It's to embarrassing quickly change it (Torah corruption)
The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. (Genesis 18:22)
Rabbi confirm alteration made on the story of Abraham, this shows how easy it was for scribes to alter and change texts easily, Notice commentators are ok with this alteration, also shockingly we are told there are 18 accounts of scribal changes!!!
The story goes like this when Abraham was visited by the three angels and after they left the Lord Yahweh was standing in front of Abraham, this was to embarrassing as how can God stand in front of Abraham it should be vice versa, so as you guessed it they changed the text... Let's read this evidence from commentary :
------------------------------
Commentary rashis
and Abraham was still standing, etc.: But is it not so that he did not go to stand before Him, but the Holy One, blessed be He, came to him and said to him (above verse 20): “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, etc.,” and it should have been written here: “and the Lord was still standing beside Abraham?” But this is a scribal emendation (Gen. Rabbah 49:7).
The Tikkun Soferim
The peshat reading suggested above goes further than just clearing up some awkwardness in the narrative; it also confirms an ancient tradition regarding the reading of the text (Gen. Rab. 49:7):
“[The angels] went to Sodom and Abraham remained standing before the Lord” – Rabbi Simon says: “This is a correction of the scribes (tikkun soferim), for the presence of God was waiting for Abraham.”[10]
According to Rabbi Simon’s statment, also cited by Rashi (ad loc.), verse 22 originally read “the Lord remained standing before Abraham.”
Rabbi Simon’s statement is part of a tradition about “scribal corrections” that exist in the biblical text. According to this tradition, there are up to eighteen biblical verses that underwent scribal correction (tikunay soferim). These verses were “corrected” to remove any possible anthropomorphisms or disrespect towards God.[11] The potential disrespect in the “uncorrected” reading of verse 22 is that it appears that God is subservient to Abraham; therefore, our source tells us that the verse was modified by the scribes to read as it does now: Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
In the context of the peshat reading, the “uncorrected” verse makes perfect sense. God was addressed directly in verse 3 and resumes His speech in verses 13-14. The 2 angels head off to Sodom in verse 16. In verses 17-22 God contemplates and then begins discussing plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah with Abraham, while God was still standing in Abraham’s presence. The “uncorrected” statement of God left standing before Abraham probably highlighted the solemnity of what was to follow (Abraham’s petition to save Sodom; Gen. 18:23-33.) As such, it no longer seems to be merely a repetition of verse 16. In addition, the “uncorrected” text continues with the notion of God’s presence remaining before Abraham found throughout the narrative.
Conclusion
The reason the peshat reading was overlooked for the traditional reading seems clear – a desire to avoid anthropomorphic imagery about God which would be considered problematic by later authorities. Nevertheless, a literary analysis focused on peshat offers a straightforward way to read a familiar narrative and sheds new light on an ancient tradition regarding the history of the text.
[10] “וילכו סדומה ואברהם עודנו עומד לפני ה'” – א”ר סימון תיקון סופרים הוא זה שהשכינה היתה ממתנת לאברהם.
[11] For a full discussion, see my A Journey Through Torah, Urim, 2012, pp. 46-54 and p. 66, note 10 and references therein.
-------------
What a shame truly this is a blow on those who believe the bible is free from corruption again one has to go back to Jeremiah
How can you say we are wise and have the Torah when the scribes have tampered with it (Jeremiah 8:8)
No comments:
Post a Comment