Hebrew and Greek Bible Study Necessities

Today's Message is YouTube Audio Only

Hebrew and Greek are Bible Study necessities to validate biblical translations, as they exist in English.  The seminary has been the bastion of investigation into the original languages of biblical texts.  Consequently, seminarians choose Hebrew or Greek and sometimes both to prepare for preaching and teaching in congregations, they will serve.

Preachers and teachers, from television to America’s mega churches to America’s rural churches, refer on occasion, to what the original biblical languages say.  For some, exploration into the original languages is exciting.  For others, questions voiced ask if what is present in English translations is enough. 

The people of the Church challenge themselves and each other.  Shall they accept what they believe English translations have revealed?  Is it enough or should they dig deeper into the original languages?

Hebrew

The Website Hebrew for Christians reports Hebrew one of the world’s oldest languages.  Origin of the word ‘Hebrew’ derives from the word ‘Eber’ or the son of Shem, one of the sons of Noah.  Eber means region across from, beyond and emerges for the same root as the word ‘Passover’.  The descendant sons of Shem or Eber are Hebrew descendants called Semites. 

Hebrew is the original language of the Torah, the word spoken by God given to Moses for recording shared with the people.  The Torah is the first five books Christians identify as Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. 

The five books by title are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  The names in Hebrew come from each book’s opening phrase.  The titles do not necessarily have direct correlation to contemporary translation of meaning for the books.

1.      Genesis (בְּרֵאשִׁית‎,Bərēšīṯ, the beginning)

2.      Exodus (שְׁמוֹת, Sh'mot, names)

3.      Leviticus (ויקרא, Vayikra/Wayikra, and he called)

4.      Numbers (במדבר, Bəmidbar, in the desert)

5.      Deuteronomy (בְּרֵאשִׁית‎,the spoken words).   

Tanakh is the word for the Hebrew Bible.  The Torah represents the original source of revelation of God to humanity through the chosen man, receptionist, and transcriber; Moses.  The correlation of Torah to English translations and transliterations is central to Hebrew and Greek Bible Study.

Greek

From the Jerusalem Perspective, Greek was the primary language of commerce and transaction in first century Jewish culture.  This was the direct result of the conquest of Alexander, the Great in the fourth century B.C. E., (Before the Common Era).

Pentateuch is the Greek word for the first five books of the Bible.  Mary Fairchild describes the Pentateuch as the foundation of God’s revelation to humanity.  She defines Pentateuch as meaning five vessels," "five containers," or "five-volume book.

The five book titles remain the same; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. However, Greek does not follow the pattern of title selection from each book’s opening phrase.  Greek titles take on meaning.  

1. 1Genesis (γένεσις, meaning "origin")
2. 2Exodus (ἔξοδος, Exodos, meaning "going out")
3. 3Leviticus ( Λευιτικός, Leuitikos, meaning "relating to the Levites)
4. 4Numbers (Ἀριθμοί, Arithmoi meaning the counting)
5. 5Deuteronomy (Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronomion, "second law")

The Septuagint resulted from the translation of the Tanakh Hebrew Bible.  The work accomplished by 70 or more Greek scholars between 400 – 300 B.C.E. served Hellenistic Jews as they spread through the Greek Empire.  Hellenistic Jews assimilated into Greek culture and overtime lost their mother tongue or original language of Hebrew.  The Septuagint would lead to the Greek Diaspora knowing Jewish history and relationship to God.  This same process will eventually lead to the translation of the tests into English.

English

English versions of the Hebrew Bible and following Greek translation resulted from resistance to more than a millennium of Roman Catholic Church domination.  The Latin Vulgate, the Hebrew texts translated into Latin was established the common translation at the juncture of the 3^rd and 4^th Centuries of the Common Era (C.E.).  The Roman Catholic Church as political and spiritual power made it a crime for translation of the Vulgate.  Reading the Bible in any language other than Latin was a crime punishable by death.

John Wycliffe, Oxford professor, scholar and theologian at the dawn of the close of the 14^th Century C.E. believed Roman Catholic Church teaching contrary to the teaching of the Bible.  Execution followed Wycliffe and others for their views all should be able to read the Word of God in their language.

King Henry the VIII would drive a wedge between England and the Church of Rome, denouncing the church for not granting a marital request.  Henry severed ties and created the Church of England in protest.  As King, he served as head of the church.  One of his successors, Queen “Bloody” Mary sought to destroy the Church of England and restore power to the Church of Rome. 

From despair to triumph, the English language made its way to publication during the reign of King James the First, successor to Queen Elizabeth, the First.  Protestant Clergy appealed to the king in 1604 to develop an English “translation to end all translations”. 

Fifty scholars identified in 1605 charged with the task of collaboration.  They worked together through 1607 from established and agreed upon sources.  They assembled their work for production through 1609.  It went to press in 1610 and the first of huge volumes of artistic print of the Word of God in English was complete in 1611, the King James Translation.       

The titles of the first five books remain the same; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  The meanings of the titles are different in English with the exception of Genesis.

1. 1Genesis is the narrative of Creation and the Creator’s relationship with created humanity.
2. 2Exodus is the narrative of God providing opportunity for Hebrew people to be free of Egyptian slavery and governed by God’s law.
3. 3Leviticus is the narrative of the role of human obedience to the direction of God and the tribe of Levites as priests, teachers and guides to God’s people.
4. 4Numbers is a narrative of census taking and a draft to service that takes place during a 40 year wandering through desert between Egypt and Canaan.
5. 5Deuteronomy is a narrative reflection, recollection, affirmation and reiteration of God’s people in slavery, how God bought them from slavery, God’s present care, God’s behavioral expectation and promise.

Career Clergy Wesley Kittling declares, “The serious person committed to effective Bible study must pursue how the original languages inform us today.”  The distinctions in the original languages and the evolution of English translation bear out the Kittling Perspective.  Hebrew and Greek are imperatives for the Bible preachers and teachers properly informed to properly inform and direct God’s people.