10-02-2008, 01:38 AM
Generally speaking, I like Dave???s story. I can see a strain, personally, as one who is a close reader myself. But I also see the nuts and bolts in place. Even the most careful person nowadays makes innumerable mistakes, and from what I???ve come to understand, the ancients were far superior to modern-day man in intelligence, as well as memory (contra evolution <!-- s:biggrin: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/biggrin.gif" alt=":biggrin:" title="Big Grin" /><!-- s:biggrin: -->). Nevertheless, we see all kinds of mistakes in the most ancient manuscripts, so I see validation right there in Dave???s hypothesis.
For me, the nut or bolt that doesn???t quite sit right (yet), is the actual acceptance of the Peshitta Mss. which came to be accepted as Apostolic by the CoE, in this own remark of Dave???s:
Otherwise, like I said, I generally like Dave???s story. I personally would???ve chosen the second Alep on his chart for interpolation rather than the first as he did, because the second one (to me) looks even closer to Tau, just with a messy blob on the top right-hand roof. I could be convinced from handwriting variability, even though a missing ???He??? is pushing the envelope a wee bit ??????..
But his own point about the Massorah tradition has me hanging out to dry. I do not know enough about Peshitta/o Massorah(s) to be able to judge properly, so I???m gonna need some help. It is hard for me to imagine, knowing about the Hebrew Masoretic statistical tradition, that an early copy of the Peshitta by which the current ones were copied from, could have been passed off by the selfsame scrupulous scribes that Dave himself appraises for accuracy and integrity. In their counting out of the letters, from forward-to-back, and from back-to-forward, surely 12 verses??? worth of missing letters would???ve not gone unnoticed! But I know that Dave is also not unfamiliar with ALL things Peshitta/o-wise, including the Massorah. So, I???m in need of rescue here for my understanding, by the specialists! Otherwise, Dave???s story looks good to me.
Many thanks again,
Akh Ryan
For me, the nut or bolt that doesn???t quite sit right (yet), is the actual acceptance of the Peshitta Mss. which came to be accepted as Apostolic by the CoE, in this own remark of Dave???s:
Quote:They [Aramaean Christian scribes] also kept a record of important statistics for each ms. so as to compare it with its original and keep copying errors to an absolute minimum.
Otherwise, like I said, I generally like Dave???s story. I personally would???ve chosen the second Alep on his chart for interpolation rather than the first as he did, because the second one (to me) looks even closer to Tau, just with a messy blob on the top right-hand roof. I could be convinced from handwriting variability, even though a missing ???He??? is pushing the envelope a wee bit ??????..
But his own point about the Massorah tradition has me hanging out to dry. I do not know enough about Peshitta/o Massorah(s) to be able to judge properly, so I???m gonna need some help. It is hard for me to imagine, knowing about the Hebrew Masoretic statistical tradition, that an early copy of the Peshitta by which the current ones were copied from, could have been passed off by the selfsame scrupulous scribes that Dave himself appraises for accuracy and integrity. In their counting out of the letters, from forward-to-back, and from back-to-forward, surely 12 verses??? worth of missing letters would???ve not gone unnoticed! But I know that Dave is also not unfamiliar with ALL things Peshitta/o-wise, including the Massorah. So, I???m in need of rescue here for my understanding, by the specialists! Otherwise, Dave???s story looks good to me.
Many thanks again,
Akh Ryan