synagogue by oral tradition till the time of Ezra, who invented the points and accents to fix the meaning. Ellas Levita, a German Jew of the last generation, and deeply learned in Hebrew grammar, has rejected this opinion, and contended that the invention of points took place in much more recent times. He ascribes the invention to the Jews of Tiberias and to the year 500 A.D., and alleges that the invention was not perfected till about the year 1040 A.D., by two famous Maserites, Ben-Ascher and Ben-Naphtali."
Certain scholars have, indeed, contended—evidently in the interests of "Holy Writ," rather than in deference to the weight of evidence—that the points are very ancient; but the great consensus of learned opinion inclines towards the accepting of the contention of Elias Levita. Dr. Prideaux observes[1] that "the sacred Books made use of among the Jews in their synagogues have ever been and still are without the vowel points, which could not have happened had they been placed there by Ezra, and had, consequently, been of the same authority with the letters. For, had they been so, they would certainly have been preserved in the synagogues with the same care as the rest of the text." Dr. Prideaux goes on to say that no mention is made of the points in either the Mishna or Gemara, and that "neither do we find the least hint of them in Philo-Judæus or Josephus, who are the oldest writers of the Jews, or in any of the ancient Christian writers for several hundred years after Christ. And, although among them Origen and Jerome were well skilled in the Hebrew language, yet in none of their writings do they speak the least of them. Origen flourished in the third, and Jerome in the fifth, century; and the latter, having lived a long while in Judæa, and there more especially applied himself to the study of the Hebrew learning, and much conversed with the Jewish rabbis for his improvement herein, it is not likely that he could have missed making some mention of them through all his voluminous works, if they had been either in being among the Jews in his time, or in any credit or authority with them, and that especially since, in
- ↑ "Connection of Sacred and Profane History."
