The New International Encyclopædia/Samaritan Pentateuch

SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH. A recensionof the commonly received Hebrew text of thePentateuch, used by the Samaritans, and theironly canonical book of the Old Testament. Noneof the manuscripts that have reached Europe isolder than the tenth century. The variantswhich it presents from the Masoretic text aremostly of a trifling nature, representing chieflydiflerent fashions of spelling. There are,however, more important differences, such as theoccurrence of Gerizim. (See Ebal and Gerizim.)In the figures of Genesis v. and xi. are likewisediscrepancies between the Masoretic and theSamaritan recension, which appear to be due tovarying traditions. There is also one essentialalteration respecting the Pentateuchal ordinances.Exodus xiii. 6, where the Samaritan Pentateuchhas “six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread,”instead of “seven.” The Samaritan Pentateuchwas printed in the Paris and London polyglots,and an edition in square Hebrew characters waspublished by Blayney (Oxford, 1790), but acritical edition is still a desideratum. In theabsence of such an edition it is difficult to domore than to speculate on the age and origin ofthe work, but there is no reason to suppose thatit is earlier than the fourth century B.C., and itmay even belong to the third. The translationof the Samaritan Pentateuch into the Samaritanidiom above referred to (the Samaritan Targum)is ascribed by the Samaritans to their highpriest Nathaniel, who died twenty years beforeChrist, but it can hardly be older than the fourthcentury A.D. It follows the Hebrew originalvery closely. A critical edition of it waspublished by Petermann and Vollers (Berlin, 1872-91).Consult: Gesenius, De Pentateuchi SamaritaniOrigine, Indole, et Auctoritate (Halle,1815); Nutt, Fragments of a SamaritanPentateuch (London, 1874).