Chapter 3: Languages of the Bible

Unless our native language is Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, possessing some understanding of the original languages of the Bible is necessary to biblical interpretation. This is not to imply that those who posses only a translation of the Holy Scriptures are left without the word of God. But it must not be thought that a translation may sufficiently replace the original tongue. In order to prepare ourselves for an investigation into the sacred tongues of the Bible, we must first orientate ourselves to the origin of language itself and understand how language has changed through the passage of time. Having knowledge of this will help us examine the languages particular to the biblical text.

How did language originate? Several humanistic and materialistic theories have been advanced by the most eminent philologists who rarely agree among themselves. The Bible posits that man is the creation of God and from this we can rightly infer that language was created in man. The theories given in favor of a human origin propose ideas that language sprung from man who was imitating the sounds of things heard or by expressions naturally erupting from sudden emotions or other stimuli. While such theories may account for the change or progression of words in history, they do not give a sufficient explanation for the origin of the complexities of language itself. After the creation of the man and woman in the first chapter of Genesis we find them with the in-tact ability to communicate with God using language.

While linguistics may not be able to explain the origin of language, the study of language and literature, or philology, has given the world much insight into the history and divisions of the world’s tongues. To the untrained it may seem that with so many dialects a common origin might be impossible to discern. Thankfully this is not the case. The languages common to mankind can be grouped into three main families. The Indo-European family would include German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Russian, Polish, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Greek, Armenian, Persian, Zend, Pali, Prakrit, and other dialects of India. The languages of Northern and Central Europe and Asia can be classified as the Scythian or Turanian family. The dialects of the Laplanders, Finns, Hungarians and Turks would be included in this family.

The third family is the Semitic named so from Shem, one of the son’s of Noah. The languages included in this family are Chaldee, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopian, Phoenician, and the cuneiform of the Assyrians and Babylonians. From these main families of languages we may trace the various dialects mentioned above. According to philological research, the changes from the parent family to its sub-families occurred as the result of conquest, migration, and changes in customs.