ype. See Davidson's Bib. Crit., vol. I, ch. 3.

That the present square writing existed in our Saviour's day has been
argued with much force from Matth. 5:18, where the Saviour says: "Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot (_iota_) or one tittle (_keraia_) shall
in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." The _iota_ (Hebrew
_yod_) is the letter _i_ or _y_, which in the square writing is the
smallest in the alphabet ([Hebrew: y]), but not in the ancient Hebrew,
Ph[oe]nician, or Samaritan. The _keraia_, _little turn_, is that which
distinguishes one letter from another; as [Hebrew: d], _d_, from
[Hebrew: r], _r_; or [Hebrew: b], _b_, from [Hebrew: k], _k_. See Alford
on Matth. 5:18. (The recent discovery in the Crimea of inscriptions on
the tombs of Caraite Jews, some of them dating back, it is alleged, to
the first century, proves that the Assyrian or square character was then
in use. In these inscriptions the _Yod_ (iota) is represented by a
simple point. See Alexander's Kitto, vol. 3, p. 1173.)

The _Rabbinic_ is a modification of the Assyrian or square writing, for
the purpose of giving it a more cursive character.

3. The _Hebrew alphabet_, like all the other Shemitic alphabets--with
the exception of the AEthiopic, which is _syllabic_, the vowels being
indicated by certain modifications in the forms of the consonants--was
originally a skeleton alphabet, an alphabet of consonants, in which,
however, certain letters, called vowel-letters, performed in a measure
the office of vowels. The Shemite did not separate the vowels from the
consonants, and express them, as we do, by separate signs. He rather
conceived of the vowels as inhering in the consonants--as modifications
in the utterance of the consonants, which the reader could make for
himself. Various particulars in respect to the pronunciation of certain
consonants were, in like manner, left to the reader's own knowledge. For
example, the three Hebrew letters, [Hebrew: sh], _sh_; [Hebrew: m], _m_;
[Hebrew: r], _r_, ([Hebrew: shmr], to be read from right to left,) might
be pronounced, _shamar_, _he kept_; _shemor_, _keep thou_; _shomer_,
_keeping_--the reader determining from the connection which of these
forms should be used, just as we decide in English between the different
pronunciations of the word _bow_. As long as the Hebrew remained a
living language, that is, the language of the masses of the people, this
outline alphabet was sufficient for all practi