Hebrew Manuscripts : Samaritan Pentateuch

Hebrew Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>The Samaritan Pentateuch contains the text of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, written in the consonantal Samaritan script, a development from the Paleo-Hebrew script. Add.1846 is believed to be the earliest extant manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch and dates from the early 12th century CE. Epigraphs and scholia in Samaritan Hebrew/Aramaic and Arabic follow the end of each biblical book. They are in various hands. The copying of the book itself is the product of five different hands.<br /><br /> Some notable features of the manuscript are:<br /><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(113);return false;'>f. 53r</a>: An epigraph at the end of the book of Genesis states that the codex was owned (and restored) by Mešalma b. Abi Beraḵata, c. 1275, whose daughter sold the manuscript in the 14th c.<br /><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(213);return false;'>f. 103r</a>: An epigraph at the end of the book of Exodus records the purchase of the codex by Miṯpaṣia b. Meṯuḥia from his brother for 25 shekels, in the year 5752 of the Exodus, 544 of the rule of Ishmael = 1149-50 CE.<br /><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(384);return false;'>f. 188v</a>: A marginal scholium at the end of the book of Numbers suggests unconvincingly that this manuscript was saved from the fire at the time of the King of Babylon, in the presence of Zerubbabel the Jew (hence, Codex Zurbil).<br /><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(282);return false;'>f. 137v</a>: An epigraph at the end of the book of Leviticus explains how this manuscript was saved from a fire that broke out in a manuscript store-room (a Samaritan Genizah?) in 1201 CE.<br /><a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(301);return false;'>f. 147r</a>: There is marked grease stain on f. 147r, where worshippers have kissed the Priestly Blessing, Numbers 6:24–26. </p>