§ Debates · Ch. 2 · Becoming the People of the Book
Why did Jews fix a single version of the biblical text?
2 positions · no single answer
Position A · held by A hypothesis of the authors
Other versions were lost with the Temple
The Temple may have been a repository for the varying forms of the biblical manuscripts, and its fall in 70 CE may have wiped them out, leaving a single form of the Hebrew text.
Rests on: p. 54
Reads the same page as : the same source, different readings.
Where the debate comes up
Statements tied to the debate
- By the 100s CE Jewish religious authorities had chosen the textual version that would become the Masoretic Bible, and most variants among Hebrew manuscripts disappeared. One reason could be that other forms were gone (the Temple may have kept manuscripts, and its fall in 70 CE could have destroyed them); another could be that, with Jews split into sects and a new Christian movement reading the Bible its own way, leaders wished to limit the disputes that variant texts invited.