God's Word
LANGUAGE
God's Word
LANGUAGE
Language is made up of words. Words may be thought of as building blocks with which thoughts are expressed; or, we may see them as carriers by which ideas are shared by oral or written means. The particular language one uses will greatly influence how thoughts are articulated. If you are reading this material in any language other than English, it is a foregone conclusion you are reading a translation.
Translators are among our greatest benefactors. They give us access to a rich minefield of information we would not otherwise possess. When it comes to the Bible, practically all of us are profoundly indebted to the scholarly translators who set before us in our own language the greatest Book ever written. We say “practically all of us” because, generally speaking, very few of us are thorough in our knowledge of the three original languages of the Bible, classical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek.
Since the Bible comes to us out of antiquity, it is not surprising to know that its original languages are ancient. A few non-technical observations about these languages may help us to be more aware of our rich biblical heritage and more appreciative of biblical translators, both ancient and modern.
Hebrew is a member of a large family of languages called Semitic. These languages fall into four major groups based on geographical locale. The West Semitic group is made up of Canaanite, Moabite, Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Hebrew. The East Semitic group consists of Babylonian and Assyrian (Akkadian). The South Semitic group contains Arabic, Ethiopic, and Old South Arabic. The North Semitic group has Aramaic and Amorite.
The languages in each of these groups have closer affinities with each other than with those of the other groups, although all of them are Semitic. Therefore, it is not surprising to learn there are similarities between the West Semitic languages of Phoenician and Hebrew.
A gigantic linguistic leap took place when the Phoenician alphabet was developed. This accounts for the fact that Hebrew developed as an alphabetic language instead of one that used hieroglyphic signs or cuneiform (wedge-like) symbols for writing.
We have already noted that early references to Hebrew writing are those of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament); evidence for non-Biblical Hebrew writing dates as early as the 11th century B.C. An impressive example of Hebrew written in the ‘Paleo’ (primitive) Hebrew script is the Gezer Calendar dating from the 10th century B.C. This early (‘Paleo’) script yielded to the so- called square Aramaic style as early as the time of Ezra in the 5th century B.C.
The early Hebrew script did not have vowel signs. In fact, the Hebrew Bible did not originally have a written vocalization system. However, the scribes obviously felt the need for vowel indications because the Hebrew Bible shows evidence they began using certain consonants for vowels. Examples: He (h) for “a”; Yod (y) for “I” and “e”; and Waw (w) for “u” and “o”. Though started early, the final development, standardization, and application of vowel signs to the consonantal Hebrew text of the Old Testament by traditional Masoretic scribes was not completed until about the 7th century A.D.
All of this may seem strange to those of us whose language is rooted in the Indo-European language family. Another interesting unique feature of the Hebrew language comes to light in the following quotation. “For the very first time in all human history a language which ceased being spoken in ancient times, came back to life on the lips of men and women and little children” (Edward Horowitz, How the Hebrew Language Grew). Today we have the Hebrew Holy Scriptures translated into modern Hebrew just as we have the Koine Greek Holy Scriptures translated into modern Greek.
Although the Old Testament is commonly referred to as the Hebrew Bible, one must note that a small portion of it was written in Aramaic. The longest passages are Ezra 4:8-6:18, 7:12-26, and Daniel 2:4b-7:28. However, there are other places where Aramaic phrases, words, and proper names are found.
It is interesting to learn that, on occasion, the biblical writer sensed that the readers would need to know the translation of an Aramaic word. For example: When Jacob made a covenant with his uncle Laban, they erected a pile of rocks as a reminder of their agreement. Laban, a native of Aram, gave the memorial an Aramaic name “Jegar Sahadutha.” Jacob, a grandson of Abraham “the Hebrew” (Genesis 14:13), called it in Hebrew “Galeed” (Genesis 31:47). Both items mean the same thing, “the heap of witness”.
The general affinities of the Hebrew and Aramaic languages are paralleled by the close relationship of the inhabitants of Paddan-Aram and the descendants of Abraham. Of course, Abram (Abraham) was the father of the Hebrew people. However, when he journeyed with Terah his father from “Ur of the Chaldeans,” the land of his birth (Genesis 11:28, 31), the clan settled in the city of Haran in the country of Paddan-Aram. After Terah died, Abraham and Sarai his wife along with Lot his nephew, traveled to the land of Canaan in response to God’s command. The remainder of the clan stayed in Haran and continued to be identified as Arameans, while the descendants of Abraham formed the Hebrews.
However, the Hebrews were not to forget their ancient lineage. Hundreds of years after Abraham’s time, God gave His chosen people the Law of Moses. Imbedded in that Law was a reminder to all who came to the altar of the Lord to offer the sacrifice of first fruits. They were to speak to God concerning Abraham’s grandson Jacob, “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation” (Deuteronomy 26:5).
Although a very small amount of Aramaic is found in the Bible, the Scriptures do give notice that Aramaic was a very important language. In fact, it served as the lingua franca, that is, the communication vehicle among many nations of the ancient Biblical world, beginning as early as the 9th century B.C. An incident of how this worked at the international level is found in 2 Kings 18 and the parallel in Isaiah 36. It occurred at the end of the 8th century B.C.
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, demanded that Hezekiah, king of Judah, surrender the city of Jerusalem. When his emissary arrived with a large army, Hebrew spokesmen met him outside the city wall. When Rabshakeh, the Assyrian, claimed the Lord had sent him to destroy the city, the representatives of king Hezekiah said, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean [Hebrew], in the hearing of the people who are on the wall” (2 Kings 18:26; Isaiah 36:11).
The Hebrew representatives of King Hezekiah did not want the Hebrew people to know how desperate the situation was. They asked the Assyrians not to negotiate in Hebrew, which the Assyrians understood. The Hebrew spokesmen wanted the discussions to be in Aramaic, which the Hebrew governmental officials understood.
Perhaps one would not expect to find the Semitic language of Aramaic in the Greek New Testament. However, it does appear in the form of “Aramaisms,” that is, Aramaic words and phrases, in a Greek linguistic context. This is, no doubt, because all the Greek-writing authors of the New Testament were Jews, with the probable exception of Luke, because he was not numbered among those whom Paul mentioned as his only co-workers “of the circumcision” at Colossae. He was, however, named as “Luke, the beloved physician” among others Paul commended (Colossians 4:10-14). It is generally believed that Aramaic had become the common language of the Jews long before the 1st century A.D., and continued for some time afterward. Therefore, it is quite to be expected that Jews writing in Greek would resort to Aramaic ways of expressing unusual events, dramatic statements, and in recording proper names. Examples follow: Jesus was requested to heal the daughter of a synagogue official named Jairus. Before He arrived at Jairus’ home, word came that the girl had died. Undaunted, Jesus went into the death room, “And taking the child by the hand, He said to her, ‘Talitha kum!’ (which translated means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise!’)” (Mark 5:41). Mark, a Jew, used the Aramic phrase, “Talitha kum.” On the other hand, Luke, probably a Greek, used a Greek expression to describe a similar restoration-to-life miracle that Jesus did when He raised the son of a widow who lived in Nain. He said to the dead man, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” (egertheti!) (Luke 7:14b).
Jesus spoke to His follower Simon Peter, which in Greek means “hearing” and “stone,” respectively, and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which translated means Peter) (John 1:42). The Gospel writer John gave the translation of the Aramaic name Cephas for the benefit of his far-flung Greek-speaking readers who did not know Aramaic.
There are other Aramaic names found in the New Testament. For example: The Apostle Peter performed a back-to-life miracle by raising a Christian lady from the dead. Luke, certainly writing in Greek for a Greek-reading audience, recorded the event. Since names usually mean something meaningful, he found it appropriate to translate the woman’s Aramaic name into Greek so a reader unfamiliar with Aramaic would know its meaning. The text reads, “Now in Joppa there was a certain disciple names Tabitha (which translated [in Greek] is called Dorcas)…” (Acts 9:36a). So, just as the Greek reader needed to know the meaning of the Aramaic “Tabitha,” English readers need to know the meaning of the Greek “Dorcas,” which is “Gazelle” (See Acts 9:36-41; margin NASB and note NIV).
One of the more familiar Biblical Aramaic expressions is found in Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians. As he closed the letter, he used the Aramaic “marana tha,” meaning “O [our] Lord, come!” (1 Corinthians 16:22b). The unfortunate translation and transliteration of this phrase in the KJV leaves the impression that in this verse “anathema” (Greek), and “marana tha” (Aramaic), are related in a curse formula. However, they stand separate and apart in both language and meaning. While “anathema” does mean “accursed” in Greek, “marana tha” means, as stated earlier, “O Lord, come!” The Greek equivalent of “marana tha” is found in the prayer of Revelation 22:20b, “Come, Lord Jesus” (“erchou kurie Iesou”).
Finally, we should note that modern Syria and the ancient language of Syriac are not to be confused with the Biblical Aram and the Aramaic language. Syriac is an Aramaic dialect. Unfortunately, some early Biblical translations carried the Greek words “Syria, Syrians” for the Hebrew word “Aram, Aramaeans.” This was perpetuated until modern times. The ambiguity has now been clarified in most translations. For examples: compare KJV 2 Samuel 8:5, 6 with NASB (margin), and NIV; KJV 1 Kings 2:20, 22, 23 with NIV, JB; KJV Hosea 12:12 with NASB, RSV, Amplified, NIV.
The Greek language has a long and illustrious history. As early as the time of some of the Hebrew patriarchs it came into the peninsula bordered by the Ionian and Aegean Seas, the area we now call Macedonia and Greece (Achaia), and the adjacent islands. The three distinctive groups of Greek (Hellene) immigrants were Ionians, Achaeans, and Dorians. For some 3,000 years some form of Greek has been spoken in that area of the world. Early on, Greek colonization spread from that area to other countries around the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
In the Hebrew language these pooped were called the “sons of Javan” (“beney Yawan,” Genesis 10:4). Javan was the son of Japheth (Genesis 10:2, 4). The “sons of Javan” surface now and then in the Old Testament. For examples: Joel referred to them in his denunciation of the Phoenicians and Philistines for having “sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks [beney Yewaniym] in order to remove them far from their territory” (Joel 3:6; M.T. Joel 4:6). However, Zechariah speaks of a time when the “tables will be turned” and God “will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece [Yawan]” (Zechariah 9:13b).
As the centuries passed, the literature produced by those of Hellas (Greece) shows that their alphabet was derived from the Phoenicians. Therefore, the three languages of the Bible are alphabetic because, directly or indirectly, they partook of what the Phoenicians provided to the world – an alphabet. After the age of Homer’s classic epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Golden Age of Greece saw the Attic dialect of the Athens area win supremacy and become the vehicle for such familiar writers as Demosthenes and Plato.
The fourth century B.C. saw Philip of Macedonia consolidating the Greek city states sufficiently to forge a united Greek army. After Philip’s assassination, his son, Alexander, tutored and counseled by Aristotle, led these forces in conquering much of the extended Mediterranean world. When Alexander died in 323 B. C., the “Hellenizing” of this vast empire was already well under way. This meant that those conquered were influenced by Greek ideas, culture, philosophy, and religions. The venue by which these things were disseminated was Koine Greek.
This Hellenistic Greek was Koine (common) for several reasons. The main dialects of Greece were integrated into a common language, although Attic carried the greater weight. Also, the effect of Greek on other languages was sometimes reciprocal. For example: This was illustrated when we were discussing the Aramaisms found in the Greek New Testament. Finally, Hellenistic Greek was common because it actually became the lingua franca in those parts of the world which had been conquered by Alexander. Even after the Romans came to power, Koine Greek continued to remain prominent until long after the Bible had been written and canonized (ca. mid-4th century A.D.). Of course, modern Greek continues to flourish to this day.
The importance of Koine Greek with reference to the Bible can hardly be over-emphasized. This is true even with the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). In the second century before Christ, the Septuagint (Hebrew Bible translated into Greek) had become “the Bible” for the Greek-speaking world, including large numbers of Jews. We have already noted that the complete New Testament was written in Greek. Also, the New Testament reflects the Greek influence on the milieu out of which the church of the first century A.D. came. For examples: When Jesus was crucified, “Pilate wrote an inscription also, and put it on the cross. And it was written, ‘JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.’ Therefore, this inscription many of the Jews read, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew [i.e., Jewish Aramaic], Latin, and in Greek” (John 19:19-20).
After the church was well established in Jerusalem, we learn of a complaint being brought concerning the neglect of certain widows of the church. Those voicing the complaint were Grecian (Hellenistic) Jews; that is, those Jews whose spoken language was Koine Greek. Their complaint was lodged against the Hebrews: that is, those Jews whose spoken language was Aramaic, or perhaps Hebrew. Of course, the dispute was not merely a language problem. It seems to have been more in the nature of the “foreigners” (non-Palestinian Jews who spoke Greek) against the “natives” (Palestinian Jews who spoke their native tongue).
The apostles solved the trouble by appointing seven men to see that the Grecian widows were not neglected. It is significant that these men had Greek names. This implies that they, too, were Greek-speaking Jews. They were assigned to correct an inequity that affected “their own”; that is, Greek-speaking widows. Thus, the church remained united in spite of cultural and linguistic differences (Cf. Acts 6:1-6).
Stephan was one of the men chosen for this work. He is described as being full of God’s grace, power, wisdom, and Spirit (Acts 6:3, 8). Therefore, it is not surprising to learn that he was also engaged in evangelistic work among Jews, like himself, were Hellenistic, or Greek-speaking. A group of these “men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen” (Acts 6:9). Apparently, these men had at least five things in common. They were Jews. They spoke Greek. They were freed slaves. They were of the Diaspora (scattered Jews). They were zealous for the Law of Moses. They also instigated a series of events which resulted in Stephen’s death. Thus, Stephen was the first Christian martyr of record. It seems fortuitous that when Stephen was born his parents must have considered him a special prize. Therefore, they named him Stephanos (meaning “reward, prize, crown”).
The Apostle Paul said, after a life of service to his Master, “… there is laid up for me the crown [stephanos] of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day …” (2 Timothy 4:8a). Jesus admonished, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown [stephanos] of life” (Revelation 2:10b).
In Scripture we find “Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned [estephanomenon] with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for every one” (Hebrews 2:9b). We also learn that at His crucifixion He prayed to His Father, saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34a). Stephan showed a similar attitude when he was stoned to death. He said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60b). Jesus Christ was martyred as God’s “faithful witnesses” (Revelation 1:5a). So was Stephan. Jesus was “crowned with glory and honor” by reason of the death that He died. Stephan had the assurance of the “crown of life” because of his faithfulness “until death.”
This extended illustration from the life of Stephen is powerful and instructive enough to move even a casual reader. Stephen challenges us. However, there is another important truth we learn from this little survey of Stephen. We are made to realize that the Greek language of the New Testament is so rich and expressive that single words like stephanos often provide a clue to precious truths.
(Unless noted, Bible translation used is the New American Standard Bible)
