Codex Cairensis
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The Codex Cairensis (also: Codex Prophetarum Cairensis, Cairo Codex of the Prophets) is the oldest Hebrew manuscript containing the complete text of the Old Testament Nevi'im (prophets).
According to its colophon, it was written complete with punctuation by Moses ben Asher in Tiberias "at the end of the year 827 after the destruction of the second temple" (= 895 CE). It was given as a present to the Karaite community in Jerusalem, and taken by the Crusaders in 1099. Later, it came into the possession of the Karaite community in Cairo, where it is still kept today.
The codex contains the books which belong to the prophets according to Jewish terminology, i.e. in addition to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the book of the Minor Prophets (but not Daniel), the so-called former or earlier prophets Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings.
Although the codex was written by a member of the Ben Asher family according to its colophon, L. Lipschütz and others observed that, within the masoretic tradition, Codex Cairensis seems to be closer to Ben Naphtali than to Ben Asher.
While some scholars consider this to be an argument against its authenticity, Moshe Goshen-Gottstein assumes that Ben Naphtali stuck more faithfully to the system of Moses ben Asher than the latter's own son Aaron ben Moses ben Asher who corrected the Aleppo Codex and added its punctuation.
More recently, further doubts on its authenticity have been cast by radio-carbon dating and other scientific techniques.
Umberto Cassuto relied heavily on this codex when producing his edition of the Masoretic text.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Ernst Würthwein, Der Text des Alten Testaments, Stuttgart 1974 (4th edition), ISBN 3-438-06006-X
- The Hebrew University Bible Project: Ezekiel, ed. S. Talmon
