The history of the Jews: From the war with Rome to the present time

by H. C. Adams

The Targum of the younger Jonathan comments on the Books of the Prophets only. It resembles that of Onkelos in purity of style, but is less simple, and runs occasionally into allegory. It is believed that additions have been made to it by doctors who lived long subsequently to its author.

The Targum of Jerusalem deals with the Books of Moses, or rather with a portion of them. It is little better than a fragment of an ancient paraphrase of the Pentateuch.

The Targum of Joseph the Blind is on the Hagiographa, viz., the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Esther, Job, and Ruth. The style is very corrupt Chaldee, containing many foreign words.

There is no Targum on Daniel, Ezra, or Nehemiah, because these books were already written in Aramaic. The Targums are of much value in establishing the genuineness of the present Hebrew text, proving it to be the same as it was when the Targums were written. They are also useful in Jewish controversy, as showing the manner in which the Jews, previously to the Christian era, interpreted the great prophecies respecting the Messiah.

MASSORA.

This word properly denotes tradition; and those persons are called Massorites who determined the meaning of the Hebrew text by adding pointed vowels to it. There are in the Hebrew language four vowels, but these were found insufficient; and further, it was a frequent practice in early times to omit these vowels, writing the consonants only of the words. The consequence of this was, that the meaning of a word was often ambiguous, its sense becoming different according to the vowels inserted. Thus there is said to have been a dispute between David and Joab as to the meaning of the word זנר (Deut. xxv. 19). In one of his raids against the Amalekites, Joab slew the men, but spared the women and children. David rebuked him for this, alleging that the command was ‘to blot out the memory of,’ i.e., to exterminate (זֵנֶר) the Amalekites. But Joab answered that the word was זׇנׇר, ordering the slaughter of the males only.[254] In order to put a stop to perplexities so caused, the Massorites[255] are said to have added the points, or pointed vowels, of which there are fourteen. These are placed below or above the consonants, supplying the place of vowels, where these are wanting, and determining the pronunciation, when present.

The Massorites not only added the vowel points, but numbered the chapters, sections, verses, words, and even the letters of the sacred text. Thus they have noted the fact that there are in the Book of Genesis 1,534 verses, 20,713 words, and 78,100 letters. They have also marked the central verse, word, and letter of the book. They have done the same also in the instance of all the other Books of the Old Testament. The object is to preserve the inspired text from interpolation, mutilation, in fact, change of any kind, and also to give facilities for reference. Much of their work has been censured as ‘laborious trifling;’ but it has been of service to scholars nevertheless.

The age to be assigned to the Massorites is a matter of doubt. Some have affirmed that Moses himself communicated to the elders this method of elucidating and preserving inviolate the Sacred Writings. Others ascribe the invention of the Massoretic vowels to Ezra, and the Great Synagogue of his time. But neither of these opinions has much to support it; and the most trustworthy authorities place them in the fifth or sixth century of Christianity. The fact that there were many variations in the sacred text long subsequently to the time of Ezra, is clearly enough proved by the versions of the Septuagint writers, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, none of which are in entire accordance with one another. This could not have been the case if, previously to the date of these translators, the Massorites had completed their labours. Jerome states that the text was not determined even in his time. The most approved view seems to be that of Walton. He thinks that the work was begun early in the fifth century, and came gradually more into notice, until it was completed, circa 1030 A.D. Maimonides appears to say that the final revision was made by the famous scholar Rabbi Ben Asher. The Massorites, it should be noted, have been charged with endeavouring to pass off erroneous readings favourable to their own views, and, in order to secure this object, preventing any recurrence to the original and genuine text.

CABBALA.

This word also denotes tradition, and originally included all the interpretations of Scripture, which the Jews professed to have received, in the first instance, from Moses, and in the second, from Ezra. But subsequently it came to be used for an abstruse species of science, by which certain passages of Holy Writ are mystically explained. The Cabbala, in this sense, has many processes, of which the three best known are Gematria, Notaricon, and Themurah.[256] The first mentioned of these consists in assuming the letters of a Hebrew word to denote ciphers, or arithmetical numbers, and then explaining every word by the arithmetical value of the letters composing it. Thus, for example, the letters of the word Jabo-Shiloh (Gen. xlix. 10), that is, ‘Shiloh shall come,’ when reckoned according to their arithmetical valuation, make up the same number as does the Hebrew word ‘Messiah.’ Hence the Cabbalists infer that Shiloh signifies the same as Messiah.