The Unobtrusive Nature of Vowel Points Themselves are the Internal Evidence They Were Never Part of the Original Text

Chris McCann

When we write a word in English we use letters. Vowels and consonants flow together to form the word. The word "vowels" for example, has the "v" consonant followed by the "o" vowel followed by the "w" consonant, etc.

But in the Hebrew Bible only the consonants flow together. Here's a Hebrew word: "לָ֣מָּה" (it means why?). The three letters of this word are lamed, mem, and heh. The vowel points are beneath each letter (in this word the vowels look like tiny capital T's).

Why weren't the vowels inserted in between the consonants? The answer is because the Jews dared not to move the Holy Word of God (the consonants) and add the vowel points as though they were letters. They are not letters. The vowel points were meant only as an assist to pronounce the word properly. So, they were added by the Masorites in an unobtrusive manner as possible. Just little markings at the bottom of the letters which formed the actual words.

The unobtrusive nature of the vowel points is internal evidence that they were never part of the text.

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