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  • The Masonic Magazine
  • April 1, 1877
  • Page 32
  • THE MASSORAH.
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The Masonic Magazine, April 1, 1877: Page 32

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The Massorah.

figured by the ruthless hand of the Christian Scribe , and many a fair parchment cut to pieces and made to serve for repairing the boots of the Nazarene . It is the persecution of Antiochus E piphanes repeated , intensified , prolonged , through centuries .

Add to all this the fact , that it has been the practise of the Jews themselves to consign to oblivion all imperfect copies of their Scriptures . The Talmud enacts that if a copy of the Law have two errors in a page , it shall be corrected ; if three it shall be stowed away . The act by which

this is done is called Genizah . By the Kararite Jews the receptacle itself in which incorrect or mutilated copies of the Bible were placed were called Genizah , but it is not so called in the Talmud . The receptacles in which all imperfect or

injured MSS . of the kind are placed are called by the German Jews '' Shemothboxes , " in allusion to the names ( Shemoth ) of God , because every scrap on which that name might chance to be written , as might be the case' with any leaf of the Biblewas

, held too sacred to be destroyed , and must , therefore , be solemnly deposited in the receptacle prepared for it . No Hebrew MS . was therefore preserved by the Jews , merely on the ground of antiquity , and

taking this circumstance into connexion with the wholesale destruction of MSS . by Christians during the Middle Ages , to which we have already referred , it can no longer appear surprising that our oldest MSS . are so comparativel y late .

Thus Jews and Christians have conspired together for the destruction of these precious documents . The earliest known MS . of the whole Old Testament ( which is in the University Library at Cambridge * ! only dates from the middle of

the ninth century . A fragment belonging to the beginning of the same ceutury is in the Library at St . Petersburg . The beautiful MS . of the Later Prophets in the same Library , already referred to , bears the date A . D . 916 . AA e must not , therefore ,

indulge unreasonable expectations . It is scarcely probable that even Dr . Ginsburg ' s collations will furnish us with a large harvest of important textual variations . But his work is one of which it is scarcely probable to exaggerate the value notwithstanding . It will g ive us , what we have

The Massorah.

never had before , a really accurate collation of all the best MSS . of the Old Testament , together with a complete view of the Massoreth of each . The work will fill four folio volumes when finished . The publication of such a work is an enterprise too great to be accomplished by any

single individual unassisted . But it may be hoped that our Universities , and that Biblical scholars in this and other countries , will take care that the Funds requisite for its publication are forthcoming . AVe cordially congratulate Dr . Ginsburg on

having brough his labours so nearly to their conclusion , ancl thank him in the name of all students of the Hebrew Bible for this most important contribution to the formation of a critical text of the Old Testament .

The Bright Side.

THE BRIGHT SIDE .

BY W . W . HIBBEN . ( From the " Masonic Advocate" ) " Let us gather up the sunbeams , Lying all around our path , Let us keep the wheat and roses

Casting out the thorns and chaff ; Let us find our sweetest comfort In the blessings of the day , AVith a patient hand removing All the briars from our way . " CLOUDS aud darkness follow sunshine and

clay , and the darkest fortunes of life are apt to be succeeded by whispers of comfort and relief which come to us , like the visitations of the angels when they are on their missions of mercy . Though the heart be heavy with sorrows , the wicket gate of

hope may be seen in the dim distance . The God of our fathers never leaves us to struggle alone . The poet speaks truth when he says : "The promise assures us the Lord will provide . " In regions the most desolateunder circumstances the

, most disheartening , when cold , bleak winds are upon us , there is still a bright side of life to look upon , if we will only search for it . When Alexander Selkirk found himself a castaway on the Island of Juan

“The Masonic Magazine: 1877-04-01, Page 32” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 28 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmg/issues/mmg_01041877/page/32/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
"DYBOTS." Article 1
Untitled Article 2
Monthly Masonic Summary. Article 3
EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE ROYAL ARCH CHAPTER OF CONCORD ATTACHED TO THE ANCHOR AND HOPE LODGE, No. 37, BOLTON. Article 4
SONNET. Article 8
LETTER OF BRO. W. J. HUGHAN, OF ENGLAND, TO THE GRAND LODGE OF OHIO. Article 8
AN OLD, OLD STORY. Article 13
THREE CHARGES. Article 14
WONDERS OF OPERATIVE MASONRY. Article 14
ON FATHER FOY'S NOTES. Article 18
A TRIP TO DAI-BUTSU. Article 19
THE HAPPY HOUR. Article 21
NOTES ON THE OLD MINUTE BOOKS OF THE BRITISH UNION LODGE, No. 114, IPSWICH. A.D. 1762. Article 21
THE QUESTION OF THE COLOURED FREEMASONS IN THE UNITED STATES. Article 24
THE JEALOUS SCEPTIC. Article 25
THE LADY MURIEL. Article 27
THE MASSORAH. Article 29
THE BRIGHT SIDE. Article 32
HOPE. Article 33
ON THE EXCESSIVE INFLUENCE OF WOMEM. Article 34
Our Archaeological Corner. Article 39
FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE. Article 40
THE ORIGIN AND REFERENCES OF THE HERMESIAN SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY. Article 43
NOTES ON LITERATURE, SCIENCE AND ART. Article 46
A MASONIC ENIGMA. Article 50
BORN IN MARCH. Article 50
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

The Massorah.

figured by the ruthless hand of the Christian Scribe , and many a fair parchment cut to pieces and made to serve for repairing the boots of the Nazarene . It is the persecution of Antiochus E piphanes repeated , intensified , prolonged , through centuries .

Add to all this the fact , that it has been the practise of the Jews themselves to consign to oblivion all imperfect copies of their Scriptures . The Talmud enacts that if a copy of the Law have two errors in a page , it shall be corrected ; if three it shall be stowed away . The act by which

this is done is called Genizah . By the Kararite Jews the receptacle itself in which incorrect or mutilated copies of the Bible were placed were called Genizah , but it is not so called in the Talmud . The receptacles in which all imperfect or

injured MSS . of the kind are placed are called by the German Jews '' Shemothboxes , " in allusion to the names ( Shemoth ) of God , because every scrap on which that name might chance to be written , as might be the case' with any leaf of the Biblewas

, held too sacred to be destroyed , and must , therefore , be solemnly deposited in the receptacle prepared for it . No Hebrew MS . was therefore preserved by the Jews , merely on the ground of antiquity , and

taking this circumstance into connexion with the wholesale destruction of MSS . by Christians during the Middle Ages , to which we have already referred , it can no longer appear surprising that our oldest MSS . are so comparativel y late .

Thus Jews and Christians have conspired together for the destruction of these precious documents . The earliest known MS . of the whole Old Testament ( which is in the University Library at Cambridge * ! only dates from the middle of

the ninth century . A fragment belonging to the beginning of the same ceutury is in the Library at St . Petersburg . The beautiful MS . of the Later Prophets in the same Library , already referred to , bears the date A . D . 916 . AA e must not , therefore ,

indulge unreasonable expectations . It is scarcely probable that even Dr . Ginsburg ' s collations will furnish us with a large harvest of important textual variations . But his work is one of which it is scarcely probable to exaggerate the value notwithstanding . It will g ive us , what we have

The Massorah.

never had before , a really accurate collation of all the best MSS . of the Old Testament , together with a complete view of the Massoreth of each . The work will fill four folio volumes when finished . The publication of such a work is an enterprise too great to be accomplished by any

single individual unassisted . But it may be hoped that our Universities , and that Biblical scholars in this and other countries , will take care that the Funds requisite for its publication are forthcoming . AVe cordially congratulate Dr . Ginsburg on

having brough his labours so nearly to their conclusion , ancl thank him in the name of all students of the Hebrew Bible for this most important contribution to the formation of a critical text of the Old Testament .

The Bright Side.

THE BRIGHT SIDE .

BY W . W . HIBBEN . ( From the " Masonic Advocate" ) " Let us gather up the sunbeams , Lying all around our path , Let us keep the wheat and roses

Casting out the thorns and chaff ; Let us find our sweetest comfort In the blessings of the day , AVith a patient hand removing All the briars from our way . " CLOUDS aud darkness follow sunshine and

clay , and the darkest fortunes of life are apt to be succeeded by whispers of comfort and relief which come to us , like the visitations of the angels when they are on their missions of mercy . Though the heart be heavy with sorrows , the wicket gate of

hope may be seen in the dim distance . The God of our fathers never leaves us to struggle alone . The poet speaks truth when he says : "The promise assures us the Lord will provide . " In regions the most desolateunder circumstances the

, most disheartening , when cold , bleak winds are upon us , there is still a bright side of life to look upon , if we will only search for it . When Alexander Selkirk found himself a castaway on the Island of Juan

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