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The Massorah: What Is It?
For centuries, or at least since 1611, the English speaking Christian community has had in
its hands the King James Translation of the Hebrew Texts of the Old Testament, and from
the Greek Text, the New Testament. Now there are many other Bible translations available
today, possibly too many depending how one looks at it. The important thing is; does
whatever translation a person studies put the true Word of God in the student’s mind?
Let’s use an analogy for finding out which
translation is best suited for us. First, why is finding a certain Bible important, one
might ask. The analogy starts like this: suppose you’re an antique auto enthusiast.
You’ve found an old car that you wish to restore to mint condition depending on parts
availability. To make that car ‘true to its time’, which I mean you want that
car as close to the original condition as possible, you’ll look just about anywhere
for any original parts, regardless sometimes of their condition, because you can rebuild
some of them, but the ideal is ‘mint’ or pristine shape. The whole project might
span a few months, years, or even a lifetime. The key is knowing that you’ve done
your best to get the most original ‘first parts’ for your antique. You may have
to settle for some remanufactured or ‘new’ parts, but those will be a minimum,
because you know it destroys the originality of the car.
Now this analogy can apply to many different types of
antique enthusiasts, but let’s apply it to God’s Word. For someone who wants
that ‘pristine’ form of God’s Word, in mint shape, unaltered, the same as
when it was written down ‘first hand’, it might take months, years, or a
lifetime of study. To find the original parts one might have to begin an in depth study of
Hebrew and Greek and Chaldee. Then one must proceed on a field trip to find all available
sources of the Hebrew, Greek, and Chaldee Texts, and then make comparisons, and lastly
putting everything together in one final translation. Many people who are bi-lingual and
speak a second or more languages can probably understand this more easily, because they
are aware of some of the problems when translating between languages. Now, this is not to
say that our Holy Bible is wrong , or mis-translated, but going back to the antique car
analogy, ‘the car is whatever make or model it was originally built to’, but
some of the parts may be ‘newer additions’ and some parts may still need to be
found. The car may be driven from point A to point B, without maybe, a missing runner
board, a spare wheel that mounts on the rear, side mirrors, etc., but it still goes down
the road and gets us where we want to go. However, we bide our time and are patient until
we can find all the parts, or in The Word’s case, patiently studying in hope, and
faith in the ‘ideal’ of our salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.Our English
translations are similar to the antique car analogy. The Hebrew and Greek Texts are
‘pure’ and ‘pristine’. The only problem is we must understand how to
read Biblical Hebrew and Greek and in some cases, Chaldee and Aramaic. Then we must
understand the peoples of that time, their laws, expression, and idioms; all while
‘thinking’ in these other languages.
Unfortunately, not everyone can do this kind of
in depth study, for it requires patience of the sort that archeologists must learn.
Luckily much of the work has been accomplished for us already. All we have to do is go get
it. This can mean finding a Church in your community that relies heavily on teaching the
congregation the Hebrew expressions and idioms that help explain God’s Word along
with a verse by verse, chapter by chapter instruction, or a group of Christians that meet
and have a study period together, or by searching out the Texts for yourself. The
important matter is that as Christians we have a responsibility to Our Lord to know what
‘His Letter to us’ says. Also, the fact that even today new translations are
coming out means that scholars are not agreed upon how to translate the ‘original
parts’ that go into building their translation of God’s Word. This may seem
confusing , and to many Christians it is. Many feel they don’t have time to learn
Hebrew and that God wouldn’t allow the truth to be lost between translations. I
somewhat understand this attitude. Finally, this brings us to the Massorah.
All of the most reliable manuscripts of the
Hebrew Bible have on every page next to the Text that is arranged in two or more columns,
smaller lines of writing called the Massorah Magna or Great Massorah,
and the writing in the side margins is called the Massorah Parva or Small
Massorah. This writing appears in between the main columns of Hebrew Text, along the
top, two sides, and bottom. The word Massorah means to deliver something into the
hand of another. It contains the guidelines for the Hebrew scribes that must be used in
transcribing the Hebrew Texts from generation to generation. This work was originally done
under Ezra and Nehemiah in order to fix the Text after the return from Babylon so that it
couldn’t be tampered with (Neh. 8.8 and Ezra 7:6,11).
The Massorah is called "A
Fence to the Scriptures." This was because it assured every Hebrew character
must be in its place in the Text by recording the "number of times the several
letters occur in the various books of the Bible; the number of words, and the middle word;
the number of verses, and the middle verse; the number of expressions and combinations of
words, &c."(1) The Massorah also contains ‘facts’ and
‘phenomena’ associated with the Hebrew Texts; information that affects the sense
and casts light upon the Scriptures. It is not found in any ‘one’ manuscript but
is spread out among different copies of the Hebrew Text in several different countries,
and for whatever reason, Dr. C.D. Ginsburg is the only ‘Christian’ scholar that
has pulled all of it together from the several manuscripts, and printed a three volume
set. His three volume set Massoretico-Critical Text is very rare. This Massoretico-Critical
Text of the Hebrew Bible can be found in only one Bible to date. That is The
Companion Bible. This is an edition of the 1611 King James Authorized Version with a
wealth of information in its margins especially the notes of ‘facts’ and
‘phenomena’ from the Massorah, and a well rounded Appendix full of
diagrams, charts, Hebrew idioms and expressions, tabulated data on particular messages
within God’s Word, up-to-date archeological information proving God’s Word, etc.
The Companion Bible is not a new translation, nor a commentary, and is not
authored by any one man.
"Why is this Massorah so
important?", you’re probably asking. Here’s one point. When the translators
of The King James of 1611 went to the Hebrew Texts of the Old Testament, they did not know
of the Massorah. They and also the Revisers performed their work ignorant of the
treasures contained in the Massorah, and no hint of it was given the reader.
It’s almost like the ‘antique car’ (Hebrew Text) had some ‘original
parts’ (Massorah) that got lost when it went from one country (Hebrew
manuscripts) to the next country (translation into Old English King James Bible). The fact
of why the Massorah was not known of by the KJV translators and Revisers, or even
Critics; and if they were aware of it, why it would have been purposely left out of the
KJV is a study in itself. Here’s yet another point. No matter how many new modern
English translations come out, if they don’t contain the Massorah, some of
the original ‘sense’ will be lost. One could say that the Massorah was
God’s way of making sure His Word had only ‘one’ interpretation, and if
followed, would be handed down from generation to generation without alteration.
Peace be with you in Christ
Jesus,
Dave Ramey.
Footnotes
(1) The Companion Bible, ( Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan), Ap. P.
31.
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