JESUS SPOKE HEBREW

In 1988 an American professor, who had received his Ph.D. at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, stated his opinion that Jesus spoke Hebrew as His main language. Today, eighteen years later, God has given me a strong desire to substantiate (or refute) this assertion.

Many educated people today seem to assume that since Aramaic was the popular language in many countries around Israel 2,000 years ago, that it was Jesus’ language. Many believe that the Hebrew people in Jesus’ day were a defeated people with no cultural or spiritual pride, who spoke a foreign language and in times of worship and instruction had to have the Hebrew scriptures followed by a Aramaic translation or paraphrase, called a "Targum". This lack of the Jewish people being proud of being God’s Chosen People is not consistent with the facts.

To understand Jesus fully, we need to be aware of the language and the culture when He lived.

Jesus was Jewish, born in Israel in the town of Bethlehem. Apparently, people in Israel were still aware and proud of their heritage, such as being a relative of King David. The Hebrew Bible they used (aka the Old Testament or the TENAKH) mentions the Aramaic language four times ( 2 Kings 18:26; Ezra 4:7; Isaiah 4:7; Daniel 2:4). In every mention, Aramaic is used as a foreign language and even on one occasion contrasted with the Hebrew language of the Children of Israel.

Closer to the time of Jesus, we find that the overwhelming majority of The Dead Sea Scrolls are in Hebrew, not Aramaic.

In the stories recorded about Jesus, Aramaic is not even mentioned but Hebrew is mentioned 5 times (Luke 23:38; John 5:2; 19:13, 17, 20) in the majority of Greek manuscripts available. Paul even tells how, after Jesus rose from the dead, He spoke to him in Hebrew (Acts 26:14). A few years later, Paul wanted to get the attention of a crowd of Jews in Jerusalem and spoke to them in Hebrew (Acts 21:40; 22:2). Also, in the Aramaic translation of the Bible (aka The Syriac Vulgate or the Peshitta) the word Hebrew, not Aramaic, is found in the same 8 scriptures. It is wonderful that some translators or copiers feared God enough to record a word accurately.

As Jesus was growing up, we find a culture that was strong in their Hebrew roots. His family, relatives and friends made a long journey that took over one day, every year to Jerusalem for Passover. When Jesus was 12, it is recorded in Luke 2:41-52 that He spent significant time in the Temple with the religious teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. It is valid to believe that the religious teachers, especially at the Temple, would converse in Hebrew.

During Jesus’ ministry, there are recorded more than twenty eight times that He conversed, often with lengthy dialogue, with Jewish religious leaders ( aka Scribes, Pharisees, teachers of the Law, Priests, elders, etc.). These discussions or even debates would definitely be in the Hebrew language, the language of the Bible that their discussions centered around.

Also in Jesus’ teachings and conversations, He quoted or referred to passages in the Bible or the TENAKH over 96 times from 21 different books. Since the reference was to what Jesus and His listeners knew from Hebrew Scriptures, the discussions would be expected to be in Hebrew. There is never a suggestion of explaining anything in another language.

The most concrete example that Jesus read and spoke Hebrew is recorded in Luke 4:16-21 where He read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue in His hometown.

There was definitely not even a hint of needing to translate it into Aramaic for His listeners.

Is it possible that Jesus also knew Aramaic? The answer would be yes. In many societies both then and now, people are multilingual. In Galilee, which was very cosmopolitan at that time with a heavy non-Jewish influence, Jesus, as a carpenter prior to the start of His ministry, may have needed Greek and Aramaic to deal with His customers.

It is valid to consider that Jesus had a working knowledge of Greek. Greek was the main governing language in the eastern Roman Empire, which included Israel. It is considered likely that Roman administrators like a Roman centurion or Pontius Pilate would have used Greek when talking to Jesus. Greek turns up on a fifth of the Jewish inscriptions from the region and on a majority of the burial inscriptions. The Dead Sea Scrolls, which are just before the time of Jesus, also include some Greek manuscripts and some in Aramaic. The seventh cave discovered at Qumran contained only Greek texts.

Regarding words that are transliterated into the Greek, since Hebrew and Aramaic are so close, it is hard to be sure the original language. In one instance, the placement of the definite article indicates it is Aramaic. As we consider the subject matter and the listener in influencing the language utilized, it is highly possible that Jesus spoke in Aramaic in some situations.  A transliteration of an Aramaic word would further support it uniqueness, as the writers of the gospel recorded words in Greek, from the oral tradition decades later from those Jesus originally spoke in Hebrew.

During Jesus ministry, His main focus was to lead people of Israel closer to God. The Hebrew people that represented over 99% of the people to whom Jesus was communicating and the subject matter, which constantly referred to what is written in the Hebrew Bible, would lead to the strong conclusion that the primary language Jesus used in His ministry was Hebrew.

Ed Lindgren

(918) 83-JESUS or 835-3787

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