Page 382 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

MARVEL - MASORETIC TEXT

Yes, Mary was blessed above other women to have had Masoretes had to do was to guard both consonants and
the privilege of bringing the Saviour into the world, but vowels. They may very well be correct in this.] I say
this allows no foundation for calling Mary the Mother of ‘consonantal text’ because, as one school of thinking
God, Queen of Heaven, Mediatrix, etc. (6) The only understands it, originally the Hebrew was written only
mention of Queen of Heaven in the Bible refers, not to in consonants; there were no vowels.
Mary, but to a heathen idol (Je. 44:18-19). [See also The Masoretes flourished from about 500 to 1000 A.D.
Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic Church.] They were supposed to have standardized the Hebrew
O.T. in about 600-700 A.D. by putting in the vowel
Mary Magdalene. Jesus cast seven devils out of her pointings to aid in the pronunciation of the
(Mk. 16:9; Lk. 8:2). She was first to see Jesus after the consonantal text. Their text is called the Masoretic Text
resurrection (Mt. 28:1-8; Mk. 16:9). [See Magdalene.] or M.T. if you want to abbreviate it.
Mary of Bethany. She was sister of Martha and What about the Hebrew text used by the KJV
Lazarus and loved Jesus exceedingly (Jn. 11:1-45; Lk. translators? Here is some background on it. The Daniel
10:42). Mary was one of the only disciples who truly Bomberg edition, 1516-17, was called the First
understood that Jesus would die (Jn. 12:1-8), and she Rabbinic Bible. Then in 1524-25, Bomberg published a
anointed his feet with costly ointment. second edition edited by Abraham Ben Chayyim (or
Ben Hayyim) iben Adonijah. This is called the Ben
Mary, Mother of James and Joses (Mt. 27:56; 28:1; Chayyim edition of the Hebrew text. Daniel Bomberg’s
Mk. 15:40; Lk. 24:10). edition, on which the KJV is based, was the Ben
MARVEL. To be astonished; to be amazed; to wonder Chayyim Masoretic Text. This was called the Second
(Ec. 5:8; Mk. 5:20; Jn. 3:7; Ac. 3:12; 2 Co. 11:14; Ga. Great Rabbinic Bible. This became the standard
1:6). Masoretic text for the next 400 years.
MASCHIL (intelligently, with understanding). The The Ben Chayyim Masoretic Text was used even in the
title of 13 Psalms (Ps. 32; 42; 44; 45; 52; 53; 54; 55; first two editions of Biblia Hebraica by Rudolf Kittel.
The dates on those first two editions were 1906 and
74; 78; 88; 89; 142). [See Music.] 1912. He used the same Hebrew text as the KJV
MASH (extraction, taken away). Ge. 10:23. translators.
MASHAL (petition). 1 Ch. 6:74. The edition we used when I was a student of Dr.
MASON. Stone worker (2 Sa. 5:11; 2 Ki. 12:12; Ezr. Merrill F. Unger at Dallas Theological Seminary
3:7). (1948-53), was the 1937 edition of the Biblia Hebraica
by Kittel. In 1937 Kittel changed his Hebrew edition
MASORETIC TEXT. A name for the Hebrew text and followed what they called the Ben Asher Masoretic
handed down from the Jews and underlying the King Text instead of the Ben Chayyim. They followed, in
James Bible and other faithful non-Catholic versions. that text, the Leningrad manuscript. The date on it was
The following is from Dr. D.A. Waite’s Defending the King 1008 A.D. This was not the traditional Masoretic Text
James Bible: A Four-fold Superiority. Dr. Donald Waite, that was used for 400 years and was the basis of the
Director of the Bible for Today ministries and President King James Bible. They changed it and used this
of the Dean Burgon Society, is a Baptist scholar who has Leningrad manuscript. So even the main text used by
written in the defense of the Received Text. He has the NKJV, NASV, and NIV in the Hebrew is different
earned a B.A. in classical Greek and Latin; a Th.M. with from that used for the King James Bible. The footnotes
in Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica suggest from 20,000 to
high honors in New Testament Greek Literature and 30,000 changes throughout the whole Old Testament.
Exegesis; an M.A. and Ph.D. in Speech; a Th.D. with The reason that most of the Hebrew departments, in
honors in Bible Exposition; and he holds both New colleges, universities, and seminaries who teach
Jersey and Pennsylvania teacher certificates in Greek Hebrew, use the Ben Asher Hebrew Text instead of the
and Language Arts. He taught Greek, Hebrew, Bible, Ben Chayyim Text is the same reason they use the
Speech, and English for more than 35 years in nine critical Greek text in the N.T. They believe the “oldest”
schools. He has produced more than 700 studies on the texts, either in Hebrew or in Greek, must always be the
Bible and other subjects. best. Not necessarily. These so-called “old” texts of the
The word ‘Masoretic’ comes from masor, a Hebrew N.T., such as ‘B’ (Vatican) and ‘Aleph’ (Sinai) and their
word meaning ‘traditional.’ It means to hand down some 43 allies, were corrupted, I believe, by heretics
from person to person. The Masoretes handed down within the first 100 years after the original N.T. books
this text from generation to generation, guarded it and were written. Therefore, even though these might be
kept it well. There were families of Hebrew scholars in the oldest, they were doctored by heretics and
Babylon, in Palestine, and in Tiberius. According to therefore are not the “best.” Other texts, even though
most students of these matters, these Masoretes they might be later, if they follow the words of the
safeguarded the consonantal text. [According to some original must therefore be the ones to use. Those texts
fundamentalist writers, the vowels were present in the which agree with the original documents are those
Hebrew language right from the start. All the which the KJV has followed.

382 Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity