Facts about the Hebrew Language

Hebrew was the language of the ancient Israelites, and the language which the Jewish Scriptures (i.e., the “Old Testament”) were written in. Here are some facts about the Hebrew language:

Fact #1: Hebrew was a Canaanite language.

Hebrew was a common Canaanite language, and was not distinct from the languages spoken by the peoples living in the land of Canaan. In other words, what we call “Hebrew” today was simply the version of the Canaanite languages used by the Israelites. In fact, Canaanite texts and inscriptions can be read and understood by someone who knows Biblical Hebrew.

Throughout the Jewish Scriptures, the Hebrew language itself is never referred to as “Hebrew”. Rather, it was called Śəp̄aṯ Kənaʿan, “the language of Canaan”, because it was native to the land of Canaan (Isaiah 19:18). Later on, during the Exile, the same language was called Yəhūwḏiyṯ, “Judahite”, after the Kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 18:26, 28).

As an Aramean himself, Abraham would have spoken Aramaic, the language of his homeland (Deuteronomy 26:5). Once in Canaan, however, he would have to speak the Canaanite languages in order to communicate with the people living there. His son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, who were born in the land of Canaan, would have learnt the Canaanite languages growing up.

When Jacob and his uncle Laban made a covenant, they gathered stones into a heap to function as a witness. Laban, an Aramean living in Padan Aram, named the heap Yəḡar Śāhăḏūwṯāʾ, which meant “a heap of witness” in Aramaic. Jacob, whose native language was Canaanite, named the heap Gal ʿĒḏ, which meant the same thing in Hebrew (Genesis 31:47).

Fact #2: Hebrew changed over time.

Like any other language, the Hebrew language developed over time. Linguists have identified several stages of the development of the Hebrew language:

1. Archaic Hebrew
2. Standard Biblical Hebrew
3. Late Biblical Hebrew
4. Early Post-biblical Hebrew
5. Mishnaic Hebrew
6. Medieval Hebrew
7. Modern Israeli Hebrew

The first three stages of Hebrew can be found in the Jewish Scriptures. These are all stages of the same language, but there are differences which clearly distinguish them from one another. For example, the Book of Job is written in a much older form of Hebrew than the Book of Chronicles.

Likewise, the Hebrew spoken today in the modern State of Israel is not the same as the Hebrew spoken in biblical times by Moses and David. Native speakers of Modern Israeli Hebrew may understand Biblical Hebrew to the extant that they have learnt it. However, a native speaker of Biblical Hebrew would not be able to understand Modern Israeli Hebrew.

This happens in the English language as well: The English of Shakespeare is very different from the English we speak today—even though it is technically the same language! We might be able to understand some of Shakespeare’s speech if we have learnt it before, but Shakespeare would not have been able to understand our modern English speech.

Fact #3: There were different dialects of Hebrew.

Like any other language, different dialects of Hebrew emerged among the Israelites. The Jewish Scriptures were mostly written in the Southern dialect. However, some books contain traces of the Northern dialect, such as the books of Hosea and Amos, both of whom prophesied to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Even in narrative passages written by Southern Israelites, elements of the Northern dialect can be found, especially where quoting the speech of Northern Israelites.

An example of dialectal differences can be found as early as the time of the Judges, during the war between Gilead and Ephraim. Some Ephraimites would cross over the fords of the Jordan, claiming to be Gileadites themselves in order to avoid being killed by the Gileadites on the other side. The Gileadites would challenge them by asking them to say the word shibboleth. However, because of dialectal differences, an Ephraimite would pronounce the word as sibboleth, thus betraying himself to be an Ephraimite (Judges 12:6).