Today, many Christians and Jews believe the Masoretic Text is a perfect copy of the original Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures.  They believe that the Masoretic Text was how God divinely preserved the Hebrew Scriptures throughout the ages. However, textual analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Greek Septuagint Scriptures, and the writings of Flavius Josephus, indicates clearly that the Masoretic Text contain changes and is not completely the original Hebrew Scriptures.  The oldest copies of the Masoretic Text date back to the 10th century CE, nearly 1000 years after the time of Messiah Yeshua. In addition, these texts differ from the originals in many specific ways. Biblical Scholars named the Masoretic text after the Masoretes, who were scribes and Torah scholars who worked in the Middle East between the 2nd and 11th centuries CE. The texts they received, and the edits they provided, ensured that the modern Jewish texts would manifest a notable departure from the original Hebrew Scriptures.

Today a growing number of biblical scholars believe that historical research reveals five significant ways in which the Masoretic Text is different from the original Old Testament paleo-Hebrew Scriptures. First, the Masoretes believed that they received corrupted texts to begin with. Second, the Masoretes wrote the Masoretic Text with a radically different alphabet than the original. Third, the Masoretes added vowel points, which did not exist in the original. Fourth, the Masoretic Text excluded several books from the Old Testament scriptures. Fifth, the Masoretic Text includes changes to eschatology, biblical chronology, and theology. For these reasons, the Masoretic Text is different from the Vorlage Hebrew Text and the Greek Septuagint.

The Hebrew Vorlage Text was a version of the Hebrew Scriptures that Jewish scribes used to create the Geek Septuagint Bible in the third century BCE. Today, many scholars believe the Vorlage Scriptures are  original copies of the Hebrew Scriptures, which was used by biblical prophets and religious leaders generations before the third century BCE. The Qumran and Masada scrolls quote the Vorlage Text prior to Jamnia. After that Council, the Jews used the new MT exclusively and destroyed all other versions. However, Messiah Yeshua, the Apostles, and Josephus all quote from the Vorlage, and its LXX translation, as did the Church Fathers. In most matters, the differences between the texts are usually relatively minor. However, the chronologies have some significant differences. It is just at this point that we need to know what was in the Vorlage for our chronology. Biblical scholars find the chronology in Genesis 5 and 11 where the genealogy of the 21 patriarchs from Adam to Abraham is given. Genesis 5 details the genealogy from Adam to Noah and the worldwide flood, while Genesis 11 takes the list from the great flood and Shem down to Abraham.

In this matter, it is useful to consider the testimony of the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and Josephus. Here are three independent links with the Vorlage original. The situation is clear-cut. In Genesis 5, the LXX and Josephus are in complete agreement with the sole exception of the patriarch Lamech, where Josephus and the MT agree. The chronology adopted here accepts this majority verdict. Note that all texts agree on Noah, while the MT agrees on Jared and Methuselah as well. Furthermore, in Genesis 11 there is total agreement between the LXX and Samaritan Pentateuch (SP) on all patriarchs, with Josephus also lending support to six out of the eleven. Again, many biblical scholars accept this majority opinion. Again,

note that all texts agree on Abraham, with the MT also supporting Shem. Josephus in Genesis 5 and the SP in Genesis 11 confirm the LXX chronology. It would appear, then, that the LXX is giving a chronological record that is an accurate representation of what was in the Vorlage.  Therefore, it is apparent that, for Genesis 5 and 11; the MT is more likely to be at deviation from the Hebrew Vorlage.  Messiah Yeshua and His Apostles, likely quoted from the Hebrew Vorlage and the Greek Septuagint.

PRIMARY SOURCES: Millennial Day Concept by J.R. Church. Dictionary of Bible Prophecy by Ron Rhodes; The Last Days by Richard H. Perry; the Complete Guide to Bible Prophecy by Stephen Miller; Learn The Bible in 24 Hours by Dr. Chuck Missiler; and The Book of Revelations by Larry R. Helyer, PhD.; The Next World War by Dr. Grant Jeffrey; The Prince of Darkness by Grant Jeffrey;  Isralestine by Bill Salus; Revelation Road by Bill Salus; Unleashing the Beast by Perry Stone. God’s War on Terror by Walid Shoebat, 7000 Years Prophetic History by Steve Cioccolanti. Don Stewart :: Why Is Jesus Called the Last Adam and the Second Man (https://www.blueletterbible.org/ faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_1327.cfm). The LXX Septuagint (Brenton). Halley’s Bible Handbook. The Council of Jamina; Barry Setterfield; Derived from: http://www.setterfield.org/000docs/scriptchron.htm#intro “Septuagint.” . Encyclopædia Britannica 2010 Concise.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. https://russian-faith.com/explaining-orthodoxy/russian-bibles-are-totally-different-american-ones-heres-why-n1470