The oldest Hebrew bibles is Masoretic in origin. Here's why. Hebrew today is not in anyway the written Hebrew of the ancient Israelites. Written Hebrew today is referred to as 'Neo-Hebrew' and is a made-up concocted language based on Arabic and other existing Canaanitish languages. The ancient Israelites spoke the language of Eber (paleo-Hebrew) and would not understand a word of neo-Hebrew spoken today. Look up "Hebrew" and even Wikipedia tells us that the written Hebrew of modern times (neo-Hebrew) is not paleo-Hebrew. Paleo-Hebrew is the original writings of the books of the Old Testament (OT). Unfortunately, paleo-Hebrew was lost to antiquity.
Modern written Hebrew is based on the work by the Masoretes in 900 AD. Who are the Masoretes? They are Pharisaic Jews (Pharisees), who recreated a new written 'Hebrew' from Arabic and other existing Canaanitish languages because the original Hebrew was lost in antiquity. The Masoretes used the Greek Septuagint Old Testament to create a new written 'Hebrew' that had vowel points.
The oldest Bible OT there is the Septuagint, which was transliterated from the original paleo-Hebrew in circa 285 BC. The original Hebrew written language was by that time becoming extinct.
According to tradition, it was Ptolemy Philadelphus, who purchased the freedom of Israelites in his territories, arranged for 6 scholars from each of the 12 tribes to translate the first 5 books of the Old Testament from paleo-Hebrew into Greek around 285 BC. By this time a practical knowledge of the Hebrew written language was all but lost.
The original written Hebrew consisted only of consonants and relied on an oral knowledge to decipher the consonant only words. Think of the 'cat' and remove the vowel. It becomes 'ct'. Without the vowel, the word 'ct' could be cat, cot, cut, cute, acute, coat, etc. An individual of knowledge would be required to orally teach others what the word 'ct' was. This is how the priestly class taught and passed on the writings of the bible. The paleo-Hebrew writings were designed for the bible deciphering. This is how the Hebrew written language was passed down generation after generation. It was central to understanding the bible.
With the written Hebrew language being greatly eclipsed and dominated by the very popular Greek language, which was the international language of the day, Hebrew was in danger of being lost. Ptolemy gathered together 72 scholars and in a short period of time they completed the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch is from Greek pentáteuchos and is the first five books of the Old Testament. The Latin name 'Septuagint' means 70, and was later applied to the translation in circa 1555 AD, for there was approximately 70 translators. This is also the reason why the abbreviation 'LXX' is used. After the first 5 books were finished, the translators set out to work on the rest of the OT. The exact date this was accomplished is not known, but it is certain the complete OT was finished within 100 years and it is likely it was completed within a few years by the same translators.
The oldest Hebrew bibles is Masoretic in origin. Here's why. Hebrew today is not in anyway the written Hebrew of the ancient Israelites. Written Hebrew today is referred to as 'Neo-Hebrew' and is a made-up concocted language based on Arabic and other existing Canaanitish languages. The ancient Israelites spoke the language of Eber (paleo-Hebrew) and would not understand a word of neo-Hebrew spoken today. Look up "Hebrew" and even Wikipedia tells us that the written Hebrew of modern times (neo-Hebrew) is not paleo-Hebrew. Paleo-Hebrew is the original writings of the books of the Old Testament (OT). Unfortunately, paleo-Hebrew was lost to antiquity.
Modern written Hebrew is based on the work by the Masoretes in 900 AD. Who are the Masoretes? They are Pharisaic Jews (Pharisees), who recreated a new written 'Hebrew' from Arabic and other existing Canaanitish languages because the original Hebrew was lost in antiquity. The Masoretes used the Greek Septuagint Old Testament to create a new written 'Hebrew' that had vowel points.
The oldest Bible OT there is the Septuagint, which was transliterated from the original paleo-Hebrew in circa 285 BC. The original Hebrew written language was by that time becoming extinct.
According to tradition, it was Ptolemy Philadelphus, who purchased the freedom of Israelites in his territories, arranged for 6 scholars from each of the 12 tribes to translate the first 5 books of the Old Testament from paleo-Hebrew into Greek around 285 BC. By this time a practical knowledge of the Hebrew written language was all but lost.
The original written Hebrew consisted only of consonants and relied on an oral knowledge to decipher the consonant only words. Think of the 'cat' and remove the vowel. It becomes 'ct'. Without the vowel, the word 'ct' could be cat, cot, cut, cute, acute, coat, etc. An individual of knowledge would be required to orally teach others what the word 'ct' was. This is how the priestly class taught and passed on the writings of the bible. The paleo-Hebrew writings were designed for the bible deciphering. This is how the Hebrew written language was passed down generation after generation. It was central to understanding the bible.
With the written Hebrew language being greatly eclipsed and dominated by the very popular Greek language, which was the international language of the day, Hebrew was in danger of being lost. Ptolemy gathered together 72 scholars and in a short period of time they completed the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch is from Greek pentáteuchos and is the first five books of the Old Testament. The Latin name 'Septuagint' means 70, and was later applied to the translation in circa 1555 AD, for there was approximately 70 translators. This is also the reason why the abbreviation 'LXX' is used. After the first 5 books were finished, the translators set out to work on the rest of the OT. The exact date this was accomplished is not known, but it is certain the complete OT was finished within 100 years and it is likely it was completed within a few years by the same translators.