LESSONS FROM CORONAPOCALYPSE

LESSONS FROM CORONAPOCALYPSE

1. We need to be looking to God for repentance, and not just comfort, health, and strength

2. Events aren’t random and arbitrary. Though they may be concerning and sobering, God is sovereign! God is very active in the
coronavirus crisis. He is using it while monitoring it!

3. In two weeks, the USA, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Israel and other nations went from caution to hysteria to lockdown.
Governments tilted to full-scale panic! People/citizens followed their panic!

4. Humanity is in the grip of a global pandemic far worse than coronavirus. Fear!

5. Panic and fear ensured because of government overreach; hoarders and profiteers cleared supermarket shelves and loaded their
pantries and closets; everyone exploited the crisis. Did you? Our actions shows our character!

6. The virus exposes ugly truths about ourselves: fear of dying and hoarding to live!

7.The cost is incalculable to our economies, livelihoods, civil liberties, freedoms, social cohesion, mental and physical health. This has
changed society making ready for the strongman (biblical antichrist).

8. The coronavirus has acclimated Europe to much tougher, authoritarian-style government. Soldiers patrol the streets of France, Italy
and Germany. Police drones patrol public areas, target gatherings in Spain, and gathering are under virtual house arrest for not obeying
isolation rules. Restricted civil liberties have become socially acceptable giving autocrats and dictators possible scenarios they have only
dreamed of, curfews, abolition of freedom of assembly, the greatest possible control of public life ever!

9. No leader of any nation has yet to blame the coronavirus on sin!

10. Suffering and death -even of millions- occur on God’s terms!

11. God has numbered the hairs on your head; God is keenly interested in your life. He knows the possibility of your body receiving a
virus. Be wise, but do not be fearful!

12. We are living in satan’s world, he is the “god” of this world according to Holy Scripture (2 Corinthians 4:4) and he is the prince of
the power of the atmosphere (Ephesians 2:2) who hates the people and everything in it and has deceived the world (Galatians 1:4). Join
God! You still can-if your living!

13. God is not talked about, instead doctors, scientists, celebrities projecting scenarios. The USA President has mentioned God on
several occasions, although he refrains as does Vice President, Pence from mentioning Yeshua/Jesus the savior of man.

14. For Christians, coronavirus is a test of our faith and charity. For non-Christians the virus is not a test, but a warning!

15. A good question to ask is, why God allowed the pandemic! God’s allowance of the coronavirus is showing us how selfish,
materialistic, and entertainment driven we are while we are destined for eternity!

16. The coronavirus has changed the world while fulfilling biblical prophecy!

17. The coronavirus warns us that bigger trials are coming!

18. We are not getting out of this alive; death is inevitable for all men. Know the Lord!

19. The foundations we trust, government is exposed as sand. God is the Rock!

20. Society is experiencing a crises of faith. Only God has the solution: His son, Yeshua!

21. The Bible says disease pandemics will get worse. One-third of mankind will perish (Revelation 9:15). Today, that would be 2 billion
people (2 billion is two thousand million). Oy Vey! That is a lot of souls!

22. Messiah Yeshua prophesied that before His return, plagues and viruses called pestilences would be “the beginning of sorrows”
(Matthew 24:8).

23. National borders are closing, soldiers are deployed to the streets, and countries are enacting wartime laws and measures that equip
governments with authoritarian power.

24. God is not distant or detached, He has a personal interest, not so much in this world which He has assigned to destruction, but He is
allowing sin, suffering, diseases, cancers, and viruses upon people to convert and correct us now, that we may be citizens for the next
world He is presently building where no evil or suffering will exist; no devil!

25. The coronavirus is driving Europe to a united superstate; Europeans are questioning their governments; Americans are now
questioning our traditional mainstream parties, Republican and Democratic, myriad wanting a new party, or a [new] strongman (who
favors their lifestyle of course).

26. Quarantine works: 1348-1359 one-third Europe’s population was killed by the bubonic plague, but the Jewish population were
largely unaffected. They quarantined the sick, practiced ritual washings, and avoided unclean meats. They learned from God Who 4,000
years ago gave Israel rules for good hygiene, and protocols to halt contagious diseases. The unclean were quarantined outside Israel’s
camp. The idea was social distancing, indeed! Dung and excrement was double-quarantined outside the camp, and buried. The ancient
Israelites followed God’s hygiene and quarantine laws and were spared many plagues and epidemics that devastated other nations.
Moshe quarantined from Egypt that YHWH could use Him! Yeshua quarantined from Rabbinic Judaism for 40 days so YHWH might
use Him! In fact, quarantine comes from the Italian quaranta giorni (40 days) isolation of passengers on incoming ships. Shaul (Paul)
quarantined often by fasting. Christians are told to quarantine! We are not to handle the unclean, but to separate ourselves from sinful
acts, flee youthful lusts, live holy, and not associate with any brother or sister living in sin. God commands we quarantine our minds
from deceit, covetousness, sexual perversion, sacrilege, etc. Those who refuse quarantine and ignore the warning and coddle sin and
iniquity, will face an eternal quarantine, as the rich man isolated in hell from Avraham and Lazarus.

27. God monitors the world through angels who “walk to and fro through the earth” (Zechariah 6:6,7), each one including the devil and
his dark powers give a regular account to God (Job 1:6-12).

28. Don’t watch the destruction. God told Lot, wife of Lot, daughters of Lot, DO NOT look back upon the destruction of Sodom. Don’t
watch secular media. Monitor your government and their reports by observing Presidential News Conferences and/or Christian Media
(because all news, history, reporting is biased).

29. The coronavirus pandemic shows the colossal genius of satan who is the sinister evil power behind the scenes. To create an entrance
for his strongman who is a counterfeit of the God-man, Yeshua, satan has to create a world arena and platform to welcome him and his
new political ideas and career. The devil has and will continue to use global hysteria to undermine faith in God, obedience to His laws
which are very good for man, rather to incite human will for a fair, stable, prosperous, non-racist, impartial, and earth-wide system of
life.

30. The coronavirus is a pestilence, it was predicted to come; other pestilences are coming as predicted. The most important coming is Yeshua. Let us prepare for His arrival!

THE SPIRIT OF THE ANTICHRST

THE SPIRIT OF THE ANTICHRIST

by Dr. Reginald K. Lisemby

Executive Servant, Messianic Ministry to Israel

    In the ISRAEL TODAY magazine (February 27, 2020) an article stated that Israel’s leading rabbis are not leaving Israel for fear of missing the messiah. Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky one of the two senior rabbis of Israel is said to already be in direct contact with the Messiah. Another Israeli Rabbi, Rabbbi Zisholtz said, “the process of redemption is about to start happening very quickly and at a fast pace. It is important that people remain calm and steady to act properly in the right time....There is a potential Messiah in every generation and there are righteous men who know precisely who it is. This is, of course, true in this generation….Getting the word out now that the Messiah is closer than ever is a matter of life and death. Haven’t you heard of Gog and Magog? That is what is going to happen very soon. Right now, the situation is explosive more than you can possibly imagine. Everyone needs to know whether they are on the inside or if they are going to be left out.” One more Israeli rabbi stated “...according to the current situation in heaven, there will not be Israeli elections – rather, there will be a war. If the elections do take place, it’s pointless since it will end like the other elections; no government will come out of it. No one will take the government away from Netanyahu.” 

    The ultra-orthodox are very supportive of Netanyahu while they attempt to eradicate messianic Jews (Jews believing in Yeshua) from Israel. Netanyahu has embraced the orthodox community and especially so if they help him win the election. Israel’s most revered sages, Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, and Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, both predicted Benjamin Netanyahu would be the state of Israel’s last prime minister prior to the messianic age. All of the ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel believe this. What are the significant signs of the messianic age? (1) Israel’s unprecedented though embarrassing inability to elect a government; (2) US President Donald Trump the most powerful leader in the world is likened to Cyrus of old, and he has endorsed Jewish sovereignty of Jerusalem; (3) the kings of the Gentiles came to Jerusalem in January to honor the Jewish people. Jerusalem was royally ready for the visits of King Philip VI of Spain, King Willem-Alexander of Holland, King Philip of Belgium, Prince Charles, and heir to the throne of Norway, Prince Haakon Magnus, French President Emanuel Macron, German President Frank Walter-Steinmeier, and the presidents of Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, as well as numerous others came. Even Vladamir Putin was scheduled to appear. 

    Israeli rabbis are urged not to leave Israel, but to commit themselves to Torah study, and keeping Shabbat, for the messiah will not come until all Jews sanctify the Sabbath; and they are committed to prayer. All of this sounds biblical, salvific, and messianic. In fact, myriad “Christians” are embracing the idea of modern Israel as the messianic, “chosen” nation, and holy people. One Christian recently said to me, “If Trump loses the next election, I’m moving to Israel.” Do Christians not know what is soon to happen to Israel if the Jewish nation does not embrace Yeshua, God's Son Who is the only way, truth, and life, the only door to God? Israel is not a way, truth, life, or a door! Israel is a nation of unregenerate souls. Yet, rather than evangelizing the Jewish people with their only hope of salvation, the Gospel of Yeshua, many “Christians” (e.g. John Hagee) suggest there is a “dual” way to God, Israel for the Jews and Jesus for the Gentiles. 

Yeshua the true and the only Messiah of Israel, said that in the last days before the final holocaust called The Great Tribulation (Matthew 24), there would be such prophetic and messianic fervor, with miracles and wonders, so much so, that if it were possible the very elect would be deceived. Observe how Christian ministries exalt and celebrate modern Israel, speaking of Israel as the hope of other nations, while Israel is without and continues to reject the Messianic King, Yeshua!  The spirit of antichrist is not only preparing religious Jews for the counterfeit, it appears that “Christians” are being deceived by the anti-Yeshua spirit. 

PART TWO

What will the world be like when the antichrist comes? Will his title be “Antichrist,” “Christ,” “Messiah,” “Czar,” “King,” “President,” “Prime Minister”? Is the antichrist a person, a spirit, or a belief system? Perhaps, all three?

Antichrist is a term that appears only in 1 John 2:18-22 and 4:3. Yochanon used the term in the singular (“you have heard the antichrist is coming”) and the plural (“many antichrists have risen”). Yochanon defines antichrists as liars denying that Yeshua is the Messiah, and denying the Father and the Son. 

Yeshua made clear that the antichrist was a person when He referenced him, “another will come in his own name. Him you will receive” (John 5:43). Yeshua’s audience was the Jews. In Matthew 24 Yeshua referenced The Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, and the subjects of that abomination were the Jewish people.
The Syrian, Antiochus Epiphanes IV committed the abomination of desolation in Israel, in the Jewish Temple, by sacrificing a pig, and forbidding Jews to observe the Torah, to be circumcised, and forbidding Jews to worship their Elohim. Yeshua’s reference in Matthew 24 was that such an abomination was to occur again in the future. Nothing similar to this abomination has ever occurred, though some suggest Rome’s invasion in AD 70 was that abomination. However, Titus or no other Roman entered the Temple and replicated Antiochus Epiphanes IV. The abomination is still future.

The Apostle Shaul (Paul) also referenced a strongman coming, and although he did not call him “antichrist,” Shaul did acknowledge a “man of lawlessness,” “the son of destruction” who opposes and exalts himself above every god. It is very interesting that Shaul also referenced this one coming in likeness of Antiochus Epiphanes IV, that he too will display himself as god in the Temple. Shaul wrote in concert with Yeshua saying the Temple in Jerusalem will be the epicenter of this man who will be energized by Satan with power, signs, false wonders, and deception for those who did not love the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:3-9).

The Antichrist is referenced by the following names and titles in the Bible: “The Beast” (Rev.13:1), “The Man of Destruction” (2 Thes.2:3), “The Lawless One” (2 Thes.2:8), “The Little Horn” (Daniel 7:8), “The Insolent King” (Daniel 8:23), “the ruler to come” (Daniel 9:26), “the despicable person” (Daniel 11:21), “the strong-willed king” (Daniel 11:36), “the worthless shepherd” (Zec.11:16,17), and “the antichrist” (1 John 2:18,22). At his inception the Antichrist will be pseudochristos or a “false Christ” because he will affirm that he himself is a messianic kind of leader to Israel, and according to Daniel 9:27 will make a pact to protect Israel. The Antichrist is also antichristos or “anti-Christ” meaning he will be “against” the idea of a Christ or Messiah for Israel, he will eventually turn against Israel, and he will undoubtedly speak against the messianic prophecies of another, that being Yeshua of Nazareth.

The Antichrist will be a Gentile just as Antiochus Epiphanes IV who was a Syrian. He will lead the European Union of Gentile nations (Daniel 7:8-24), and his covenant with Israel will promise protection to them by His Gentile armies (Daniel 9:27). Also, his rule over the whole world is that era which the bible calls, “The Times of the Gentiles.”
The antichrist is to arrive on the world scene in lieu of some great peril, some colossal upheaval akin to the coronavirus which will be feared as annihilation of the human race. The antichrist will administrate a pseudo peace which will win him world fame and position. He will be a genius in every way, oratorically, intellectually, politically, militarily, commercially, and religiously (Daniel 7:20; 8:24,25; 11:21; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:1,2). 

The Holy Scriptures also reference the spirit of antichrist that we can say is already at work and has been at work since the last days that began when Yeshua came (Hebrews 1:2). The spirit of antichrist is a world energized by spiritual imps, elves, fairies, and ghosts all which are demons, dark tyrant spirits, and powers of darkness in the atmosphere who are not yet assigned to hell, but free to inhabit our world and walk the earth. The antichrist is in harmony with them and their leader, the former once-upon-a-time cherub, Lucifer. Only authentic regenerate Christians believe in spiritual beings identified in the Holy Scriptures who presently inhabit the atmosphere battling for our souls, so the deception of the unregenerate world by the son of Satan will be an easy one. The antichrist will be welcomed! The spirit of the antichrist is the same deceptive spirit that crafted Rabbinic Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Karaite, Reconstructionist, Lubavitz, Hasidic, Gur, Yad L’Achim) deceiving the Jewish people! The spirit of antichrist is the deceptive spirit of Islam, the Druze, and the Bahai. The spirit of antichrist is the spirit of Popes, Unitarianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, African Spiritism, even forms of Christianity that deny the one true God, YHWH, His Holy Scriptures, and His Messiah, Yeshua Who is the only way of salvation, and the one mediator to God!


PART THREE: THE FUTURE FUHRER

He’s coming! The serpent’s seed (Gen.3:15); the little horn (Dan.7:8, 24-25); the insolent king of fierce countenance (Dan.8:23-25); the prince who is to come (Dan.9:26); the despicable person (Dan.11:21); the strong willed king (Dan.11:36); him who comes in his own name (John 5:43); the man of lawlessness and son of destruction (2 Thes.2:3); the antichrist (1 John 2:18,22); the beast (Rev.13:1; 11:7) with a number (Rev.13:18). The antichrist is denoted in Scripture by Yeshua, Shaul, and Yochanon, as a person, and the biblical imagery of the antichrist is as a Gentile. He is typed in theTeNaK or OT by Antiochus Epiphanes IV, the Assyrian (Dan.8); he is Roman (Dan.9:27); he rises out of the “sea” (Rev.13:1-10; 15:17); he is ruler in the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24); and he leads the European Union of Gentile nations (Dan.7:8-24) against Israel. He is a Gentile, but will the Jews accept a Gentile as their messiah? 

The typical premise is that the Jews will not accept a Gentile as Messiah, therefore, the antichrist must be Jewish. However, nowhere does the Holy Scriptures say that Israel accepts the antichrist as their Christ or Messiah, only that the antichrist makes an accord with Israel. The Jewish nation many times has made contracts with Gentile rulers, even recently an accord with Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat. On August 6, 1806 Jewry declared Napoleon to be messiah since he favored a Jewish state. Napoleon declined. The Jewish nation today would gladly sign a peace treaty with their Muslim enemies! 

The antichrist and his covenant/contract will be received by Israel (John 5:43, Daniel 9:27) and his dominion will be world-wide (Revelation 13:3,7,17). The antichrist will act in concert with ten kings (Daniel 2:31-45; 7:19-28; Rev.13:1-9), three of whom he will subdue. At some point “he” will make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and that visit to see the Temple will incite him to defame the god of the Jewish Temple for whom the Jewish people worship. He will then commit the abomination of desolation spoken of by Yeshua in Matthew 24:15 and Shaul (Saul) in 2 Thessalonians 2:4, the same blasphemous declaration that was committed twenty-five hundred years ago by Antiochus Epiphanes IV (Daniel 8). 

Shaul says that this “lawless one” and “son of perdition” will oppose all that is called God and will exalt himself to be God, and he will commit another abomination by murdering the saints, and he will kill many (Revelation 13:7,8). 

The only other person in the Bible spoken of as “son of perdition” beside this “man of lawlessness” is Judas (John 17:12; 2Thess.2:3). If Israel is the chosen people of God, why will God allow such a devious and sinister Judas-like person to betray Israel? The antichrist will be the instrument of God’s vengeance, the rod of God’s anger against the Jewish people for continuing to deny His son, Yeshua, the true Messiah of Israel (Isaiah 10:5, 24-25). YHWH God thinks very much of His son Yeshua, and all who deny the son are doomed to everlasting destruction, the Jews first, and then the Gentiles (Rom.2:9). 

God, will insulate Edom, Moab, and Ammon from the antichrist’s grasp (Daniel 11:41), but God will allow the incarnated devil to deceive Israel. In fact, this era of time is called Yaaqov’s trouble; it is designed for Israel in order to gain the remnant, and to judge and punish the non-remnant of Israel. The Holy Scriptures term the antichrist as the spoiler/destroyer (Isaiah 16:4), the profane wicked prince of Israel (Ezekiel 21:25), the adversary (Amos 3:11), Belial (Nahum 1:15), the Assyrian (Isaiah 10:5), and the destroyer of the goyim or Gentile nations (Jeremiah 4:7). 

Where is he, today? Who can say? It is very possible, perhaps probable, that the antichrist is alive and being politically, militarily, intellectually, commercially, nationally, and religiously groomed for his act. His coming is calculated and his appearance will be necessary to sustain the whole earth from some peril. But, for now, he is being restrained! Shaul wrote to the church of Thessalonica consoling believers who thought they had missed the coming of Yeshua and the Day of the Lord spoken of in OT apocalyptic scrolls (2The.2:1); he assured them of two things necessary that precipitates The Day of the Lord: (1) an apostasy or defection from belief in Yeshua, and (2) a revealing of the antichrist.However, the man of lawlessness cannot be revealed even in a world that has become lawless in every way and been made ready for him, until God’s restraining and governing force, His body, the Church is removed. Shaul referenced “he”/”him” that is being restrained, by the “He”/”Him” who restrains the son of perdition (2 Thess.2:3-9). He does so by His indwelling of His NT Temple, the Church Who will soon be raptured!

SUNDAY HALLMARKED IN TORAH FOR FIRSTFRUITS by Reggie & Crystal Lisemby, ...

THE MASORETES OF THE MASORETIC TEXTS

THE MASORETES AND THE HEBREW TEXT 

By Reginald (Reggie) Lisemby

The Masoretes were the Jewish custodians of the Hebrew Scriptures, a coterie of genius attempting to preserve the Hebrew Biblical Text. It was the Masoretes who gave us the modern vowels and pointings used in Hebrew today. The Masoretes invented a system of detailed punctuation non-existent before the 5th Century, and the Masoretes revised the vowel and accent system given to Moshe and Ysrael. However, these guardians of scripture were not inspired by the Holy Ruach/Spirit as the biblical authors, and therefore they incorporated their biases and traditions in the vowels and pointings? The Masoretes over corrected and even intentionally altered the Hebrew Biblical text by the placements of vowels that would detour or redefine a word and in doing so, often reinvented the text(s) and their meaning.

The term "Hebrew" was used for the early patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaaqov, and was the term used before they became Yisrael, and before the term Yehudi or Jew. Being a Hebrew meant one belonged to a certain ethnic group, and as all ethnic groups, Hebrew was also a term for a language. This is suggested in the Prologues to Sirach near c. 180 BC. The Hebrew language was written with consonants only, no vowels, and was considered a sacred language (Kelly, 4). The scribes came to be called Sopherim meaning, both, to write and to count because they counted the consonants, words, and verses of the text, one sure way to preserve the spelling and wording of the text (“Masoretes”). The one responsible for training such an elite group was Ezra and his team of scholars, called Sopherim.

With Ezra’s return from exile to Beit Ysrael ("House of Israel”) a group of scholars returned with him settling [back] in the land following the Babylonian captivity. Ezra is responsible for his biblical scroll and may also be responsible for authoring other books, like the Chronicles and Nehemiah. Ezra is also the one responsible for the canon of the TeNaK or what Christians call the Old Testament. Ezra, the father of the scribes, is further responsible for the transliteration of the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic, the everyday language then being spoken by Jewish people who had lived 70 years in Babylon. These Aramaic paraphrases of the Hebrew bible came to be called the Targumim, and the scribes were the translators (Goldberg, 10). These influential teachers and interpreters of the Law were responsible for ensuring that the spelling and wording of the Hebrew text did not change. Near 500 AD a new Hebrew scholar emerged to assume the responsibility of preserving and transmitting the biblical scriptures and also to develop a system for an Aramaic speaking Judaism to be able to read the difficult consonantal Hebrew TeNaK. These scholars called the Masoretes invented a system of vowel pointing’s and accent marks to assist the new learners to their native tongue (Scott, 7) and superimposed this system upon the original Hebrew texts. Those who lent the vowel points and accents were called Nakdanim or “pointers.” These vowel pointing’s and accents were penned under, above, and within the existing text. 

The Masoretes also composed notations or Massorah meaning, “to bind,” handed down as sort of a ‘fence’ to protect the meanings of texts. This Massorah became tradition and are listed to this day in the margins of the Hebrew text which supplied exegetical and text critical information (Scott, 7). These annotations at the top and bottom of the page were called Masoreh Magna and those at the end of individual books were called Masorah Finalis (Kelley, 436). Again, those who provided the Masora were the Masoretes. The last stage for these scholars was to fixate and preserve the vowel pointing’s in a tradition of pronunciation, vocalization, and writing (“Masoretes”). The scholar might be working on any one of the three assignments, thus, the work of all came to be under one title, Masoretes. 

The work of the Masoretes was over a five hundred year period, AD 500-1000, but, were the vowel pointing’s preserved from antiquity or were they the biased invention of the Masoretes? Elijah Levita (1549 AD) in his thesis, The Massoreth Ha-Massoreth of Elijah Levita, Being an Exposition of the Massoretic Notes on the Hebrew Bible (London, 1867) defended the lateness of the pointing’s, that the vowels pointing’s are not ancient; he is credited for the resolution as to the question of the historicity of the pointing of the Hebrew. However, his dissertation was and still is strongly opposed by many, in particular those who held and hold to a deeply-rooted belief in the Zohar, the masterpiece of the Hebrew Kabbalah (Chiesa, 5). The Zohar argues that the punctuation was communicated to Moshe who received the Law on Sinai. The Law could never be changed after this event not even by Moshe, not the least point in a single letter (Chiesa, 5). According to David Kimhi (1160-1235 BC) Moshe received the punctuation on Sinai. Moses b. Isaac [sic] of England (12 Century AD) specifies, “you must know that the points had been given on Sinai; I do not mean that the Tables of the Law had been pointed, but that whoever was listening to the Creator, speaking in the Holy Tongue, could distinguish between all the vowels and the syllables, both short and long (Scott, 5). His thesis suggests that the vowel pointing’s became Oral tradition and were handed down just as the commentary of scripture was handed down.

Moses ben Yom-Tov of London (1929) ascertains that the punctuation was indeed given on Sinai and was Oral Law, but was forgotten by Israel until the time of Ezra. The Karaite writer, Judah Hadassi (1075-1160 AD) supposes the Tables of Law were engraved with pointing of both vowels and accents and any inscription of scripture without them are defective. Others, like Azariah De Rossi rival this claim with another proposal, that Moshe did not write down the pointing’s (though given to him by God) so that the Law might be interpreted in the seventy known languages of that time (Scott, 6). Hai Gaon (1037 AD) on the other hand gave the following testimony: We have not heard that the scroll of the Law was provided with points when it was given to Moshe on Sinai. The punctuation had not been given on Sinai, but the sages introduced it as an aid for reading, and we are not allowed do add anything to the text, from our knowledge, lest we transgress the prohibition against, ‘you shall not add’ (Deut. 4:2). Accordingly, the scroll of the Law is not pointed, and although the division of the verses and the cantillation according to the meaning have been traditionally transmitted from Sinai to this day, as it is written (Neh.8:8), nevertheless this tradition is an oral one, not given my means of written marks of punctuation (Scott, 8).

Many at the time of the Reformation also believed that the vowel marks and other signs of the Hebrew MSS were as antiquated as the consonants. There was much dispute between the Catholics and the Protestants of the 18th century. Reformation scholars opposed Levita (above) and his challenge and refutation of the antiquity of the vowel markings. In Switzerland, 1678 a Law was even passed that no person should be licensed to preach the Gospel in their churches unless he accepted the integrity of the Hebrew text including the origin of the vowel points and accents (“Text”).

History is one’s engagement with the past and is subjective. All history too much or too little is biased, the problem of reconstructing history adequately (Wells, 7). The historicity of the pointing’s of the Hebrew must be handled with exactness and weighty evidence, every reasonable polemic appraised. Whether vowel signs or accent signs were first introduced into the text, one cannot easily determine. The earliest Biblical manuscript already shows a fully developed system of vowel and accent marks. The Talmud, however, does not mention either vowels or accents, but only the atnahta which refers to a pause or rest.

The names of the vowel signs are used in a Geniza fragment, Qaraite Lists of Terms written, in the opinion of N. Allony in the Eighth century (Allony, 1964), but not mentioned until the mid-Ninth Century. This suggests that the vowel and accent signs were introduced near the close of the Talmudic era AD 600 to about AD 750 (Yeiven 164). According to the International Organization for Masoretic Studies (IOMS) and the Society of Biblical Literature, Hebrew vowels did not exist in the 5th century, yet at the beginning of the 8th century the first vowel signs appeared. Jacob of Edessa (AD 710) testified that, “vowel sounds are thick or thin. Again, every word, that is, every member of a clause – where it is thick or broad in vowel sound there it takes a point above the line; whereas it if fine or thin it takes a point below...” (IMOS, 22) Evidence seems indisputable in favoring the late date invented by the Erudite Elijah Levita in the subject if studied separate from its apologetic and theological implications. This evidence is based on the knowledge of or lack of knowledge of the diacritical signs of Jerome (4th Century) or the Talmud (5th Century). There is preferable historical and theological symmetry when taking into the account the legacy of the Masoretes. 

As already stated, the great concern for many Jews living in Israel and in Babylon (under Arab rule) was the reading of the Hebrew text of the Bible convinced that the Word of God should be read and understood in the most correct language (Kahle, 84). Safeguarding the correct reading of the Biblical text was one of the principal aims of the Masoretes. With centers in the east (Babylonia) and the west (Tiberias, Israel) the Masoretes worked hard to preserve the consonantal text, to develop a vocalization system, a cantillation system, and with notes, that is, the Masoreh. The Masoretes created a model text of the Hebrew Bible: 

“This system stood before us as a ‘bolt from the blue,’ nobody was able to say how it came into being, how it developed. It was like a miracle for which only one explanation could be given. The pronunciation of the Hebrew as fixed by the Masoretes was handed down by them unanimously and exactly in the form in which it was transmitted to them, and by the long chain of trustworthy transmitters every guarantee was given that they had fixed the text exactly as sit was read form time immemorial in the golden days when the Temple was still in existence and services were held there (Kahle, 85).

With the discovery of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls there has been the verdict that the Masoretic Text contains many samples of grammatical patterns not found in later Hebrew, but verified in Ugaritic from 1400 BC. It is thought because of evidence by many scholars that the vowel pointing’s and accenting is from an ancient system of pronunciation and interpretation preserved by the Masoretes (“Text). Material preserved in the Cairo Geniza also allows us to look beyond the complex system of punctuation fixed by the Masoretes and compare old fragments as one develops an understanding of how their (Masoretes) system was developed. According to Kahle there is a definite dissimilarity between the pronunciation of Hebrew before and after the work of the Masoretes. Hebrew was never pronounced the same way anywhere, but the Masoretes supposedly replaced in many cases a pronunciation of Hebrew which they regarded as lax and inaccurate with a pronunciation they thought to be more correct, a classical Hebrew, just as the Arab readers tried to improve their Koran by accommodating the reading to the ideal Arabic. This is shown by Kahle in three examples (1) the pronunciation of gutturals; (2) the pronominal suffix of the 2nd person singular masculine; (3) the pronunciation of the BGDKPT consonants (t p k d g b). This was done with Arabic and Syriac influence (Kahle, 87-103).

The work of the Masoretes was lengthy extending over a period of about five hundred years, and the business was of comparing manuscripts, and debating whether to eradicate or establish certain variations –with their difficulties of the consonantal text inherited from the scribes. Near 1000 AD there was a Textus Receptus agreed upon in the Western tradition (the Tiberian tradition) which became the leader, the Eastern of Babylonian system, by the time of the Middle Ages, disregarded and banished for about one thousand years (Scott, 8). The reason for the superiority of the ‘Palestinian’ system was the persuasion that the Tiberians wrote with purity of language and were the most refined purists of all the Jews, opposing others who “do not know Hebrew except by means of literary tradition” (Chiesa, 17). A differenced in punctuation was certain.

In conclusion, it appears that we are somewhat governed by the late origin of vowel pointing’s by the Jewish custodians of Old Testament scripture, and can suspect that in most cases, the majority of cases, the vowel points are true to the original meaning of the author. There is, however, many cases of which one may argue for a better and more accurate interpretation. Gleason L. Archer illustrates such passages in his book, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties which interesting enough are all messianic texts. That is to say, that the Masoretes may have intentionally pointed Hebrew terms and phrases away from being too messianic. as the Gospel writers herald. Ernest Wurthwein gives several ground rules for competent textural correction (80-81) should a text be determined or questioned. First, it is unacceptable to reject the Masoretic Text and other witnesses that present the same reading. Let it stand, of course. Second, preference should be given the MT when there is a variation from it by questionable sources. Third, if the reading of the MT is not plausible and is doubtful or impossible, one might give careful considerations to the other witnesses. Fourth, when neither the MT or another witness gives a credible reading, conjecture may be the unwanted course. Fifth, one must take notice of the psychology of the scribe in observation of the rest of his writings.

Other Notes on the MASORETES

• Need arose for Jewish community to have and maintain a standardized Torah for Jews in
  Israel (small) and diaspora (huge); a universal Jewish Bible
• AD 500ish Rabbinic scholars were chosen; came to be called Masoretes from Masora,
  meaning “tradition.” Tradition is KEY in their work, not inspiration!
• Goal was to uphold the traditions of the Jewish people, not to preserve the Bible (the Bible was already preserved [although without vowels])
• Masoretes attempted to create a consistent book by creating [their] rules for the unvoweled text; they invented vowels for articulation and reading, not theology.
• Masoretes consisted of two primary groups, “Western Palestinian,” and “Eastern Babylon.” Western Palestinian concentrated in Tiberias had two thoughts: Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali.
• 930 AD Aaron Ben Moshe ben Asher produced the first complete OT Bible, called the Aleppo Codex.
• Stated earlier was a need arose for Jewish community to have and maintain a standardized Torah for Jews in Israel (small) and diaspora (huge); a universal Jewish Bible, the reason being Greek and Latin were competing for supremacy. The Jews wanted their own academic Hebrew language and universal thought.Vowels were invention from oral tradition, a way for them to preserve pronunciation of words, but also superimpose their beliefs (traditions) in that preservation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Archer, Gleason L. Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982
Chiesa, Bruno. The Emergence of Hebrew Biblical Pointing: The indirect Sources. Frankfurt am Main: Land, 1979
Goldberg, Louis. Our Jewish Friends. Chicago: Moody Press, 1977 Kahle, Paul. The Cairo Geniza. London: Oxford, 1947
Kelley, Page H. A Handbook to Biblical Hebrew: An Introductory Grammar. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1994
IOMS. International Organization for Masoretic Studies: Masoretic Studies 1. New York: KTAV Publishing House, Inc. 1974
“Masoretes.” The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 4 1992 ed
Scott, William R. A Simplified Guide to BHS. Berkeley, California: Bibal, 1987 “Text.” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. 1988 ed.
Wells, Ronald A. History Through the Eyes of Faith. San Francisco: Harper, 1989 Wurthein, Ernest. The Text of the Old Testament. New York: MacMillian, 1957.