Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Fred:

On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 6:34 PM, fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>wrote:

> …
> a. If, in 2010, …
> b. and …
> c. …
>

Your argument is highly speculative, with no way of really answering them.
There are too many stated and implied “if”s.

>
> …
> Likewise, the language of the leningrad codex…
>

Why do you keep emphasizing the Leningrad Codex and its times? That’s not
Biblical Hebrew. Biblical Hebrew is that which was spoken and written from
about 1400–700 BC.

The Leningrad Codex is merely a preservation of a document that was written
mostly during that period, with additional marks to aid the non-scholar in
its reading.

>
> …
> Was the situation different in 600 b.c., when presumably the leningrad
> codex language was commonly in use? …. So, to say that the hebrew people
> could understand the words of the tanakh in 600 b.c., without help from the
> priests .... seems against history. (not to mention nehemiah 8:8).
>

Slight correction, Nehemiah 8 describes an event that happened around 400 BC
after Hebrew was no longer used as a mother tongue, but was still a living,
changing language because of its widespread use as a second language.

>
> It would also be interesting to know the literacy rates for biblical hebrew
> in persons attending american synagogues today, where hebrew books readily
> available. 50%?
>

Irrelevant to a study of Biblical Hebrew.

>
> regards,
>
> fred burlingame
>
> Karl W. Randolph.