Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Siphra
Subjects in this Topic:
(also compounded BE-SIPHRA, DE-SIPHRA), from the Heb. ñֶôֶø , “a book,” is an expression used by the Masorites to denote a certain book to which reference is made, and it is generally quoted with the prefix á and ãñôøà áñôøà ã , and is also abbreviated in áñ 8 áñô 8. Thus, on åëì in Gen_2:5, the Masora Parva remarks ä ø ô áñôøà , i.e. åáì occurs five times as the beginning of a verse in this book, viz. Genesis. Where books consist of two, as Samuel, Kings, Ezra, and Chronicles [Ezra and Nehemiah forming, according to the Jewish canon, but one book], they are only quoted as one. Thus, on äìåà in 1 Kings 2, the Masorah remarks é æ îìàé íáñôøà , i.e. “the word äìåà occurs seventeen times written plene in that book,” i.e. in 1 and 2 Kings. The same is the case with the twelve minor prophets, which are also regarded as one book. Thus, ëä àîø in Amo_3:12, the Masoretic note is ä 8 áèò íáñôøà , i.e. “the word ëä àîø occurs five times in that book [viz. in the twelve minor prophets] with the accent.” Hence the Masora Magna laid down the following rule áñôøà ôéøåùå ëì ð÷åè äàé ëììà áéãëִì äéëà ñôø úøé òùøÓ ãàîøéïáîñøä áúøé òùø , i.e. “take this rule into thine hand where in the Masorah the twelve minor prophets are spoken of as ‘in the book,' the whole book of the minor prophets is to be understood.”
Thus on, àøåúéë in Zec_1:2 the note is â îìàé íáñôøà , i.e. “the word, àáåúéë is written three times plene in the book,” viz. in the minor prophets; or, åà in Zec_14:18, áñôøà â ø ô , i.e. “ åà í occurs three times at the beginning of a verse in the book,” i.e. not in Zechariah alone) but also in all the other books constituting the minor prophets. It must, however, be observed that when the Masora Parva on the word , àåú in Lev_15:29 remarks è ì îìàé íáñôøà , i.e. “there are thirty-nine instances where ten is written plene in this book,” viz. in the Pentateuch, this is a mistake, since áñôøà is never used for the “Pentateuch,” but always áúåøä With the servile ã = ãñôøà we read on Gen_34:25, on the word çã îïôúçéïáàúðçúà ãñôøà áּèִֵç , i.e. “it is one of the words written with a Pattach and Athnach in that book.” To understand this remark, we must call attention to the laws of the vowel-points, viz. that when Athnach and Soph-pasuk come under Pattach and Segol, they convert the latter into a long Kamets. Some instances, however, are left in each book of the Bible which have not been thus converted and these are called ôúç ãñôøà = Pattach de-Siphra, i.e. “Pattach of the book;” and to this the Masoretic remark alludes. See Buxtorf, Tiberias seu Commentarius Massoreticus, p. 262 sq.; Levita, Massoreth Ha-Massoreth (ed. Ginsburg), p. 234 sq., 197; Frensdorff, Massora Magna, p. 9 sq. (B.P.)