Authenticity of the text

Types of sources

It is important to understand that no "original" of the scriptures exists today, or is known to exist / available. The only source available for now is a very wide array of copies that have been obtained from all over. Various terms are used to describe these copies/sources and it is important to understand what they mean exactly, since they sound very fancy which may be misleading, especially when considering the holy/Godly authority being attached to such text.

Manuscripts

Manuscripts basically means text that are written by hand. Remember up to the invention of the printing press, which is really very recent, there was no other method of compiling written text. The printing press was invented in about 1440 in Germany (thus only odd 600 years ago). Remember also that just because it was invented in 1440 does not mean that it was instantly available everywhere. The process of printed text is a developmental process in itself and certainly took a long time to be available to the broader public. Furthermore, not only the physical material is required to avail the information contained in text, but the reader also need to be literate to read and understand, which is the next challenge.

Hence, when something is referred to a "manuscripts", that really just means it is a manually written document.

Codex

This is a word originating from the greek and essentially refers to the historical ancestor of the modern book. It is a bound collection of individual sheets of material which can be written on, just like a paper book today. The major difference to a modern book is that modern book are basically always made out of paper, while the ancient version could be vellum, papyrus, wax tables, parchment (animal skins), paper or other materials. The word codex therefore refers to the method or material on which the information is documented and not to the nature of the information documented. Hence, there could be a "codex" for essentially anything, be it business account, family ancestry, laws or regulation or religious texts.

Scroll

Similarly to the word "codex" this word also refers to the method or material on which documentation is recorded and not the actual information which is recorded. A scroll would essentially be a roll of material such as papyrus, parchment or paper, on which one could write.

Masoretic Text

What is the Masoretic Text?

The word "Masoretic Text" literally means "Text of the Tradition". it is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic test of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism.

This text waas primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th century CE. The

The oldest known complete copy to exist from this text, is referred to as the Leningrad Codex.

The Masoretic text is the basis for most protestant translations of the old testament, such as the King James Version. Some Christian denominations however use the Septuagint.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masoretic_Text

What is the "Mas'sora"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_diacritics

The Masoretic Text includes what is called the "mas'sora", which is the vocalization and accentuation, known as diacritic ("diacritic" being similar to accent marks on letters in English) markings. These markings are called "Niqqud" (which means dotting or pointing). These diacritical signs are used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Essentially thus, there this text includes three basic "types" of Niqqud's:

1. Niqqud to indicate vowels
2. geresh and gershayim, two diacritics that are not considered a part of niqqud, each of which has several functions (e.g. to denote Hebrew numerals)
3. cantillation, which are also "accents" but which are used exclusively to indicate how Biblical passages should be chanted and may possess a punctuating function.
4. The collection of marginal notes on the text of scriptures

Summary of the Masoretic Text

The fact that the original text does not include any of the "mas'sora", creates a big problem, because using the mas'sora one literally adds not only to the text itself, but also to the understanding. Many sources say that the mas'sora assisted in alleviating confusion, since it narrows down the possibilities of various interpretation to only a specific way of interpretation. We need to ask ourselves why the scriptures are written in the way they are though. Remember they are sealed books even though everyone can read the letters. Daniel was specifically instructed to seal the book (Dan12:4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase). Does it thus make sense that the Rabbie's had a difficult time to interpret and understand the scripture? It certainly does. Does it also make sense that the Rabbie's were not the ones to whom the knowledge kept in the scriptures were to be availed? Yes it does, since the Rabbies and the Jews are not the sons of Jacob, but of Esau. They are not the ones for whom this information is kept. Their system of interpretation, should thus really be approached with a very high dose of critical analyses.

Septuagint

The Septuagint is a greek translation of the old Testament Hebrew Scriptures. This translation took place in approximately 200-150BC

Other Codex

Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus - these are the two oldest complete or nearly complete copies of the New Testament in it's original Greek language.