Question

How did Jewish Scribes check the work done when copies were made of the Old Testament?

Answer 1

There are a number of steps taken by the Jewish scribes when they made copies of the Old Testament. They have solidified this process by following each step to ensure the that the books in the Old Testament are preserved.

Within 30 days after completing the copy, a review must be made. If corrections are required in as many as 3 pages, the copying process would have to start from scratch. The entire manuscript itself that had these many corrections had to be redone.

Answer 2

This is how the careful system of copying and transmitting the Old Testament books in Hebrew occurred. The chief scribes used a numerical system to check on the work of the younger scribes. When a copy of the Book of Psalms was made, after months of painstaking writing, a chief scribe would count every word, then every letter. He knew how many letters and words were in the original book. If the copy did not contain the correct number of words and letters, it was rejected and destroyed. The chief scribe also knew the middle letter and middle word of each of the Books of Psalms, and if these did not match the original, the copy was destroyed. In this careful way, the Hebrew writings containing the Psalter were transmitted down through the centuries. Hope this helps you out!