Seventh, from the consequence of absurdities.
Seventh, from the consequence of absurdities.
§ 342. We prove our opinion: (VII) From the consequence of absurdities. If the vowel points are not as old as the Hebrew codex but were first added several centuries later by rabbinic scholars, the consequence would be: (1) That for several hundred years, the essence of Holy Scripture had not been complete because it lacked an essential part. (2) That Scripture borrows from humans a greater certainty and clarity than it has of itself and of its own nature. (3) That Scripture, as regards the individual words, was not given by God through the prophets because the words can by no means stand without the vowel points; thus not all Scripture is God-breathed. (4) That the true and genuine reading of Scripture depends on the invention of the rabbinic scholars, that is, on the slippery judgment of humans, and that our faith rests on human tradition. (5) That Scripture has been exposed to the twisting of anyone, for if the points are a human invention, it will be licit to dream up a different meaning after they are removed. (6) That one can draw no definite conclusion from Scripture, since the meaning is immediately changed with the substitution of one or another pointing. (7) That the elders of the Jews must be accused either of ignorance or jealousy—of the latter if they knew about the points and did not communicate them; of the former if they did not know them yet God did communicate to them the entire written Law. (8) That no one is obliged to believe Scripture. You see, either the notations of the vowels, invented in later centuries, everywhere agree with the natural sound of the words or they differ. If they agree, the vowels existed at the same time as the written letters. If they differ, we are not bound by the sounds they denote; rather, we will easily suspect that there was a different sound for the words and a different meaning for the texts. Because all these consequences are absurd and inconsistent, then the antecedent from which such things follow is not to be posited.