Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jerry Shepherd <jshepherd53 AT gmail.com>]

Hi Will,

 

You said: "As I mentioned above, Biblical texts were written over a period of
centuries, and the language surely underwent changes during that
time.  Taking the language of the last book (by which time there was
most likely strong Aramaic influence) and the beginning of the work of
the Masoretes is somewhat misleading as to the total time of the
transformation of language we're considering."

 

Jerry: See Chavoux's post and also my post to Karl.  I believe that there was not only development in the Hebrew language, but also development in the biblical texts; older texts were edited and updated in a number of ways, including orthographically.

 

You said: ". . . the Hebrew as pronounced
using a 'Masoretic' pronunciation would sound considerably different
than that used by Jeremiah, let alone David, let alone Moses."

 

Jerry: Agreed, but, as I mentioned above, the post-exilic editions of those texts would be different as well, on account of editorial work, including an updating process.

 

You said: "I don't follow your reasoning here at all."

 

Jerry: See my post to Karl on this; but what I'm arguing is that if Hebrew ceased to be the regular spoken language among Jewish communities, and was pretty much reserved for liturgical and academic purposes, that would have helped to preserve the text as well as the pronunciation of the text.  If the Hebrews was spoken primarily by the religious officials, that would have helped to "freeze" the text and its pronunciation.  Admittedly, this is speculative, because we just don't know when Hebrew ceased to be a commonly spoken language.  But it is one plausible scenario.

 

Blessings,

 

Jerry

Jerry Shepherd

Taylor Seminary

Edmonton, Alberta

jshepherd53 AT gmail.com