Introduction to Aramaic II
An Introduction to Aramaic: Part Two
By Andrew Missick
Copyright 2005
The Holy Land at the time of Christ was a trilingual society.[1] The common language was Aramaic, there was also a large Gentile population that spoke Greek, and most observant Jews learned Hebrew. The Bible was translated into Aramaic so the common people could understand the Word of God. These translations are known as the Targums. The Greek language was not embraced by the Jewish people. The historian Flavius Josephus, who was a contemporary of St. Paul and who wrote accounts of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and St. James in his history of the Jews, made an interesting remark about the Jews’ attitude toward Greek. He says
I have also taken a great deal of pains to obtain the learning of the Greek; although I have so accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, I cannot pronounce Greek with sufficient exactness. For my nation does not encourage those that learn the languages of many nations. On this account, as there have been many who have done their endeavors, with great patience, to obtain this Greek learning, there have yet hardly been two or three that have succeeded therein, who were immediately rewarded for their pains.[2]
Josephus originally wrote in Aramaic, and like the New Testament, his works include Aramaic words and “aramaisms”. Josephus also published his works in Aramaic for the benefit of Jews and even Gentiles in Babylon.
How often did Jesus speak Aramaic?
All day everyday, whenever he was talking. He used it when he healed people (Mark 5:41 and & 7:34), when he was praying (Mark 14:36), when he was preaching (Matthew 5:22) and in the time of his agony (Matthew 27:46). But, when in the synagogue and when reading from the Torah or expounding from the Law, didn’t Jesus use Hebrew? Jesus surely learned Hebrew and was literate in it, but even the Rabbis themselves expounded the Law in Aramaic. The most famous Rabbinical teaching on the Torah, called the Talmud, was written in Aramaic. The Torah was available in an Aramaic translation. Jesus’ teaching was directed at the common people and he spoke to them in the common language, Aramaic. God gave us the Bible in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Jesus preached his Holy Gospel in Aramaic.
How Did the Jews Begin Speaking Aramaic?
In ancient times Aramaic became the Lingua Franca, or universal language. The Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians used Aramaic as an official or the international language.
This is illustrated in 2 Kings 18:19-20 (Isaiah 36:4-74). The Assyrian ambassador speaks to the Israelites in Hebrew. The Israelites prefer to speak in Aramaic, the language of diplomacy, since they are afraid that the threatening words of the Assyrians will demoralize the people. Here we see that Hebrew is the local language – and Aramaic is the international language.
The Bible teaches that the Israelites sinned against God, and so God punished them with the sword of their enemies.
The northern tribes, the Israelites, were conquered and taken into exile into Assyria. The Judeans were conquered and taken into captivity by the Babylonians. This is called the “Babylonian Captivity”. Jeremiah prophesied that the Jews would be in captivity for 70 years (Jeremiah 25: 11-12 and 29:10). At the end of this time Ezra and Nehemiah brought some of the Jews back to Canaan. During the Babylonian Captivity the people forgot Hebrew and began speaking Aramaic. During this time the Jews adopted the Aramaic alphabet to replace the Old Hebrew alphabet. This old Aramaic alphabet we now call “Hebrew”. The Israelites that stayed in the Holy Land still used the old Hebrew alphabet, which is still used by the Samaritans today. [3] The Samaritans also used (and still use) Aramaic and have several writings in the Aramaic language.
The Place of Hebrew in the Aramaic-speaking Society of Palestine in the First Century
During the first century Rabbis (like Jesus), scribes, Biblical scholars and extreme nationalists could speak Hebrew fluently. These people would have grown up speaking Aramaic as their first language. The common people did not speak Hebrew. The common person would have been familiar with Hebrew as a liturgical language as the common Catholic was with Latin before Vatican II. Maurice Casey does a very thorough and scholarly exploration of the place of Aramaic in the culture of the Holy Land at the time of Jesus in his two books Aramaic Sources of Mark’s Gospel and An Aramaic Approach to Q.[4]
[1] Randall J. Buth “Language Use in the First Century: The Place of Hebrew in a Trilingual Society” Notes on Scripture in Use: Special Issue (1):25-42
[2] George Lamsa New Testament Origin p.33
[3] F.F. Bruce p.129 “The Samaritan Pentateuch…is written in an older form of Hebrew script than that of the Masoretic Bible and Jewish-Hebrew literature in general. Somewhere about 200 BC this older, “Paeleo-Hebrew” script, was superseded among the Jews by the Aramaic of ‘square’ character, some of the older Biblical manuscripts form Qumran still show it. The Paleo-Hebrew script is of the same general style as the script found on the Moabite Stone, the Siloam Inscription and the Lachish letters…
[4] “Q” is the name given by scholars to a theoretical lost document that contained some of the teachings of Jesus. Both of Casey’s books are from Cambridge University Press. In my opinion Casey is a good scholar, however I do disagree with some of his conclusions.
By Andrew Missick
Copyright 2005
The Holy Land at the time of Christ was a trilingual society.[1] The common language was Aramaic, there was also a large Gentile population that spoke Greek, and most observant Jews learned Hebrew. The Bible was translated into Aramaic so the common people could understand the Word of God. These translations are known as the Targums. The Greek language was not embraced by the Jewish people. The historian Flavius Josephus, who was a contemporary of St. Paul and who wrote accounts of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and St. James in his history of the Jews, made an interesting remark about the Jews’ attitude toward Greek. He says
I have also taken a great deal of pains to obtain the learning of the Greek; although I have so accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, I cannot pronounce Greek with sufficient exactness. For my nation does not encourage those that learn the languages of many nations. On this account, as there have been many who have done their endeavors, with great patience, to obtain this Greek learning, there have yet hardly been two or three that have succeeded therein, who were immediately rewarded for their pains.[2]
Josephus originally wrote in Aramaic, and like the New Testament, his works include Aramaic words and “aramaisms”. Josephus also published his works in Aramaic for the benefit of Jews and even Gentiles in Babylon.
How often did Jesus speak Aramaic?
All day everyday, whenever he was talking. He used it when he healed people (Mark 5:41 and & 7:34), when he was praying (Mark 14:36), when he was preaching (Matthew 5:22) and in the time of his agony (Matthew 27:46). But, when in the synagogue and when reading from the Torah or expounding from the Law, didn’t Jesus use Hebrew? Jesus surely learned Hebrew and was literate in it, but even the Rabbis themselves expounded the Law in Aramaic. The most famous Rabbinical teaching on the Torah, called the Talmud, was written in Aramaic. The Torah was available in an Aramaic translation. Jesus’ teaching was directed at the common people and he spoke to them in the common language, Aramaic. God gave us the Bible in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Jesus preached his Holy Gospel in Aramaic.
How Did the Jews Begin Speaking Aramaic?
In ancient times Aramaic became the Lingua Franca, or universal language. The Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians used Aramaic as an official or the international language.
This is illustrated in 2 Kings 18:19-20 (Isaiah 36:4-74). The Assyrian ambassador speaks to the Israelites in Hebrew. The Israelites prefer to speak in Aramaic, the language of diplomacy, since they are afraid that the threatening words of the Assyrians will demoralize the people. Here we see that Hebrew is the local language – and Aramaic is the international language.
The Bible teaches that the Israelites sinned against God, and so God punished them with the sword of their enemies.
The northern tribes, the Israelites, were conquered and taken into exile into Assyria. The Judeans were conquered and taken into captivity by the Babylonians. This is called the “Babylonian Captivity”. Jeremiah prophesied that the Jews would be in captivity for 70 years (Jeremiah 25: 11-12 and 29:10). At the end of this time Ezra and Nehemiah brought some of the Jews back to Canaan. During the Babylonian Captivity the people forgot Hebrew and began speaking Aramaic. During this time the Jews adopted the Aramaic alphabet to replace the Old Hebrew alphabet. This old Aramaic alphabet we now call “Hebrew”. The Israelites that stayed in the Holy Land still used the old Hebrew alphabet, which is still used by the Samaritans today. [3] The Samaritans also used (and still use) Aramaic and have several writings in the Aramaic language.
The Place of Hebrew in the Aramaic-speaking Society of Palestine in the First Century
During the first century Rabbis (like Jesus), scribes, Biblical scholars and extreme nationalists could speak Hebrew fluently. These people would have grown up speaking Aramaic as their first language. The common people did not speak Hebrew. The common person would have been familiar with Hebrew as a liturgical language as the common Catholic was with Latin before Vatican II. Maurice Casey does a very thorough and scholarly exploration of the place of Aramaic in the culture of the Holy Land at the time of Jesus in his two books Aramaic Sources of Mark’s Gospel and An Aramaic Approach to Q.[4]
[1] Randall J. Buth “Language Use in the First Century: The Place of Hebrew in a Trilingual Society” Notes on Scripture in Use: Special Issue (1):25-42
[2] George Lamsa New Testament Origin p.33
[3] F.F. Bruce p.129 “The Samaritan Pentateuch…is written in an older form of Hebrew script than that of the Masoretic Bible and Jewish-Hebrew literature in general. Somewhere about 200 BC this older, “Paeleo-Hebrew” script, was superseded among the Jews by the Aramaic of ‘square’ character, some of the older Biblical manuscripts form Qumran still show it. The Paleo-Hebrew script is of the same general style as the script found on the Moabite Stone, the Siloam Inscription and the Lachish letters…
[4] “Q” is the name given by scholars to a theoretical lost document that contained some of the teachings of Jesus. Both of Casey’s books are from Cambridge University Press. In my opinion Casey is a good scholar, however I do disagree with some of his conclusions.
posted by Andrew Missick at 6:06 PM
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