Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Fred:

On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 8:20 AM, fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com>wrote:

>
> did biblical hebrew language form the sole language of the land, much as
> english represented the language of america circa 1840-1940?
>
> And if so, what time period was biblical hebrew language, the government
> language, the language of trade and commerce, the liturgical language, the
> language of street and home; the language of the lower and upper classes;
> the language north ... and the language south?
>
> regards,
>
> fred burlingame
>

You are asking questions for which we have no proof in any answer that we
give.

Because the ancient Hebrews came from a tradition of writing on materials
suitable for nomadic lifestyle, namely leather and later papyrus as well,
almost none of the original documents survived. We don’t even know how
widespread was the knowledge of writing. It was only through a fluke that
the Dead Sea Scrolls survived.

Therefore, any answer given here will be according to the answerer’s
religion / philosophy / presuppositions without archaeological evidence to
back up the answers. Those who believe that Tanakh gives an accurate
history, will give a different answer from those who believe that Tanakh was
a late document, late in the history of Israel.

Because all answers are religious, I will not go into the details at this
time.

Karl W. Randolph.