[Mesorah] Mp to Hos 12:2

[Dov Bloom]

At 08:35 06/12/2007, you wrote:

>A question for Mesorah about mesorah, namely mesorah ketanah/gedolah:
> 
>In JTS ms L232 (dates from ca 10-11 cen) at Hoshea 12:2 "ve-shemen" there is a Mp [mesorah ketanah] note that says 3 [times]; the Mm [mesorah gedolah] there elaborates by citing this verse; Mishlei 27:16 and Koh 9:8. In the Cairo Codex (early 10th cen) there is a similar note, adding B.L.S. [=be-lishna].The question is what does the mesorah note (unique to these two mss -- at least as far as what I have checked) mean? Anyone who opens a concordance will find that "ve-shemen" actually occurs in many more than 3 cases: Ex 30:24; 35:8; Num 4:16; Deut 28:40; 32:13; Jer 40:10; 41:8; Ezk 45:24; 46:5; 46:7; 46:11; 46: 14; Hos 12:2; Prov 27:16; Eccl 9:8; 1 Chr 12:41; 2 Chr 2:9; 2 Chr 11:11. 
>Looking at these pesukim, the only thing that stands out special (to me) about Hos 12:2; Prov 27:16; Koh 9:8 is that they are the only examples of ve-shemen that are not included among a list of other food stuffs.  Perhaps that is the force of "be-lishna" in codex Cairo. The question, though, is, can anyone refer to other cases in Mp/Mm where "be-lishna" has a syntactical sense -- as it is usually does not have such a meaning in lists. Or can you offer another alternative meaning to this mesorah note? 
> 
>La-Yehudim haitah orah ve-simhah vekol tuv ii
>Yisrael Dubitsky
>_______________________________________________

Good question: The MP of Hoshea in the CairoCodex does say gimel BLS, belishna, which usually means not only the word veshemen, but other usages of the same root, like vashemen or uvashemen.

Of the 18 occurances of veshemen,why are these 3 unique? My first thought was that these psukim may use shemen in a metaphorical sense - here in Hoshea it means tribute. Kohelet - implies a bracha,  Mishlei - who knows? It is a difficult pasuk. Daat mikra suggests a meaning that is not oil...

Ginsburg in ot Shin 697-702 has messorot on shemen, including this MP gimel at sigla 700. 
There is an interesting messora near it:
Shemen dekadim le-yayyin bet belishna vesimanhon (Divrei HaYamim 2:14 and 11;11) vechol krin kadim yayim leshemen. 

FWIW, Here is a hypothesis if you can't find anything better. There are 3 cases of veshemen/vashemen in Mishlei (21:17, 21:20 and the quoted 27:16). Now that would justifiably be called gimel belishna! (vav with shva and vav with kametz).  

Maybe the MP originated in Mishlei, (gimel beLishna beSifra) and was transfered somehow. But why did  these 3 verse-tags get into the MM?

DB the younger