Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894/Writing
VI.—Writing.
The Roman capitals, and the Greek capitals gradually becoming uncial in the second and third centuries a.d., we find on the extant inscriptions; and the character used by the Jews was derived from the Aramaic, and was just changing into the "square" Hebrew of later times. The Phœnicians and Samaritans alone preserved, in later forms, the alphabet which had been used by Israel before the Captivity. The changes in the letters will be best understood by the attached comparative table, which shows the difference between the alphabet of Jerusalem 700 b. c. and that of the Jerusalem tombs about 100 A.D. The Samaritan Alphabet, even in the sixth century a.d., remained nearest to the old Hebrew, and the Phœnician continued to preserve the earlier forms about 200 B.C. The Palmyrene of (he third century A.D. differs little from the Hebrew of Jerusalem a century earlier, which is the Ashuri of the Talmud. The Mishnah contains many notes as to writing, and as to books, some of which may be mentioned in order of occurrence.
On the Sabbath the scribe might not go out with his pen (Sabbath, i, 3) or write two letters of the alphabet (vii, 2). Writing in the dust, and mistakes in writing, such as led to errors in the lxx translation of the Scriptures, are noticed in the same tract (Sabbath, xii, 5). Bound books are also noticed (Pesakhim, iii, 1). The power of reading, or of expounding the Law, was sometimes not attained even by a High Priest (Yoma, i, 6); and Josephus speaks of the ignorance of one of the later holders of this dignity; but the Scriptures were read in the synagogues, all but certain chapters (Taanith, iv, 2; Megillah, iii, 10). The writing of Greek was allowed, though not approved by the stricter Rabbis (Megillah, i, 8), and according to Buxtorff notes in the Scriptures might only be written in Greek. Various ornamental inks, red and gold, were condemned (Megillah, ii, 2; Sabbath, i, 5; Kelim, xv, 6): the materials were tablets (probably of wax), papyrus, and skin; and gum was sometimes used with the ink (Sotah, ii, 4). The Scriptures were orally rendered in Aramaic (Megillah, iii, 6), Hebrew not being generally understood; and regular liturgies appear to have existed for synagogue use. Writing materials were carried in a case, probably of metal and including an inkstand, as is still usual in the East (Kelim, ii, 4). All books but that of Ezra were impure (Kelim, xv, 6) and foreign books were condemned, those who read them being classed with sorcerers as worthy of death (Sanhedrin, xi, 1). The Law was written, as it still is, on parchment, with broad margins, and mounted on a roller. It must be written in black ink, and this, with gum or vitriol black, rendered water unfit for purifications (Yadaim, i, 3; iii, 4). "All the Scriptures render the hands unclean" (Yadaim, iii, 5), including Solomon's Song and, according to some Rabbis, Ecclesiastes. So did the Aramaic passages in the text of Daniel and Ezra, if written in the sacred character; but Targums in the older character did not require that the hands should be washed after reading (Yadaim, iv, 4). This latter passage is important, not only as showing the difference of the two languages, but also as showing the existence of two scripts, one called Hebrew (עברית), the other Ashuri (אשורית) which is variously rendered "upright," "sacred," or "Assyrian." The old alphabet and the Aramaic language were profane: the Hebrew and the new alphabet, which came with Ezra from Babylon, were sacred.