Today, increasing numbers of people, both Jews and non-Jews are being prompted to learn Hebrew. If they are like me, they need encouragement both to start and to continue. Here are some “reasons why” which may be of help.
1. Hebrew is the primary language of the Old Testament Scriptures. The apostle Paul wrote, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training.” (2 Tim. 3:16). At that time there was no recognised Scripture other than what is now commonly known as the Old Testament, which is almost entirely written in Hebrew.
2. Hebrew unfolds the riches of the whole body of the Scriptures. Martin Luther wrote, “No one can really understand the Scriptures without it. For although the New Testament is written in Greek, it is full of Hebraisms and Hebrew expressions. It has therefore been aptly said that the Hebrews drink from the spring, the Greeks from the stream that flows from it, and the Latins from a downstream pool.”
3.Hebrew especially helps us to understand the synoptic Gospels (Matthew,Mark and Luke). There are a number of early witnesses who report that the life of Jesus was originally written down in Hebrew. Among them is Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis in AsiaMinor (circa 130 A.D.), who says, “Matthew put down the words of the Lord in the Hebrew language, and others have translated them, each as best he could.”
However, since the mid-nineteenth century it has become fashionable to believe that Hebrew was not the primary language of Jesus and his contemporaries. Therefore, Dr. Robert Lindsey, a senior member of the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research and author of Jesus, Rabbi & Lord, writes, “Passages in the Gospels have become unclear and are easily misunderstood, or the meaning entirely missed, because their interpretation has become
separated from an understanding of their Hebrew linguistic and cultural roots.”
Recent analysis by scholars of the Jerusalem School has shown that there is indeed a Hebrew “undertext” lying behind nearly half of the New Testament (at least the first three Gospels and probably, also, the first half of the book of Acts). The late Abb・Jean Carmignac, a Roman Catholic scholar who worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls for twelve years, came to a similar conclusion quite independently.
4. Hebrew helps us to understand the use of Old Testament Scriptures in the New Testament and to use the Scriptures properly ourselves. Have you ever been puzzled that New Testament writers often go beyond the apparent contextual meaning of the Old Testament passages which they quote? To our Western, Graeco-Roman minds, such use often seems far-fetched, yet we accept it as valid. If we are to use the word of truth correctly (2 Tim. 2:15), wouldn’t we do well to recover, for ourselves, the ancient methods of interpretation which these writers used with such creativity?
5. Hebrew gives firsthand access to early Jewish literature. The sages and teachers of Israel have preserved important information about the historic, religious, cultural and linguistic context in which Jesus and Paul taught. They complement the Scriptures and often fill important gaps in our understanding, yet much of this literature remains unavailable in English.
6. Hebrew helps prevent and correct error. For this reason an 11th century Arabic document berated Christians for abandoning the general knowledge of Hebrew. Dr. Joseph Hertz, late Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, wrote, “The Men of the Great Assembly rightly felt that the Synagogue Service must be in Israel’s historic language, which is the depository of the soul-life of Israel. Hellenistic Jewry [in Alexandria] did not share this view, and it dispensed with the Sacred Language in its religious life.” Quoting Schechter, he continues, “The result was death. It withered away, and ended in total apostasy from Biblical Judaism.”
Throughout the centuries of dispersion among other nations, Jewish children have continued to be taught Hebrew and so retained firsthand access to the Hebrew Scriptures. Is it possible that the Church has become more susceptible to error as a result of abandoning the general knowledge of Hebrew? When the common man was given access to the scriptures in his own language, through the mass production of the first printed editions of the Bible in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., it led to a reformation and a revival of the Church.
What if every Christian child were to be taught Hebrew as a second language?
7. Hebrew deepens understanding of the Church’s spiritual roots and identity. Sharing a common language helps to reinforce a sense of kinship. Members of the Church are no longer “excluded from citizenship in Israel” (Eph. 2:12). “Our forefathers were all under the cloud and passed through the sea” (1 Cor. 10:1). Those who study Israel’s ancient literature and share in the communal life of Jewish people, gain an enriched and constantly deepening appreciation of their common root in the Lord God of Israel. This can only strengthen the Church against flowing with the rising tide of anti-Semitism in the world and the dangers of
alienation from the Jewish people.
8. Hebrew enables us to participate in and benefit fully from the Hebrew service of the synagogue. Synagogue attendance was taken for granted and remained habitual for Jesus, Paul and members of the early Jewish Church in the land of Israel until the exile of the Jews in 135 A.D. Elsewhere, both Gentile Christians and Jewish believers continued to take part in synagogue services until at least the fourth century A.D. Today, the service of the synagogue remains open to anyone who wishes to go along.
9. Hebrew gives insight into the world view of the people who speak it. Dr. Clifford Denton is editor-in-chief of Tishrei, a quarterly journal which explores the Christian faith through its Jewish roots. He writes, “Immersion in a language produces far more than conversation. A language determines the very mind-set of a person. A person who thinks in Hebrew is a different person from one who thinks in English, all other things being equal. Thus, the Hebrew language gives more than an accurate understanding of words. It is within the very root structure of what it is to be a Jew.”
10. Hebrew is the lingua franca of modern Israel. It goes without saying that anyone who visits or lives in Israel will do better if he or she speaks the language of the people. Even a little is helpful, because people tend to be warmer and more responsive if one tries to communicate with them in their own language. Modern Hebrew and biblical Hebrew are very similar. One forms an excellent foundation for learning the other.
11. Hebrew is relatively easy to learn. David Bivin, co-author of a Hebrew language course and of a book on the Hebrew background to the life and teaching of Jesus, writes, “Hebrew is to a large extent a phonetic language with a relatively small vocabulary. Generally it is based on a simple three-letter root system which provides a helpful memory aid in the formation of various verbs and nouns; nothing like the complexity of many modern European languages.” Neither should one be put off by the strange-looking alphabet. Its twenty-two letters are relatively easy to learn and can be learned within a week. With practice, they soon become familiar.
12. There is something special about reading the scriptures in their original language.
But you'll only find out if you learn how! The student begins to reap the benefits of learning Hebrew immediately. However, language learning is a cyclic process. At times one is elated by the advances one has made, at others one seems to be getting nowhere. In either case, to make further progress it is essential to push steadily on, even if slowly. “He who gathers little by little will become rich” (Prov. 13:11).
Re-discovering the Scriptures in its original language
What are some things that a Bible reader misses by reading only a translation? For one thing, there are many plays on words throughout the Bible. One of the first examples of a play on words is in the story of the creation of Eve. Adam said, She shall be called Woman [ishah] because she was taken out of Man [ish] (Gen. 2:23). Adam had seen female animals, but this was the first time he had seen a female ish. This newly-formed creature resembled Adam, but it was obvious that she was female. So Adam added the feminine suffix -ah to ish. Another possible explanation: When Adam awoke from his sleep and saw the woman standing before him, perhaps he thought it was another man, and said, “Ish?” and then as the woman came into focus, “Ahhh!” (This explanation is not to be taken seriously of course.) Another play on words can be seen when Adam names the woman “Eve”: And Adam called his wife’s name Eve [Chavah, “living; life-giver”], because she was the mother of all living [chai] (Gen. 3:20). Similar plays on words can be seen in the namings of Cain, Seth, Noah, Isaac, and the twelve sons of Jacob, and, of course, at the naming of the Messiah: "...thou shalt call His name Yeshua [salvation]: for He shall save (yoshia) His people from their sins" (Matt. 1.21, Hebrew translation).
Another feature in the Hebrew of the Bible is the concept of word origins and the relationship of words to one another. Sometimes this is similar to a play on words. Man (adam) was created from the dust of the ground (adamah). In the transliteration we can see that adam is taken out of adamah. Contained in the word adam is dam, the Hebrew word for “blood,” reminding us that the life of Adam is in his blood.
Here is an example of word origin: Why was Abraham the first person to be called “a Hebrew” (ivri)? The first place the word ivri/Hebrew occurs is in Gen. 14:13, where the phrase “Abram the Hebrew” appears, with no explanation of what a “Hebrew” is. Some people suggest Abram was called a Hebrew because he was a descendant of Eber (Gen. 11:14), and this is a possibility. Another possibility, though, is found in the meaning of the ayin-beit-resh (three Hebrew letters) root of ivri. The word means “to cross over” (a river or a street, e.g.). This is exactly what Abram did. He “crossed over” in a figurative, spiritual sense when he abandoned polytheism and embraced monotheism. The Jews who translated the Septuagint used the Greek phrase Abram to perate, “Abram the passer”) in this verse. In other places they used the Greek word Ebraios to translate ivri/Hebrew. Knowing all this helps us to identity more closely with our father Abraham. We are all “Hebrews” in a figurative sense if we have “crossed over” from the kingdom of sin and darkness into the kingdom of righteousness and light. Like our father Abraham, we are all “passers” as we pass through this world, looking for “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10).
The poetry of the Prophets is another area of Scripture that is greatly enhanced by some knowledge of Hebrew. Anyone who has studied both foreign languages and poetry knows that poetry loses some of its impact when it is translated into another language. This is true of prose, too, but even more so with poetry. And many of the Prophets’ writings are written in poetic form. Here are a few examples that I ran across while studying Isaiah in Hebrew:
… He [Yahweh] looked for judgment ( mishpat), but behold oppression (mispach) , for righteonsness (tsedakah) , but behold a cry (tse’akah) (5:7)
… For it is a day of trouble (mehumah) , and of treading down ( mevusah) and of perplexity (mevuchah) (22:5)… Fear (pachad) , and the pit (pachat), and the snare (pach) are upon thee (24:17).
… precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little
tsav la-tsav, tsav la-tsav
kav la-kav, kav la-kav
ze’ir sham, ze’ir sham (28:10)
Another feature of Hebrew is the use of acrostics. Several Psalms (and Lamentations and the “virtuous woman” passage of Proverbs 31) are written in such a way that the first verse begins with the letter aleph, the second with the letter beit, the third with the letter gimel, and so on. Psalm 119 has groups of eight verses for each of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
A knowledge of Hebrew also allows a reader to see different levels of meaning in the Scriptures. When Isaiah says of the wicked dead that “their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched,” the word translated “their fire” is isham, a word formed by combining “fire” (esh) and the possessive “their” suffix, -m. This is how possessives are formed in Biblical Hebrew, so “their fire” is an accurate translation. But the word … can just as accurately be read as asham (“guilt”) is not removed. Their guilt provides the fuel for their fire.
Learning Hebrew idioms can help a reader to better understand the Bible. An idiom is a combination of words that has a meaning which cannot be understood by simply knowing the meaning of each individual word. In English we have hundreds of idioms, such as “That’s a horse of a different color” or “That really hit the spot!” These statements have nothing to do with horses and colors or hitting and spots. Students learning a foreign language must learn idioms as complete units, one at a time. It’s not enough to just know the definitions of the individual words. My seven years’ experience teaching English to foreign students has made me very aware of the importance of learning idioms. If students try to understand an idiom by looking up the definitions of the individual words, they will not get an accurate understanding of what the writer or speaker is trying to communicate. This is as true of Hebrew as it is of English. A Strong’s concordance is fine for understanding individual words, but it will not be of much help if you are dealing with an idiom. One example of a Hebrew idiom is baruch ha-ba, translated literally as “blessed is he that comes”. In Hebrew this idiom simply means “welcome”. When I lived in Israel, the road leading up to Jerusalem had shrubbery trimmed in the shape of Hebrew letters, proclaiming baruchim ha-baim liyrushalayim, “Welcome to Jerusalem.” When the Messiah lamented over Jerusalem He said, “Ye shall not see Me henceforth, til ye say, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:39). In other words, He will not return until Jerusalem welcomes Him as their Messiah.
Perhaps the most important benefit of studying Hebrew is the benefit of having the mind renewed. The student of Hebrew begins to develop Hebraic thought patterns, and a Hebrew-based Biblical world view gradually replaces the Greek-based non-Biblical world view that most Western people have. Marvin Wilson discusses “The Contour of Hebrew Thought” in his book Our Father Abraham. Of course the mind can be renewed quite a bit by extensive reading of the Old Testament in a literal word-for-word translation such as the King James Version, where the Hebraic word order and sentence structure are retained to some extent.
So, how does a person learn Hebrew? The best way, of course, is to go to Israel and spend a few months in an ulpan, where students attend intensive Hebrew language classes full time. This is how I learned. During my two years in Israel, I spent a total of ten months in ulpan, attending classes five hours a day, five days a week.
If someone is serious about studying Hebrew, I strongly recommend going to Israel and enrolling in full-time language classes there. After about three months in ulpan, I was able to read and understand some of the simpler texts of the Bible, in spite of the differences between modern and Biblical Hebrew. I later studied Biblical Hebrew independently, and taught a class. I have retained my knowledge of the language by further independent study and by teaching Hebrew to others.
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