SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH. This re cension of the first five books of the O. T. was mentioned or alluded to by early writers, by Cyril of Alexandria, Eusebius, Jerome, Diodorus, Pro copius of Gaza, and others. Having been after wards unnoticed, its existence began to be doubted, till Pietro della Valle, in 1616, obtained a complete copy from the Samaritans in Damascus. De Sancy, who was then French ambassador at Constanti nople, sent it to the library of the Oratoire in Paris, in 1623. It was first described by J. Morin in his preface to the Septuagint, .and then printed in the Paris Polyglott. From this Polyglott Walton inserted it, with several improvements, in his Lon don one. Meantime Ussher had procured six ad ditional copies from the East, five of which were sent to various libraries in England, and the sixth to Le Dieu. In the time of Kennicott, the number had increased to sixteen, which were collated for his Hebrew Bible. Another is in the library of Gotha, and another in the library of the count of Paris.
These MSS. are written partly on parchment, etc., partly on paper made of linen or cotton. Their sizes are folio, quarto, octavo, and duo decimo. They have no vowels, accents, or dia critic points. The vvords are divided, not merely by a space but by an intervening point. A period is distinguished by one point above another (:) ; though one is also used, and three are put at other times ( . :). Two points placed lengthwise ( ) indicate a continuation of the narrative without delay, after a brief respiration ; corresponding to a colon. These signs, however, are arbitrary and variable ; nor are they identical in all MSS. Sec tions or paragraphs are marked by = : or --( : = or or : or :; the most frequent being = :, and next to it 1 : But occasionally a number of these are put together. The scribes often put a small line over a letter to mark an un usual signification, or some doubt, or the absence of a letter. Sometimes a double line is placed above a word the meaning of which is unknown. Besides these marks, others occur to express interrogation, exclamation, irony, indignation, entreaty, and other emotions ; but they are not found constantly in the same MS., and are either varied or omitted in different ones. The Masoretic division into sedarim and parshioth is not found, but another one intC; shorter sections which the Samaritans call katzin. Of these there are 064 in the whole
law ; whereas the Jews have r54 sedarim, and 54 parshioth. At the end of each book is appended the number of its sections. The Samaritans also count the words like the Jews ; and mark the middle of the law accordingly at Lev. vii. 15. The matres lectionis are more numerous than in the He brew Pentateuch ; and a frequent characteristic mistake is the interchange of gutturals.
The age of these MSS. is as difficult of ascertain ment as that of Hebrew ones, because the dates in them cannot always be relied upon ; and in their absence internal criteria are uncertain. The oldest known to Kennicott was supposed to belong to the 8th century (No. 334). If an ancient roll could be procured, more value would attach to its text ; but none has yet come into the hands of Christians. The following is a list of the MSS. known to scholars : 1. The oldest MS. of which we have any know ledge is the sacred roll of the Samaritans, which is shown to believers on certain festivals in their synagogue at Nabliis. It consists of twenty-one I skins of unequal size, most containing six, but some only five columns. The columns are 13 inches deep and 71 inches wide. Each contains from 70 to 72 lines, and the entire roll has Ix) columns. Owing to various causes, it is now in a bad state of preservation, so that only about half the contents are legible. A tarich or notice in the roll itself states that it was made by Abischa, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, on mount Gerizim, in the r3th year after the Israelites had got possession of the land of Canaan. Dr. Rosen is inclined to believe that the roll in question was prepared for the temple which was built upon Gerizim. This, however, may be doubted ; though its high antiquity is unquestion able. It seems to have been a primitive and autho ritative codex, from which others were copied. A kind of fac-simile of it is given by Rosen, who was indebted to Kraus for the various particulars re garding it which he has communicated to the public (see the Zeitschrift de,- deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, Band xviii. 3 Heft, p. 582, et seq.) Mr. Mills also saw it, and noted a few particulars respecting it, which do not all agree with those given by Kraus.