Hebrew Voices #138 – The Importance of Examining Manuscripts in Person
In this episode of Hebrew Voices, The Importance of Examining Manuscripts in Person, Bible Scholar Nehemia Gordon shares how blessed he has been to examine 4 of the “Big Six” Bible Manuscripts using sophisticated ultraviolet and infrared equipment and the … Continue reading →
In this episode of Hebrew Voices, The Importance of Examining Manuscripts in Person, Bible Scholar Nehemia Gordon shares how blessed he has been to examine 4 of the “Big Six” Bible Manuscripts using sophisticated ultraviolet and infrared equipment and the surprising things he discovered about how the name of God was preserved in these manuscripts.
I look forward to reading your comments!
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
02:20 Vatican Bible Manuscripts
03:18 Oxford Bible Manuscripts
04:18 Cambridge Bible Manuscripts
05:21 Examining scrolls vs manuscript images
06:50 Two Greek Papyruses with God’s name
09:56 Yehovah in Holocaust Torah scrolls
12:47 Examining “Big Six” Manuscripts
16:45 Turns out that wasn’t a cholam
18:55 A controversial vowel correction
22:05 The cholam wasn’t added later
25:48 Yehovah erased in the Aleppo Codex
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Hebrew Voices #138 – The Importance of Examining Manuscripts in Person
You are listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.
Michael: Because of the resources that are coming into the Makor Hebrew Foundation, which is Nehemia Gordon's 501c3 nonprofit organization, and it has enabled him to travel the world and to be able to go into places, purchase the equipment, and go into places for the cutting edge in biblical research into the ancient Hebrew manuscripts. And Nehemia is back with us because he has such a treasure trove to share with us. Nehemia, thanks for coming back. Take it away.
Nehemia: Michael, thanks for having me back. You know, for the last few years I've been studying Hebrew manuscripts... really, for decades I've been studying Hebrew manuscripts, but it's gone into overdrive in the last few years, as there's been a worldwide drive to digitize Hebrew manuscripts and make them available online. And so, really, for the last three or four years, I've been going through these manuscripts studying the name of Yehovah, looking for the name with full vowels. Today we have over 2,400 manuscripts with those full vowels.
Michael: Over 2,400. Every time you come back, every time I hear, it's more that your team’s working on.
Nehemia: We're pushing 2,500. I came to a certain impasse in my research, and the impasse was that there were certain things I couldn't know without examining the manuscripts directly, not just from high resolution color photographs.
Michael: And that's why you've had to travel the world...
Nehemia: I have traveled, and actually I'm going to show people up here on the screen. This is me at the Vatican. It says up there “Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.” One of my dreams for years has been to get into the Vatican to see their manuscripts, and it was not easy, I had to jump through many hoops. They don't let just anybody in there. It's actually a big deal to be let in there.
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Re: 16:45 Turns out that wasn’t a cholam
So I checked the high resolution photos of the Lenningrad codex and found that on the next page, Ps. 49:14, the first word (zeh), the zain has a segol, an accent mark, and a stray ‘shurek’. Being about the same location in the frame of the photo, it appears to be the same bit of shmutz!
When I was lead to study the original language some years ago and look into the original manuscripts, I was also led to Nehemiah Gordon. I had downloaded the digital resource of the Aleppo Codex and began to study. One night, I was telling my wife about how often Yhvh appeared within the text. “Look, I’ll open a random page and I bet I can point out an example. See? Right there, I’ll zoom in.” When I hyper zoomed the text, I was shocked to find that you could SEE where they had not only scraped away the cholam but also put a stray pen mark over the top of it to try to hide it. You never would be able to see it with the visible eye but with modern technology and a clear enough image, you could clearly see what was done. I stood there in shock and silence for a moment. This was long before I heard your teaching about them not making revisions to the name.
Shalom Nehemia! Yes, you must be from the “Show Me” state! Thank you for continuing to fight through to get to see these documents. Fight on! And thank you for sharing your findings. It makes me feel like we’re walking in the footsteps of our forefathers, kicking up the dust that the ancients kicked! You can see and show us their pen-strokes. It strengthens my faith and my resolve to share the great name of our creator, Yehovah! Shalom
Shlum.
So are you saying that His name is spelled יהעוה
Last night I was telling two people about your travels to find YHVH name in person and those that tried to make it hard on you. This morning this video, can I get a Second Witness! Bless You!
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