SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH 293 SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH
ously. Another codex, now in the Ambrosian Library at jNIilan, was brought to Italy in KVil. Peiresc pro- cured two more, one of which was placed in the Koyal Library of Paris, and one in the Barberini at Kome. Thus the number of MSS. in Europe grailually grew to sixteen. During the present century another, but very jragmentary, copy was acquired by the Gotha Library. A copy of the entire (V) Pentateuch, with Targum (? Samaritan version), in parallel columns (4to), on parch- ment, was brought from Nablus by IMr. Grove in ISGl, for the count of Paris, in whose library it is. Single portions of the Samaritan Pentateuch, in a more or less defective state, are now of no rare occurrence in Europe. Of late the St. Petersburg Library has secured fragments of about three hundred Pentateuch MSS.
IL Description. — Respecting the external condition of these MSS., it may be observed that their sizes vary from I'imo to folio, and that no scroll, such as the Jews and the Samaritans use in their synagogues, is to be found among them. The letters, which are of a size corresponding to that of the book, exhibit none of those varieties of shape so frequent in the Masoretic text ; such as majuscules, minuscules, suspended, inverted let- ters, etc. Their material is vellum or cotton-paper; the ink used is black in all cases save in the oldest scroll of the Samaritans at Nablus, the letters of which are in purple. There are neither vowels, accents, nor diacritical points. The individual Avords are separated from each other by a dot. Greater or smaller divisions of the text are marked by two dots placed one above the other, and by an asterisk. A small line above a consonant indicates a peculiar meaning of the word, an unusual form, a passive, and the like ; it is, in fact, a contrivance to bespeak at- tention. For example, tl3n and nstl, li' and H^, "iS'l and ^nn, bx and bx, bDX'i and ^DX^, N^i^^ and XT PI', "d and b, the suffixes at the end of a word, the n without a dagesh, etc., are thus pointed out to the reader (comp. Kirchheim, p. 34).
The whole Pentateuch is divided into nine hundred and sixty-four paragraphs, or Kazzin, the termination of which is indicated by these figures, =, .*. ,or <. At the end of each book the number of its divisions is stated thus :
(250) ii cinxia -piip : ■jit:xin -iSD ntn (200) ciirx^ " i3':jn " "
(130) Di^i^'iii nxTS " "injiban " (218) nil . 1 " "^s'lmn " "
(16C) 101 . p " la-i-ann " "
The Samaritan Pentateuch is halved in Lev. vii, 15 (viii, 8, in Hebrew text),* where the words " Middle of the Torah" (Xnin-iXI X.-bs3) are found. At the end of each MS. the year of the copying, the name of the scribe, and also that of the proprietor are usually stated. Yet their dates are not always trustworthy when given, and verj' difficult to be conjectured when entirely omitted, since the Samaritan letters afford no internal evidence of the period in which they were written. To none of the MSS., however, which have as yet reached Europe can be assigned a higher date than the 10th Christian century. The scroll used in Nablus bears — so the Samaritans pretend— the follow- ing inscription :
"I, Abishn, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aa- ron the priest— upon them be the srace of Jehovah— in his honor have I written this Holy Lsiw at the entrance of the Tabernacle of Testimony on the Mount Gerizim, even Beth El, in the thirteenth year of the takius; ))ossessi()n of
* Mr. Deutsch, who copied here Kiichheim (p. 36), has overlooked the latt.er's note, viz. that Lev. viii, S contains the two words which, according to the Masorites, consti- tute the middle of all tlie words in the Pentateneh. As it stands now it would lead to the supposition that Lev. vii, 15 of the Samaritan Pentateuch corresponds to viii, 8 in the Hebrew text.
the land of Canaan, and all its boundaries around it, by the children of Israel. I praise Jehovah."
(Letter of Meshalmah ben-Ab Sechuah, Cod. 19,791, Add. MSS. Brit. Mus. in Heidenheira, i, 88. Comp. Epist. Sam.iSichemilurum ad Jobuiii Ludolphum [CiziB, 1G88] ; A ntiq. Eccl. Orient, p. 123 ; Huntingtoni Epist. p. 49, 5(5 ; Eichhorn, Repertorium f. bihl. und mon/. Lit. vol. ix, etc.) But no European has fully succeeded in finding it in this scroll, however great the pains bestowed upon the search (comp. Eichhorn, Einleit. ii, 599) ; and even if it had been found, it would not have deserved the slightest credence. It would appear, however (see archdeacon Tattam's notice in the Parthenon, No. 4, May '24, 18(')-2), that Mr. Levj'sohn, who was attached to the Russian staff in Jerusalem, has found the inscription in question "going through the middle of the body of the text of the Decalogue, and extending through three columns." Considering that the Samaritans themselves told Hun- tington "that tliis inscription had been in their scroll once, but must have been erased by some wicked hand" (comp. Eichhorn, ibid.), this startling piece of informa- tion must be received with extreme caution. Neverthe- less, Lieut. Contler speaks as if he had actually seen the inscription on the venerable MS. {Te7it Work in Pales- tine, i, 50).