Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Dear Mark,

While it is perfectly legitimate for you to state what you "believe", you
must understand that that's a non-starter for a discussion on this list.
What you are saying, is that others, who may not share your belief in this
matter, are basically left out of the discussion. Since this list is
specifically NOT about belief, the only legitimate way to begin a discussion
is by citing evidence. As long as your argument rests on a foundation of
personal faith, it's not one that can be discussed.

Best,

Yigal Levin
Co-moderator, b-hebrew

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Mark Spitsbergen
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 9:08 PM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] bavel


Dear list please bear with me and help me address the subject of Hebrew and
its precedence over other ancient languages.  I believe that the Torah is
the highest level of authority and most accurate document of the history of
man.Therefore, it stands to reason that there was only one language at the
onset of creation and preserved until bavel, )ehad ve-safah (Genesis 11:6).
Now if the division of language took place miraculously at 'bavel' (Genesis
11:2), before each nation was divided according to their language (Genesis
10:5) then shouldn't we assume that there would not necessarily be any
evidence of a linguistic evolution from the singular language of bavel into
the diverse tongues of the nations? If we then assume that the oral
tradition of scripture was preserved in the language of the Torah then
Hebrew would be that language, correct? If the Torah then is a preserved
autograph of scripture shouldn't the five books also be a preserved
transcript of that language?  Are t
 here any truly linguistic facts (not hypothesis misnomered as theories) to
the contrary (other than the script/font)? 

Finally, should we even be attempting to define Hebrew with the Ugarit
language as Dahood and others have done with the Ras Shamra text? Is it wise
to attempt to define the most ancient Hebrew words through the definitions
given to Akkadian words? Who defines how we set precedence and where we gain
a sensible balance in this quest to truly define a meaning of any particular
word in the Torah?  

Thanks,

Mark Spitsbergen
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