Biblical Hebrew Forum

["ג'ייסון הייר" <jaihare AT gmail.com>]

B-Hebrew Chaverim,

I have been in a forum debate somewhere on the 'Net recently about the
*when* of the adoption of Hebrew. I personally think that Abraham and Sarah
adopted/acquired Hebrew when they migrated from Mesopotamia, and that their
children grew up in Canaan with the language. Thus, they carried with them
to Goshen (assuming the story of the biblical narrative at least true in the
generalities), continuing their faith in the one God (as Abraham had
instructed his family) until the time of the Exodus. Thus, it was natural
that the Torah would be composed in Hebrew in its original kernel (given
that many here do not think that the Torah was nearly all composed by the
hand of Moshe Rabbeinu).

The position of my "friend" on the other forum is that the Israelites
adopted Hebrew only *after* the Exodus. I'm curious to know if there is
anyone who makes a good point of this in the scholarly community, and also
if there has been an opposing argument put forward.

תודה רבה לכם
Jason Hare
English Teacher
Rishon LeZion
Israel