Benjamin, an eminent Hebrew scholar, was born at Totness in Devonshire in 1718. At an early age he was appointed to succeed his father as teacher of a charity school in his native town. His precocious talents and learning interested some rich friends in his behalf, and by their kindness he was provided with the means of studying at Oxford. Entering himself of Wadham College in 1744, he soon distinguished himself in Hebrew and Divinity; and, while still an undergraduate, published two essays, On the Tree of Life, and The Oblations of Cain and Abel. These popular treatises came to a second edition in 1747, and procured for their author the degree of B.A. free of expense, and also a year before the usual time. He was soon afterwards chosen fellow of Exeter College, and in 1750 took the degree of M.A. Continuing to pursue his studies peacefully at Oxford, he was, in 1757, made keeper of the Radcliffe Library, and, a few years later, rector of Myllynvate in Cornwall. This, though a very valuable living, he subsequently resigned, finding himself without time to do duty in person, and having scruples of conscience against doing it by deputy. In 1770 he was made prebend of Westminster; a preferment which he soon exchanged for a canonry in Christ Church, Oxford. He died in 1783, after a lingering illness, at the age of 65.
Kennicott's great work is his edition of the Hebrew Bible. To prepare the way, he published in 1753 an essay On the printed Hebrew Text of the Old Testament, the object of which was to overthrow the opinion at that time received by many eminent divines, and at one time held by Kennicott himself, that the Hebrew text was absolutely correct, that it agreed with the MSS., and, as a consequence, that the MSS. agreed with each other except in very trifling cases. In some religious communities a belief in the Divine authority of what is known as the Masoretic text was required as an article of faith from those entering the ministry. The question was obviously to be decided by an appeal to the Hebrew MSS. themselves, and in this important work Kennicott led the way in those laborious researches which have resulted in the collation of many hundreds of Hebrew MSS. Kennicott undertook to show that the MSS., which had been supposed to agree with each other, and with the printed text, contained numerous and various readings, which tended to support the authority of the ancient versions; and he announced the existence of six Samaritan MSS. of the Pentateuch in the libraries of Oxford, from which not only the printed Samaritan, but even the Hebrew text might be corrected. It was to be expected, from what we have already said of the state of feeling on the subject of the integrity of the Hebrew text, that the position assumed by Kennicott would be strenuously attacked, and we find the names of Rutherforth, Warburton, and Bishop Horne, among his assailants. Nevertheless, by many eminent and learned men in his own country, as well as abroad, he was considered to have established his point. In 1760, seven years after his First, appeared his Second Dissertation on the state of the printed Hebrew text. In this treatise he defended the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch, and showed that the Chaldee paraphrase had been wilfully corrupted; he gave a history of the Hebrew text from the time at which the canon of the Old Testament was completed to the invention of printing; and produced a catalogue of 110 Hebrew MSS. in the British Museum, Oxford, and Cambridge, as well as a collection of 11 Samaritan MSS. Considerable interest had by this time been excited regarding these MSS., and a desire was extensively felt by divines, and the learned generally, to have the subject fully investigated. Accordingly, Dr Kennicott published a proposal that subscriptions should be raised to defray the expenses of a complete collation of all accessible MSS., at home and abroad. The list of subscribers was headed by King George III., and in a short time nearly £10,000 were raised—an unprecedented amount for a literary purpose. For nine years the work of collation was actively conducted by eminent men employed for the purpose, Kennicott himself examining the MSS. of Great Britain and France, while Professor Bruns examined those of Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Sixteen Samaritan, and upward of six hundred Hebrew MSS., were either wholly or in part collated between 1760 and 1769, an annual statement being furnished by Kennicott regarding the progress of the work. Several years more elapsed before all the materials were properly arranged, and, when ready for press, they extended to 30 vols. folio.
His great work bears the title *Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum, cum variis Lectionibus, Editit Beniaminus Kennicott, S.T.P., Oxonii*, 1776-1780, 2 vols. folio. The text followed was that of Van der Hooght, with which the MSS. had been collated; the points, however, were omitted. The *Dissertatio Generalis*, prefixed to the second volume, contained a history of the Hebrew text from the time of the return from Babylon to the invention of printing, along with an account of the Rabbinical works and MSS. which he had consulted. The poetical books were printed according to the metrical laws of parallelism as established by Lowth. The various readings were printed at the foot of the page with references connecting them with the texts from which they differ, while the Samaritan variations were placed in a column parallel with the Hebrew itself.
To this work of Kennicott, a valuable supplement was published by De Rossi at Parma, 1784-87, 4 vols. 4to.; but a more commodious work, containing a selection of the more important various readings collected by Kennicott, De Rossi, and others, was published by Deoderlein and Meissner at Leipzig, 1793, 8vo. A more correct edition, on the same plan, was published by Jahn at Vienna, 1806, 4 vols. 8vo. This again has been followed by the editions of Boothroyd, Judah d'Allemand, and others.
A full account of Kennicott's edition of the Hebrew Bible is given in the *Monthly Review* (O.S.), vols. i., iv., lxiv., lxxv., and in Marsh's *Divinity Lectures*, part ii.