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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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If the pronunciation only were concerned , it would be of little consequence how such a question might be decided ; for , should we be inclined to prefer the directions afforded by the points , we know that the Jews are not agreed abouf the sounds represented by them or the letters ; and , changeable as all languages are in this respect , it is not probable that the pronunciation of the time of Moses was known in'that of Ezra , or that the latter is
represented by the Masorites . Pronunciation , then , unless we wish to converse with Jews , ( and in this case the peculiarities of those we would converse with must be attended to , ) is of little importance ; for the correct pronunciation is unattainable . But the points do not merely guide to a certain pronunciation ; they also , in many cases , fix the signification of words , and in
others direct to their origin . The same letters , according to the points with which they are accompanied , may represent a noun or a verb , or different parts of a verb , and the reader of a pointed text has these distinguished for him ; whilst he who rejects this help , must be guided by studying the context , or must rely , as is generally done , on the versions . The word "i ; n is allowed to have no vowel if the points are rejected , yet as a substantive it
signifies a word , a plague , and a fold or pasture ; as a verb it may be rendered , he spake , or speak tkou , or speaking , otto speak ; all of which are distinguished by the points , which also mark same other distinctions , such as when the noun is used in connexion with another word , &c . The word yT # signifies the number seven , or full , fulness , he wds full , &c , all of which are clearly distinguished by the points . Now , if these points are found generally to mislead , if they direct to a verb when the word should be taken as a noun ,
or refer us to a wrong word as the root from which the sense is to be derived , we shall wisely reject them ; but if , though in some few instances erroneous , they more frequently lead to the correct meaning , they must be serviceable to all students who will take the trouble of learning them . Besides , as observed by the Rev . G . Hamilton , they teach us " how the Jewish critics understood passages where words of doubtful signification occurred , and furnish us with the views they entertained of the text . * ' The pointed text
may be considered as the Jewish Version of the Old Testament , even if allowed no greater authority , and as such it would deserve to be carefully attended to . Admitting the latest period in which the points are said to have been invented , they were surely intended to represent the manner in which the language was pronounced and understood by the Jews then living , as it had been transmitted to them , and as it has been continued to be read
in their synagogues to this day , with perhaps some slight variations in the sound of letters . Capellus , one of the earliest opposers of the antiquity of the points , admits their usefulness , and even says , that in following the reading of the Masorites we build upon the foundation of the prophets ; and Bishop Walton , also an opposer of their antiquity , observes , " that it is not lawful for any to reject their reading at pleasure , but that all are tied to it , unless some error or better reading can be clearly proved , " That the Masorites have fairly represented the pronunciation of that day by the vowel
points may be inferred from a comparison of their reading with the proper names in . the Septuagint and Vulgate , and with the Greek representation of the pronunciation given in the Hexapla of Origen . It will be found that the word as pointed by the Masorites has in most cases a strong resemblance , whilst the various substitutes which have been proposed have not in general the slightest resemblance . A few instances may be adduced in illustration . Thus nttfO the name of the great Jewish Lawgiver , would be , according to Dr . Wilson ' s scheme , which is , perhaps , as unobjectionable as any , Mtsth ;
Untitled Article
82 On the Hebrew Points .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1827, page 82, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1793/page/2/
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