My Axioms and My Methods

I just wanted to provide you with an outline of my axioms and methods that I use in my work. I think it should help you better understand the approach I use to come to conclusions that are being presented on this blog. This should also be a good summary of methods for those who never studied the Pentateuch critically. 

My general axioms are as follows:

1. God exists. 
2. There is only ONE God. (I reject a concept of trinity or similar concepts)
3. There is only ONE TRUE Law of God - the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible). I do not accept all other books of the Tanakh as divine. I do not accept so-called Jewish "oral law" (aka Talmud) or Christian New Testament as divine. I consider only the Pentateuch the only true word of God that is eternal and can never be(or will be) changed.
4. For my Jewish readers, I do believe in the Oral Law, but I absolutely believe that it must be literaly ORAL (transmitted oraly), because it is very hard to argue with (or against) dead people.
5. I consider all three available witnesses (MT, SP and DSS) as a valid sources of the Pentateuch, even though I lean toward the Samaritan Pentateuch more as it seems to be more harmonized and provides important details about the Tabernacle not found in the traditional Masoretic Text.
6. I also consider other secondary sources of the Pentateuch, such as Targums (translations). For example Septuagint provides a very interesting insight into which text (MT or SP) was used to compile  traditional texts and translation as we have them today.
7. I assume that the original language of the Pentateuch consisted only of 22 letter, not 27 as in Masoretic tradition (see this post), and I also reject the Masoretic system of vowels. 
8. I reject all traditional ways of the division of the text (aka perek symbols) and punctuation marks in translations, as they sometimes corrupt the meaning of the original text.
9. Even though I use traditional Masoretic pronunciation of the words of the Pentateuch, I do reject them as there are many different ones and it is hard to say which one is the original one. 
10. I use modern critical analysis methods to analyze the text, and I absolutely reject the rabbinical methods of analysis of the text (aka Talmudic logic). 
11. I read the text primarily in its original languages, however I do also rely on the translations of the Pentateuch in different languages to help me to extract the meaning of the text.
12. I use modern technology (aka computer analysis) to analyse the text. I use software such as ISA, BibleWorks and Accordance to help extract the meaning of the text. I also use custom designed SQL databases to process and analyse the text of the Pentateuch.
13. Pentateuch takes precedence over any and all the works that were created or will be created. This goes for everything presented on this blog as well. If it will be ever be found that my work contradicts the Pentateuch, my work shall be disregarded in favor of the Pentateuch.

Now to my methods of analyzing the text of the Pentateuch; the methods that were used in all posts on this blog. I usually use comparative critical analysis of the text, with cross-referencing of the verses.

Here is the example of the Pentateuch-only analysis. I use only first five books (the Pentateuch) to analyze the text. I intentionally disregard the rest of the books of the Tanakh. 

In Genesis 1:5 the word "בקר" (bqr) is used, which is usually translated as "morning". This translation also appears in the verses of Gen 1:8, Gen 1:13, Gen 1:19, e.t.c. However, the following word also appears in Gen 18:7, Ex 29:1, Lev 4:3, e.t.c, where it is translated as "calf" or a "bullock". In Numbers 7:3, Num 7:17, Num  7:29, Num 7:88, e.t.c this same word is translated as "oxen". The Masoretic tradition tries to solve this problem via the use of the vowels (and vowel marks), which in this case would read "בֹקֶר" (voker) in Gen 1:8, "בָּקָר" (bakar) in Gen 18:7, and "בְּקַר" (bekar) in Numbers 7:88, even though the consonants are exactly the same, and each of the verses requires the same meaning of this word. However, in the original text given to us by God there was no vowels, thus the question arises about the exact meaning of the word "בקר" and the original meaning all the verses listed above. In particular we must find the mutual meaning between the traditional translations of the word "בקר" as "morning" and "calf" and "oxen". This produces two possibilities: either the text in some of the verses has a defective spelling, or we must find the mutual meaning for the word ""בקר" for all of the aforementioned verses. For example, we can translate "בקר" (bqr) as "young" or "rising" which will more or less satisfy all of the verses listed. However in this case, I do not think there is a sutable equivalent in English language for this particular word. But in either case, as you can see, my method allows to highlight these hidden problems within the text of the Pentateuch. 

Here is the example of the mixed analysis (Pentateuch + rest of the Tanakh). Keep in mind that in this case you have to keep in mind that the rest of the Tanakh has a different composition and literary structure than the Pentateuch. However, the benefits of this method is that it allows sometimes to extract the meaning of the word, which would not be otherwise possible with the Pentateuch-only method above.

In the story of the "Molten Calf" (Exodus 32), the Hebrew word עגל is used, which is usually translated as "the calf". This does not raise any problems, as in Leviticus 9:2 and Leviticus 9:8 translation of the word עגל as "the calf" fits relatively well with the overall meaning of the text. However, in the Book of Kings (1 Kings 7:23, 7:31, 7:35 and 10:19) translating the word עגל as "the calf" obviously would not make any sense as it is hard to imagine that, for example, in 1 Kings 7:23 the text would imply that the lip of the Molten Sea was "calf" instead of "round". 

The Masoretic tradition tries to solve this problem via the use of the vowels (and vowel marks), which in this case would read in Exodus 32:4 עֵגֶל (egel) (calf) as opposed to, say, 1 Kings 7:23 where it is read as עָגֹל (agol) (round); even though the consonants are exactly the same, and each of the verses requires different meaning of this word. 

However, in the original text given to us by God there was no vowels, thus the question arises about the exact meaning of the word עגל and the original meaning all the verses listed above. Did the Hebrews build a "Molten Calf" or a "Molten Circle" ? 

The last method, involves using other approaches to identify the meaning of the words of the Pentateuch. For example, I used mathematics to reveal the meaning of the word המקצעת (hamiktso'ot) (Exodus 26:24) and translated it as "round bendings" instead of traditional "corners". See my Corner Boards article for detailed explanation.
Or, I used the reconstruction of the Layout of the Tabernacle to identify the word פרכת (parochet) (Exodus 26:31 as a plural form, instead of the traditional singular form. See my posts here and here for the detailed explanation.
Or, I used geometry and algebra to extract the correct dimensions of the courtyard of the Tabernacle. See my article here for detailed explanation.
In other words, this third approach uses natural and humanitarian sciences to extract the meaning of the text of the Pentateuch. 

I hope that now you would be able to utilize this knowledge and these approaches to analyze the text the same way I do. Enjoy!