Let’s get back to the more basic, graphical representation of W-O-R-D. The fundamental language of the Old Testament comprised a group of symbols we think of as consonants. In other words, the text of the original Bible was written by hand on scrolls, and for the sake of brevity, every vowel was left out. To understand ancient Hebrew writings, the reader had to learn both the sounds associated with the consonant symbols and how to re-insert the proper vowels. Consider this quote from the Preface of the Revised Standard Version. The present revision is based on the consonantal Hebrew and Aramaic text as fixed early in the Christian era and revised by Jewish scholars (Masoretes) of the sixth to ninth centuries. The vowel signs, which were added by the Masoretes, are accepted also in the main, but where a more probable and convincing reading can be obtained by assuming differ-ent vowels, this has been done. How interesting! More probable and convincing? Convincing of what and to whom? In the time of Moses, very few people were educated in any language. One must then question, what if the reader, interpreter or translator of various scrolls inserted the wrong vowel? What would happen to our W-O-R-D, for example, if we accidentally inserted an “a,” an “e” or an “i?” Just how close are the meanings of word, weird, wired and ward? __Steve Ward in Holy Enigma!
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 16:21:32 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015