(The Elder). Tiberias sive Commentarius Masorethicus Triplex [commentary to the Tiberian Masorah of the Bible].

Buxtorf devotes this work to the tradition of the Masoretes of Tiberias. In doing so, he made ample use of Elijah Levita’s Masoreth ha-Masoreth (Venice, 1538). Buxtorf divides his work in three: Commentary on the Masorah, Key of the Masorah, and Critical Commentary. Buxtorf was of the view that the Masoretic text is the genuine version of the Bible, though he accepted Levita’s revolutionary theory that the masoretic vocalization and cantillation marks originated with Ezra and the Men of the Great Assembly. See EJ, Vol. IV, col. 1543. This later edition of Buxtorf the Elder’s 1620 original was improved and enlarged from quarto to folio by his son Johannes Buxtorf the Younger (1599-1664), also a Protestant Christian Hebraist. This text became a controversial one between the Younger and Louis Cappel (1585-1658), a French Protestant Hebraist who believed the vowel points and accents were not of the original Hebrew language, but rather added by the Masoretes of Tiberia.