Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Niels Peter Lemche <npl AT teol.ku.dk>]

Dear Jonathan,

Where, Gen 31 speaks like gen 28 about Laban the Aramean, but it does not
prevent Laban and God from speaking standard biblical Hebrew in chapter 31.
The distinction is an ethnic one, not a linguistic. Arer you referring to
31:47: Jegar shahaduta?

NPL


> ----------
> Fra:  Jonathan D. Safren[SMTP:yonsaf AT beitberl.ac.il]
> Svar til:     Jonathan D. Safren
> Sendt:        8. juni 2000 12:54
> Til:  Biblical Hebrew
> Cc:   Biblical Hebrew
> Emne:         Re: Hebrew language, antiquity of ?
> 
> 
> 
> George Athas wrote:
> 
> > > [...]
> > > Another question I have is that in the Genesis narratives, Abraham's
> dialogs
> > > are in Hebrew (correct me if I am wrong). If he is from Harran, why
> isn't he
> > > speaking in Aramaic ? If he is from Lower Mesopotamia, why isn't he
> speaking
> > > in Akkadian ?  If these dialogs are really "his preserved words", and
> if one
> > > wants to argue later generations rendered his words into Hebrew, then
> > > wouldn't word studies reveal an Aramaic or Akkadian language
> underlying the
> > > Hebrew translation ? [...]
> >
> > Why do Colleen McCullough's Roman characters all seem to speak in
> English? Why do the
> > characters in the movie, "Gladiator" all speak English? Why does Jesus
> speak Greek in the
> > NT?
> 
> In Gen. 31, the narrator makes a clear distinction between the language
> spoken by Laban -
> Aramean - and the language spoken by Jacob - Hebrew; meaning that for the
> writers of the
> Patriarchal Narratives, the Patriarchs had spoken Hebrew. This doesn't
> mean anything
> historically, of course, unless you want to claim that thwe Patriarchs
> spole some Amorite
> dialect, which later became Hebrew. But it would appear that the
> Patriarchs originated in an
> Aramaic milieu and not an Amorite one.
> Sincerely,
> --
> Jonathan D. Safren
> Dept. of Biblical Studies
> Beit Berl College
> 44905 Beit Berl Post Office
> Israel
> 
> 
> 
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