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Re: Josephus & DSS
>Don't you think that this is just a tiny bit simplistic?
>Joshua Schwartz
>Bar-Ilan
>
>On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, Ian Hutchesson wrote:
>
>>
>> You should realize that Modern Hebrew is an artificial creation and you
>> should not depend on it to be a firm guide to the Ancient.
>>
>> Ian Hutchesson
I would be inclined to agree with Joshua Schwartz in this matter. Though
there are many differences between modern Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew, the
vocalization of many words was preserved (or established) by the Masorites.
Since this is the case, knowing the pronunciation of melech, for example,
why not use the vowels? I can understand leaving the vowels out when a word
that is unknown is used. I can also understand leaving the vowels out if
there is not enough context in the DSS text fragment to determine if, for
example, the word is melech (king) or malach (reigned). What I do not
understand is why we should leave out the vowels if the word is well known
and the context tells us which word is meant.
Shalom,
Gretchen A. Shapiro Haas
Cleveland College of Jewish Studies
Ohio