The Masoretes (equivalent to the scribes/rabbis) were altering their Masoretic texts (the basis for the Hebrew Tanakh) up until at least 1000 AD:
From Haaretz:
Israeli Scholars Discover Corrections, Erasures, Revisions in Oldest Biblical [Masoretic] Manuscript
“Analysis of Leningrad Codex shows that about a millennium ago, there were several different versions of the [Masoretic] Bible that evolved over time...”
Other highly concerning things about the MT from the article: “The corrections in the Leningrad Codex reveal another stage in the development of the Masoretic text, a process that continued for hundreds of years. Early on, during the first centuries of the Common Era, there are still changes in entire sentences. Later, the changes are limited to individual words, and finally merely to vocalization marks and cantillation notes.”
And now from the Messianic Jewish organization, “One For Israel”:
In the Sanhedrin Tractate, concerning Exodus 23:2, which says you must not follow the majority neccesarily to decide a case, Hazal pulled out the 3 words “follow a multitude” and ignored “not” and so any majority rule would be binding upon JeWs. They pulled out the 3 words “follow a multitude”, while ignoring the word “NOT”, which appears before them, and claimed that, as long as there is a majority of rabbis, they may provide an interpretation or a ruling on any matter, as they see fit. And the people of Israel must follow them blindly and that, once they have provided a ruling, it is to be indisputably received.
And now an Orthodox, Eastern Catholic viewpoint:
The Masoretic texts (MT) i.e. the Hebrew Tanakh, are corrupted; even the Talmud/Mishnah (good for some historical place markers but not much else) says the Masoretic texts (medieval ones used by the KJV, NIV, NASB, etc) were corrupted as the Talmud/Mishnah describes conflicting texts, contradictions, and multiple, competing rabbis intentionally altering scriptures ultimately corrupting it). Jws also used the Septuagint (translated in the mid 3rd century BC), far older than the MT which isn’t original scripture, and not a BC text.
Paleo Hebrew, used after Moses’ time from the 12th to 6th century BC (around 2k years older than the MT) gave way to Square Hebrew (around 1.3k years older than the MT), which eventually gave way to Greek, as evidenced by the Septuagint, around 1k years older than the MT. The Septuagint predates Christianity, used when Greek was the lingua franca, and its use in synagogues by Jws around the Mediterranean was substantial.
Paleo Hebrew, Square Hebrew, and the Septuagint (LXX) within the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) preserve the originals, and overwhelmingly disagree with the MT in numerous instances; the Septuagint predates Christianity. Square Hebrew isn’t proto-Masoretic given the numerous instances it disagrees with the MT.
1.) Exodus 1:5 in the DSS agrees with the Septuagint against tthe MT that all the souls from Jacob were 75, not 70, thus agreeing with St. Stephen in Acts 7:14.
2.) The older DSS, the Samaritan Pentateuch, Aramaic Targums, etc, agree with the Septuagint against the MT for Deut. 32:8-9 in using sons/angels of God and not sons of Israel.
3.) The DSS for Deuteronomy 32:43 lines up with the Septuagint against the MT saying the angels are to worship messiah.
4.) The Septuagint for 1 and 2 Samuel are backed up by 3 DSS and the MT is known among scholars as butchering 1 and 2 Samuel badly.
5.) The MT wrongly (some evidence for #4) and laughably has Saul becoming king at age one and ruling for two years.
6.) The MT actually left out an entire line from Psalm 145 that the DSS and the Septuagint preserved, thus the so-called masters of vowel memorization not only forgot vowels but also consonants as well.
7.) Psalm 40:6(7): a messianic proof text for the Incarnation:
The MT: Thou hast dug out my ears.
The Septuagint: A body thou hast prepared me.
8.) Concerning another messianic psalm (Psalm 22:16), the DSS agrees with the Septuagint against the MT.
9.) Baruch, Sirach, Tobit, and Psalm 151 are written in Hebrew in the DSS.
10.) ▪︎The chronology of Genesis 11 and the year of the flood of the Paleo Hebrew and the Septuagint line up against the MT. Shem is not Melchizedek.
▪︎Literary sources before 100 AD that agree with the LXX: 2 Esdras, Josephus and Philo (30/70 AD) did not use the Septuagint to come to their conclusion that lines up with the Septuagint.
▪︎Eupolemus, the Jwish 2nd century BC historian’s chronology, comes closer to aligning with the Paleo Hebrew/Septuagint and not with the MT.
▪︎Jwish Demetrius the Chronicler’s (3rd century BC) chronology comes very closer to the Paleo Hebrew and Septuagint and against the MT.
Justin Martyr said the scriptures in his time period were being altered. See Jer. 8:8. The pre-AD Paleo Hebrew, Eupolemos, and Demetrius had no agenda.
Since synagogues around the Mediterranean used Septuagint and Square Hebrew, even in Palestine, Greek was the lingua franca, Jesus grew up near Sepphoris where Hebrew and Greek were both spoken and where Joseph could ply his trade, Christ quoted the scriptures, spoke to the Syrophoenician woman, and Mark/Luke were written to Romans/Greeks, some will be hard-pressed to prove Jesus used only Hebrew.
Outside Judea, close to 100% of the diaspora synagogue inscriptions are in Greek. In Judea, where the default language is Aramaic, 80% of these inscriptions are Greek.
Some have said the Deuterocanon was never written in Hebrew but the DSS have proven that to be false as at least 3 so far (Baruch, Sirach, and Tobit of the Deuterocanon), have been found within the DSS written in Hebrew; using the word “recension” against them is a continual knee-jerk reaction to the Deuterocanon being written in Hebrew, and a moving of the goal posts.
Concerning key messianic scriptures, Catholics, Copts, Orthodox, and Protestants see that the leaven of the rabbis - and then the Masoretes - seemed to target scriptures that point to Jesus Christ. (Matthew 16:6).
The Paleo Hebrew, Square Hebrew, and the Septuagint all agree with each other against the MT far more than they disagree, thus the starting point is to sideline the MT.
There are dozens and dozens of instances where the Paleo Hebrew, Square Hebrew, and the Septuagint agree against the MT: By the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses let every word be established. (Deut. 19:15; 2 Cor. 13:1).
Given that Septuagint scrolls were found with Paleo Hebrew and Square Hebrew scrolls in the DSS, one would again be hard-pressed to prove that Christians composed the Septuagint and, as well, the Torah was translated into Greek from 283-246 BC under Ptolemy II Philadelphus and the prophets and writings within the next 100 years.
Septuagint Chronicles is quoted by Eupolemos in the middle of the 2nd century BC, and Septuagint Job by Pseudo-Aristeas in the beginning of the 1st century BC. The translation of Isaiah contains allusions to historical situations and events that point to the years 170-150 BCE” (Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Emanuel Tov, p 131, 2012).* The Torah was translated into Greek from 283-246 BC under Ptolemy II Philadelphus and the prophets and writings for the Septuagint within the next 100 years. Thus the Septuagint was not created by Christianity but preceded it by centuries. So-called “Pre-Masoretic” is actually Square Hebrew and constitutes less than 5% of the full Hebrew Tanakh and can’t be extrapolated from to build a full Tanakh.
Septuagint fragments found at Qumran (Lev.), the Nahal Hever (Habbakuk, near Ein Gedi), date to 50 BC; there was almost exclusive use of Greek in all synagogue inscriptions everywhere in the world showing the proverbial torch had been passed via the Jewish translation of the Septuagint in the 3rd and 2nd century BC.
The oldest manuscripts of the Septuagint include 2nd-century-BCE fragments of Leviticus and Deuteronomy (Rahlfs nos. 801, 819, and 957) and 1st-century-BCE fragments of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and the Twelve Minor Prophets (Alfred Rahlfs nos. 802, 803, 805, 848, 942, and 943).
The Septuagint, or LXX, is the oldest Greek translation of the Old Testament. It was begun in the mid third century BC by scholars in Alexandria, Egypt for an expanding community of Greek speaking Jws, and was completed no later than 117 BC.
R. K. Harrison confirms its early use: “While there are certain differences in New Testament usage, there is no doubt that of all Greek versions the LXX was employed predominantly and that it enjoyed independent existence in the period just prior to the time of Christ.” 8 The Septuagint was also most likely the standard Old Testament text used by the early Christian church. Early LXX material is included in the Rylands Papyrus 458, which dates back to 150 BC.
From Haaretz: Israeli Scholars Discover Corrections, Erasures, Revisions in Oldest Biblical [Masoretic] Manuscript
“Analysis of Leningrad Codex shows that about a millennium ago, there were several different versions of the Bible that evolved over time...”
Other highly concerning things: “The corrections in the Leningrad Codex reveal another stage in the development of the Masoretic text, a process that continued for hundreds of years. Early on, during the first centuries of the Common Era, there are still changes in entire sentences. Later, the changes are limited to individual words, and finally merely to vocalization marks and cantillation notes.”
In addition, early rabBinic sources, from around 200 AD, mention several passages of scripture in which the conclusion is inevitable that the ancient reading must have differed from that of the present text. RaBbi SiMon bEn PaZzi (4th century) calls these readings “emEndations of the ScriBes”, assuming that they made these changes. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that Ezra or any others in very ancient times are responsible for these so-called “emendations”, whereas the Dead Sea Scrolls, which predate this raBbi by centuries, are objective evidence and provide over 400 instances where the Paleo Hebrew and Square Hebrew therein disagree with the Masoretic, showing the emandations must have come after the time of the DSS. This is bolstered by the older Samaritan Pentateuch Paleo Hebrew which is against the Gen. 5 and 11 chronologies of the Masoretic, Eupolemus (whose 2nd century BC Genesis 5 and 11 chronologies are against the Masoretic), JusTin MaRtyr, Eusebius, the Talmud/Mishnah, Dr Emanuel Tov, HaAretz, etc.
This view of the emendations of the scribes was adopted by the later MiDrash and by the majority of Masoretes.
Conclusion: Jesus Christ, Yeshua, is the messiah or there was none and never will be a messiah because the modern Hebrew Tanakh cannot be trusted.
The DSS, among other things, destroyed its and the Talmuds’ credibility.
