Relation of Both To Received Text
The differences between the two Masoretes do not represent solely personal opinions; the two rivals represent different schools. Like the ben Ashers there seem to have been several ben Naphtalis. The statement of E. Levita (Mas. ha-Masoret, ed. Ginsburg, p. 144), that the Westerns follow ben Asher, and the Easterns ben Naphtali, is not without many exceptions. Thus, for instance, in the difference concerning I Kings iii. 20 (see ben Naphtali, No. 7), the Westerns are said to agree with ben Naphtali, while the Easterns follow ben Asher. The rule of ben Naphtali given under No. 5 is followed in all MSS. and printed editions, in the words ביקרותיך (Ps. xlv. 10) and ליקהת (Prov. xxx. 17), etc. The Masoretic lists often do not agree on the precise nature of the differences between the two rival authorities; it is, therefore, impossible to define with exactness their differences in every case; and it is probably due to this fact that the received text does not follow uniformly the system of either ben Asher or ben Naphtali. The attempt is likewise futile to describe the one codex as Western or Eastern.
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