In another thread I made a comment that early texts of the Tanakh were editted to reflect an updated spelling. Some individuals may not understand what I meant. The following is a brief explanation.
The Hebrew alef-bet contains 22 symbols that represent the 23 letters (Shin and sin are represented by the same symbol.) in the Hebrew language. Originally each letter represented a consonantal sound. This produced a degree of ambiguity in the reading of the text. Begining in the 9th century BCE three letters (he, waw, yod) began to be used to represent word final long vowels. Later the waw and yod were used to represent certain medial long vowels. The name used for these vowel letters by the grammarians is matres lectiones. The function as matres was in addition to their function as consonants.
The useage of matres for word final long vowels was relatively complete with a few notable exceptions (2ms perfect ending, 2ms pronomial suffix), but it was by no means uniform or complete for medial vowels. In addition there were shifts in usage. Originally a final he could represent an "a", "e", or "o". Later waw was used for a final "o" and yod for a final "e". All these factors combine to produce a variety of spellings. For example, the name Shiloh is spelled three different ways: shin-lamed-he where the "i" is unrepresented and the "o" is represented by he; shin-lamed-waw where the "i" is unrepresented and the "o" is represented by waw; and shin-yod-lamed-waw where the yod respresents "i" and the waw represents "o".
Although a significant portion of the Tanakh (Torah and the former prophets through the period of the United Kingdom) was written before the 9th century BCE no extant portion of the text is written without the use of matres. This means that scribes made an update to the spelling of the early texts at a later time.
Finally, the system of matres did not represent either short vowels or the medial "a" nor was the system uniformly applied, thus there was still a degree of ambiguity. Therefore, in this era the Masoretes added an additional systems of vowels on top of the system of matres. The system of pointing introduced by the Masoretes was sufficiently complete that it eliminated the ambiguity in meaning. The two systems are independent.
S
The Hebrew alef-bet contains 22 symbols that represent the 23 letters (Shin and sin are represented by the same symbol.) in the Hebrew language. Originally each letter represented a consonantal sound. This produced a degree of ambiguity in the reading of the text. Begining in the 9th century BCE three letters (he, waw, yod) began to be used to represent word final long vowels. Later the waw and yod were used to represent certain medial long vowels. The name used for these vowel letters by the grammarians is matres lectiones. The function as matres was in addition to their function as consonants.
The useage of matres for word final long vowels was relatively complete with a few notable exceptions (2ms perfect ending, 2ms pronomial suffix), but it was by no means uniform or complete for medial vowels. In addition there were shifts in usage. Originally a final he could represent an "a", "e", or "o". Later waw was used for a final "o" and yod for a final "e". All these factors combine to produce a variety of spellings. For example, the name Shiloh is spelled three different ways: shin-lamed-he where the "i" is unrepresented and the "o" is represented by he; shin-lamed-waw where the "i" is unrepresented and the "o" is represented by waw; and shin-yod-lamed-waw where the yod respresents "i" and the waw represents "o".
Although a significant portion of the Tanakh (Torah and the former prophets through the period of the United Kingdom) was written before the 9th century BCE no extant portion of the text is written without the use of matres. This means that scribes made an update to the spelling of the early texts at a later time.
Finally, the system of matres did not represent either short vowels or the medial "a" nor was the system uniformly applied, thus there was still a degree of ambiguity. Therefore, in this era the Masoretes added an additional systems of vowels on top of the system of matres. The system of pointing introduced by the Masoretes was sufficiently complete that it eliminated the ambiguity in meaning. The two systems are independent.
S
