The Old Testament of the Bible was likely originally written in a pictographic script called paleo-Hebrew. We know that this Hebrew pictographic script was used commonly by Jews in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, but was gradually replaced by the Aramaic alphabet (primarily during the 6th and 5th centuries BC due to the Babylonian captivity), which is similar to that used in modern Hebrew today. Our authoritative Hebrew texts of the Old Testament, like the Masoretic text, are written using this Aramaic script.
“Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus: Some of the Biblical scrolls found in the Dead Sea Caves were written with the middle (Paleo) Hebrew script such as these fragments from the book of Leviticus.”[1]
The Book of Legends (known as the Ha-Aggadah in Hebrew), which is a compendium of Jewish wisdom from Rabbis throughout the ages, describes Hebrew as the “sacred tongue”:
“It is taught in the name of R. Meir: Everyone who dwells permanently in the Land of Israel, recites the Shema morning and evening, and speaks the sacred tongue is assured that he will dwell in the world-to-come.” [pg 374 #1]
“The first language was the sacred tongue, by which the world had been created.” [pg 376 #22] This quote comes from a commentary about Genesis 11 when God confounded the languages creating from one language seventy languages so that people whose “impulses were evil” could not understand each other.
These Rabbis believe that Hebrew was the first language. They teach that it was the spoken language of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, that was passed down to the Patriarchs and ultimately recorded by Moses in the Torah. Here the Book of Legends asserts that it was also the language in which God spoke the universe itself into existence. When God said, “Let there be light”, he literally said it in Hebrew!
I am something of a Hebrew novice. I have only been studying Biblical Hebrew since 2017. I started by taking the online video course using the textbook and accompanying workbook: Basics of Biblical Hebrew by Pratico and Van Pelt. In 2017, I reconnected with a friend (George Rehberg) who is a Hebrew language expert (having taught Hebrew in synagogues). George has been tutoring me in both Greek and Hebrew since then. Together we have been translating Proverbs from both the Greek Septuagint (LXX) and the Hebrew (Masoretic Text) to English and then discussing and comparing these texts. This has been a fascinating study. We are currently in Proverbs 12. We have recently started translating the Song of Songs together as well.
In this process I have discovered that there is a richness to Hebrew that is often missing from our English translations. I plan to post a series of blogs (on Wednesdays) about details that I find fascinating about Hebrew and some of the specific translation challenges.
Just a teaser…
Hebrew Tenses: Language of an Eternal Being – no Past, Present and Future
The Hebrew Alphabet and Missing Vowels
The Pictorial Nature of Hebrew Words and Roots
The Hebrew Conjunction Disfunction
Hebrew No Verb Sentences
Hebrew Words with Multiple Meanings: Janus Poetry
Some Common Hebrew Idioms
[1] [https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/inscriptions/collection-of-ancient-hebrew-inscriptions.htm]
Atheist to Elder 