The Codex Cairensis (also: ''Codex Prophetarum Cairensis'', ''Cairo Codex of the Prophets'') is a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

containing the complete text of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Nevi'im Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the '' Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim ( ...

(Prophets). It has traditionally been described as "the oldest dated Hebrew Codex of the Bible which has come down to us", but modern research seems to indicate an 11th-century date rather than the 895 CE date written into its colophon. It contains the books of the Former Prophets (

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

Judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

, Samuel, and Kings) and Latter Prophets (

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewi ...

, Ezekiel and the book of the

Twelve Minor Prophets The Minor Prophets or Twelve Prophets ( he, שנים עשר, ''Shneim Asar''; arc, תרי עשר, ''Trei Asar'', "Twelve") ( grc, δωδεκαπρόφητον, "the Twelve Prophets"), occasionally Book of the Twelve, is a collection of propheti ...

). It comprises 575 pages including 13

carpet page A carpet page is a full page in an illuminated manuscript containing intricate, non-figurative, patterned designs.Moss, 57 They are a characteristic feature of Insular manuscripts, and typically placed at the beginning of a Gospel Book. Carpet p ...

History

According to its colophon, it was written complete with

punctuation Punctuation (or sometimes interpunction) is the use of spacing, conventional signs (called punctuation marks), and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading of written text, whether read silently or aloud. An ...

Moses ben Asher Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...

"at the end of the year 827 after the

destruction of the second temple The siege of Jerusalem of 70 CE was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), in which the Roman army led by future emperor Titus besieged Jerusalem, the center of Jewish rebel resistance in the Roman province of Ju ...

" (this corresponds to the year 895 CE, during the reign of

Al-Mu'tadid Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Ṭalḥa al-Muwaffaq ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد بن طلحة الموفق), 853/4 or 860/1 – 5 April 902, better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaḍid bi-llāh ( ar, المعتضد بالله, link=no, ...

). It was given as a present to the Karaite community in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, and taken as booty by the Crusaders in 1099. Later it was redeemed and came into the possession of the Karaite community in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

. When the Karaite Jews left Egypt, they deposited the codex in 1983 at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where it is kept in a secure room on the floor below the Hebrew Manuscript collection.column by Jerusalem Post columnist and editor J. Zel Luri

/ref> The Codex was brought back to Jerusalem by a committee of six persons.

Scientific evaluation

Although according to its colophon the codex was written by a member of the Ben Asher family,

Lazar Lipschütz Lazar may refer to: * Lazar (name), any of various persons with this name * Lazar BVT, Serbian mine resistant, ambush-protected, armoured vehicle * Lazar 2, Serbian armored vehicle * Lazar 3, Serbian armored van * Lazăr, a tributary of the river ...

and others observed that, within the

masoretic The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, Codex Cairensis seems to be closer to

ben Naphtali Ben Naphtali ( Hebrew: אַבּוּ עִמְרָן מֹשֶׁה בֶּן דָּוִד בֶּן נַפְתָּלִי; Tiberian Hebrew: ''ʾAbbū ʿĪmrān, Mōše ben Dāwīḏ ben Nap̄tālī'') was a rabbi and Masorete who flourished around 890- ...

than to

Aaron ben Moses ben Asher Aaron ben Moses ben Asher (Hebrew: ; Tiberian Hebrew: ''ʾAhărōn ben Mōše ben ʾĀšēr''; 10th century, died c.960) was a Jewish scribe who lived in Tiberias in northern Israel and refined the Tiberian system of writing vowel sounds in Hebr ...

. While some scholars consider this to be an argument against its authenticity,

Moshe Goshen-Gottstein Moshe Goshen-Gottstein (Hebrew: משה גושן-גוטשטיין) (6 September 1925 – 14 September 1991) was a German-born professor of Semitic linguistics and biblical philology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and director of the lex ...

assumed that ben Naphtali stuck more faithfully to the system of Moses ben Asher than the latter's own son, Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, who corrected the Aleppo Codex and added its punctuation. More recently, further doubts on its authenticity have been cast by radiocarbon dating and other scientific techniques. It was stated, after scientific investigation, that the scribe must have been a different person from the vocaliser, and the manuscript must be dated to the 11th century, not the 9th.The Hebrew University Bible Project: Ezekiel, p.xli, note 116: "It was recently proven that the scribe and the ''naqdan'' (vocaliser) of the Cairo Prophets codex cannot be identified as Moshe Ben-Asher, and cannot be dated to 895 but rather to the 11th century CE. Cf. M. Beit-Arié et al., ''Codices Hebraicis litteris exarati quo tempore scripti fuerint exhibentes'' (Monumenta palaeographica medii aevi. Series Hebraica; Paris/Jerusalem: Brepols, 1997) 25-29; D. Lyons, ''The Cumulative Masora: Text, Form and Transmission'' (Beer-Sheva: Ben-Gurion University Press, 1999 7 (Hebrew).

Umberto Cassuto Umberto Cassuto, also known as Moshe David Cassuto (16 September 1883 – 19 December 1951), was an Italian historian, a rabbi, and a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and Ugaritic texts, Ugaritic literature, in the University of Florence, then at the ...

relied heavily on this codex when producing his edition of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

, which means that in the Prophets his edition is closer to the ben Naphtali tradition than in the Torah or Writings. Between 1979 and 1992 an '' editio princeps'' of the codex (text and masorahs) was published by a team of Spanish scholars. See F. Pérez Castro et alia, ''El Códice de Profetas de El Cairo, Textos y Estudios "Cardenal Cisneros"'', CSIC, 8 vols., Madrid 1979-92.

Notes

Sources

* Ernst Würthwein, Der Text des Alten Testaments, Stuttgart 1974 (4th edition), * The Hebrew University Bible Project: Ezekiel, ed. Shemaryahu Talmon; pub. The Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 2004; * Israel Yeivin, trans. E. J. Revell: Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah 1980, *{{Cite book, first= Paul E. , last=Kahle , author-link= Paul E. Kahle, title= The Cairo Geniza , edition = 2nd , year = 1959 , publisher = Basil Blackwell , place = Oxford ASIN: B0024YG33S

External links

Facsimile edition
Jerusalem 1971 9th-century biblical manuscripts Hebrew Bible manuscripts Jewish Egyptian history Karaite Judaism

History

Scientific evaluation

See also

Notes

Sources

External links