Posted on 10/01/2009 8:37:31 AM PDT by Nikas777
I just told you that the text of each and every kosher Torah Scroll, which is unpointed and unpunctuated, goes all the way back to Sinai. Naturally it is older than any pointed text. And that's what the Massoretic text is--a pointed text. The Massoretes never wrote or rewrote the Hebrew Bible.
History is history.
Unfortunately for you.
Well ... I guess now we know why Orthodox Jews always wear hats....
No it does not. History is the study of written words and you have no such evidence.
Where is the oldest extant “kosher Torah Scroll?”
Sorry, I won't be going over that well-traveled road today. I'm addressing one particular point you made about rituals. Specifically, that it made no sense for one ritualistic religion to criticize another. I assume you've now realized that your initial statement was ridiculous. All religions embrace some sort of ritual whether they admit it or not. Ritual is an integral part of religious worship. Prayer, the singing of hymns, the reading of Scripture, preaching. These too, are rituals. Some rituals are more formal, some are less so. Some rituals occur in places specially set aside for worship. Others occur in less sacred settings.
I'm going to be nice and assume that you weren't calling kapporet a ritual of praise to "the devil."
Did I say it was?
I was making what I thought was a specific and self-evident point; all rituals are not the same. They take many forms and involve the worship of a wide range of entities; some holy and Divine, some diabolical and some imaginary.
It follows naturally from this that the efficacy of rituals is not identical. In addition to the nature of the entity to whom the ritual is directed other factors may also affect its efficacy; the origin of the ritual (man-made or Divine) as well as the intensity of interior participation by those engaged in the ritual.
It should also be noted that if God instituted a ritual, He can also end it. At His pleasure.
That is a historical fact.
You might want to check out the Samaritan Pentateuch. This seems to date from about the 2nd century AD, and so antedates the canonical Masoretic text by more than half a millennium. In addition, where LXX and the MT disagree, the Samaritan version in almost all cases accords with LXX.
This is pretty good proof that (a) the Septuagint is an accurate version of an older tradition, which the MT changed, and (b) the changes in the MT are certainly post christian. All of which is further historical confirmation of your claim.
Right again. The oldest known example of written Hebrew, the Gezer Calendar, dates from the 10th century BC, or about 500 years later than the traditional date of the Exodus. It is written using the Phoenecian alphabet - it would be another 500 years before the block script Hebrew alphabet came into existence.
Thanks!
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