The Hebrew language is beloved by many Christians as a result of it’s the authentic language of the Previous Testomony. Thus, the Hebrew language makes up the vast majority of God’s revelation! Some individuals assume Hebrew is a divine language. Others assume Hebrew incorporates specialised codes from God. Nonetheless, the historical past of the Hebrew language exhibits that it’s not some mystical language with particular codes. It’s a actual language that has had actual growth over time.
Abraham and the Origin of the Hebrew Language
Though some would argue Adam and Even spoke Hebrew, that’s unlikely. The primary time we see the phrase “Hebrew” used is in reference to Abram in Genesis 14:13. Abram (later Abraham) was a sojourner from Ur of the Chaldees (Gen 11:31). Ur was a bustling Sumerian city-state, and through Abram’s time there he would have grown up fluent in Sumerian and Akkadian. Akkadian is the oldest Semitic language that we all know of and is usually very useful in comparative Hebrew language research.
Abraham and his household sojourned within the land of Canaan for about 100 years. It’s apparent that Abraham and his household had been acknowledged as outsiders by these native to the land of Canaan (Gen 23:1-9). It appears probably that in these 100 years of sojourning, Abraham and his household started to develop slight deviations from the native Akkadian, factoring within the affect of the frequent Canaanite languages as effectively. Moreover, Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, spent about 20 years in Haran (northern Levant), the place Jacob probably was influenced significantly by Amorite or a primitive type of Aramaic (cf. Gen 28–33).
Egyptian Slavery and Hebrew Incubation
Towards the tip of Jacob’s life, Israel moved to Egypt to seek out meals throughout a devastating seven-year famine. Though initially being favored by the Egyptians, the Israelites had been nonetheless seen as outsiders and couldn’t even eat with the Egyptians (Gen 43:32). Finally, the Egyptians refused to acknowledge the once-meaningful relationship with the Israelites and enslaved them (Exod 1:8-12). Total, Israel spent about 400 years in Egypt, basically in isolation. It was little doubt throughout this time that the Hebrew language continued to develop among the many descendants of Abraham.
The Time of the Judges and the Hebrew Accents
If we take Scripture at face worth, it’s shortly after the time of the Exodus (1446 BC) and wilderness wanderings when Moses writes the 5 books of the Legislation within the Hebrew language. By the point Israel is established within the land, they’ve unfold out geographically, with two and a half of the tribes of Israel on the trans-Jordan facet of the Jordan river. There’s biblical proof that the accent between the Gileadites and the Ephraimites was readily discernible through the time of the Judges (Judg 12:5-6).
The Growth of the Written Hebrew Language
Up up to now, we’ve mentioned how the Hebrew language probably developed among the many different Semitic languages of the traditional Close to East. Throughout Abraham’s sojourn in Canaan, and particularly through the incubation interval in Egypt, it’s probably that the Hebrew language developed an increasing number of distinctive traits. Apparently, the precise proof we’ve signifies three main developments within the Hebrew language earlier than the time of Christ
The Paleo Hebrew Script
Digital Useless Sea Scrolls
The earliest proof we’ve exhibits that Hebrew was initially written with out vowels, and in an older script referred to as Paleo Hebrew (which was used til after 586 BC). This alphabet script seems fairly totally different than in the present day’s Hebrew, however would have been extra probably the alphabet script that the prophets utilized to jot down the Previous Testomony.
Matres Lectionis
Matres Lectionis is a latin phrase which implies, “moms of studying.” It’s a phrase to explain the addition of sure full vowel letters. Sooner or later through the 9th or 8th century BC, the consonantal textual content added some full vowel letters to assist help the studying of the textual content.
Digital Useless Sea Scrolls
Aramaic Sq. Script
Someday after the destruction of the Temple in 586 BC by the Babylonians, the Hebrew language stopped utilizing the Paleo Hebrew script and commenced utilizing an Aramaic sq. script. That is the script that’s used nonetheless in the present day. Apparently, a number of the Useless Sea scrolls are written in Aramaic sq. script, whereas the title of Yahweh is left in Paleo script out of reverence.
Digital Useless Sea Scrolls
The Hebrew Language from 70 AD to the 1000 AD
After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, lots of those that spoke Hebrew had been scattered across the identified world to affix with their diaspora brethren. Because the years handed, the Hebrew language was utilized much less by the lay particular person, and stored alive primarily by the students and Rabbis of Judaism.
It was round 500 AD that in a particular effort to protect the vocalization of the Hebrew textual content a bunch of scribes referred to as the Masoretes developed a system of vowel pointings which had been inserted inside and under the consonantal textual content. This technique was refined and developed over the following 300-400 years, and have become often called the Masoretic Textual content (MT). Not solely did the vowel pointings assist in studying Hebrew, however the Masoretes additionally added textual commentary within the margins of the texts, giving essential details about phrase kinds and utilization.
The Revival of the Hebrew Language
Though the following 800 years continued a lot in the identical approach, the place the Hebrew language was largely preserved by the Jewish teachers and rabbis, this all modified on the finish of the 19th century. Attributable to a robust Jewish unity, a motion often called Zionism gained traction and pushed for the Jews to return to the land of Palestine.
At first levels, it was acknowledged that with a view to unify a resettlement effort, there wanted to be a nationwide language among the many Jews as they resettled the land. Initially there was a push to make German the nationwide language, however ultimately, Hebrew was chosen for revivification.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda is usually thought to be the person who spearheaded the motion to revive the Hebrew language. Though there have been others that had been concerned within the course of, his involvement was instrumental in pushing for the resettled Jews to talk a revived Hebrew language. Ben-Yehuda seems to be the primary one (that we’ve file of at the very least) to lift up his son as a local Hebrew speaker in over a thousand years.
Right this moment, if one visits the land of Israel, he would discover over 9 million Jews, lots of whom are utterly fluent within the Hebrew language. The story of the Hebrew language is among the most fascinating historic journeys that exist. The truth that the Hebrew language exists in the present day is a testomony to the individuality of the Jewish individuals and their robust nationwide identification. And I might additionally add that it’s a testimony of God’s candy and wonderful windfall.
