the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Tosiphta
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (תּוֹסַפְתָּא, the addition or supplement) is the title of a great halachic work, which originated in the time of the Mishna (q.v.). It is of great importance, because the Tosiphta (or Tosefta, as it is also called) contains the decisions of the Jewish teachers in their original form, while the Mishna gives them in an abbreviated manner. Thus many things are contained in the Tosiphta which. are not found in the Mishna. The Tosiphta is also richer in quotations from the Old Test. While we have noticed twelve variations in the "textus receptus" of the Mishna — we say "textus receptus," because Lowe's edition, from the Cambridge MS. (The Mishnah on which the Palestinian-Talmud Rests, edited from the unique MS. preserved in the University Library of Cambridge [Cambridge, 1883]) does not always agree with the common text and about ninety-five in the Gemara, we have collated two hundred and thirtythree variations from the Tosiphta, that is, more than double the number that the Talmud presents. The best edition is that of M. S. Zuckermandel, Tosefta nach den Wiener und Erfurter Handschriften herausgegeben (Pasewalk, 1880), and it is to this edition that our references are made. The following incomplete list of variations will at once show the importance of this work for the Old-Test. scholar.
Exodus 39:43, כל is omitted, page 521.
Leviticus 7:19, כל is omitted, page 169.
Leviticus 7:29, the reading is, "the blood of the peace offerings," for "the sacrifice of his peace offerings," page 47.
Leviticus 14:57, "and to teach," so Sept., Syr., page 618.
Leviticus 16:13, "upon the ark," instead of "upon the testimony," page 181.
Numbers 5:15, "he shall put no oil upon her nor put frankincense upon her," the reading is עליה for עליו p. 294. Numbers 11:22, the first ומצא להם omitted, page 305.
Deuteronomy 5:14, ואבד ָואמת omitted, page 355.
Deuteronomy 17:9, הכהנים הלוים ואל omitted, page 211.
Deuteronomy 24:19, בשד omitted, page 22.
Joshua 1:1, the last three words omitted, page 315.
Joshua 3:16, מאדם, so all versions, page 310; the Revised Version, "at Adam," with marginal note; another reading, "from Adam."
Joshua 4:3, the reading is, "hence from under the feet of the priests twelve," page 310.
Joshua 4:5, at the end, "and leave them in the place where the feet of the priests stood," page 310.
Joshua 8:33, and their officers, ושטריו, page 311; so also Targum (ed. Lagarde), and Mishna, Sota, chapter 7:§ 5; but Lowe's Cambridge edition reads as the present text of the Bible.
1 Kings 10:21, "for abundance" omitted, page 71.
2 Kings 18:4, "children" omitted, page 465.
Job 36:11, "they shall wax old in the good of their days." The Masoretic text reads יכלי, and the mark כן הוא, i.e., it is thus written, viz. with כ, indicates that there already existed a diversity of readings. Indeed, Michaelis (Hebr. Bible, in loco) adduces a number of MSS. which read יבלו, with beth.
Proverbs 9:1, "wise women build." The plural noun with a singular verb is strange; the Sept., Targ., and Syr. read חכמה .
Proverbs 20:27, " the lamp of God"= נר אלהים, page 15; so Talg., Talmud Pesachim, fol. 7, Colossians 2; fol. 8, Colossians 1, and ancient Midrashim.
Ezekiel 47:4, "and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the loins." Bar and Delitzsch, in their edition of Ezekiel, remark, in loco, "in tractatu Yoma 77b, et Tosefta, Succa 3, hic locus adducitur, tanquam si scriptum esset מֵי מתני כִּמִּיַם et revera in Reuchliniano prima mallus sic scripserat."
Ezekiel 47:8, "to Galilee to the Front Sea," הקדמונה אל הנ לי, page 196; the "Front Sea" is explained by זה ימה של סדום, i.e., that is the sea of Sodom. The reading is not, as in the Masoretic text, הִגְּלילה, but הַגָּלילה, so read Sept., Targ., Syriac. One codex to which Bar and Deilitzsch attach great importance, the codex Jamanensis, reads, as the two editors note, הגָּלילִה, cum gimel Kamezato.
Ezekiel 47:11, לא ירפי, page 196; so also Bar and Delitzsch, against the ולא of the textus receptus. Zechariah 8:19, "love truth," האמת, page 241; so also Talmud, Yebamoth, fol. 14, Colossians 2.
A few of these variations have already been noted by De' Rossi in his Variae Lectiones. A complete list is given by Pick in Stade's Zeischrift fur die altestamentliche Wissenschajft (Giessen, 1886). (B.P.)
These files are public domain.
McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Tosiphta'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/t/tosiphta.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
