Commentary for Sanhedrin 212:13

וכי הוה מטי רב יהודה אשה שכובשת ירק בקדירה ואמרי לה זיתים שכבשן בטרפיהן טהורים אמר הויות דרב ושמואל קא חזינא הכא ואנן קא מתנינן בעוקצין תלת סרי מתיבתא

The Holy One, blessed be He, urged, 'Let a law be stated in his name in the schoolhouse,' but he [David] replied to Him, 'He shall take thee away and pluck thee out of the tent. 'Then let his children be Rabbis!' — 'And thy root [shall be torn out] of the land of the living. Selah!' R. Isaac also said: What is meant by the verse, Where is the enumerator, where is the weigher! Where is he that counted the towers!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. XXXIII, 18. ');">²²</span> — Where is he who enumerated all the letters of the Torah?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. J.E. s.v. Masorah VIII, 366. It is there suggested that the Numerical Masorah, which counted and grouped the various elements of the Biblical text, developed on account of the copyists, who were paid according to the amount. The Talmud regards this as a work of piety and devotion, undertaken with the object of guarding the Bible from the introduction of spurious matter. ');">²³</span>

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