Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Mark Spitsbergen <awakesd AT mac.com>]

Correction: ve-safah )ahat (and language one)

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Begin forwarded message:

> From: Mark Spitsbergen <awakesd AT mac.com>
> Date: May 30, 2009 12:07:33 PM PDT
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: 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 there  
> 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