The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-09-28
A RARE MANUSCRIPT.
Samaritan Pentateuch Found After
Many Centuries.
The Document Was Hidden In . syn-
agoguc in Syria.

a manuscrlpt OF mucn lnterest bO Ill
Biblical scholars and theologians Is now
I'm the possession of the Rev. w. Scott Wat
SON of Gutenberg, \. j. He has been for
many years n missionary connected with
the Presbyterian board of missions and an
enthusiastic collector of ancient manu-
scripts.
This particular manuscript Is an incom-
plcte text Of the Samaritan Pentateuch and
is apparently older by several centuries
than any other Hebrew text of which. the
A. ID. 656.
The Russian government for more than
25 years has possessed the most ancient
Hebrew and Samaritan Biblical documents
of known age In Christendom. The I'm
perial library Of St Petersburg contains the
earliest Hebrew manuscript Of the Bible
Of any kind of which the time Of writing
has been definitely ascertained-viz, the
Codex l,abylonicus of A. ID. 9l6 The inn
portance of the Russian manuscript Is ac.
knowledged by the translators OF the Eng
lish revised edition.
The Imperial library also contains copy
of the original text of the book OF Moses
and the rest of the Old Testament of AID.
1909, and fragment of the Samaritan
Pentateuch, written I'm A. ID. ll75. So far
these have been accorded the honor OF be-
ing the oldest manuscripts of the kind in
existence.
Mr.. Watson spent nearly three years as
missionary in Syria, and during that time
became the possessor OF several rare and
valuable texts, including Samaritan He
brew Pcntateuch of A ID. 1892. For the
last year he has been pursuing his studies
In photography In Germany. few months
ago he received letter from friend In
Nablus, Syria, informing him that a Pen
tateuch of A. H. 80 could be obtained
there.
He sent for IL at once, and Ii reached
him at Heidelberg, where he had satisfied
himself that il was genuine. He has but
recently returned to America with 1t.
The manuscript consists of Ala pages,
bound together, comprising the entire PEN
tateuch. One hundred and sixty pages are
of parchment, and these alone date back TO
600. The other pages were added a few
years ago by Jacob, the high priest at Ma
blus, and are on paper. Some few OF the
parchment sheets are fragmentary, and the
priest, In restoring the text, has patched
them with paper.
Most Of the pages, though, are in perfect
condition, and the color Of the parchment
bears testimony to their age The ink Is
black except in few pages, which were
evidently on the outside of one Of the sew
eral sections into which the parchment was
divided before the restoration and binding
were done
Mr.. Watson affirms that the date OF the
manuscript is contained in q very simple
cryptogram, and which in its arrangement
furnishes in his opinion, very convinc-
ing proof OF the genuine antiquity Of the
text. Or most of the pages the writing
runs clear across without break. The
cryptogram occurs In the first 10 pages of
Deuteronomy, on which the writing, al
though II reads straight across, Is divided
into two columns
The writing Is so spaced out that In the
narrow blank between the columns the
significant letters or words which form the
cryptogram stand out separated from the
body of the text, although forming part OF
it, as the lines are read across. The cryp
tographie characters do not occur in every
line, but at irregular intervals of two,
three, four or five lines. AS they are read
down the page they form a sentence, OF
which the following is a translation:
II, Jacob, the son of Israel, the son of
Joseph, the son of Mar, the priest In the
city of DAMASCUS, wrote the holy law for
the elder, and the stay and the pillar Jo-
seiih, the son Of the elder, and the stay
and the pillar Ishmael, of the children Of
Sagiuah, in the year 35 of the kingdom
of Ishmael. And praise be to God A. II.
80, June IL, 665, A. ID.
The pages upon which the cryptogram
is written are all of old parchment none
of them even patched with paper, and the
writing is very distinct.
There is but slight use Of the super
linear system of diacritical signs common
in later Samaritan documents There are
various punctuation marks, and, unless
something else takes its place, single dot
after every word, except in many cases,
those at the end of lines. The parchment
still shows the rulings a horizontal ono
for each line Of text and two vertical ones
at each side of the page, and within are
placed respectively the initial and final
letters of the several lines. None Of these
rulings is TIA Ink. They were made, as Is
usual in such manuscripts, by pressure
alone.
"This manuscript" Mr.. Watson says,
''was stored away probably for centuries,
with many others, In room In the temple
at Nablus. We know that il was there in
Journal OF the German Oriental Society Of
1864, says that 1t, with other treasures of
the Samaritan synagogue in Nablus, was
shown by the high priest Amram to two
Europeans who visited that city In 1860 as
IA reward for some special services they
had rendered him.
1.-THE genuineness Of tho manuscript is
attested, besides the evidence of the cryptic
grammntic date, by marginal note of the
high priest Amram, who states that he
presents the leaves TO the son of his broth.
er Jacob, who succeeded him In the priest
hood and Is the present priest. Amram
speaks of the leaves as having been written
A. ii. 30.
"The completion Of the text and the bind
ing is the work Of Jacob, and In prefa.
tory note he also tcstifles To the antiquity
of the manuscript and says that he de-
sires the credit and benefit TO be derived
from the work 60 descend upon his two
sons and such other issue as he might have
thereafter
Jacob also gives a minute and faithful