Were the Masoretes of the tribe of Levi?

[Spyridon]

If I'm not mistaken, God entrusted the Levites to preserve the text of Scripture. Were the Masoretes of the tribe of Levi?


Devarim - Chapter 17
18. And it will be, when he sits upon his royal throne, that he shall write for himself two copies of this Torah on a scroll from [that Torah which is] before the Levitic kohanim.
19. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord, his God, to keep all the words of this Torah and these statutes, to perform them

Devarim - Chapter 31
25. that Moses commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying:
26. "Take this Torah scroll and place it along side the ark of covenant of the Lord, your God, and it will be there as a witness.

Malachi - Chapter 2
7. For a priest's lips shall guard knowledge, and teaching should be sought from his mouth, for he is a messenger of the Lord of Hosts.
8. But you have turned aside from the way. You caused many to stumble in the Torah. You corrupted the covenant of the Levites, said the Lord of Hosts.

[Yochanan5730]

If I'm not mistaken, God entrusted the Levites to preserve the text of Scripture. Were the Masoretes of the tribe of Levi?


Devarim - Chapter 17
18. And it will be, when he sits upon his royal throne, that he shall write for himself two copies of this Torah on a scroll from [that Torah which is] before the Levitic kohanim.
19. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord, his God, to keep all the words of this Torah and these statutes, to perform them

Devarim - Chapter 31
25. that Moses commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying:
26. "Take this Torah scroll and place it along side the ark of covenant of the Lord, your God, and it will be there as a witness.

Malachi - Chapter 2
7. For a priest's lips shall guard knowledge, and teaching should be sought from his mouth, for he is a messenger of the Lord of Hosts.
8. But you have turned aside from the way. You caused many to stumble in the Torah. You corrupted the covenant of the Levites, said the Lord of Hosts.

Shalom Spy <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->
traditionally, soph'rim were of any tribal background, few were Kohanim or L'viyim, most were P'rushim, at least during the time of Mashi'ach until the present (though of course P'rushim aren't a group anymore). however, before the exile into Bavel, it is possible, since the guarding of the Torah scrolls were solely by the L'viyim, as your references indicate, that the copying of Torah scrolls were solely by the L'viyim as well. without direct information on hand, and the fact that i have never considered this in study, i couldn't say for certain.

but after the time of Mashi'ach until the present, soph'rim have from any tribal lineage. as such, the Masoretes were most likely from any tribal group.

In Yeshua,
John