blog# 12, Jesus...using Hebrew in Greek Gospels?

blog# 12, Jesus...using Hebrew in Greek Gospels?

As a young teen after my conversion to Christianity, and reading the Christian Bible completely through, I wanted self assurance that what I was reading in the bible, was correctly understood by myself. I was able to recognize quickly by God’s grace, that along with my bible, a great study tool for achieving my goal was a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with the Hebrew-Greek Lexicon. I could link my King James Version with English words to Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, because of the numbering systems.

I also wanted to understand what certain words, phrases, and sentences, meant to the people of the times of the prophets, and of Jesus, and to know how to apply them to our days and times.
That was the beginning of my quest for biblical knowledge, and it was sparked by illumination by the Spirit of the Lord. He enabled me to begin examination of Hebrew and Greek texts, and to investigate Hebrew culture and long established traditions. After all I reasoned, if Jesus taught, spoke, and delivered his parables in Hebrew, I would do well to learn as much Hebrew language and culture as possible while studying the bible. The discipline of "study" with intensity, began during those early years, and it has kept my thirst for truth well satisfied.

Some things stood out during reading of the Gospels and Acts. Luke 23:38, John 19:20, and Acts 26:14, all mentioned the use of the Hebrew tongue. The narrative about the inscription on Golgotha’s, cross (tree), and the language that Jesus used was Hebrew on Damascus road when answering Saul of Tarsus, who asked; Who art thou, Lord? Why did the New Testament manuscript copies say Hebrew? If Aramaic was intended to be the translation rendering, what happened?

Investigation showed that the Greek manuscript texts in those examples, did not give a Greek spelling equating the word Aramaic. The K.J. Version translators were correct in writing "Hebrew" in those verses. I had heard argument that Hebrew meant Aramaic when it appeared in the New Testament. Why didn’t scholars believe what the manuscripts wrote in that matter? Or, was this a form of intellectual dishonesty? Regardless of the reasons that caused some to say that Hebrew meant Aramaic, I knew better after having looked long and hard at manuscript copies.

Such discoveries caused me to delve deeper into the study of Hebrew, and compare with Greek readings. I began to find out all kinds of interesting things relating to long established English traditions. Examples are the words, "Lucifer, Calvary, Devils (instead of demons), Easter, James, and Jesus. Get ready for a gentle jolt, because none of those words actually match the Greek and Hebrew texts in translation or transliteration. Stunning and disappointing! Five of those terms don’t even belong in an English speakers bible, and one is a poor rendering of a Hebrew to Greek to English transliteration.

Hebrew words and names abound throughout the New Testament. The Hebrew-Aramaic word mix is evident in the gospels, and diligent Hebrew students know that over 10% of Hebrew is long time Aramaic loan words. Shemitic languages share some word meanings, guttural sounds, and all have mostly three root consonants. This may have thrown some scholars and teachers off track, since the Gospel of Mark contains some Aramaic terms.

But Mark, and the other three gospels also contain purely Hebrew words. Case in point is proven by Matthew 28:20, Mark 16:20, Luke 24:55, and John 21:25. Each of the 4 Gospels end with the English word "amen." Recollection kicks in and a prayer endorsed by Jesus in Matthew 6:12, also contains an "amen." Wow! King James Version translators saved 5 amens for us from the Greek Gospel text copies, by transliterating them from Greek to English, instead of rendering them into an English word.

But, what is the word amen doing hiding in a Greek text? Amen is not a Greek word. Further investigation shows what is unbelievable; Over 100 amens occur in the 4 Gospels, but its obscured by the fact that in nearly every case, English translators rendered them "Verily." So, why are Greek words in the mouth of Jesus, as he talks to his 12 or 82 disciples? Fact is that "amen" is an ancient Hebrew word. The Greek New Testament has plenty of Hebrew words and thoughts therein. The Hebrew story about Jesus and the Gospels were evidently turned into Greek.

Some grammarians have put periods in the wrong place in regard to the term amen. Sentences do not start with amen among Hebrew speakers. Amen is like the word "selah"- pause, mediate, think about it. Always look at what was said in the text before the "amen" occurs. The Spirit of the Lord teaches us by our renewed nature, that amen is a response. Have you ever been in a church service or otherwise when something good was said, and a congregant sounds out; amen?

A Hebrew Greek scholar acquaintance of mine once said, that the [gospel] evangelists have tended to treat "amen" as a Greek word- . In the Hebrew Bible (O.T.), the amen response appears with even the double "amen," just as it occurs in the Gospel of John, where we find the Verily, Verily, phrases. But our amen ends a particular matter. The same at the close of every prayer; a response: amen, amen, and amen. So be it.

Recent scholarship and more profound studies, discovery of the Bar Kochba letters, the Hebrew Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and language of the Jewish sages, show that it is accepted that most people were fluent in Hebrew. One professor, noted for his studies at the Hebrew University, wrote over twenty years ago; that the Pentateuch [five Torah books] was translated into Aramaic for the benefit of the lower strata of the population. The parables in the Rabbinic literature, on the other hand, were delivered in Hebrew in all periods. There is thus no ground for assuming that Jesus did not speak Hebrew; and when we are told (Acts 21:40), that Paul spoke Hebrew, we should take this piece of information at face value.

This question of the spoken language is especially important for understanding the doctrines of Jesus. There are saying of Jesus which can be rendered both into Hebrew and Aramaic; but there are some which can only be rendered into Hebrew, and none of them can be rendered only in Aramaic. One can thus demonstrate the Hebrew origins of the Gospels by retranslating them into Hebrew.

Studies of rabbinic literature show that there existed a pool of about 5,000 parables and 800 parables called "king parables." Only a scant number of these are known in Aramaic, but virtually all of them are written in Hebrew. Jesus, David, and Solomon, all used parables to teach instruction. Both Jesus and other sages drew from this pool of parables for teaching.
More later...