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pret them in the fame Manner; which Difference in Pronouncing or Speaking is of little or no Confequence. But the Cafe is different with regard to the Hebrew, moft of the Words in that Language (as has been obferved) are written without Vowels, and the Queftion is, what Vowels the Words require to make the Senfe understood; not how the Words are to be pronounced in Speaking, when Vowels are affixed to them. Therefore we fay, that as it appears from the LXX, that the Jews, before our Saviour's Time, and from Origen and St. Jerom, that for 400 Years at leaft after our Saviour's Time, ufed other Vowels, by which they fpake their Words, than thofe which the Maforites have used; the Confequence is, that the Points which the Maforites have now affixed to every Hebrew Letter, whether for Vowel, Pause, or Accent, are of little or no Authority, and deferve not to be regarded by us: And that the true Senfe of an Hebrew Word, written only with Confonants, is not to be fetched from the Points of the Mafore, and the Rules given concerning them, but from the Context and Conftruction, and the Affiftance of the LXX, and other ancient Tranflations.

Now though (as before obferved) we cannot charge the Jews with wilful Falfification of the Hebrew Text, that is, they have not of fet Purpose changed the Letter of their Bibles, yet we cannot fay that they· have not in fome Places wilfully falfified the Sense by their Points, of which Mafclef gives us a notable Inftance in his Arguments for his New. Grammar, p. lxvi.

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"Anno 1712 circa Augufti initium aliquot dies Ambiani commo"rati funt Judæi duo Metenfes. Seniori & doctiori nomen erat Daniel "Zei, alteri Elias Prag. Collocuti fimul pluries de Religione; veni"mus tandem ad celebre Jacobi Vaticinium, Gen. xlix. non auferetur “Sceptrum de Judâ. Afferebam inde manifeftò fequi, jam præteriiffe tempus adventui Meffiæ præfignatum: Nihil tenes, inquit Daniel "Zei; male enim paufas & diftinguis hunc verfum. Et unde hoc, inquam? Non auferetur fceptrum de Juda, Virgula, & Dux de femore “ejus, Virgula, donec veniet qui mittendus eft, Punctum. Nunquid non "finitur fenfus in voce, & incifi novi initium eft? Id cer"te & loci contextus & Veterum confenfus expofcit. Quin & id probat "accentus Athnach fub voce 17 etiam in veftris Bibliis collocatus "hoc modo. Erant præ manibus Biblia Rabini Manasseh Ben Ifrael. Tum fubridens Daniel, nondum Myfteriis noftris plenè ini"tiatus es, inquit. Vide accentum fequentein fub voce. Munus illius eft efficere ut vox cui fubjacet præcedenti connectatur. Et quanquam id per fe non indubie præftaret, præftaret tonus Muficus hujus vocis. Cum enim a nobis decantatur verficulus ille, vocem "attollimus ad vocabulum, & aliquantulum paufamus: Deinde cum particula hemiftichium aliud inchoamus. Unde fit ut hujus loci fenfus ifte fit. Non auferetur Sceptrum de Judâ & Dux de femore ejus in æternum, Virgula, quando venerit Meffias, &c. Argumentare "nunc quantum volueris, quid inde aut pro te, aut contra nos in"feres? Inftabam ut facile erat; fed fruftra novitatem lectionis, vete

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"rumque Rabbinorum in ifto verfu noftro more legendo confenfum "regerebam homini vim argumenti ne quidem fentienti.-Cum hæc "primum fcribebam nondum noveram interpretationem modo allatam "fcripto fuiffe traditam a Rabbino Abraham Ifrael Pilzaro Judæo "Batavo."

The late learned Mr. John on of Cranbrook, in his pofthumous Difcourfe on Daniel's feventy Weeks, has also obferved how the Maforites have endeavoured to marr that Prophecy alfo, by their Points, by putting a Stop, which they call an Athnach, which answers to our Semicolon, in the Place where there ought to have been no more than a Comma. And in this Place our English Tranflators have followed them, though in the former, concerning Shiloh, they have not. "For

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(as Mr. Johnson alfo obferves) thofe great Men, who tranflated our "Bible, took the prefent Hebrew Text, as it is pointed by the Maforites, to be the only Senfe and Meaning of the Old Testament.' Now by this Maforitic Pointing they have endeavoured to make the Text unintelligible. For thus it ftands, Dan. ix. 25. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the Commandment to restore and build Jerufalem, unto the Meffiah the Prince, fhall be feven Weeks; and threefcore and two Weeks the Street fhall be built again, and the Wall, even in troublefome Times. Now by placing their Athnach or Semicolon after the feven Weeks, and thereby cutting off the feven Weeks from the threefcore and two Weeks, they make the Prophecy wholly unferviceable to the Chriftians. For it is moft certain that Jefus, whom the Chriftians have received for the Meffias, did not come at the End of leven Weeks, or 49 Years, after the Commandment went forth to restore and build Jerufalem, whether we understand it of the Edict of Cyrus or Artaxerxes for that Purpose. And the Maforites have left themfelves at Liberty to apply the Prophecy to any Meffiah or anointed Prince or High Prieft of their own. But had they joined the fixty-two Weeks to the feven Weeks, as the Context plainly fhews they ought to have done, and read the Text, as no Doubt it ought to be read, From the going forth of the Commandment to restore and build Jerufalem, unto the Meffiah the Prince, fhall be feven Weeks, and threefcore and two Weeks, that is, 69 Weeks, or 483 Years, and there placed their Athmuch or Semicolon, the Number of Years would exactly point out the Time when the Chriftian Meffiah caine. Therefore they fixed their Point of Paufe fo, as to make what they pleased of the Words.

Thefe two Prophecies of Jacob concerning Shiloh, and of Daniel's Wecks, do fo clearly prove that the true Meffiah, fo long and often foretold by the holy Jewish Prophets, must have been long fince come, and done and fuffered what was prophefied concerning him, and fo exelly point to the Time when our bleffed Lord Jejus did actually come, that it is not to be wondered at that the Jews, who are so obfinately bent not to believe in Jejus as the Chrift, fhould use all their

deavours to render these two Prophecies wholly unferviceable to our posing Jefus to be the Chrift, the Son of the living God, and Saviour or the World. But no Chriftian, I believe, has been fo weak as to understand thofe Texts in the Manner the Jews fhew by thefe Points u would have thein understood. For although our, and it may be

other

ther modern Tranflators, have pointed according to the Maforite Copy, yet I have never heard of any Chriftian, but who has esteemed thole two Prophecies to be demonstrative Proofs that the true Meffiah has been long fince come, and that thefe Prophecies do particularly point out the Time when our Lord Jefus became Man.

Neither is there any Reason why we fhould give much Heed to their Vowel Points, or condemn the LXX, or any other ancient Verfion, when they have tranflated a Word differently from the Signification which the Mafaritic Points have now affixed to it. Mr. Johnson, at the End of his Holy David, and his old English Tranflators cleared, has given us a long Catalogue of Paffages wherein our Tranflators of the Pfalms in the Common-Prayer Book have varied from the LXX, and followed the prefent Hebrew Copies. Yet I believe in most of those Places the Hebrew Text, if read without the Maforitic Vowel Points, will be as agreeable to the LXX, and other ancient Tranflations, as to our English Verfion. To give an Inftance or two. Pfal. ix. 20. our Tranflation is, put them in Fear: The LXX and Latin Vulgate is, fet thou a Lawgiver over them. The Hebrew Word here is , which if you derive it from timuit, fignifies Fear, but derived from " docuit, fignifies an Inflructor, a Giver of Rules, or Lawgiver. And very properly may refer to Chrift, who was to come to give a new Law, which fhould take the Gentiles into his Fold; and therefore no Wonder that the Maforites fhould choose the other Interpretation. Pfal. lxviii. 26. our Tranflation is, The Singers go before: The LXX and Latin Vulgate read, The Princes go before. The Hebrew Word fignifics both Singers and Princes. The Maforites have diftinguifhed the different Significations of this Word, by putting a Point on the right Side of the first Letter when it fignifies Singers, and on the left when it fignifies Princes. But no one is obliged to think Singers the most proper Signification in this Place, because the Maforites have by their Point fixed it to that Senfe. For thofe folemn Songs of Praife, here fpoken of, were generally compofed by the Princes or Heads of the People, and they went before in the Proceffion. Thus Mofes, Exod. xv. compofed and began the Song which the People fung when they faw the Egyptians drowned in the Sea. And Miriam, the Sister of Mofes and Aaron, went before the Women in the Dance on the fame Occafion. So Deborah alfo and Barak were Leaders in the Song they -compofed for their Victory over Jabin and his General Sifera, as we read in the 5th Chapter of Judges. So alfo we find, 1 Sam. xix. 20. that when the Company of Prophets prophefied, that is, fung divine Hymns and Pfalms, Samuel, who was a Prince, ftood as appointed over them. And I Chron. xv. 27. when the Ark was brought to Jerufalem, David himself, the King of Ifrael, fung and danced before it. As therefore in the folemn publick Rejoicings the Princes, who were alfo Singers, led the Choir, the holy Penman has ufed a Word which. fignifies both Princes and Singers, and for that Reafon, I think, the Hebrew fhould not be pinned down (as it is by the Maforitic Point) to one Senfe, though a Tranflator into another Language cannot give it that double Senfe in one Word.

One might be apt to think the LXX differed very much from the

prefent

prefent Hebrew Copy in Pfal. Ixxxiii. 1. where the LXX and Latin Vulgate read, Who fhall be compared unto thee, O God? And our English Bibles, Hold not thy Tongue, O God: Yet this Difference arifes only from the Ambiguity of one Hebrew Word, 1, which fignifies borh Similitude and Silence; and may be literally tranflated into Latin, Deus non eft Similitudo tibi, or Deus non eft Silentium tibi. Pfal. cxxxii. 1. the LXX and Latin Vulgate read, Lord, remember David and all his Humility: But our Tranflation has it, and all his Trouble. This likewife proceeds from the Ambiguity of the Hebrew Word y, which fignifies both Humility and Trouble or Affliction, and the Context will bear either of these Words. But the Mafcrites by their Points have fixed the Signification to Trouble or Affliction, and our English has followed them, and the LXX have taken the other Senfe of the Word. I will give you one Inftance more from Gen. xlvii. 31. where our Translation renders, Ifrael bowed himself upon the Bed's Head. But the LXX render, he bowed himself or worshipped upon the Top of his Staff. And fo the Apoftle cites it, Heb. xi. 21. The Hebrew Word fignifying either a Bed or a Staff. Which different Significations the Maforites have diftinguished by their different Vowel Points. But whether they have always rightly diftinguifhed their ambiguous Words is the Queltion. Nor are the LXX to be blamed, if they often differ from them with regard to the true Meaning of ambiguous Words. For where Words have various Significations, different Tranflators will tranflate them variously.

But the various Readings between the LXX and our English Bibles do not arife only or chiefly from the Ambiguity of many Hebrew Words, and to which the Maforites by their Points have fixed a Senfe different from that in which they were understood by the LXX: Many Differences have alfo rifen from a Change in the Hebrew Letters, as well as from the Points. For although, as before observed, the Jews have not wilfully altered the Letters of the Hebrew Text, yet Variations have arisen in them through the Likeness of one Letter to another, which has occafioned the Tranfcribers to mistake, and put the one for the other. Tranfcribers aifo, fometimes writing haftily, have by Carelefnefs or by Overfight transposed a Letter, and put that Letter before, which should be behind the other, of which I will give you fome Inftances.

Pfal. xxii. 16. The prefent Hebrew Copies read, Dogs have compassed me; the Aembly of the Wicked have enclosed me AS A LION my Hands and my Feet. A Reading one can hardly tell how to make Senfe of. But in the LXX and all ancient Tranflations, and in our English Bibles alfo, it is, THEY PIERCED my Hands and my Feet. Yet we cannot fay that the Jews did originally corrupt this Text wilfully; the Corruption might eafily proceed from a Miftake of the Tranfcriber, or his Carelefnefs in writing and, which might eafily happen in hafty Writing, and fo inftead of 1 foderunt, they wrote ficut Leo. This Reading being got into one Copy, many other Copies followed it, and the Jews finding this Reading (though a very abfurd one) deprived the Chriftians of a prophetick Text relating to the Paffion and Death of the bleffed Jefus, have ftuck to, and still retain, this corrupt

Reading

Reading in their Bibles. So Habac. i. 5. our Bibles from the prefent Hebrew read, Behald ye among the Heathen: But the LXX, behold ye Defpifers. Which plainly proceeded from a Mistake occafioned through the likeness of two different Letters, and . The prefent Hebrew Copies have in gentibus, and that from which the LXX tranDated had contemptores.

2 Chron. xx. I. We read in our Bibles, the Children of Moab, and the Children of Ammon, and with them other befide the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to Battle. But you may obferve, as the Word other is printed in the Italick Letter, it is not in the Hebrew Text, but put in by the Tranflators; for in the Hebrew it is, the Children of Ammon, and with them of the Ammonites: So the Tranflators put in the Word other, and changed the Word of to befide, in order to make it good Senfe. But the LXX have tranflated it, and with them of the Mineans. The learned Bochart has judiciously obferved (Geogr. Sacr. part 1. 1. 2. c. 22.) that this Miftake has happened in the Hebrew Text through the Overfight of a Tranfcriber, who through Carelesness transpofed the Letter, and instead of setting it after the Letter, as he ought to have done, fet it before that Letter. So instead of writing, he wrote yn, and others tranfcribing from this Copy propagated the Mistake. The Hebrew Word which the LXX tranflates Mineans, is, according as now pointed by the Maforites, read Mebunim, as appears from our Bibles, 2 Chron. xxvi. 7. And the Place of their Habitation is called Maon, Jofbus xv. 55. and gave Name to the Wilderness near which they lived, 1 Sam. xxiii. 24, 25.

There are a great many various Readings in the Hebrew Bibles arifing from the Points: For there were two eminent Jews, one at Tiberias called Ben Afcher, the other at Babylon called Ben Naphtali, who about the fame Time undertook to publish each of them a correct Edition of the Hebrew Scriptures with the Points, wherein they differ much: The Eastern Jews, for the moft Part, follow the Edition of Ben Naphtali, and the Western that of Ben Afcher. There are also other different Readings between the Eastern and Western Jews. But this chiefly concerns the Points. However, the Jews, alfo acknowledge many various Readings, even with regard to the Letters; which various Readings are noted in the Margin of the Hebrew Bibles, and are called Keri, Ketib. Keri fignifies read, and Ketib, written. The Word which ftands in the Text is not to be read, and therefore is called Ketib, i. e. the written: But the other is called Keri, the read, because though it is not written in the Text, but in the Margin, yet it is to be read inftead of that in the Text. This Keri and Ketib is the Work of the Maforites, and is fuppofed to have proceeded from hence. Defigning to publish a correct Edition of their Bible, they took that which they esteemed their most authentick Copy, and not daring to make any Alterations in the Text of that Copy, yet finding in other Copies a different Reading, which they judged to be the more genuine, they placed it in the Margin, and gave Directions to their Scholars to read that marginal Word instead of the other, thereby giving_the_Preference to that Word, though they feared to put it into the Text. Bishop Walton, in his Appendix to his Polyglot, has given us all those .. VOL. III.

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