Hebrew Vowel Points, Cantillation Marks & Accents Found Before A.D. 500

Early Judaic writings prove that the Hebrew pointing preceded the Medieval Age

It is often claimed that the Masoretic Text was invented around the year 1000 A.D., and that Masoretic scholars invented Hebrew vowel points. Some more moderate claims say that the Masoretes began their work in 500 A.D., but “1000 years later” (than Christ) is a typical rhetorical refrain we hear.

Yet we have evidence to disprove this claim. I cite this evidence not to promote the falsities of Judaism — far from it! — but rather to show that the claim that the vowel points were invented during the Medieval times is anachronistic.

The Jerusalem Talmud is thought to have been compiled from around 350-450 A.D. And yet we read in Megilah 4.1:

From where the translation? Rebbi Ze`ira in the name of Rav Ḥananel: They read in the Scroll of the Torah, that is the reading. Explained, that is the translation. Making sense, these are the accents. And understood the reading, this is the Masora, and some say, these are the decisions, and some say, these are the starts of verses.

The tractate Nedarim — written in the 3rd century A.D. as part of the Mishnah and also the Talmud — reads in 37a:

"Granted, according to the one who says that the payment is for teaching punctuation of the text with cantillation notes, this is the reason that he shall not teach him Bible, as teaching punctuation is a component of teaching the biblical text."

The learned commentator Johannes Buxtorf writes in his work on the Masora that, in Nedarim 37a:

"The doctors dispute whether it be lawful to teach the Law for a reward? Some affirm, others deny, others distinguish. [...] Another, Rabbi Jochanan said, It is also lawful to take reward for teaching the pauses of the accents. The gloss of Rabbi Solomon, for teaching the punctation and the accents. But how could they teach these, if indeed no punctation was then extant?"

Here is an excerpt from an the Athenian Society, in an article about the antiquity of the Hebrew vowel points, in which a Bible containing vowel points from the days of Rabbi Hillel.

It is said in Juchasin (fol. 132. Col. 1): “In the year 956, or 984, there was a great persecution in Lyon, and then they brought out from thence the twenty-four books called the Bible, which Rabbi Hillel wrote, and by them they corrected all their books; and I have seen a part of them that were sold in Africa, and in my time they had been written nine hundred years. And Kimchi says in his grammar that the Pentateuch of it was at Toletola in Spain in his time.”

The essay goes on to answer an objection, that here it is not said that the Bible was pointed:

“But it is said Kimchi speaks of it in his grammar. And Kimchi, speaking of it, says it is pointed; as in Miklol (fol. 93. Col. 1). He says that Rabbi Jacob, the son of Eleazer, writes, that in the book of Hillel, which is in Toledolid, the word tideru תִּדְּרוּ, in Deuteronomy 12.11 is found without a dagesh lene in daleth, that is, daleth raphated. So on וְדָרְשׁוּ vedareshu in Psalm 109:10, he says that the word vedareshu is read with broad kamets, like [וְשָמְרוּ] veshameru, and so we have received the reading of it: and in the book of Hillel, which is kept at Toledolid [I am not sure if this a reference to Toledo or Valladolid or another place in Spain – Joseph], the Masoretes make this note upon it, namely: this is nowhere else found with katuph kamets; and so Nagid writes that he found it likewise in the masora so written with katuph kamets.

So in his Book of Roots: Sepher Sherashim, on the radix [root] שום about the word תְּשׂוֹמֶת: tesomet: “There mem is with segol, contrary to rule, and is as if it were with pathack: and in the book of Hillel, which is in Toledolid, it is with pathack.”

So Mercer on Proverbs 24:14, on the word דְּעֶה: dech, he says: “In a manuscript it is written with tsere; but in the margin it is noted, that in Hillel’s copy it is written with segol.” The same says Rabbi Moses Bar Nachman, in his commentary on the book of Yetsir, or Yezirah.

Capellus objects that it may be that Hillel’s copy was not so ancient as is pretended. But gives no reason why we should suspect its antiquity, which is generally owned by the Jews, as Juchasin and Kimchi (see Buxtorf Tractatus de Punctorum Vocalium et Accentuum 2.7). So that the points were before A.D. 500, being found in Hillel’s copy, A.D. 340 and mentioned in the Bahir, Zohar, Mishnah and Talmuds.”

While modern scholars date the kabbalistic book Bahir to the 13th century, Judaism traditionally dated it to the 1st century. It claims:

“The points in the letters of the law of Moses, are like unto the breath of life in the body of a man.”

It is precisely because of this language about the vowel points, that many will now seek to date the Bahir as having been written centuries later!

We also have evidence from the Zohar, traditionally attributed to Shimon Bar Yochai in the 2nd century A.D., and written in ancient Aramaic:

“Not one letter is able to signify one thing or another without the points. All the letters without the points, are like the body without the soul; when the points come, then the body stands in its station.”

Matt Hedges writes about pre-500 Hebrew punctuation on his blog:

The following passage of the Babylonian Talmud (and the flow of argument contained in it) would only make sense if the vowel points existed at this time in some shape or form:

“For Joab and all Israel remained there until he had cut off every male in Edom” (1 Kings 11:16). When Joab came before David, he said to him, “How come you did it this way [killing only the males]?” He said to him, “Because it is written, ‘You shall blot out the males [זָכַר] of Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:19).’ He said to him, “What is written is not ‘males,’ [זָכַר] but ‘remembrance.’ [זֵכֶר - the reading of the MT]” He said to him, “But I was taught to read, ‘male [זָכַר].’” Joab then went to his teacher. He said to him, “How did you teach me to recite the verse?” He said to him, “Male [זָכַר].” Joab pulled out his sword and proposed to kill him. The teacher said to him, “What are you doing?” He said to him, “Because it is written, ‘Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord negligently’ (Jer 48:10).” He said to him, “Let it be enough for you that I am cursed.” He said to him, “It also says, ‘Cursed be he who keeps his sword back from blood’ (Jeremiah 48:10).” There are those who say that he killed him, there are those who say he did not kill him.” (Bava Batra, 21a-b)

Here, the discussion is about a variation in the pronunciation of zkr in Deuteronomy 25:19. We have the reading זָכַר, and the other reading, which is זֵכֶר. Notice that the only thing that separates these two words is their difference in vowel pointing. If it weren’t for that, they would be the same. Thus, at the time of the Babylonian Talmud, the Hebrew vowel points were a part of the traditional OT text.

Now, some modernists might argue that since the Babylonian Talmud was completed sometime within the general time frame given by the “Tiberian Masorete Hypothesis” (i.e. the vowel points were invented by the Tiberian Masoretic scribal school), then they might dismiss the evidence from this form of the Talmud. However, the Jerusalem Talmud presents evidence in favor of this hypothesis:

“Rab said, one should read not ‘exempt’ [פטוך] but ‘permitted.’ [פטוך] . . . said R. Yohanan, ‘One should read here not “exempt,” [פטוך] but “permitted [פטוך].” (Tractate Shabbat, 11:2)

“Rabbi Zeira in the name of Rav Ḥananel: They read in the Scroll of the Torah Neh. 8:8., that is the reading. Explained, that is the translation…Making sense, these are the accents” (Tractate Megillah, 4:1)

The Babylonian Talmud also speaks of other grammatical terminology which further give evidence to the existence of the vowel pointings at this time period:

“Rav Ḥisda raises a dilemma: This verse, how is it written, i.e., how should it be understood? Should the following verse be read as two separate halves, with the first part consisting of: “And he sent the young men of the children of Israel, and they sacrificed burnt-offerings” (Exodus 24:5), which were sheep; and the second part consisting of the rest of the verse: “And they sacrificed peace-offerings of bulls to the Lord,” i.e., these peace-offerings alone were bulls? Or perhaps both of these were bulls, as the term: “Bulls,” refers both to the burnt-offerings and the peace-offerings. The Gemara asks: What is the practical difference between the two readings? Mar Zutra said: The practical difference is with regard to the punctuation of the cantillation notes,” (Tractate Chagigah, 6b.13)

“Berakhot 62a mentions the use of the right hand to indicate the סימני תורה, presumably referring to the practice known as ‘cheironomy,’ still in use in some Jewish communities, in which a leader uses his hands to indicate to the congregation the accentuation of the text being chanted” (Israel Yelvin, Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah, pg. 163)

Even many academics today (known for usually believing that the points were invented by the Tiberian scribes) have acknowledged the role of the “accents” and “vowels” as being something passed down through tradition to the Masoretes from the Taananite period (ca 100 BC - AD 200). Bruce Waltke says ““The accent signs in the MT also preserve a tradition. The Talmud mentions תעמים פּסקי ‘the stops of the ta’amim which were learned as a normal part of learning the text.” (An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, sec. 1.6.4)

Hedges also observes on the Mishnah:

We would be amiss here if we did not also discuss the Mishnah, which is accepted by many to have been compiled and completed by Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi around the 3rd century AD. This is before the time of when the Tiberian Masoretes would have flourished (AD 500-700), therefore the Mishnah is of great importance to us. Note the following passage containing a dispute between two rabbis regarding a reading in Song of Solomon:

“Rabbi Yehoshua diverted his attention to another matter and said to him: Yishmael, how do you read the following verse in the Song of Songs (1:2)? Do you read it as: For Your love [דודיך] is better than wine, or as: For your love [דודיך] is better than wine? The first version, which is in the masculine form, would be a reference to God, whereas the second version, in the feminine, would be a reference to the Jewish people. Rabbi Yishmael said to him that it should be read in the feminine: For your love [דודיך] is better than wine.” (Avodah Zarah 2:5)

The fact that there was difference of opinion regarding the proper reading of a word that had all the same consonants (dalet-vav-dalet-yod-khaf) clearly implies that the vowel points existed at the time of the Mishnah (3rd century AD and slightly prior as well), since that would be the only thing that could distinguish these two words grammatically. Some might object that this passage in the Mishnah is merely in reference to the oral pronunciation of דודיך rather than the written vowel pointings and script. However, Rabbi Yehoshua asked Rabbi Ishmael “how do you read the following verse…..”, not how Ishmael pronounced it. Thus, this is another testimony to the vowel pointings as antique and early.

With all this evidence assembled, we can confidently say that the Hebrew vowel points existed within Jewish literature before the proposed timeframe of the Tiberian Masoretes in A.D. 500-1000.