to the eighth century, and there are a few of the ninth and tenth, and several of the eleventh.  Bishop Walton supposes that after the Masoretic text was fully settled, the Jewish rulers condemned, as profane and illegitimate, all the older manuscripts not conformed to this:  whence, after a few ages, the rejected copies mostly perished.  The existing Hebrew manuscripts give the Masoretic text with but little variation from each other.

Earnest effort has been made to find a reliable ante-Masoretic text, but to no purpose.  The search in China has thus far been fruitless.  When Dr. Buchanan in 1806 brought from India a synagogue-roll which he found among the Jews of Malabar, high expectations were raised.  But it is now conceded to be a Masoretic roll, probably of European origin.  Respecting the manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch, see below, No. 9.

(A synagogue-roll has recently been discovered in the Crimea of the date answering to A.D. 489.  See Alexander’s Kitto, vol. 3, pp. 1172-5.)

8.  In respect to form, Hebrew manuscripts fall into two great divisions, public and private.  The public manuscripts consist of synagogue-rolls carefully written out on parchment, as already described, without vowel-points or divisions of verses.  The Law is written on a single roll; the sections from the prophets (Haphtaroth, ch. 12. 6) and the Five Rolls—­Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther (ch. 12. 4)—­each on separate rolls.  The private manuscripts are written with leaves in book form—­folio, quarto, octavo, and duodecimo; mostly on parchment, but some of the later on paper.  The poetical passages are generally arranged in hemistichs; the rest is in columns which vary according to the size of the page.  The text and points were always written separately; the former with a heavier, the latter with a lighter pen, and generally with different ink.  The square or Assyrian character is employed as a rule, but a few are written in the rabbinic character.  The Chaldee paraphrase (less frequently some other version) may be added.  The margin contains more or less of the Masorah; sometimes prayers, psalms, rabbinical commentaries, etc.

9.  There is also a Samaritan Pentateuch; that is, a Hebrew Pentateuch written in the ancient Samaritan characters, and first brought to light in 1616, respecting the origin of which very different opinions are held.  Some suppose that the Samaritans received it as an inheritance from the ten tribes; others that it was introduced at the time of the founding of the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim; others that it was brought by the Israelitish priest sent to instruct the Samaritans in the knowledge of God, 2 Kings 17:27, 28.  It is agreed among biblical scholars that its text has been subjected to many alterations which greatly impair its critical authority.  These, however, are not sufficient to account for its remarkable agreement with the Septuagint version against the Masoretic text, in numerous readings, some of them of importance.  The explanation of this phenomenon must be the agreement of the original Samaritan codex with the manuscripts from which the Alexandrine version was executed.  Probably both were of Egyptian origin.  See Alexander’s Kitto, art.  Samaritan Pentateuch.