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The Levite Scribes the Sopherim
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According to the Talmud, the Levite scribes known as soferim, or rabbis whose primary occupation was to interpret the Torah to the people of Israel, their organization beginning with Ezra. Their work is traditionally respected as a viable contribution to the Tanakh. The produced works of the Levy soferim were called Massorah Magna or Massorah Parva. The soferim were the authorized revisers of the Tanakh text, and the Masorites were the accepted custodians of the completed text. Tikkune Soferim Early rabbinic sources, from around 200 CE, mention several passages of Scripture in which the conclusion is inevitable that the ancient reading must have differed from that of the present text. The explanation of this phenomenon is given in the expression ("Scripture has used euphemistic language," i.e. to avoid anthropomorphism and anthropopathy). Rabbi Simon ben Pazzi (third century) calls these readings "emendations of the Scribes" (tikkune Soferim; Midrash Genesis Rabbah xlix. 7), assuming that the Scribes actually made the changes. This view was adopted by the later Midrash and by the majority of Masoretes. In Masoretic works these changes are ascribed to Ezra; to Ezra and Nehemiah; to Ezra and the Soferim; or to Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah, Haggai, and Baruch. All these ascriptions mean one and the same thing: that the changes were assumed to have been made by the Men of the Great Synagogue. The term tikkun Soferim has been understood by different scholars in various ways. Some regard it as a correction of Biblical language authorized by the Soferim for homiletical purposes. Others take it to mean a mental change made by the original writers or redactors of Scripture; i.e. the latter shrank from putting in writing a thought which some of the readers might expect them to express. The assumed emendations are of four general types: * Removal of unseemly expressions used in reference to God; e.g., the substitution of ("to bless") for ("to curse") in certain passages. * Safeguarding of the Tetragrammaton; e.g. substitution of "Elohim" for "YHVH" in some passages. * Removal of application of the names of false gods to YHVH; e.g. the change of the name "Ishbaal" to "Ishbosheth." * Safeguarding the unity of divine worship at Jerusalem. Murders committed by the Levites According to the New Testament, Jesus was in many disputes with the Levite scribes referring more than once to their rise to power through the murder of the prophets (instigated by Ezra's great-grandfather, Ezra 7:1, the Levite Hilikiah, and enforced by King Josiah II Chr. 34:21). "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because...you say, 'If we were in the days of our forefathers, we would not be sharers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore you are bearing witness against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets." Matt. 23: 29-31, see also Hebrews 7:11-14 and Acts 7:52. According to the Tanakh the murders of the Judean prophets (along with the murder of many idolatrous priests) were committed by the Levites in their rise to power and takeover of the priesthood; this was ostensibly because the Judean prophets burned incense to the host of heaven and because they refused to attend an animal sacrifice observing Passover, held by the Levites. “Nevertheless these priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.” II Kings 23:5-9 This verse indicates that the Judean priests were observing a Passover ceremony of their own, making them a sect which followed Mosaic law. "And he (King Josiah at the instigation of Hilikiah and the Levite Priesthood, which had been newly authorized by him) slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned the men's bones upon them...And the king commanded all the people, saying, 'Keep the Passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant' (including the interpretation of animal sacrifice as a required practice, and of which the Israelites had to be commanded by the Levites, to partake, under penalty of death. See Neh. 8:2-11&17; Ezra 7:26)...that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. Surely there was not one holden such a Passover from the days of the Judges." II Kings 23:20-22 That the murdered prophets burned incense to the host of heaven may have proved a motive for obliterating instances in the Tanakh that appeared to refer to the Elohim as a council of gods or hosts of heaven serving under YHWH . For example, along with all the changes of the compound term YHWH aleim to Adonai (Lord) God, they replaced the words "to your gods" (alelik*) with "to your tents." 1 Kings 12:16, II Chr. 10:16 and II Sam. 20:1. Since it is known that the Levite sofrim changed the compound name YHWH Elohim (plural) to Adonai God (singular) it is not impossible that they may have changed most of the accompanying verbs. Jeremiah wrote concerning the scribes in his own time "Trust not in words of falsehood (because) they say; the temple of YHWH, the temple of YHWH, the temple of YHWH...How can you say; We are wise for we have the law of YHWH, when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?" (Jer. 7:4 & 8:8) This verse was altered to read "vain pen" instead of "pen of falsehood" as it still stands in Hebrew. Although the Levites themselves interpreted many Bible verses to assert their claim to the priesthood and many still ascribe to that interpretation, Moses, during his lifetime, had refused the priesthood to the Levites "And has He brought you near Him, and all your brothers the Levi with you And You Seek The Priesthood Also?" Num. 16:1-32 See also "NOT he shall be for priests, the Levites, all of tribes of Levi portion and allotment with Israel, fire offerings of YHWH and allotment of him they shall eat." Deu. 18:1. For a Hebrew interlinear rendering of this verse see; Citations and notes See Also
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