Page 237 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

CHAPTER 16 SPECIAL LETTERS IN THE BIBLE

CHAPTER 16

Special Letters in the Bible

16.1 Introduction

The Hebrew Bible carries with it a special coded language (we do not mean the

Bible Code ). This code, given to Moses in Sinai (according to Jewish tradition) , is
not explicitly explained, alluded to, or hinted at anywhere in the Bible. Therefore,
it has been the subject of Jewish scholarly discourse and debate throughout
many centuries, with most revered Jewish interpreters of the Bible occasionally
attempting one interpretation or another.
This special code manifests itself in three modes:

• Some letters in the written text are either smaller or larger than usual.
A list of all places in the Old Testament where such incidents occur is
displayed in Table 16.1 (for large letters) and in Table 16.2 (for small
letters).
• Some words have missing or extra letters that should or should not
(respectively) have been there by standard Hebrew grammatical rules.
• Some words are differently read than written. Cases where the written is
different from the read is marked by the read word given in the margin
of the page, opposite the line that contains the written word; Jewish
tradition enumerates ten places where a word not written should be
read (sometimes because the written word is not considered “clean” lan-
guage), and eight places where a written word should not be read. The
Talmud mentions seven and five such cases, respectively, and determines

that these cases are “given to Moses from Sinai ” (Mazar 1976, entry “Kri

and Ktiv”).

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