One of the interesting developments stemming from the post 70AD scattering of the remnant Jews, and their increasing slide from Temple Hebrew religion to what is now known as Judaism, was the adoption of numerology and applying these strange doctrines to the Hebrew scriptures.

Lacking the understanding that the inspired word of God was picturing Christ, and unmoored from even the old covenant ordinances and sacrifices, Jews began seeking understanding from vain and superstitious avenues, which eventually led to the creation of Talmudic Judaism.

But this foolish pedantry, some of which was seen in the New Testament as Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, resulted in a curious side benefit. If the Hebrew scriptures were to be "interpreted" by legalistic understanding and filtered though the numerology of the Kabbalah, the Jews had to have a consistent set of copies, which kept every jot and tittle, (ironically, just as Jesus prophesied).

Because Hebrew as a written language had no vowels, to prevent misunderstandings of the OT Scriptures, scribes added small markings above and below the letters of the text to indicate which vowels should be used.

The scribes also devised an elaborate system of marginal notes called “Massorah,” which were transcribed into each new manuscript along with the text.

The Massorah did not include thoughts or commentary on the meaning of the Scriptures. Instead, they recorded facts and statistics about each book of the Bible itself: the number of letters per page, the middle letter, the number of verses and the middle verse, the number of times a certain group of letters or words appeared, and so on. Because of this strict format of transcription, the Massorah locked each letter and word of the Old Testament manuscripts firmly in place, virtually guaranteeing accurate transmission.

Because of their work on the Massorah, the scholars in Tiberias earned the name “Masoretes” or “Masorites,” and the authoritative biblical text they produced (work that spanned a 500-year window, from the fifth to 10th centuries AD) was called the Masoretic Text. The earliest and latest Masoretic manuscripts match one another with a degree of precision that astonishes modern scholars.

Even in their apostasy, cut off from God and the Kingdom, God used their strong delusion to preserve His word for His elect, believers on Christ.