THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL Moshe H. Goshen-Gottstein Shemaryahu ...

Introduction
paraphrastic quotation intended to provide a basis for a midrash or a certain interpretation.
As is well known, at times parts of biblical verses are telescoped for the purpose of a midrashic
homily, or are combined in order to give a full expression to a certain midrashic
notion. On the other hand, evidence of variant readings was expunged from manuscripts of
rabbinic literature because scribes tended to view variants as lapsus calami and to correct
them to agree with the masoretic text. 87
62. Accordingly, a biblical quotation in a midrashic homily, whether identical to the MT
or at variation with it, cannot be construed offhand as a witness to the text of the Hebrew
Bible. Concrete textual deviation is evidenced when the homily and the interpretation testify
to a variant, and not the lemma, that is, when revealed in what is termed a ‘hermeutical
reading’ (herm). 88 The testimony of variant biblical quotations is strengthened when it corresponds
to similar readings in other, unrelated talmudic passages or reflects a reading in
an ancient version or a masoretic notation. Midrashic homilies of the al tiqre or ketib type
can also evidence a variant reading, particularly when a similar reading is found in additional
witnesses. 89
63. The apparatus contains variant readings from tannaitic and amoraic sources, classical
midrash works and the various tanhuma . midrashim. It became evident that significant variants
are concentrated mainly in the tannaitic literature. Only a few readings are found in
amoraic literature, relative to the scope of the compositions. In later midrashic works they
are practically absent. Therefore, later sources were not checked, since the homilies they
contain are usually secondary or revisions of earlier ones. Biblical quotations in the
hekhalot literature, whose textual character cannot be ascertained, have not been included.
64. The text of biblical quotations was always checked against manuscripts and critical
editions (except for additions in which the quotations were harmonized to the MT). In regard
to some sources we had recourse to material assembled by scholars or research projects
(as acknowledged below). For other sources, use was made of manuscript editions
prepared for the Historical Dictionary of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, published
on CD-ROM. 90
87 See, for example, the responsa of R. Hai Gaon concerning the text of 2 Chr 14:5 quoted in the
Talmud in disagreement with MT: “But the verse [is not written] thus, like the errors that creep in in
the course of study, not to mention students in villages, who were not expert in Bible” (B. M. Lewin,
Otzar ha-Gaonim: Thesaurus of the Gaonic Responsa and Commentaries Following the Order of the
Talmudic Tractates, vol. 5: Tractate Megila, Taanith and Rosh-Hashana [Jerusalem: Hebrew
University Press, 1932] 7) (Hebrew).
88 E. g., 34:9, iycwn – the interpretation of the verse is in the Babylonian Talmud (b. Yoma 71b; Ta5anit
17b et al.), suggests that their biblical text read the word i pzxyl after iycwn.
89 Cf. S. Talmon, “Aspects of the Textual Transmission of the Bible in the Light of Qumran
Manuscripts,” Textus 4 (1964) 95–132; M. Zipor, Tradition and Transmission: Studies in Ancient
Biblical Translation and Interpretation (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2001) 166–210 (Hebrew).
90 Ma6agarim: Second Century B.C.E. – First Half of the Eleventh Century C.E. (The Hebrew Language
Historical Dictionary Project, Ancient Literature Section; Jerusalem: Academy of the Hebrew
Language, 2001). A complete list of the manuscripts collated on the CD-ROM is given in the disk’s
documentation.
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