriftians who applaud it.
" Recollect, I befeech you, the names of
" the Rabbins of Tiberias, from the firft fi-
'< tuation of the univerfity to the time
" that it expired ; and what at length do
f( you find, but a kind of men mad with
*« Tharijaifm, bewitching with traditions
<c and bewitched, blind, guileful, doting,
" they mull pardon me, if I fay magical
" and monftrous ? men how unfit, how

unable,
* Works vol. ii. Chorograph. Cent. c. 81. p. 73. 74-

t '97 ]

** unable, how foolim, for the undertake
£: ing fo divine a work ?" Then he gives
the names of many of them, and obfervw
trHr childifhnefs, fophiftry, froth, and
poifon, and adds, " if you can believe the
<f Bible was pointed in fuch a fchool, bfe-
" lieve alio all that the Talmudifis write.
t: The pointing of the Bible favours of
" the work of the Holy Spirit, not the
" work of loft, blinded, and befotted
" men ;" and elfewhere he fays, " it is
" above the {kill of a mere man to point
" the Bible ; nay, fcarcely a verfe as it is.
■" The ten commandments may puzzle all
" the world for that fkill."

As about this time, the univerfities both
of "Tiberias and Babylon were the moil flou-
rifning, it may be reafonably fuppofed,
that as they had each of them copies of
the Bible, which they carefully examined,
and preferved for the ufe of the Jews in
Palejiine and Babylon, that now were made
the various readings called weft em and eaft-
ern, published at the end of fome printed
Bibles ; the one for the Jews in their own
land, called wejlern, and the other for the
yews in Babylon, called eajlern. The dif-
O 3 ference

* Erubhim, or Mifcellanies, c. 31. vol, i. p. 10 14.

r 198 ]

fercnce in number are 216, and none of
them in the law ; and they are moflly very
trivial, and chiefly about letters and words,
but not altogether, for in two places, Jer.
vi. 6. Amos iii. 6. they make mention of
the point Mappick, in which the one copy
differs from the other; fo that Eliasb is
wrong, in faying that the differences are
about words and letters only, but not about
points and accents, and therefore he fup-
pofes they were made before the invention
of the vowel-points and accents ; but he is
miftaken, thefe were then in being. In Lam,
v. 21. the wejiern Jews have the Tetra-
grammaton, Jebovab, but the eajiern have
Adonai > the forme/ word, as it mould
feem, having in their copy the points of
the latter, as it fometimes has, they put
Adonai inflead of it ; which mews that the
points then were.

A. D. 190.

Clemens of Alexandria lived and wrote
about this time, and is thought to make
mention of the Hebrew points and accents,
where he faysc, there are fome, who in

reading,

* Frsefat. 3. ad Maforet. e Stromat. 1. 3. p. 442.

[ 199 ]
reading, by the tone 'of the voice pervert
the Scriptures to their own pleafure, and
by a tranipofition nvccv TrpovooSiuv kocl giy-
puv (which Sylburgius his interpreter ren-
ders) of certain accents and points, what
are wifely and profitably commanded, force
to their own liking j" in which he has re-
fpecT: to a text in Mai. hi. 1$. and which
he vindicates againft fome heretics of his
time ; but not to the Greek verfion of it,
and the accents of that ; for thofe in the
oppofition fay, there were no accents in
the .Greek tongue for ages after d j but to
the Hebrew text, and the points and ac-
cents in that ; and the rather this may be
fuppofed, feeing it appears in feveral parts
of his writings, that he had fome know-
ledge of the Hebrew tongue.

A little before Clemens, Irenceus wrote, who,

tho' he had but afmall degree of knowledge

of the Hebrew language,yet fomething of it he

O 4 endea-

d Some fay they began in the 7th century, vid. Velafti
Difiert. deLit. Grasc. Pronunciat. par 4. c. 2 P- 9^- Roma?,
1 75 1. It it laid the ancienter the MSS. are, the fewer are
the accents, and that thofe which exceed a thoufand years
have none at all, Mirtifb. Sarpedon (alias Frideric ReifTen-
berg). Diifert. de Vera Attic, Pronunciat par. 3.C. 1. p. 48.
Romx, 1750; but Gregorius Placentinius makes thein much
more ancient. See his Epitome Graic. Paleograph. c. u,
p. 88 Roma:, 1735. The controverfy about the Greek ac-
cents has been oi late years revived at Rome.

[ 200 ]

endeavoured to get, triat he might anfwer
the heretics of his time, who were fond
of introducing foreign words and their fig-
nifications into their fchemes. The firft
and ancient Hebrew letters, he fayse, were
but ten ; which Feuardentius his annotator
explains of the ten from Aleph to Tod in-
clulive, becaufe thefe were the firft and
chief from whence all the reft were
formed ; and indeed the cabalijlic Jews ■
fay the Tod is the beginning of all letters ;
and Hermannus Hugo * obferves, that all
the Hebrew characters are compofed from
the fingle letter Tod varioufly joined toge-
ther 5 but Irenaus adds, M that every one
«5 of the letters are written by fifteen, the
«< laft letter coupled to the firft." f* Now
what he means by fifteen Dr. Grabe fays he
could not devife. I fufpect he means the
fifteen vowel-points, as fome grammarians h
reckon them, and call them five long, five
fhort, and five moft fhort, which Irenaus
might have fome knowledge of from thofe
who taught him the little Hebrew he had ;
for that he ccnfulted the Rabbins of his

time

* Adv. haeref. 1. t. c. 41. f R. Abraham Dior, in Jet-
zirah p. 5S. Ed. Rittangel. ? De prima Scribendi Orig.
c. p. 64. h Vid. Balmefii Mikaeh Abraham p. 25. lin.
3. Se 2O'. lin. 6.

[ 20! ]

time is clear from what he before fays of
the Hebrews and their language, " Sicut
<f periti eorum dicunt :" and it is obferv-
able that in his time Hebrew words were
read and pronounced according to the mo-
dern pointing ; as for inftance, lp1? *)p is
read not Cidacu nor Coloco, as mpft natu-
ral, without points; but Cau/acau l, as it
is in our pointed Bibles in If. xxviii. 13.
and was read fo before his time by the he-
retics he oppofes. There are other words
in Ireneeus k which agree with our modern
punctuation, as Sabaoth, Eloa, Adonai :
and here I cannot forbear obferving, that
Pbilo By b litis \ who lived half a century
at leaft before Irencensy in translating San~
choniatbos hiftory out of the Phoenician
language, reads E^n^tt, his author's word
no doubt, in Greek EXueip, as Jerom m, Ba-
flR, and Epipbanius °, in the fourth cen-
tury read it Eloim-, and Or i gen before them,
as the fpecimen of his Hexapla given above
{hews. This very antient way of reading
and pronouncing Elohim, as it agrees with

the

1 Adv. haeref. 1. i.e. 73. k Jb. 1. z. c. 66. l Apud
Eufeb. Praepar. Evangel. 1. I. p. 37. 'm Epili. Marcellae
fol. 31. A. Tom. 3. Quarfc. Heb. in Gen. fol. 66. E.
c Adv. Eunom. 1. 1 . » Contr. K;cref. 1. i . Haeref. 40.

[ 202 ]

the modern punctuation, fo it may be ob-
ferved againft the Hut chinf onions, who
fometimes write and pronounce it Elabim
and fometimes Aleim, as Mafclef alfo
does.

A. D. 150.

In this year, or about this time, the
Mifnah or book of Traditions was fi-
nifhed, which R. Judab Hakkodejh col-
lected together, that they might not be
loft ; and it mull be written fo early, fince
by the unanimous confent of JewiJJj wri-
ters, it was compiled by this Rabbi, who
nourished in the times of Antoninus Pius,
with whom he was very familiar. Some
Chriftian writers indeed place it at the be-
ginning of the fixth century, or at the end
of the fifth, and others at the end of the
fourth ; but no good reafon can be given
why the Jews fhould antedate this book,
for whofe ufe only it was written. There
is not one Rabbi mentioned in it but lived
before R. Judab, the fuppofed compiler of
it -, nor is there any chronological charac-
ter in it that brings it lower than the
times of Adrian the predecefTor of Anto-
1 ninus,

[ 203 1
rJnus, whofe name is once mentioned ia
it p ; therefore Maimonides * thinks the
Mifnah was compofed about his time.
Now the Jews had been very much har-
raffed in the times of Trajan and Adrian^
but obtained £>me favour and eafe in the
times of Antoninus j and having more eafe
and leifure, it was the fitteft opportunity
of letting about this work of collecting
their traditions from feveral parts ; which
were put together by the above Rabbi, that
they might not be loft : according to the
author of Cq/h'*, this year 150 is the
year 150 from the defTruclion of the fe-
cond temple, which brings it to the year
of Chriji 220 -, but R. Abraham Ben Da-
vid, b and R. Menachem c place the Mifnah m
120 from the deftruction, which is A. D.
190 ; but Morimts d himfelf owns that Rab-
benu Hakados compiled the Mifnaiot or
traditions almoft two hundred years before
the council of Nice, and that council was
but little more than three hundred years

after

P Avodah Zarab* c 3. f. 3. * Comment, in lb,

a Par 3. c. 67. fo R. Serira in Juchafm fol. 115. and
R. Azariah Meor Enayim c. 24. fol. 95, 1. b Sepher Ca-
bala. c Apud Ganz Tzemach David, par 1. fol. 30, 2.
d De finceritate Hfb Text. i. 1. Exercit. 1. c, 2. p.

?7-

[ 204 ]

after the birth of Chrifi. The general
regard paid to the Mlfnah by the Jews in
all parts, in Palejiine and in Babylon, the
puzzle the Gemarijls are at in many places
to underftand it, many of the traditions in
it being the fame that are obferved or re-
ferred to in the New Teftament, are proofs
of the antiquity of it ; and though it is de-
nied, yet it is moft clear that Jerom had
knowledge of it as a written book > his
words are, thatq " the traditions of the
" P hart fees are what to this day are called
«* SeuTsputreig (fecondary laws or the Mif-
" nah, and are fuch old wives fables, that
** I cannot bear evolvere to turn them over;
" for neither will the bignefs of the book
" admit of it, and moft of the things in
" it are fo filthy that I am afhamed to fpeak
" of them ;" in which he not only gives
the work its proper name, a fecondary law
or Mi/nab, but fpeaks of it as a book, and
of a confiderable bulk, it being bigger than
our New Teftament, and there are things
in it which agree with the character he
gives of it, and fuch as well deferved
his cenfure, as Dr. Wotton * thinks ;

though

*» Epirt. Algafias Qu. 10. fol. 55. I, Tom. 3. • Mif-
eellaneous Difcourfes, &c. p. 94.

[ 205 ]

though I muft confefs in this I am of a
different mind ; but chufe rather to fub-
fcribe to what the learned Wagenfeil fays *,
that in the Mifnah as abftra&ed from the
Gemara, " there is no fable nor apologue in
it, nor any thing very foolifh, nor very re-
mote from reafon j it contains mere laws
and traditions." Jerom therefore fays this
upon hearfay, and it is plain by his own
words he had not read it ; or, it may be,
rather he refers to the Jerufalem Talmud,
which confifls both of the Mi/nah and Ge-
mara -, and not only the matter but the
bulk of the book 'Jerom fpeaks of better
agrees with that, which is a large folio ;
and being finifhed in the year 230, as be-
fore obferved, there was time enough for
Jerom to have knowledge of it ; however,
I think it is beyond all doubt, that there
was a collection of the Jewijh traditions call-
ed in his time Mifnab or Mifnaiot, and that
this was a written book, in fome form or an-
other, either by itfelf or with the Gemara,
of which Jerom had knowledge; and
that Jerom faw the Mifnah itfelf is the
Opinio?, of the learned Dr. Bernard in his
letter to the bimop of Fern, prefixed to

the

• Praefat ad Tela Ignea, p. 57, 58.

[ 206 ]

the Mi/nab of Sitrenbujiits -f ; and Jeroffi
in the fame epiftle makes mention of the
Mifnic doctors by name, as Rab, Akiba,
Simeon, and Hillell, who delivered to the
Jews the tradition of walking 2000 feet
on a fabbath day ; and a little after he fays,
l< on certain days when they (the Jewifo
c< doctors) explain their traditions they
" ufually fay to their difciples, 0; <ro<pc;
" 2zvTS(>u<riv, that is, the wife men teach
" the traditions," than which no words
can more fully and fitly exprefs or give
a better tranflation of the phrafes 132") "Un
Our Rabbins teach, that is, in the Mifnah,
and *3"! ♦jri fuch a Rabbi teaches, that is,
in the Mifnic way 5 phrafes to be met with
in innumerable places in Talmndic writ-
ings r ; which mews the knowledge Jerom
had of them, and that they were in be-
ing before his time -, and hence it is, that
the wife men are called Tanaim, Mifnic
doctors, and the Mifnah itfelf Mathnitha,
tradition, inflruction, doctrine. The Mi-
fnic doctors are frequently called wife men

in

f Videret equidem aliquando opus illud Mifnicum Rec-
tor Bethleemiticus, &c. Vid. Triglandium de fedta Karse-
orum c. 9. p. 123, who is of the fame opinion. r See
the meaning of theie phrafes in Halicot Olam, p. 35, 39.
Ed. L' Emaereur.

[ 207 ]

in it. The moft famous of them for
their doctrines, debates, and decilions in
the Mijhah were well known to yerom,
and their names and the order of time in
which they lived, are given by him :
" The Nazarit.es , fays he, * interpret the
" two houfes {If. viii.) of the two fami-
tf lies of Sammai and Hillell, from whom
te fprung the Scribes and Pharifees, in
<£ whofe fchool Akiba fucceeded, thought
<c to be the matter of Aquila the profe-
" lyte, and after him Meir, fucceeded by
<£ *Johanan the fon of Zaccaiy after him
tc Eliezer and then Delpbon (Tarpbon I
" fuppofe is meant) and again JofepbthG
" Galilean, and yojhua unto the captivity
ct of yerufalem. Sammai and Hillell
11 therefore did not arife in yudea much be-
Cf fore the Lord was born ; the firft of
u which iignifles a di(Jipator7 and the other
<c propha?ie-, becaufe that by their traditions
<£ and fecondary laws (or Mifnic doclrines)
{c they diffipated and defpifed the precepts
<c of the law ; and thefe are the two houfes
<c which did not receive the Saviour." It
is obfervable in this paffage, that yerom

calls

s Comment, in Efaiam, c. S. fol. 17. I, Tom. 5.

[ 208 ]

calls the fchools of Hillell and Shammajj
which make To confiderable a figure in the
Mifnah, houfes and families, which is the
very name they go by in the Mifnah hun-
dreds of times, as XVI Hillell and n»H
Shammai. So yerom elfewhere e calls the
Jeivifh fables and traditions, Sevrepuo-etg fe-
condary laws, as is alfo before obferved,
and anfwers to Mijhnaiot, the very name
by which their book of traditions is called:
and Eicfebius u, who lived before yerom,
makes mention of the Deuterotcz or Mifnic
doctors among the yews, by which name
yerom * often calls the Pharifees, who
were traditionary men, retailers of tradi-
tions, and the authors of the Mifnah ; and
by the fame name he calls one of the Rab-
bins, that inftructed him in the Hebrew
tongue -f-, and from whom, with others, he
became acquainted with many things now
to be met with in the Mi/nab and Talmud ;
and this accounts for yerom's knowledge of
the Mifnah, which might not be known
by thofe who were his cotemporaries; and

which
i

1 Comment, in Efaiam c. 59. fol. 103. in Ezek. c. 36.
fol. 235. H. & in Matt. 22. fol. 30. M. Epift. ad Damafum,
T. 3. fol. 40. A. " Pra-par. Evangel. 1. II. c. 5.
* In Efaiam, c. 3. fol. 9. C. & c. 10. fol. 20. D. &
c, 29. fcl. 57. C. Tom. 5. f In Habacuc. c. 2. fol. 85.
D. Tom. 6,

[ 2°9 1

which need not be wondered at, fince the
book was written purely for the ufe of the
Jews, and was not defigned to be made
public to others ; and it was only thro'
Jerom's acquaintance with fome Jewijh
Rabbins his preceptors, that he came to
have any notion of it ; wherefore Auftin
not knowing it was committed to writ-
ing *, is no objection to it, fince it might
be written, and he be ignorant of it, he
having no correfpondence with the "Jews,
as yerom had : and it may be further ob-
ferved, that of the Mifnic doctors fome
lived before the birth of Cbrijl, and fome
after, yet before the deflruction of Jern-
falem, and others after that, but all be-
fore R. Judah Hakkodefo, the lafl of them,
and who compiled the Mlfnah about the
date given ; and it may alio be obferved,
that whereas fome of thefe men lived be-
fore this date fome confiderable time, in
courfe, their debates and deciiions about
any matter mud: be reckoned as early ; fo
that the difcourfe between two Rabbins I
{hall prefently produce, founded upon
punctuation, who lived about, or a little

P af-

* Opera T. 6.. contr. Adverfar. L?g. 8c Proph. 1. 2.
c. 1. p. 256.

[ 210 ]

after, the destruction of jferufakm, carries
the affair of punctuation higher than the
date fixed w, even into the firft cen-
tury.

The Mi/nab, according to the yews, was
pointed. Ephodeus x fays, you will find
all the ancient copies of the Mifnah writ-
ten with points and accents ; and R. Aza-
riah y affirms, that he faw two copies of
the Mifnah more than 500 years old, with
points and diftinguifhing accents -, and in.
the Mifnah not only mention is made of
verfes in the Bible, and how many to be
read at a time z, by which it appears that
the facred books were diftinguifhed into
verfes fo early, but the points are mani-
feftly referred unto. Two doctors are in-
troduced a as difputing about the reading
of the text in Cant. i. 2. Says R. Jo-
Jbua, brother IJhmael how doft thou read
the words, yiM or yiM ? that is, whether
he read the word with a mafculine or fe-
minine affix •, and fo, whether it was the
congregation or church that fpoke to God,

or

f Vid. Halicot Olam, c. 2. p. 19, 26, 228. & Pocock.
Port. Mofis, p. 120. xApud Buxtorf. c'e Puntt. Antiqu.
p. yS. y Meor Enayim, c. 59. fol. 180, 2. z M>
gillah, c. 4. f. 4. • Avcdah zarah, c. 2. f. 5.

or whether it was God that fpoke to the
church? now this could not be determined
by the letters or confonants which are the
fame ; but by the vowel-points, which dif-
tinguifh the affixes : according to R. Jfi-
mael it was to be read feminine "W"7 as if
fpoken by God to the church -, but this R.
jfo/kua denied ; Not fo, fays he, but tjhti
mafculine, and fo fpoken by the church to
God. Now though thefe two Rabbins
might have an unpointed bible before
them, yet the foundation of their reafon-
ing lay in the points ; for their difpute
was not barely how the word was pro-
nounced, but how it was read', and it is
obfervable, that it is the modern punctua-
tion of this word that is by this inftance
eftablifhedj to which may be added, that
the Maforeth is exprefly made mention of
in the Mijhah b as the hedge of the law,
one branch of which is concerned with
the points and accents, and to the authors
of it thofe that oppofe the points afcribe

them. Now R. Akiba, whofe faying this

is, flourifhed about eighty years after

Chriit, and died in the year 120, in the

P 2 war

b Plrke Abot, c. 3. f. 13. vid. Leufden in ib.

[ 212 1

war of Adrian againfr. the Jews ; in whom
the glory of the law is laid to ceafe, be-
caufe he gave his mind to fearch out the
meaning of every apex, tittle, and point in
it, as it was foretold of him that he
mould * : the extraordinary point in the
letter n in Hpim, Numb. ix. 10. is ob-
ferved in the Mifnah -f.

A. D. 1 20.
About this time, according to the Jewifi
chronology0, lived Simeon Ben yochai a.
difciple of R. Akiba author of the book of
Zohar ; the authority and antiquity of
which book is not called in queftion by
any of the yews, no not by E/ias Levita
himfeif, who fir ft afferted the points to be
the invention of the men of Ttberias j yet
declared 4, if any one could convince him
that his opinion was contrary to the book
of Zohar, he mould be content to have it
rejected. What may be urged in favour of
the antiquity of that book, is not only, that
the perfons introduced fpeaking in it, and

whofe

* Mifn. Sotah, c. 9. f 15. Bartenora In ib T. Bab. Me,
nachot t'ol. 29, 2. f Pefadiim, c. 9. f. 2. c Garni

Tzemacfr David, par. x. t'ol 30, n* d Prjefat. 3. ad

Maforet.

[ 2'3 1

whofe fayings are recorded, were as early
or earlier than the time to which it is
placed ; but the. neatnefs of the language
in which it is written, which far exceeds
any thing written after this time ; as alfo
there being no mention made of the Tal-
mud in it, though there e is of the Targums
of Onkelos and 'Jonathan. Some things
objected to its antiquity may be only inter-
polations. R. Azariah fays *, it was
written before the Mifnah was compiled.
According to Majius -f it was written a
little after the deftruction of Jerufalem.
Now in this book it is faid, " the letters
" are the body, and the points are the fpi-
" rit or foul;" and the text in Dan. xii. 3.
is thus paraphrafed, they that be wife Jh all
Jhine, the letters and points ; as the bright -
nejsy the modulation of the accents ; they
that turn many to right eoufnefs, thefe are
the paufes of the accents f ; fo Nehemiah
viii. 8. is interpreted in it, of the paufes
of the accents, and of the Maforeth 8 ; and
in another place h " Jehovah is called
11 E/ohim, becaufe he is the river of mer-
P 3 cies;

e Zohar in Gen. fol. 6 1, i . * Imre Binah, c. 59.

fol. 179, 2. t Comment, in Jolh. 1, 3, * Zohar

in Gen. fol. l* 3. g In Exod. fol. 82, 4. h lb,
ia Lev. fol. 4, 3. Ed. Sultzbach.

[ 214 ]

cies ; and it is written mercy, and pointed
" by Ekbim -," yea, the very names of the
points and accents are mentioned in it in
yarious places >, as Cho/em, Schurek, Chi-
reky Pathacb, Segol, Sbeva, Kajnetz,
Tzere, Zarka, S ego It a, Shalfhelet, &c.
and elfewhere mention is made of the
feven vowels, which are by gramma-
rians called Kametz, Tzere, Cbirek,
Cbolem, Shurek, Pathach, Segal; fb fome
of the extraordinary points or pricks, on
certain words are obferved in it, as that on.
the word for he kijfed him, Gen. xxxiii. 4.
and on the word for afar off, in Numbers
ix. 10. * ; the double letters in the Hebrew
tongue, the pronunciation of which de-
pends upon the points, are made mention
of in this book ra.

A. D. 100.

In the time before this date, or in the
firft century, the Targums of Jonathan
and Onkelos were written ; the one is upon

the

' lb. in Ges». fol. I, 2. & 26, 3. & 38. 1. 2. & 71, 2.
Tikkure zohar praefat. fol. 6, 2. & 7, 1. i lb. in Gen.
fol. 98, 4. m In Gen. fol. 38, 1.

[ 215 3

the prophets, and the other upon the Pen-
tateuch, and are by Buxtorf* faid to be
the moft ancient books of all the Hebrews,
Jonathan flourifhing a little before Chrift,
and Onkelos a little after; though fome
write that they knew one another ; how-
ever, they were in this century : it is
certain alfo there was a Targum on Job, as
ancient -j- as R. Gamaliel, the mafter of
the ApoftJe Paul; and Onkelos muft be
cotemporary with him, if what is faid J is
true, that he burnt at Gamaliel's funeral
as much as was worth feventy Tyrian
pounds. The Targums are now in our
printed bibles pointed ; but whether they
were fo when firft written cannot be faid.
Ellas Levita n is very pofitive and fays,
without doubt the Targumifls wrote their
paraphrafes without points ; and affirms
alfo, that they were not pointed by the
Maforetes, but by men of note long after
their time ; but this is all faid to {tive.
an hypothefis of his own, that there was
no pointing before the men of "Tiberias;
P 4 that

* Biblioth. Rabbin, p. 293. f T. Hierof. Sabbat,
fol. 15, 3- X T. Bab Avodah zarah fol. 11, 1.

" Pra;fat. ad Methurgeman, fol. 2, 1 .

[ 2.6 ]

that the points of them were then in a corrupt
ftatc, and very irregular ; and fo indeed Bux-
torj * found them, and took great pains to re-
flore them ; and which not only fuppofes their
being, but it may be that fuch a ftate was
owing to their great antiquity and the long
neglect of them. With fome Jewijh com-
mentators "Jonathan is obferved in fome
places to tranflate and paraphrafe accord-
ing to the points. Kimcbi on 2 Sam. xix.
14. obferves, that inftead of he bowed,
Jonathan renders it pafiively, was bowed,
by which it feems, he fays, that he read DO
with a Tzere under Tod, but the Maforah
teftifies of it that it is with a Patach under
the Tod; ^nd. on Hof. v. 15. he remarks,
that in the word lOtPtf* the Aleph and
Shin are with a Sheva, agreeable to which
is the 'Tar gum of Jonathan; and Jarchi
on Ezek. xxvii. 16. obferves, that as to the
point Dagejh, Jonathan explains the word
that has it fometimes literally, and fome-
times allegorically ; for in that way he
fometimes paraphrafed otherwife than in
the copy before him ; fo the Jerufalem
Targumijl on Gen. xiv. 5. what Onkelos
and FJeudo-Jonathan take for the proper

name

» Praefat, ad Bibl, Iieb.

[ 2i; ]

name of a place, he inftead of Ziizim in
Ham, has it, the iilujirious ones among them-,
and fo it is quoted in Berefoit Rabba % on
which the commentator b obferves, that
Zuzim is allegorically explained, as if it
had the fignification of fplendor and luftre,
and Be bam, which is with a Kamelz, as if
it was written with a Segol ; but if the
points were not then known, there could
be no foundation for fuch an allegorical in-
terpretation. Capellus c himfelf owns, that
'Jonathan and Onkelos made ufe of an He-
brew copy different from what the Septua-
gint did, and almoft the fame we now
have from the Maforetes ; and indeed On-
kelos fcarce ever departs from the modern
punctuation, and it will be difficult to
produce a fingle inftance proving that he
ufed an unpointed Bible.

A. D. 70.

yofephus, the famous Jewijh hiftorian,
flourished about this time. Scarce any
thing can be expected from him concern-
ing the Hebrew Points, who wrote in
Greek, and conformed Hebrew words to

the

a Parafh. 42 fol. ij, 2. k In Mattanot Cehunnah in
ib. c Critica, p. 324..

L *« ]

the genius of that language, and who read
and pronounced confonants, as well as
vowels, different from the Hebrew words.
There is a paffage of his which is thought
to militate againft the antiquity and necef-
iity of the vowel-points, when he fays d,
that the facred letters engraven on the
mitre of the high prieft, meaning the
word 'Jehovah, zrefoi/r vowels ; which are
fuppofed to be a fufficient number of
vowels for the Hebrew language, at leaft,
if another or two are added to them : but,
to take off the force of this objection, if
there is any in • it, let it be obferved,
ift. Jojephus's want of fkill in the Hebrew
tongue, with which he is charged by fome
learned men ; the Syro-Chaldean language
being commonly fpoken by the Jews in
his time, and which, perhaps, may ferve
alfo to account for his different pronuncia-
tion of Hebrew words in fome places.
2dly, What he calls vowels, and which
fome think may be ufed inftead of vowels,
are allowed by the fame to have alfo the
power of confonants ; and it is certain,
that the Van, was ufed as a confonant be-
fore, and in the times of Jofepbus ; fo Da-
vid

«• DeBcllo jud, 1. 5.C. 5-f. 2.

[ 2i9 3

vid is read Aa&J, in Matt. i. i. 6. &
faffim, and in the very name "Jehovah he
fpeaks pf; for the Samaritans* pronounced
it Jabe; and 1 and lare fometimes changed
for one another in the Hebrew language,
as in Bathjhua for Bathjheba, i Chron. iii.
5. and Jofephus mull: have knov/n that the
Tod is ufed in the Bible as a confonant, in
a multitude of proper names of men and
places, and in other words, and even in
his own name. 3dly, If the facred name
"Jehovah confifted of vowels only, it could
not be pronounced ; for as confonants can-
not be pronounced without vowels, fo nei-
ther can vowels without confonants -, and
though the word is by the Jews faid to be
ineffable, yet not becaufe it could not be
pronounced, for it was pronounced by the
blafphemer in the times of Mofes, by Hi-
ram> by the former wife men to their chil-
dren once a week *, and by the high prien:
in the fanctuary, as they allow f ; but be-
caufe as they thought it was not lawful to
pronounce it, at leaft in common, as fay

both

* Theodoret. in Gen. Qu. 15. vid. Epiphan. contra Hx-
rcf. 1. 1. har. 40. * T. Bab. Kiddufhin, fbl. 71, 1.
f Mifn. Sotah, c. 7. f. 6. T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 39, 2.

[ 220 ]

both Philo g and Jofephus h -, and fo in the
Mifnah \ he is faid to have no part in the
world to come who pronounces the name
'Jehovah with its own letters. When the
ancient Greek writers fay it is unutterable,
as the author of Delphi Pbamicizantes ob-
ferves k, it is only as written by the Greeks,
who fcarce admit of u as a confonant, and
cannot exprefs afpirates in the middle and
end of a word, as this word requires ; but
then he adds, not becaufe it cannot be
pronounced, for it may be pronounced ac-
cording to the Hebrew letters, with which
it is written. 4thly, The three letters in
the name Jehovah, for there are no more
in it of a different kind, can at mod be
only confidered as mat res leBionis, as they
are called, and fo ufed in the room of
vowels -, but then thefe are often wanting
in the Hebrew text, and in places where
they might be expected, and where their
prefence would be neceffary, if this were
their ufe, and there were no other
vowels or vowel-points, and therefore are
inefficient to fupply the place of them.

5thly

8 De vitaMofis, 1. 3. p 670. b Antiqu. 1. 2. c. 12.
f. a. l Sanhedrin, c. n. f. r. k Dickinfon, c. 6.

P-S7-

[ 221 ]
cthly, After all, ypappciTce. and (puvyevTtz
are the fame in Jofepbus as in the Greek
epigram in Eujebius \ and they the fame
with q>mtj the human and articulate voice,
which, as Capellus m obferves, confifts not of
vowels only, but of confonants alfo ; and both
in the one as in the other, the tetragram-
maton, or the name of four letters, Jehovah
is thought to be meant ; or of feven letters,
four confonants and three vowel-points ;
hence S 'caliger n fays, " there is no neceffity
e( by (puvyevra to underftand vowels, in
" the above Greek epigram, fince "Jofepbus
** exprefly calls the four letters of the te-
" tragrammaton <puvr,svra9 whence it appears
*' that any letters may be fo called;" and
Jqfepbus's view in the obfervation he makes
was not to tell us what fort of letters they
were that were upon the mitre of the
high prieft, whether vowels or confonants;
but that it was the tetragrammaton or
name of four letters, that was written upon
it, ufing the language of his own nation,
and which continues in ufe to this day ;
wherefore both Selden ° and Braunius * ren-
der the pafTage in Jofepbus thus, <e about

" it

1 Praepar. Evangel. 1. xi. c. 6. * Orat. de Nom. Te-
tragram. p. 172. n In Fragm. ad Calcem lib. deEmeo-

dat. Temp. p. 34. ° De Sucoef. in Fonrif Ebr. I. 2. c. 7
? De Veftixu Sacerd. Heb. 1.2. c. 22. f. 18. p. 8x1.

[ 222 ]

«' it (the mitre) was another golden crowfi
" bearing facred letters, that is, the name
" tetragrammaton." Pbilo calls them
the four engravings of the name, and the
engravings of the four letters, and this,
fays he, divines call tetragrammaton -f.
Moreover, though Jofephus does not make
exprefs mention of the Maforah in his
writings, yet Arias Montanus q thinks, he
never could have fo confidently faid what
he faid without the help of it ; as when
he fays T, in fuch a fpace of time that was
pair, meaning from Mofes, " no man dared
** to add, nor to take away, nor to
" change any thing in the fcriptures, chuflng
" rather to die •" and the fame fays Philo
the Jew ', who lived in the fame age, and
a little before him, that the Jews in the
fpace of more than 2000 years, " never
" moved out of its place one word of what
" was written by Mofes, rather willing to
" die a thoufand times than go contrary to
" the laws and cuftoms ;" and that there
was a Maforah before their times is ac-
knowledged by fome who have been op-

pofers

f De vita Mofis, 1. 3. p. 670, 673. < Dc Varia Heb.
Lib. Script. & Left. ' Contr. Apion 1. i. c. 8. * A-
pud. Euftb. Evangel, praspar. 1. 8. c. 6. p. 357.

5

[ 223 ]

pofers of the points, as before obfervecL
The filence of Philo and jo/epbus about
the points, is only a proof that they were
not a matter of controverfy, but no proof
of their not being in ufe.

A. D. 31.

That the points were in ufe in the
times of Chrifl may be concluded from.
Mat. v. 18. till heaven and earth pafs away
one jot (or one Yud, as the Syriac veriion)
or one tittle (or one Chirek, as Elias Hutter
in his Hebrew veriion) fiall in no wife paj&
from the law till all be fulfilled ; and fo as
the leaft letter in the Hebrew alphabet Tod
is referred to, the le?ft of the points in ufe,
Chirek, is alfo ; between which and the
Greek word xepoua, ufed by the EvangelinV
is great nearnefs of found, and feems to
be no other than that point made Greek,
So Dr. Lightfoot ° obferves that our Saviour
in his words of one Iota, and one Keraia,
not perifhing from the law, feems to al-
lude to the leaft of the letters, Jod, and to
the leaft vowel and accent. The argument
from hence cannot well be put more

ftrongly

6 Works, vol. 1. p. 10 14.

[ 224 ]

frrongly than it is by Dr. John Prideaux ',
who yet was an oppofer of the points ;
'« if the points, fays he, were not at this
" time, why does the Saviour make men-
M tion of them ? if they were the fame
" with the confonants or only cornicular
ft eminencies of them, why are they rec-
" koned here as diftincT: things ?" and to
which he makes a very feeble anfwer, and
indeed the argument feems unanfwerable :
nor can the pricks on certain letters called
tD'Jn, be deligned, though very ancient,
being mentioned in the Talmud*, and the
fame letters on which they are put, and on
them only and not on all ; and as Broughton0
obferves, " thefe, and likewife accents, are
" no part of the word, therefore vowel-
" pricks (or points) muft be meant ;" and it
may be concluded with Pifcator on the place,
that Chriir. " fo calls, i. e. tittles, what now
u g° ^y ^e name °f points, which in He-
M brew writing are varioufly put to letters,
" both to lignify the proper found of fome
" of them, and the vowel-founds, and alfo
" the accents and parts of a fentence; hence
" it appears that the holy Bible in the

time

p Yiginti dux Leftiones, Left. 12. p. 182. a T.Bab.

Menachdt, fol. 29, 2. \ Works, p. 204.

L 225 ]

fi time of Chrift was pointed, and that
ic that punctuation was approved of by
«' him ;" fo Pafor in his Lexicon fays, tc by
tittle here is meant a point ; wherefore
the vowel-points were in the time of
Cbri/l, and not, as fome pretend, a new
invention." The words of Chrift expreffed
on the crofs, Eli, Eli, &c. and the names
of perfons in the genealogies of the.Evan-
gelifts, and in Heb. xi. and in other places
of the New Teftament, feem to confirm
the modern punctuation. The Dagefh
forte appears, and is preferved in many
words in thofe times, as in Immanuel,
Mat. i. 23. Matthew, Lebbceus, Thaddczus,
Matt. x. 3. Hofanna, Matt. xxi. 9. Epb-
phatha, Mark vii. 34. Anna, Luke ii. 36.
Matt bat, Matt hat bias 9 Luke iii. 24, 25.
Matthias, Aclsi. 23. Abaddon, Rev. ix. 11.
Armageddon, Rev.xvi. 16. Sabbat on, Matt,
xii. $.Lamma, Mark xv. 34. with others, and
the Dagefh leiie in Capernaum, Sarepta, and
others ; and even the ufe of the Pat bach
Genubah appears in the pronunciation of
Meffias and Siloam as well as the other
points, John i. 41. and ix. 7, 11.

Q_ A,

[ 226 ]

A. 30. Ante Chriftum.
About this time lived two famous
dodors among the Jews, Hillell and Sbam-
mai, heads of two fchools and of two feds,
fo different, that it is faid c the law was as
two laws, and a faft was appointed on ac-
count of the divifion between them d ; the
former was followed by the Rabbanite
Jews, and the latter by the Karaite Jews:
and it may be obferved, that Jofephus'
calls Pollio, the fame with Hillell, a Pha-
rifee, but not Sammeas or Shammai, he
mentions with him; through whom the
Karaites derive the genealogy and fuccef-
fion of their doctors, and from whom they
fay they received the do&rine and copy of
the law f ; which Shammai had from She-
maiah, and he from Judah ben Tabbai, in
whofe days the feparation was made, 120
years before Chrifi, as will be feen here-
after. Now the Karaites with one confent
declare, that the copy of the law B they had,
had the points and accents, and that fuch

copies

c T. Bab. Sanhedrm, fol. 83, z. d Schulchan A-

mch, par. 1. c. 580. e Antiqu. 1. 15. c. 1. f. «■

ftod Mordecai, five Comment, de Karris, c. 9. p.
o" Edit, a Wol£o. - Ibid, c. 12. p. 150.

[ 227 ]

copies they always had and ufed ; as the
Hillellian copy is alfo a pointed one. I have
obferved under A. D. 340. that fome
learned men take that copy to be this Hil-
k//'s, and I am pretty much inclined to
the fame opinion ; for, as Sbammai had a
copy for him and his party, fo Hillell had,
no doubt, one for him and his ; and as the
Karaites boaft of their copy, and of the
antiquity of it, fo the Rabbanites boaft of
Hillell' s copy ; which muft be the copy
of fome eminent perfon of that name, by
which all copies were corrected ; and who
fo eminent as this Hillell? It is indeed
moft generally afcribed to a Hillell, who
lived in the fourth century, not fo famous
as this ; and as for the copy which R.
Zacuth faw, and which had been written
900 years before he faw it, which, from
1500, in which he lived, carries it up to
the year 600, it falls fhort of that Hillell,
and ftill more of this. I fuppofe, there-
fore, that that was a copy taken from the
original copy of the elder Hillell, and be-
ing the only one remaining, was valued,
and made ufe of for correcting all other
copies; fo that if this was the cafe, there
were two pointed Bibles as early as the
0^2 date

[ 223 ]

date given. Hillell began his government
as the head of an academy, ioo years be-
fore the deftruftion of the temple, about
the beginning of the reign of Herod \ with
which Jofephus ! agrees, who calls him
Pollw, as before obferved.

A. 40. Ante Chriftum.
About this time lived R. Necbuniab Ben
Kanah, as the Jewijh chronologers * gene-
rally place him. I fufpeft him to be the
fame whom Grotius r calls R. Nebumias,
who, according to him, was fifty years
before Chrift, and who then openly de-
clared, that the time of the Meffiab figm-
fied by Daniel, would not be prolonged
beyond thofe fifty years. To this Rabbi
the book of Babir is generally afcribed by
the Jews : Could the authenticity and an-
tiquity of it be eflablifhed, it would fur-
nifh out a very early proof of the points ;
for R. Becbai\ a celebrated writer with
the Jews, has a quotation out of it to this

pur-

I T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. ittlJ J«W% fol. .g, *. fan*
Tzcxnach David, par. 1. fol. .fet. * Anuqu. 1. £

c. 1. f. 1. & c. 10. f. 4. & JofiPF- Hle°;1' k c l)\ fn1 J"
rWn fol 20, 1. GanzTzemaADavid, par.i.foi.24.

t % De Ve'r. Rclig. Chrift. 1. \ • f. 1 4- I APud BuX'

;orf. Tiberiad. c. 9.

[ 229 ]

purpofe, €i Letters are like to the body,
" and points to the foul, for the points
<c move the letters as the foul moves
u the body, as our R. R. expound in
<( the book of Bahir -" but feeing fuch
antiquity of this book is doubtful as af-
cribed to it, I lay no Itrefs upon it ; though
Buxtorf1 fays, it is the mod ancient of all
the Rabbinical books, and if fo, it mufl
be as ancient as it is faid to be -, ilnce Jo-
nathan Ben Uzziel, who wrote on the
prophets, was cotemporary with the fup-
pofed author of it.

A. 120. Ante Chriftum.

In the times of John Hyrcanns^ and Ale-
xander Janncens his fon, fprung up the feci:
,of the Karaites u in oppofition to the Pha-
rifees, who had introduced traditions, and
fet up the oral law, which thefe men re-
jected. In the times of the faid princes
lived Simeon Ben Shetach, and Judah Ben
Tabbai, who flouriiried A. M. 3621. thefe
two feparated, the latter from the former,
becaufe he could not embrace his inven-
Q^3 tions

r Bibliothec. Rab. p. 3 19. fo Groddeck de Script. Rabbin.
f. 74. p. 26. u Cofri, par. 3. f. 65. Maimon. in Pirke
Abor, c. i. f. 3. Juchafin, fol. 51. 1.

[ 230 ]
tions which he formed out of his own
brain; and from rum the Karaites fprung,
who were firft called the fociety or congre-
gation of Judab Ben ctaMwzk, which was
afterwards changed into the name of Ka-
raites : for that they had their rife from
Anan and Saul, who lived in the eighth
century after Chrift, and fo after the Tal-
mud was finifhed, as fay Morinus l and o-
thers, is very falfe ; for mention is made of
them in the Mijnah m compiled in the 2d
century ; they were only the reftorers not
the authors of Karaifm, which muft be
near as early as Pharifaifm ; and that, ac-
cording to yofephus n, was as early as the
times of 'Jonathan the Maccabee, Now
thefe men, the Karaites, adhered to the
fcriptures only, whence they had their
name, which fignifies Scripturarians, the
fame, as fome think, with tie Scribes?
ypa{xpaTetg, letter- men, and thefe the fame
with the lawyers in the New Teftament,
who kept to the letter of the fcriptures,
Matt, xxiii. 13. compared with Luke ii,

52.

k Dod Mordecai, c. 2. p. 12, 13, 14. ' De Sincer.

Heb. Text. 1. 2. Exercit. 7. c. 1 f. 6. m Megillah c. *.

f pi. 24, 2. Amftelod. Ed. vid, Houting. in Miih. Roflihafha-

nah, c. 2. f. 1. & Trigland. de Se&. Karsorum, p. 20,

: al Antic] . ]. 13* c. 5. 1". 9.

[ 23I ]

52. and Matf. xxii. 35. with Mark xii. 28.
but the Scribes and Pharifees are not only
put together, but as agreeing with each o-
ther, and fo they might in fome things a-
gree againit. the Sadducees, who denied the
refurrection, See Acts, xxiii. 9. and might
differ in other things ; but what makes
moit. againft the Scribes being: the fame
with the Karaites, is their joining with
the Pharifees in the point of traditions,
Mat. xv. 1. 2. Mark vii. 1 — 5. and on the
other hand what feems moll; to favour the
notion that the Scribes and Lawyers dif-
fered from the other feels, is the text in
Luke xi. 45. and certain it is, that Chriil:
does fpeak more favourably of the Scribes
than of others, Matt. xiii. 52. and xvii.
10, 11, Mark xii. 28, 34. and he is fome-
times compared with them, though with
fome difference, Matt. vii. 29 ; and Orobio,
a Jew, of the laft century, faid ° our Je-
Jus was a Karaite ; and a Rabbinical Jew,
out of ill-will to the Karaites, feigned a
letter pfrom them to the other Jews, avert-
ing that Jefus of "Nazareth agreed with
them, and exhorted his followers to re-
Q^_4, ceive

* Apud Trigland. ut fupra, c. 6. p. 66. ' Apud Hul«
dric. Not. ad i oldos Jefchu, p. 82, 83.

t 232 ]

ceive their rites, and not thofe of the Rab~
banites ; and that their anceftors had no
hand in his death, and that they were the
Rabbanites that flew him, and were only
anfwerable for it ; but it is evident that
the Scribes wTere concerned in the death of
Chrift, Matt, xvi. 21. and xx. 18. xxvi. 3.
xxvii. 42. though after all, it may be rea-
fonably thought that the Karaites, fome of
them, were among the Scribes, of which
fcribes there were fome in every feci, and
included in them q; for as there were Scribes
on the fide of the Pharifees, ABs xxiii. 9.
fo mention is made in 'Jewijh writings,
of the Scribes of the Sadducees r, and of
the Samaritans. Now the fentiments of
thefe men, the Karaites, were from the
beginning of them, conflant and uniform -y
they made the fcripture their only rule,
would not admit of any innovation in it,
nor addition to it, nor that the inventions
and traditions of men mould be made
equal to it, and much lefs fet up above it.
The teftimony therefore of fuch men for
the points, muft be very confiderable.

Bux-

* Vid. Drufium de Sett. Jud. 1. 2. c. 13. Alting. Shilo,
1. 4. t. 8. Trigland. ut fupra, c. 6. r G. Uriin. Antique
Ileb. Academ. c. 9. p. 227.

[ 233 ]

Buxtorf", the younger, indeed, does fay
of the Karaites, that they rejected punctua-
tion as a fpecies of the oral law, and of
tradition ; greatly miftaking the author of
the book of Cojri, who from the Karaites
admitting the points, urges their admifTion
of tradition ; fince he, and other Jews,
thought punctuation, from the times of
Mofes to Ezra, was delivered by tradition,
and therefore, fays he *, * if fo it is, both
we and the Karaites, are bound to admit
tradition ;' to which king Cbofroesis made to
anfwer, ' fo the Karaites indeed will fay (i. e.
with refpect to the necellity of the tradition
of the points and accents to read the book of
the law) ; but when they have found or
got a perfect law a copy with points and
accents) they will deny that they have any
further ufe of tradition, i. e. for the ex-
planation of it.5 Now though this writer
may go too far in afcribing traditions to the
Karaites, thouglvthey did allow it in lome
fenfej yet it is plain he took it for granted,
that they were for uling, and did make
ufe of pointed copies of the law ; and fo
Morinus * himfelf underltood it, and owns

it;

w De Pun£t. Antiqu. par. 1. p. 300. x Cofri, par. 3.
*"• 33» 34^ * Epift. Buxtorf. ep. 70. i^ Antiqu. Ec-
clef. Orient, p. 362.

f 234 ]
It; but this is ftiil more clear and manifeft
from their own writings : in a book I of
theirs, in great repute with them, it is ob-
served, that the patrons of tradition ex-
plain boughs of thick trees, ufed in the feaft
of tabernacles, Lev. xxiii. 40. of a tree
whofe leaves are treble, according to Exod.
xxviii. 14. but, fays the Karaite writer,
this is contrary to the nature of the lan-
guage, for this y (in my) is with a Ka-
tnetz, but that is with a Sheva ; fo in an-
other work « they fay, the Rabbanites af-
firm, that what is written in the law
needs explanation by tradition, but we
don't believe fo , but that what is written,
its explanation goes along with it, meaning
in the vowel-points ; and a little after fome
pointed words are ufed. The Karaites
own, that their copies of the Bible a^ree
with thofe of the Rabbins, becaufe the
difpofition and order of the books of fcrip-
ture were made by Ezra, who lived be-
fore the fchifm; and as to the various
readings of Ben After and Ben Naphtali,
many of which are about the points and

ac-

2 Addareth Eliahu apud Trigland. de Sett. Kar. p. 32.
* R. Caleb, Afarah Maamarot, MS. apud Trigland. Jb. p.
117. '

[ 235 ]

accents, they rather agree with the latter ;
but it greatly difpleafes them that in fome
places the points are changed and others
put in their room for modefty-fake a, as in
I Sam. v. 6. 9. 12. and vi. 4. 2 Kings vi.
25. by which it appears they are very te-
nacious of the points, and are not for al-
tering them on any account ; which they
would never be {ticklers for, could they be
thought by them to be the invention of the
Rakbins, and additions tothefcripturesmade
by them. Mordecai, the famous Kai~aite in
1699, and his arTociates, are unanimous for
the antiquity and coevity of the points with
the letters ; his words in anfwer to fome
crueftions fenthim by Trig/andius are thefe*,
f all our wife men with one mouth affirm
ft and profefs, that the whole law was
U pointed and accented, as it came out of
" the hands of Mofes the man of God :"
how falfe then is it what Mormus -f fays,
that " all the Jews, the Karaites alfo, tho*
<c enemies of the traditions, and the Kabala,
ft believe, as a moft certain tradition, that
f« the book of the law which Mojes deli-

" vered

8 Chillouk MS. apud Trigland. lb. p. 189, 190.
* Dod Mordecai, c. 12. p 150-157. -J- Epift. Bux-
torfio in Anticju. Ecclef. Orient. Ep. 70. p. 394.

t 236 ]

<»* vered to the Ifraelites, was without pointt
(t and acents f but F. Simon * is againft
him, and affirms, that the Karaites readily
receive the Bible with the vowel-points, ac-
cents, and Maforah. The above Karaite
goes on and fays, " far be it that the in-
«* vention of points and accents was made
" after the finishing of the Talmud, for
" this is largely to be confuted ; for the
(( divilion of the Rabbans and Karaites
<e was long before the finifhing of the
€< Talmud, as has been proved ; and if
" there were no points nor accents in
'* the time of the divilion, but were found
«c out only after the finifhing of the Tal-
" mud, then there would be different co-
" pies of the law and of the prophets in
" our hands 5 that is, copies in the hands
*' of the Karaites, pointed different from
" the pointing of the copies in the hand
" of the Rabbans -, for in the places wht re
«f the Rabbans have contradicted the vowels
" and the accents, and fay, don't read fo,
<e and fo, they would not have faid, don't
" read, but abfolutely they would have
" pointed according to their will and
*f and fenfe •," of which he gives inftances

in

* Difquifit. Critic, c. 4. p. 25. & c. 1a. p. 93, 95.

[ 237 J

in which they might have fo done -, and
obfervesJ that many of the Rabbans af-
fert, that the points and accents were
equally as ancient as the letters ; as R. A-
xariah in Meor Enayim, and R. Samuel Ar-
kevolti in Arugat Habbofiem : and he goes
on and fays, that " the copy of the fcrip-
" tures which we have is the fame that
(e the Rabbans have; in this there is no di-
*e viiion, no difference between us -, for
'? the difpofition or order of the fcriptures
" was from the men of the great fyna-
" g°gue> thofe good figs, on whom be
ce peace, at which time there was no dif-
€< fenlion between them ; wherefore with
?' us there is nothing full and deficient,
" neither firft and laft, no Ken' and Cbe-
" tib, but what are in the order of the
" fcriptures which is now in the hands of
" the Rabbans; and the moft correct books
ci are the moft in efteem with us, and we
" follow, or depend upon the reading of
" Ben Naphtali:" and it is certain their
Bibles had the fame Majorette notes and
obfervations in common with the Rab-
batiites; fo it is obferved by them *, that

the

* Menachcm in Dod MordecaS, c. 10 p. 130. that Me-
nachem was a Karaite, vid. Trigland, de feft. Karsorum,
c. ix. p. 187, 5

[ 238 ]

the letter n in twenty places is written at'
the end of a word, but not read, which
agrees with the prefent Maforah. R. Aa-
ro?i, a Karaite, published a Hebrew gram-
mar in 158 1, in which he never deferts, as
can be obferved, the modern punctuation
of the Bible, and confults the Maforah in
words written defectively, or in any other
irregular way, and is full of Maforetic ob-
fervations, fuch as the Rabbanites pro-
duce * ; and a Karaite -f-, of the fame name,
Ttfho wrote a commentary on the law in
1294, frequently refers to the points, and
makes mention of the names of them, as,
'Tzere, Pathach, Sheva, Hatafh-camets,
Cholem, Sburek, Dagefh. This feet, the
Karaites, would never have admitted the
prefent punctuation, if they had not be-
lieved it obtained in the Bible of old, and
came from God himfelf ; and as others re-
latec, they ftrongly affirm, that the vowel-
points of the Hebrew Bible are from Mo-
fes and the prophets. The fenfe of the Ka-
raites about the points is with me an invinci-
ble

* Vid. Wolfii AccefT. sd Notitiam Karseorum, p. 37. &
Bibli th. Heb. p. 119. f Vid. Simon. Difqu. Critic, c.

12. p. 95, 96. vid. MafTechetSopherim, c. 6. f. 4. c Le-
geri Epift. Hottinger. in Thefaur. Philolog. p. 54.

[ 239 ]

ble proof of the great antiquity, and againfl
the novelty of them; for from the time that
this fed: rofe up, it was not poffible for the
Pbarljees, Rabbanltes, Maforetic, or tra-
ditionary Jews call them by what names
you will, to have introduced fuch an in-
vention as the vowel-points, in any pe-
riod of time whatever, but thefe men
would have objected to them as fuch, and
would never have received them ; it is to
me a demonstration that the vowel -points
were in being before the fchifm was,
which was about the time before given,
and were univerfally regarded by the Jews,
fo early, as of a divine original.

A. 164. Ante Chriftum.

The Keries and Cetlbs, of which 'Ellas
fays d there are 848, are various readings, or
differences of the marginal reading from
the written text. That thefe are of great
antiquity is certain ; fince they are not only
mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud c, but
in the Jerufalem Talmud '*, particularly
the various reading of Hagg. i. 8. and in

the

d Praefat. 3. ad Maforet. e T. Bab. Nedarim, fol.
37, 2. Sopherim, c. 6. f. 5. 8. &. c. 7. f. 1, 2, 3, 4. & c.
9. f. 8. * Maccot, fol. 32, 1.

.5

t 240 ]

the book of Zohar f ; though when thefc
marginal readings were firft made or be-
gan to be made, is not certain : the Jews
fayg, they are a tradition of Mofes from
mount Sinai 5 but that cannot be, fince
his books were not then written, and
much lefs the books of the prophets ;
fome Chriftians indeed are of opinion, as
Broughton, Ainfworh^ and Wafmuth, that
both the text and marginal reading are of
divine infpiration ; and it mull be owned;
that in many places they may be both
taken into the fenfe of the pafTage, and
much enrich it, and both are taken in by "
our tranflators in Prov. xix. 7. and in the
margin of 2 Sam. xxiii. 13. and in other
verfions 5 but they are by others fuppofed to
be put by Ezra and the men of the fyna-
gogue, on the return from the captivity,
who, upon revifing the books of fcripture,
and feveral copies of it, obferved various
readings j fo Kimchi, on 1 Kings xvii. 14.
fays, the copies were perplexed or diflurbed
in the captivity h ; they found one copy fo*
and another fo -, and fome they did not up.j

derffcand,

f In Deut. fol. it 9, 3. & 226, 3. « T. Bab. Nedar. ut
fupra, Schulchan Aruch. par. c. 141. f. S. ^ Vid. B?r»

Chayim Prsefat. ad Eibl. Hebe col. 1.

[ 241 ]
ftand, and fome of which they did not
chufe to put into the text, nor to can: away,
and therefore put one within in the text,
and the other without in the margin, to
be ufed at difcretion ; and in his preface to
the former prophets he obferves much the
fame : " In the firft captivity the copies
" were loft or removed out of their place,
" (were out of order) and the wife men
u that knew the law were dead j and the
" men of the great fynagogue, who re-
*' ftored the law to its former ftate, found
" variations in the copies, and they went
" after the greater number (of copies) ac-
<c cording to their judgment ; and a place
<c which they could not clearly underftand,
" they wrote the word and did not point
*' it ; or they wrote it without (in the
tc margin) and did not write it within (in
" the text) and fo they wrote in one way
<l within, and in another way without."
It is faid in the 'Jerujalem Talmud a " they
" found three copies in the court, (not with
" Ezra, as Morinus b renders it,) in one
«* they found it written vjjrjo, Deut. xxxiii.
" 27. in two HW£ ; they confirmed the
" two (as the true reading) and rejected

R " the

* Taanioth, fol. 68, 1. b Exercit. L 2, exerc. 12. c, 3,

[ 242 ]

" the one j in one they found it written,
u 'Dioyi, Exod. xxiv. 5. in two ny3, they
«« confirmed the two, and reje&ed the
<< other ; in one they found it written y&n,
« Gen. xxxii. 22. in two mjyy nntf, they
« confirmed the two and rejected the one."
Some think b thefe three copies were what
belonged to the three bodies of the Jews in
Judea, Babylon, and Egypt; and conjecture,
that from the collation of thefe copies
arofe the Keri and Cetib; though this refers
to times after Ezra and the great fyna-
gogue. Tranflators fometimes follow the
Cetib, and fometimes the Keri, as do the
Chaldee paraph rafes, which fometimes take
in both, as in Pf. xxii. 16. which is a
proof of the antiquity of them : there is a
various reading in If. xlv. 5. Jonathan ben
Uzziel, and fo Aquila, an ancient Greek
interpreter, tranflate according to the mar-
gin ; and Symmacbus and Theodotion, two
other ancient ones, tranflate according to
the textual writing, which is obferved by
Jerom H fo that thefe various readings were
known by him, though it has been de-
nied,

> Light'foot, Hor. Heb in Matt. 5. 18. p. 140. O-

49. 5. in Hierem. c. 3'. 4°- fo1' l6o« Vlde Loc' Heb>
fol. 85. B.

[ 243 1
nied, and were in being before the pre-
tended Maforetes of Tiberias. Nay, the
forms and figures of letters unufual, or of
an unufual pofition, marked by the Mafo~
retes are obferved in the Talmud * ; fo
that thefe Maforetic remarks were before
thofe men were, faid to be after the finifh-
ingof that. Thefe readings feem to be de-
figned not as corrections and emendations
of the text, but only fome as various read-
ings, and others as euphemifms, to be re-
garded by readers as may feem good to
them, and others as obferving anomalous
punctuations ; but in none was it intended
that alterations mould be made in the
text, but that that mould ftand as it is,
and was found : but it fecms better with
Carpzoviuj k tofuppofc that thefe marginal
readings were made after the times of An-
tiocbus, when the temple was purified and
worfhip in it restored -, and the autograph
of Ezra, perhaps, and many copies of it
being destroyed, though not all, (fee
Maccab. i. 59, 66. and iii. 49, and xii.
9.) it was thought proper to revile the
R 2 bocks

«

T. Bab. Kiddulhin, fol. 30,' 1. &66. 2. Bava Bathra,
fol. 109, 2. Sanhedrin, fol. io}, 2. MafTech. Sop.ierim c. 9.
f. 7. k Critic. Sacr. p. 342.

[ 244 ]
books of the fcripture ; and obferving dif-
ferent readings in the copies they found,
they placed them in the margin for the
faid uies ; and therefore I have put the date
of the original of them as above : now
though thefe greatly refpect words and
letters, yet in fome inftances the change
of confonants appears to be in the mar-
gin for the fake of vowels found in the
text not fo fuitable to the confonants in it ;
and therefore the vowels muft be in the
text when the Keri was put in the mar-
gin, as the learned Pocock l has obferved
in the Keri and Cetib of Pf. xxx. 4.
" for, fays he, unlefs the Maforetes, or
whoever put the Keri in the margin
had found »Y"IV/D» fo as it is now pointed,
with vowels agreeing to the word ^TTD,
vhat need had they to fubftitute it ? iince
the fenfe aswell, if not better, flows by read-
ing it H*1VD i but if in other copies they had
found it HTfi» and without vowel-points,
why did they not dafh out the Fau, and read
it fo ? and if they had found mVD, with its
own vowels, in which they read it, they
would never have dared to have caft them
away without neceffity, and put thofe in

their

1 Miicellan. Not. in Port. Mofis, p. 64, 65.

[ 245 ]
their room, proper to an infinitive 5 as it is
faid, the fame commonly is the reafon of
others, in which Vau is poftponed to Ka»
metz, 1. Sam. xxvii. it. Jojh. xv. 63* Pf.
ci. 5. and to Pat bach, Pf. v. 9." fo that it
appears to be the doctrine of the points,
and the anomalous ones obferved, that is
fometimes the caufe of the marginal Keri,
See If. xxxvi. 12. where the points under
the word in the text better agree with
that in the margin, and feems to be the
reafon of the marginal reading. Some of
thofe Keries may not be fo ancient as the
date above ; but additions may be made by
fome in later times ; yet they feem chiefly
to be of great antiquity, as appears by
what has been obferved of the Targums
and ancient Greek copies ; and Buxtorf™
has given fome rules to difcern the one from
the other.

A. 277. Ante Chriftum.

In this year, according to bifhop Vfher n,

Ptolemy Philadelpbus king of Egypt, being

defirous of erecting a library in Alexandria,

R 3 employed

m Anticritica, par. z. c. 4. p. 501. * Annal. Vet.
Teft. p. 480.

t 246 ]

employed Demetrius his librarian to collect
books for that purpofe, who in a letter to
the king preferved by Eufebius °, tells him
that he had diligently executed his orders ;
but that with fome few other books, there
remained the books of the law of the
Jews to be got, which lie fays were con-
tained in Hebrew letters and vowels ; for
what elfe can be meant by (pavy, as diflin-
guifhed from letters ? not the pronun-
ciation and found, which thofe volumes
could not be faid to lie in, but the vowel-
points, by which the letters were read and
pronounced, and are annexed to them for
that purpofe ; fo that it feems at this time
the books of the Jews were written not
only in Hebrew letters, but with Hebrew
points, and in their own characters, as
Demetrius fays p, which were different both
from the Egyptian and Syrian, as he affirms ;
and which deferves to be remarked, as
what may be of fome fervice to mew what
were the Hebrew characters then in ufe :
and though it is commonly fuppofed that
the feventy interpreters ufed an unpointed
copy from which they translated, whence

came

0 Praepar. Evangel. 1. 8. c. 3. p. 351. t Apud Eufeb.
p. 350. Vid. Ariltex Hift. 70. p. 4, 5. Ed. Oxon. 1692.

r 247 i

came fo many miftakes to be made in their
verfion ; yet Hottinger^ has obf rved near
fifty places in which for Kametz they read
Tzereor Segol; (oLeufden * obferves, that they
read words with wrong vowels, as Tzere
for Kametz, Pf, xl. 5. Patach for Tzere,
Pf vii. i2. Chirek for Patach, Pf vii. 7.
Patach for &•£#/, iy xci. 3. and which
might be owing either to a vitiated pointed
copy before them, which led them wrong;
or to an unpointed copy, and trufting to
their memory, put one point for another ;
though Dr. Lightfoot T fuggefts they pur-
pofely u ufed an unpricked Bible, in which
M the words written without vowels might
" be bended divers ways, and into di-
*c vers fenfes, and different from the mean-
*c ing of the original ; and yet if the tranf-
" lation was queftioned they might prick
" or vowel the word fo as to agree to
" their tranflation : how they have dealt
" in this kind there is none that ever laid
" the Hebrew Bible and the SepJuagint to-
" gether, but hath obiervedj" though he
adds, " their differences from the ori-
R 4 " ginal,

s Thefaur. Philolog. 1. i. c. 3. p. 354, &c. * Philo-
log. Heb. Mixt. Dhiert. 4. p. 31. " ' Works, vol. 1. p.
490. •

[ 248 ]

r* ginal, which were innumerable, were
** partly of ignorance, they themfelves not
" being able to read the text always true,
" in a copy unvowelled ; but this ignorance
" was alio voluntary in them ; they not
*' caring to miftake, lb that they might do
'* it with their own fecurity jf" and fo Mr.
Broughton * fays, " that the feventy had
** not the vowelled Bible, both for the rare-
"■ nefs, and becaufe they never meant to
" give the truth ;" but be it that they
ufed an unpointed Bible purpofely, or a
pointed one vitiated, it (hews that points
were in ufe in their time, and very necef-
fary : and it may be obferved, that the
Pentateuch, which fome, as Jofepbus and
others, think was the only part of fcrip-
ture tranflated by them, is almoft every
where tranflated in agreement with the
modern punctuation ; and Jerom * long
ago obferved this, that the five books of
Mofes tranflated by them more agreed with
the Hebrew than any other. It is an ob-
fervation of Capdlus -f himfelf, that the
feventy interpreters, who lived about 300

years

s Works, p. 6-0, (S<. * Qucerh feu Trad. Heb. in

Gen. fol 6c. D. Tom. 3. f Orat. tie Nom. Tetragram.
p. 1 S3, 191"', 192.

[ 249 ]
years before Chrift, inftead of the tetra-
grammaton or the word 'Jehovah, always
read Adonai, and always render it by xvpto$,
a word not expreffive of effence, as Jeho-
vah is, but of lordthip, as Adonai is ; and
that they are followed in this by the Apof-
tles of Chrill, and the reft of the writers
of the New Teftament, and the ancient
fathers of the church ; and that from them
the Greek interpreters of the Old Tefta-
ment never depart, as Aqnila, Symmachus,
and Theodotion. Now what could lead
them to read Adonai, and fometimes Elo-
him inftead of Jehovah, and translate the
word accordingly ? not the confonant let-
ters of Jehovah, but the points of Adonai
and Elohim put unto it as they now are;
and Capellus * plainly conferTes that this
word had the points of Adonai, and fome-
times of Elohim in their time ; for he fays,
the feventy when niiT has the points of
C»nbtt oftner render it kv^ib xvpls, as Pf.
lxviii. 21. £? pajjim, and fometimes ttuptog,
and 9eog, as in Amos iii. 7. &c. from whence
it is conjectured that for Adonai Jehovah
they read Adonai Elohim.

A.
* lb. p. 146.

[ 25° ]

A, 454. Ante Chriftum.

In this year, according to bifhop UJfter',
Ezra was returned from Babylon, and was
at Jerufalem, and read, and expounded the
law to the people of the Jews there. It
is the generally received notion of the
Jews, that the vowel-points were annexed
to the letters of the facred Books by Ezra ;
not but that they fuppofe they were origi-
nally from Mofes and the prophets, and
that they are equally of divine authority
as the letters ; only they imagine they were
delivered down from them by oral tradi-
tion to the times of Ezra, and by him af-
fixed to the letters ; and Ellas, who in-
vented the ftory of the men of Tiberias,
is of the fame mind, only with this dif-
ference, that the oral tradition of the
points was carried down to thofe men, and
they put them to the letters : as much
like a fiction as this oral tradition looks,
as it undoubtedly does, yet it is little lefs,
if any, what Capellas and Walton al-
low, efpecially the latter; that the point-
ing of the Maforetes is not arbitrary, and
at their pleafure, but according to the

found,

J Annal. Vet. Teft. p. 197.

[ *5i ]

found, pronunciation, true and accuftomed
reading, always in ufe, handed down fuc-
ceffively to their times, and which contains
the true fenfe and meaning of the Holy
Ghoft. Dr. 'John Prideaux u, an oppofer
of the antiquity of the points, yet thinks
it probable that fome of the points and
accents for the diftin&ion of the text, and,
for the direction of the reading, were de-
vifed by Ezra, and by the fucceeding Ma-
jor etes before the Talmudifts, and were pre-
ferved in feparate parchments and meets,
and that they were ufed and increafed to
the times of the Siberian Maforetes, who
were after the Talmudijls ; which is giv-
ing up the invention of them by the
men of Tiberias, and afcribing the ori-
ginal of them to Ezra. Many who
are clear for the divine authority of the
points and accents are content they mould
be afcribed to Ezra, fince he was divinely
infpired, as Buxtorf and others ; and it may
be fafely concluded that the points and
accents were in being in his time, fince
the Mafora/j which was begun by him, or
about his time w, at leaft by the men of

hi«

u Viginti & duas Lettiones, Left. 12. p. 196, 197.
w Cafaubon. Epift. ep. 390. Porthsfio, p. 468.

[ *52 1

his fynagogue, is concerned about the
points and accents, as well as other things,
as has been obfervedj and befides, the
Scribes, which were afliftant to Ezra in
reading the law, cannot well be thought to
lead, at lead: (o well, to read it dijlinclly, and
caufe the people to underftand the reading
of it, even men, women, and children,
without the points. Not to take any fur-
ther notice of the fenfe the Talmudi/ls,
both 'Jervfalem and Babylonian, give of the
text^in Neb. viii. 8. I now refer to, which
has been quoted already. Dr. Humphrey
Prideaux, though he took that fide of the
queftion, which denies that the vowel-
points were affixed by Ezra, and of the
fame divine authority with the reft of
the text, yet allows, that they came into
ufe a little after the time of Ezra, being
then neceffary for the reading and teaching
of the Hebrew text * ; which is not only an
acknowledgement of the great ufefulnefs
of the points, but carries the antiquity of
them very high; and I fee not if they were
needful for the reading and teaching of
the Hebrew text a little after the time of
Ezra, why they were not as neceffary in the

time

* Conne&ion, par. i. b. 5. p. 352, 353.

[ 253 1

time of Ezra; for was the neceflity of them.
owing to the Hebrew language, then ceafijg
to be vulgarly fpoken, fo, according to him,
it did ceafe to be in the times of Ezra ;
though I apprehend that is a miftake, for
it was fome hundreds of years after, ere
it ceafed to be vulgarly fpoken.

There is nothing to be obferved be-
tween the times of Ezra and Mofes rela-
tive to the points ; for I lay no ftrefs on
the different pronunciation of Shibboleth t
in Jud. xii. 6. though Schindler x is of opi-
nion that from hence it appears, that the
point on the right and left hand of tP, was
then in ufe; and fo by confequence the
other points alfo.

Elias Levita* roundly afferts, that the
copy of the law which was given by Mo-
fes to the children of IJrael was without
points and accents ; but this is faid with-
out proof, and is what no man is able to
prove. He quotes Aben Ezra y, who fays,
the points were delivered at Sinai, but the
tables of the law were not pointed, which
feems to be a flat contradiction, at leaft it
is what is very improbable. Much better

does

* Lex. Pentaglott. col. 1792. vid. Balmefii. Gram. Heb.
p. 14. lin. 9. 14. 16. * Prsefat. 3. ad Maforet. ? Zach She-
phataim in lb.

[ 254 ]

does another writer x argue, whom he
mentions, who in anfwer to the queftion,
How do we know that the points and ac-
cents are of God ? fays, " it may be re-
** plied, what is written in Deut. xxvii.
«* 8. and thou fh alt write upon the Jlones all
" the words of this law very plainly; but
*« without the points and accents, which
" explain the words, no man, he fays, can
" understand them clearly and plainly"
and whatever may be faid for the king's
writing out a copy of the law, and reading
in it all the days of his life Deut. xvii.
1 8, 19. and for the priefts reading it once
a year in the hearing of ali Ifrael, which
yet is not very eafy to account for, with-
out the points, fo as to be underftood, Deut.
xxxi. 11. yet how the common people
fhould be able to read it to their children,
and teach them the knowledge of it with-
out the points, is ftill more difficult of
belief.

The common opinion of the yews is,
either that the points and accents were
delivered to Mofes on mount Sinai, yet
only as to the power of pronouncing and
reading, but not as to their marks and fi-
gures

• R. Levi bar Jofeph Semadar, in ib.

[ *55 1

gures in writing ; but that the true man-
ner of reading the fcriptures was propa-
gated and preferved by oral tradition to the
times of Ezra -, or that they were given to
Mofes at Sinai, but were omitted in wri-
ting for the mod part afterward, and Co
were forgotten, 'till Ezra came and reftored
thtm. But it rather feems that they
were as early as the Hebrew letters ; and
fince it is not improbable that thefe were
before the flood, and before the confufion
of tongues, the points were alfo ; and could
the fenfe of Gen. xi. i. given by a late
writer % be eftabliihed, it would be out of
all doubt; which is this, and the whole
earth was of one language, i. e. the Hebrew
language, as afterwards called, and of one
fpeech, or words, that is, according to this
writer, words diftinguifhed by acute or
{harp points ; deriving the word ufed from
*nn to parpen, whereby he thinks, the
tautology in the text is avoided ; and to
which may be added, that the latter claufe
of the text is plural : yet I fear the word
will not bear this fenfe, fince the lingular
and plural words ufed, the one in one
claufe, and the other in the other, mull

have

* Kalf. de Ling. Htb. Natal, p. 33, 37, 38, 35.

[ 256 ]

have a different derivation, which is not
ufual of a word in the fame text.

If the book of Jetzirab was compiled
by Abraham, to whom the Jews b com-
monly afcribe it, though fometimes to
Adam, the points might be traced to his
time; for in that book frequent mention is
made of the double letters Begad Cephat,
or Begad Cepbrat, as there Co called c, be-
caufe they have a double pronunciation,
which pronunciation depends upon the
points, their having or not having in them
the Dagejh lene. But though there is no
reafon to believe that the book was written
either by Abraham or Adam, yet it is an
ancient one, and by this inftance it carries
the antiquity of the points higher than is
now commonly allowed unto them ; for
the book is fpoken of in the Talmud*-, and
if it was written by R. Akiba, who is the
only one mentioned by the Jews as the au-
thor of it, befides Adam and Abraham, he
died in the beginning of the fecond cen-
tury ; though if Jonathan Ben Uzziel
wrote a fupplement to it, which was as a

com-

b Cofri, par 4. c. 27. Juchafin, fol. 52, 2. e C. I.

f. 2, 9, 10, & c. 2. f. 1. & c. 4. f. 1, 2, 3. d T.

Bab. Sar.hedrin, fol. 65, 2.

t *57 1

commentary on it> as is faid % it murr. be
before his time, fince Jonathan was cotem-
porary with Chriil, or a little after him %
and it may be obferved, that the double
pronunciation of the above letters was in
ufe in the times of Chriff, as appears from
the words, Armageddon, Capernaum, Eu-
phrates, Joppa, Pafcha, Sarepta, and o*
thers.

It is not only the opinion of fome Jewi/b *

writers, that the vowel-points, as well as <<

letters, were given by God himfelf to Adam,
as the author of Cofri*, and his commen-
tator Mufcatus *, and of R. Azariah h, and
of others -, but fome Chriftian writers l / •

alfo, afcribe them to Adam ; and indeed,
if the Hebrew letters were of his invention,
as many have thought, and Walton khim- ■"'■ -

felf thinks, there can be no reafonable
doubt but the vowels were alfo ; but be
this as it may, I am inclined to believe
that the vowels were coeval with the let-
ters, and that the penmen of the facred
fcriptures, feverally annexed, the vowel-
S points

e Vid. Wolfii Bibliothec. Heb. p. 28. f Par. 4. c, 25.
* In lb. fol. 229, c. h Meor Enayim, c. -9. , ! Al-
lied. Chronolog. p. 267. vid. Buxtorf. de Punft. Antiqu. paj\'
2 p. 309, 310. k Prolegom. 2. f. 7.

[ *58 ]

points to letters in their writings. My
reafons are thefe :

I. The perfection of language requires
vowels. No language can be perfect with-
out them ; they are the life and foul of lan-
guage ; letters without them are indeed
dead letters -, the confonants are ftubborn
and immoveable things, they can't be
moved or pronounced without vowels,
which are, as Plato fays l, the bond of let-
ters, by which they are joined, and with-
out which they can't be coupled together :
can it be thought, therefore, that the He-
brew language, the firft, and mod perfect
of all languages, mould be without them,
which, if this was the cafe, would be the
molt imperfect of all the orieiital languages ?
for notwithftanding what has been faid to
the contrary, the Samaritan had its points,
though differing from the Hebrew, as Je-
rom obferves m, and fo a later writer n has
obferved it has. The Syrians, Chaldceans,
Arabs, and Perjians, had vowel-points
like wife, as Hottinger affirms °, and fo
dean Pridcaux p. The invention of the

Syriac

i Sophifta p. 177. m Prasfat ad Reg. T. 3. fol. 5. L,
n Petrus a Valle in Antiqu. Eccl. Orient, p. 184. ° The-
faur. Philolcg. p. 403. p Connexion, par. 1. B. 5. p.

Sv *

[ 259 ]

Syriac vowel-points is indeed by fome 8 af-
cribed to Epbrem Syrus, who lived in the
4th century ; and as for the Etbiopic lan-
guage, the vowels are incorporated into
the confonants, and are a part of them,
and lb muft be ab origine, and coeval with
them ; and even thofe who are for carting
away the vowel-points feem to be fenlible
of a neceffity of fubftituting fomething in
their room, the matres leftionis, as they call
them, »lft to which fome add n i but thefe
are not fufficient, being wanting in a great
number of words ; witnefs alfo the various
methods of reading Hebrew, contrived by
men ; but why mould they be at pains to
find out a method of reading and pro-
nouncing the Hebrew language, when there
is fuch a plain one at hand, ready prepared
for them, and of which Walton himfelf
fays r, that it is a moil profitable and ufe-
ful invention no man can deny ?

2. The nature and genius of the He-
brew language require points ; without thefe
the difference can't be difcerned between
nouns and verbs, in fome inflances, as -m,
with many others -, between verbs active,
S 2 and

i Vid. Fabritii Bibliothec. Gr. Tom. 5. p. 320. r fro*
legom. 8, f. 1Q-.

[ 26o ]

and verbs paffive, between fome conjuga-
tions, moods, tenfes, and perfons, Ka/, Pie/,
Pual ; imperatives and infinitives, are
proofs hereof -, nor can the Vau converfive of
tenfes be obferved r, which yet is ufed fre-
quently throughout the Bible, and with-
out which, the formation of fome of the
tenfes by letters would be ufelefs. Mori-
nus • himfelf fays, " that without the
" points a grammar cannot be written, as
*' Elias rightly obferves ; for example, de-
" fcribe the conjugation Ka/ without
M points, and immediately you'll be at a
I1 fiand, and much more in Pie/;" and
Walton l alfo owns the ufe of them in the
inveftigation of the roots. The pronun-
ciation of fome letters depends upon the
points as has been obferved.

3. The vowel-points are neceiTary and
ufeful to the more ealy learning, reading,
and pronouncing the Hebrew language.
What menvwell fkilled in the language may
be able to do is one thing, and what
learners of it, and beginners in it can do
is another thing; men well verfed in it

may

r Vid. Cofri, par. 2. c. 80. * Epift. Buxtorfio in An-
tiqu. Eccl. Orients], p. 392. * Introduct. Orient. Ling.

p. 5.

[ »6i J

may chufe to read without them ; and To a
man that is mafter of Brachygraphy may
chufe to read what he has written in fhort
hand, and to which he is ufed, rather than
in long hand ; but this is no proof of the
perfection and propriety of his Brachygra-
phy* " A tongue, as Dr. Lightfoot fays°,
" cannot firft be learnt without vowels,
*•• though at laft fkill and practice may
*e make it to be read without ; grammar
** and not nature makes men to do this :"
and a late learned writer has obferved w, that
<l to talk of reading Hebrew without points,
" is a collujive way of ipeaking ; we may
" do it when we have learnt the language,
M but not before ; as it is a dead language
" we want in ft ructions either by word of
" mouth or by grammar. Points in He-
" brew are like fcaffolds in building, when
" the work is finifhed we may take them
" down and throw them aiide, but not
" fooner with fafety." Dr. John Pri-
deaux x an oppofer of the antiquity of the
points, owns that " the tongue being toffed
" about by various calamities, the points
S3 " were

u Works, vol. 1. p.ioi4. w Chappelow's Preface to his
Comment on Job, p. 18, 19. x Viginti & dux Lec^iones,
Left. 12. p. 189.

[ 262 ]

" were added, that it might be the more
" accurately preferved, and that by the
" yews, to whom it ceafed to be verna-
" cular; as alfo that by others it might the
° more eafily be underftood, and be more
•* exactly pronounced :" and elfewhere he
fays y, let them be whofe additions to the
text they may, they are fo far from cor-
rupting it, that they rather protect it from
corruption, and lead to a more eafy reading
and underftanding of it ; and fo Walton %
another oppofer of the points, fays, " the
" Chriftian church received their (the Ma-
" foretes) punctuation, not upon their au-
*■ thority, but becaufe it exprefled the true
" fenfe received in the church of God; and
cc withal becaufe they faw it conduced
" much to the more eafy reading of the
«' text, and even to the true reading of it,
lf as he owns * :" and their great mafter
and chief leader Capellus a, having treated
of the points and accents devifed and added
to the facred Hebrew text by the Maforetesy
as he fuppofed, frankly owns, " that up-
" on that account we now certainly owe

tl much

y Fafciculus Controverf. de Script, qu. 3. p. 21. * The
C'onfiderator confideieci, p. 209. * Proiegom. 8. f. 17.

Arcan. Punft. 1. I. c. 17. i". 11.

[ *63 ]

e< much unto them; or rather, mould give
" thanks to God, who flirred up thefe men
" to it, and put them upon the ftudy of
" it ; for in that work they have certainly
" laboured moft fuccefsfully, fo that now
" by the help of thofe little marks we can
" far more eqfily, and even more happily
H be converfant in reading and underftand-
" ing the facred Hebrew text, than other-
M wife could have been done by us with-
" out this help." Why then mould it
not be attended to ? and indeed I cannot
fee how common people, men, women,
and children, could be able to read it with-
out points, when it was their mother
tongue ; it was their duty and intereft to
read their Bible in it, for whofe fake it was
written, and who had as great an intereft
and concern in it as men the mod: learned
have, it being the grand charter of their
falvation ; the Bible was not written for
learned men only, but for thefe alfo, and
therefore it was written, as it was proper
it mould be, in the moll; plain and eafy
manner.

4. The vowel-points and accents are
ufeful and neceifary, to remove ambiguity
and confufion in words and fentences, and

S 4 that

t 26+ ]

that the true fenfe of them may be come
at with eafe, by perfons of the loweft ca-
pacity and meaneft ability, for whofe fake,
as obferveci, the Bible vvas written -, and
that they are of this ufe has been owned
by the oppofers of them : fo Capdlus b,
fpeaking of the accents fays, " certainly
t( thefe little marks when fitly and oppor-
" tunely put, are indeed of this ufe, that
*' fometimes we lefs hefitate about, and
u more expeditiouily take in the mind and
u fenfe of the writer j* and fo Walton c
fays of the Maforetes, that M they pointed
" the text, not at their own will and plea-
" fure, but according to the true fenfe and
u received reading from the facred writers
" to their times ; hence the reading is
" made more ec'y, and the text lefs ob-
u noxious to ambiguity and corruption."
Should it be faid, as it often is, that by at-
tending to the connexion of words, and to
the context, the fenfe of a word in queftion
may be foon and eaflfy understood. Let it
be obferved, that all have not the fame
natural parts and abilities, and the like
acumen of wit, clearnefs of understanding,
and critical judgment, as particularly the

above
v Arcan, Puntl. 1. 2. c. 25. f. 7. e Prolegom 8. f. 10.

[ *65 ]

above perfons mentioned ; and befides, the
words in connexion and in the context be-
ing unpointed, fome of them may be
equally difficult to be underftood, and the
fenfe of them muft be examined and fixed,
ere the fenfe of the word in queftion can
be determined; all which will require time,
and perhaps after all, entire fatisfaction is
not obtained : and if men who may be
thought to be well verfed in the language,
and men of parts and abilities, have been
led into miftakes, through a neglect or
want of the points, much more may per-
fcns of mean and ordinary capacities.
The authors of the feveral Greek verfions
of the Bible, the Septuagint interpreters,
yiquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus, were all
jfews, excepting the laft, and he was a
Samaritan, and may be allowed to have a
confiderable fhare of knowledge of the
Hebrew language ; yet thefe, efpecially the
feventy interpreters, neglecting the points,
and tran dating without them, what grofs
fenfes have they put upon the text ? fome-
times directly contrary to what is intended,
fometimes what is very abfurd, and even
wicked and blafphemous, or nearly fo ;
take an inflance of each, God is angry

every

[ 266 ]

every day, Pf. vii. 1 1 . the Greek verfion Is,
does not bring on anger, or is not angry
every day, the word 7K differently pointed,
is ufed for God, and for the negative not.
The paffage in If. xxiv. 23. then the moon
Jhall be confounded, and the J tin ajhamed,
when the lord of ho/Is Jhall reign, &c. which
with others Dr. Lowthd reprefents as fo
grand and magnificent, and fo coloured,
that no tranflation can exprefs, nor any
altogether obfcure ; and yet this is mod mi-
ferably obfcured in the Greek verfion of it,
and a fenfe given extremely low, mean,
and abfurd ; the brick Jhall wafle, and the
wall Jhall fall, when the Lord reigns, Sec.
11-32^ differently pointed fignifies the moon,
and a brick, and HDn, the fun and a wall,
the authors of this verfion have abfurdly
taken the latter fenfe. Lam. iii. 33. it is, he,
i.e. God, doth not willingly affHB-, the Greek
verfion is he doth not anfwer from his heart,
cordially and fincerely, thereby charging
God with infmcerity and difiimulation j yet
the three letters rw unpointed fignify to
anfwer as well as to afflict; in Kal it figni-
fies the former, in Piel the latter; which is
the true fenfe here, and to be difiinguiihed

by
' De Sacr. Poef. Heb, Piselett.6. p. 6()> 70.

[ *7 ]

by the points ; and how have the fame in-
terpreters, by changing points and letters,
fpoiled the famous prophecy of the Mejjiab
in If ix. 6. where, inftead of everlajiing
Father, the Prince of -peace, they tranflate I
will bring upon the princes peace ? though the
pafTage is otherwife produced by Clemens of
Alexandria % more agreeable to the Hebrew
text ; which fhe ws that the Septuagint ver-
fion is not in the fame ftate now it formerly
was. The learned Vitringa * has obferved,
that " the Greek interpreter of Alexaii-
H dria, who came forth under the name
u and number of the Seventy, not being
" expert in the Jerufalem reading, has
" often in his unhappy and unlearned ver-
*• fion, fo deformed the prophet (Ifaiah? s)
" difcourfe, in the more obfcure places,
" that Ifaiah cannot be known again in
" Ifaiah :" and through negligence or dif-
ufe of, or want of the points, the Greek in-
terpreters have made miftakes, when one
would think it was almoft impomble they
mould ; thus '32 differently pointed, or
without any points, may fignify fons or

builders.

e Paedagog. 1. 1. c. 5. See alfo Eufeb. Demonftrat.

Evangel. I.7. c.i. p. 336, 337, * Pr*fat. ad Com-

ment, in Ifaiam, Vol. 1. p. 5.

I 268 ]

builders. They have taken the word in the
firft fenfe in 1 King v. 18. and contrary to
the context and plain fenfe of the words,
read, Solomon s Jons and Hiram's Jons hewed
them, the ftones. The fame word, con-
fiding of the fame letters, as di^erently
pointed, has two or three fenfes, and fome-
times half a dozen, and even eight or ten,
as the word "Q"?. How difficult therefore
muft it be to attain unto, and fettle the true
fenfe, as in fuch and fuch a place, at leaft
to common perfons ; and for thefe the bible
was originally written, as well as for learned
men.

5. It will be difficult to affert and main-
tain the perfpicuity of the fcripture, lay-
ing afide the vowel-points and accents; and
make it to comport with the wifdom of
God to deliver out his laws, the rule of
man's conduct both towards himfelf and
one another, and doctrines defigned to
make men wife unto falvation, and to in-
ftrucl: them in matters of the greateft mo-
ment for time and eternity: to deliver thefe,
I fay, in ambiguous words, that admit of
various fenfes, and at beft give a fenfe dif-
ficult to attain unto by men of the deepeft
learning and of the greateft capacity. It is
* the

[ 269 ]

the part of a wife law-giver to exprefs his
laws, and of a king to publifh his edicts,
and of a teacher to give forth his doctrines
and inftructions in the cleared manner, in
the plainer!: terms, in words the mod eafy
to be underftood; and not in ambiguous
language capable of admitting divers fenfes,
and fuch as is contrary to what is intended ;
and can it be thought that God, our law-
giver and king, and who by his word pro-
pofes to teach men to profit, and to lead
them by the way they mould go, would act
otherwife ?

6. Nor mall we be able, I fear, to fup-
port the infallibility of the fcripture, that
part of it the Old Teftament, as a fure rule
of faith and practice, when by taking away
or laying alide the points, it becomes flexi-
ble, and may be turned as a nofe of wax to
any thing to ferve a purpofe, to counte-
nance any doctrine or practice agreeable to
the different taftes and inclinations of men ;
lince hereby it will admit of different fenfes,
and fo in confequence muff be uncertain,
and not to be depended on : and, I fear it
is this wantonnefs of fpirit that has led
many to throw away the points and ac-
cents, that they might be under no re-

ftraints

[ 27° I
ftraint, but at full liberty to interpret fcrip-
tures as their fancy inclines, and their
intereft leads ; but if the points give the
true fenfe and mind of the Holy Spirit in
the facred writings, which has been owned
by fuch who have oppofed the divine origi-
nal of them, why mould they be laid afide,
to make way for any fenfe the fancy of men
may impofe upon them ? Walton in fo many
words affirms f, that " they (the Maforetes)
" exprefs in their punctuation the true fenfe
" of the Holv Ghoft, which was dictated
" to the holy penmen, and by them com-
" mitted to writing, and preferved both by
4< Jews and Christians" ; and that " they
" pointed the text according to the true
" and received reading, which exprefled the
" true fenfe of the Holy Ghoft, and not as
" they pleafed; nor is it lawful for any
" one to reject their reading at pleafure,
" but all are tied to it, unlefs fome error
" or better reading can be clearly proved ;g"
and Capellus himfelf faysh, <c none are to
" be obliged to admit the punctuation of
«c the Maforetes, becaufe, and as it is from
" them; but all may be bound by this

" punctu-

f Prolegom. Polyglott. 3. f. 51-1 ^ The Confiderator
eonfidered, p. 200. h Arcan. Punct. 1. 2. c. 26. f. 2.

[ 27I ]

" punctuation, as and becaufe it can be
" demonftrated, that it almoft every where
" both agrees with the confonants to which
* it is added, with the feries and flructure
u of the words in the paffage, and that it
" produces a fenfe commodious, true, co-
" herent, &c. nor can any other punctua-
*' tion be produced more apt and more
" commodious'."

7. The infpiration of fcripture is affected
thereby. If all fcripture or the whole wri-
ting of the Bible is by infpiration of God,
then not the matter only, but the words in
which it is written, are of divine infpira-
tion ; and indeed what elfe are meant by
the words the Holy Ghojl teacheth, 1 Cor. ii.
13? and if the words of fcripture are of di-
vine infpiration, and given by God himfelf,
then, furely, not half words, as confonants
without vowels are j and if whole words,
which is mod agreeable to the wifdom and
honour of the Divine Being, then both
confonants and vowels were given by infpi-
ration ; and if the latter were not, but of
human invention, then, fo far as they have
been and are in ufe, and the fenfe of fcrip-
ture

1 Qui punfta vel negligunt, vel prorfum rejlciunt, certe
cu-ent omni judicio & ratione. Calvin, in Zech. xi. 7.

[ 272 ]

ture has been and Mill is taken from them,
and made to depend on them, fuch fenfe
ftands not upon divine authority, but upon
human authority ; and on that of a fett of
men, blinded, befotted, and deftitute of the
Spirit of God, bitter enemies to chriftianity,
and perhaps a fett of men as bad as ever
was on earth ; and if the points are of their
invention and addition, they ought never to
fland in our Bibles, and be ufed by us, but
fhould be rejected with great indignation :
a pointed Bible, if poflible, fhould not be
in the world, having in it fuch an addition
to the word of God, which ought not to be
made, and which is fo directly contrary to
his order, Deut.iv. 2. and xii. 32. Prov,
xxxi. 6. And to which may be further
obferved,

8. If the vowel-points were not annexed
to the letters by the penmen of the facred
writings, when penned by them, but have
had a later and a new beginning, that would
have been known ; fome would have di-
vulged it ; it would have been on record
fomewhere or another, and we fhould have
been informed by fome means or another,
by whom they were placed, and where and
at what time -, but nothing of this has ever

tran-

[ 273 ]
tranfpired. The ftory of Elias about the
men of Tiberias merits no regard ; and even
that the points were annexed by Ezra, or
by the men of his congregation, is mere
conjecture, without any foundation -, and
therefore upon the whole it may be con-
cluded, that they were originally put by the
facred penmen, Mofes and the prophets.

It is often faid, in favour of reading the
Bible without points, that Rabbinical books
are written without them, and are eafily
read. But then it fhould be obferved, that
they are read by fuch who have £rft read
the Hebrew Bible with points, and who are
well verfed in Bible-Hebrew ; and by fuch
the commentaries of Kimcbi, Abarb'mel,
and others, may be read with fome eafe,
whofe ftyle is plain and clear -, and by de-
grees other writings more rough, crabbed
and difficult may be read alfo ; but as Bux-
tor/1 and others obferve, there is a great
difference between the Bible and Rabbini-
cal books, in writing, in ftyle, in manner
and means of learning and readino- them.
In Rabbinical books, the matres lecJionis,
as nN are called, are ufed to fupply the
want of vowels ; whereas in the Bible they
T are

1 Be Pun&. Amiq. par. 3 p. 370.

t 274 1
are moft frequently omitted, and even in
places where they might be expected, and
leaft of all fhould be omitted : the ftyle of
Rabbinical books is for the moft part plain,
and where it is not, as in the Talmud and
other writings, it is hard and difficult to
read them ; but the ftyle of the Bible is ge-
nerally fhort, concife, full of ellipfes and
other figures, efpecially in the prophetic
writings; add to which, what is contained
in Rabbinical writings are things ufually be-
fore known, or eafily underftood, and to
be read without much ftop or hindrance ;
but the facred fcriptures contain myfteries,
things fublime, and more remote from the
capacities of men, and require more atten-
tion, help and afliftance in reading them ;
and befides, if a miftake is made in Rab-
binical v/ritings, it is not of that import-
ance, as in reading the Bible ; and there-
fore we may venture to read with lefs pain
and with more fafety, the one without
points than the other. Buxtorf, the fon,
upon his own obfervation afterts k, that it
is more eafy to read Rabbinical books un-
pointed, than any of the books of the Bible
pointed ; and that he could venture to fay,

that

k DePunft. Antiq. par. 2. p. J76.

[ 275 3
that he could more readily and certainly
read any "Rabbinical books never feen by
him before, than any book of the Bible even
pointed, and though well known by him,
and often read over and over again. Yet,
notwithflanding all the advantages on the
fide of Rabbinical writings, how many
mi/lakes have been made by learned men,
as by Sca/iger, Schickard, Kir c her, Vorfihis,
and others ? what blunders in tranflation
has Buxtorf expofed in Morinus and Capel-
lus ? and even thofe great matters in Rab-
binical literature, as the Buxtorf s themfelves,
Selden, Ligbtfoot, &c. are not without their
errors; nor need it be wondered at, fince,
in the Talmuds efpecially, there are many
places which feem quite unintelligible, and
befides are written in the Chaldee dialect,
and that very impure, and abounding with
exotic words.

It is frequently objected againfi the Bi-
ble being written and read with points,
that the copy of the law every where kept in
the Jewifti fynagogues is without points, as
anfwering to the Mofaic Archetype. That
it is an unpointed copy of the law which is
ufually kept in the Jewifi fynagogues now,
T 2 will

t *7« ]

will be allowed !, but that the Archetype
or Autograph of Mofes was without points
may be afTerted, but not eafily proved ; nor
can it be faid, with any precilion, how long
it has been the cuftom of the "Jews to have
an unpointed copy of the law in their fyna-
gogues ; nor can what they have, bethought
to be an ectype of, or to anfwer to the copy
of Mofes, nor be kept with that view. For
had the Autograph of Mofes the Kerz\ or
marginal readings ? it will not be faid by
the oppofers of the points that it had -, but
the prefent copies of the law in the iyna-
goguesof thej^mrhave, if I miftake not, and
even the pricks and points which they call
crowns m ; are the prefent copies in the fy-
nagogues written in Samaritan characters ?
they are not: and yet, according to the hy-
pothecs of Morinns, Capelhis, and thofe
that follow them, they ought to be fo writ-
ten, to be an ectype of, or to anfwer to that
of Mofes •, fince that, according to them,
was in that character : but to have a copy
in that character now would be contrary to
their own rules, one of which runs thus",

«« they

1 Lyra in Hof ix. 12. JVIenafTeh ben Ifrael. Conciliator,
in Exod. qu. 50. p. 170. • -m Schulchan Aruch, par. 1.
c. 141. f. 8. and par. 2. c. 275. (.6. Vid. Hackfpan.
Cabala, p. 309. n Maflechet Sopherim3 c. 1. f. 6. .

t 277 ]

" they dont write (the facred books) nei-
,e ither in the language beyond the river
(t (or the Samaritan), nor in the Syriac,
e* nor in the Median, nor in Greek -, and in
" whatfoever language or writing they are
" written, they may not be read (/. e. pub-
" lickly) until they are written in the Af-
«* fyrian" or fquare character. There are
other reafons to be given, why unpointed
copies are kept and ufed in the fynagogues
of the Jews, and which may ferve to lead
to the original of this cuflom, and the rea-
fon of its continuance.

I, One reafon was, that the Cabali/ls,
and thofe who had got into the allegorizing
way of interpreting the fcriptures, might
have the opportunity of framing and efta-
blifhing their own and even various fenfes
of them, which an unpointed Bible will
admit of, when a pointed one will not.
Hence that laying of R. Menachem °, " a
" book of the law in which there are many
*' faces (or on which many fenfes may be
" put) is one not pointed -" for, as he fays,
" when letters are not pointed, they have
tf many faces (or may be differently read) ;
'•* but when they are pointed, they have only

" one

J Apud Munfter. Praefat. ad Vet. Teft.

[ 27S ]

t* one fenfe, according to the punctuation:"
and this R.Bec/jai* plainly fuggefts, is the
original caufe and reafon of ufing unpointed
copies ; " letters not pointed, he fays, admit
tc of various fenfes, and are divided into
" divers fparks ; and becaufe of this we are
4< commanded not to point the book of the
*,' law; for the literal fenfe of every word
" is according to the punctuation, and
" there is but one literal fenfe in a pointed
" word ; but an unpointed word a man
" may understand many ways, and find out
*' many wonderful and excellent things :"
and it is for much the fame realbn, that
men may not be tied down to one fenfe of
a word, that points are now fo much
oppofed. Some have drawn an argument
for the novelty and againft the antiquity or
the points, from the Cabalifts making no
ufe nor mention, of them in their writings,
but drew their various fenfes, it is faid, from
the letters only, and the combination of
them, and not from the vowels and accents;
but this has been abundantly confuted by
Buxtorf^. The commentator on the book
of Cofri* makes mention of R. Aaron, a

great

p Apud Buxtorf. ut fupra, p. 45,46. q Ut fupra,

par. 1. c. 5. p. 54, &c. r R. Judah Mufcatus in Cofri,

iol. 230. 4. Vid. Wolf, Bibliothec. Heb. p. 128.

[ z79 ]

great Mekubbal or Cabbalifi, the head of
the univerfity at Babylon, as the author of
a book of pointing, and which is quoted
by Kittangeliiis s ; and in the Cabalijiic
Lexicon*, under the word DH1?3, mention
is made of nine points, and their names
are given, Kametz, Pathacb, Zere, &c. and
the ufe that is made of them is obferved ;
and MenaJJeb ben Ifrael* defcribes the Ca-
balijls, as employing themfelves in fearching
out the deep myfteries of the law, which
are contained in the letters, points and mu-
fical accents ; and a little after, he obferves,
that " the law was given without points,
!f like the books the Jews now have in
" their fynagogues j fo that when any word
" occurs, whofe letters now are not tied to
■f certain vowels, men may put what points
" they pleafe to them, and fo the words
" may be read one way and another."

2. Another reafon of the Jews having
an unpointed copy of the law in their fyna-
gogues is, that it might be a memorial of
the oral tradition of points and accents,
from the times of Mojes to Ezra, They

fup-

8 Pe Verit. Relig. Chrift. p. 27. 40. l Kabela.

Denudata. par. 1. p. 592. ■ u Conciliat. in Exod.

qu. 50. p. 169. 172. 174. Vid. Leifden. Philolog. Heb.
Mixt. Diflert. 13. p. 106. & Philolog. Heb". DifTert. 26,

[ 23o ]

fuppofe the points were of Mofes, but not
annexed by him to the Pentateuch ; but
that they were delivered and handed down
by oral tradition from one to another until
Ezra, who added them to it; and there-
fore to keep in memory this wonderful af-
fair, they always have an unpointed copy
in their fynagogues.

3. Another reafon why only unpointed
copies of the law are kept in the fyna-
gogues, may be their fuperflitious accuracy
and exactnefs in writing the law; fo as to
letters, if any are wanting or not rightly
placed, or fimilar ones put for each others
the copy is prophane or rejected ; and as it
is flill more difficult to have the points and
accents exactly put, they choofe to have
none at all : hence they fay w a pointed copy
is prophane or to be rejected, even though
the punctuation is razed out; partly be-
caufe it will not admit of various fenfes, as
before obferved, and partly becaufe of the
difficulty and almoft impombility of a per-
fect pointed copy; and the rather they are
indifferent to one, and like as well to have
an unpointed one in their fynagogues, fmce
there ^ none but their learned men, as priefls,
&c. read in them. 3. Bur

w Schulchan Aruch, parr2. C. 274. f. 7.

*

[ a»i ]

4. But the chief reafon of unpointed
copies in the fynagogues feems to be, that
none but learned men, or fuch who are
well verfed in the Hebrew language, (hould
be admitted readers there -, for if the copy-
was pointed, as then, any common man
might read it, fo any fuch man might be
chofen to the office of a reader, though
otherwife very illiterate; and to prevent
any fuch being introduced into it, is the
principal reafon now, why it is unpointed.
And though thofe who are expert in the lan-
guage, and are able to read without points*
and are chofen into the office of reader in the
fynagogue, and have exercifed that office
many years ; yet it is their cuflom, as one
of thofe readers told Cocceius x long ago, to
prepare themfelves at home by reading out
of a pointed copy, for their better, eafier
and more accurate reading in the fyna-
gogue. And it is their ufual method to
this day, for the prsecentor of the fyna-
gogue, though ever fo well verfed in read-
ing the fcripture, and" ever fo exact in 'the
knowledge of the Heffrew tongue, the day
before the fabbath, to read the parfages ap-
pointed to be read that day cut of a pointed
U copy,

* Goccei Defenf. Cod. Heb, f. 19. p. 22. Tom. 7.

[ 282 ]

copy, and thereby make himfelf mafter of
the exact reading of them, that fo the day
following he may read them without hefi-
tation or flop, and pronounce, as he does,
exactly in conformity to the prefent punc-
tuation y : and after all it follows not, be-
caufe the Jews now have, and have had for
ages part, unpointed Bibles in their fyna-
gogues, which men of learning could read,
that they have not, nor had any pointed
ones for the common people. It is certain
that they had formerly, and have fuch
now ; wherefore this is no fufficient objec-
tion againft the antiquity and ufe of the
points, but an argument in favour of them ;
fince the true reafon of having unpointed
copies in the fynagogue is, that none might
be admitted readers in them, but fuch who
are fo perfect in the Hebrew language as to
be able to read exactly in an unpointed
copy, agreeable to the points and accents
in a pointed one.

y Carpz v. Cricic. facr. par. I; p. 267.

FINIS.

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