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Martin Luther and the Original Languages
Martin Luther is well known for his role in starting the Reformation. It has always been of particular interest to me how Luther viewed the importance of Greek and Hebrew in his daily ministry. Since I teach language courses in a seminary setting, I’m always looking for good quotes to motivate the students to put in the effort and learn the languages. A couple quotes from Luther are especially worth sharing. If the languages had not made me positive as to the true meaning of the Word, I might have still remained a chained monk, engaged in quietly preaching Romish errors in the obscurity of a cloister; the pope, the sophists, and their anti-Christian empire would have remained unshaken. W. Carlos Martyn, The Life and Times of Martin Luther (New York: American Tract Society), 474. I know full well that while it is the Spirit alone who accomplishes everything, I…
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What Color was Joseph’s “Coat of Many Colors”?
I still remember learning the story of Joseph and his brothers in Sunday School growing up. I remember watching the story played out on a flannelgraph where the main character, Joseph, was displayed in his brightly colored “rainbow” coat. I also remember going to a local theater to watch the musical, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.” These were landmark times in my life. But, were these teachings mistaken? It is no surprise that most people think Joseph was the object of jealousy of his brothers because of his coat of many colors. Consider the following translations of Gen 37:3. ESV Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. NASB Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old…
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A Proposal for a New Translation of Deuteronomy 4:29
This month an article that I have been working on for awhile was finally published in the journal The Bible Translator. The article is entitled, “Towards a New Proposal for Translating the Conjunction כי in Deuteronomy 4.29.” Although I am not allowed to post the published PDF, I have uploaded the prepublication version of the paper here. It is a fairly technical paper, discussing some of the intricacies of Hebrew grammar. The paper will likely not be very enjoyable for those who do not know Hebrew. However, in addition to drawing attention to it, I wanted to summarize the argument in layman’s terms. The Typical Translations of Deuteronomy 4:29 Deuteronomy 4:29 does not typically have much variation in translation. The only outlier is the CSB. Observe the following translations. But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find Him when you seek Him with…
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Development of the Hebrew Language from Past to Present
The Hebrew language is beloved by many Christians because it is the original language of the Old Testament. Thus, the Hebrew language makes up the majority of God’s revelation! The Hebrew language is often viewed as a divine language to some. Others think Hebrew contains specialized codes from God. However, the history of the Hebrew language shows that it is a real language which has had real development over time. Abraham and Origin of the Hebrew Language Although some would argue Adam and Even spoke Hebrew, that is unlikely. The first time we see the word “Hebrew” used is in reference to Abram in Genesis 14:13. Abram (later Abraham) was a sojourner from Ur of the Chaldees (Gen 11:31). Ur was a bustling Sumerian city-state, and during Abram’s time there he would have grown up fluent in Sumerian and Akkadian. Akkadian is the oldest Semitic language that we know of…
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What is the Root Word Fallacy Danger
A fallacy is simply a mistaken idea. In biblical studies, a root word fallacy is a mistaken belief that a word inherently carries one meaning in all of its uses. It unfortunately happens frequently. For example, a preacher is preaching away and then gets to an important word in the text and says, “Now this word comes from the Greek root word which always means [fill in the blank], and so we can import that root meaning here.” Now, the connection made is not always incorrect. But, it is a flawed methodology. Language is not static, but dynamic. Hence, words can change in meaning over time. In fact, one of the most interesting things about language is that words sometimes take on a life of their own and develop meanings which were never found in the root meaning of the word! For example, take the English word “nice.” Coming from…
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Book Review: A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible, 2nd ed. (Zondervan Academic)
Because I am involved in teaching the biblical languages at the seminary level, I am regularly asked about Greek and Hebrew Reader Bibles. I have not had much experience with Reader Bibles so I asked Zondervan to let me review their 2nd edition of A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible. I hope this review will be helpful both to my students as well as the academically-inclined reader of the blog. The Aesthetics, Bulk, Weight, etc. First of all, I was impressed with the texture of the hard cover and the quality of the binding. Granted I am no expert on book bindings, but it seems very solid, and lays flat immediately. It is one of the more annoying things to have a book that doesn’t lay flat, so this is much appreciated! It is 4 LBS, and contains 2272 pages. It seems comparable my Biblia Sacra which is about…
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Book Review: Dictionary of English Grammar for Students of Biblical Languages
I love teaching the biblical languages. It is extremely rewarding to help students learn Greek and Hebrew in order to better understand God’s revelation. However, one of the difficulties of being a language teacher is the inability of many students to think and speak grammatically about English. The Dictionary of English Grammar for Students of Biblical Languages is a helpful little resource (140 pages) which aims to help with this kind of problem. A couple years ago I remember reading a book on cognitive learning. One of my major takeaways from the book was that students cannot learn well if they are not using the same vocabulary as the teacher. That was very eye opening to me, and I have endeavored to help students use the same words as I from day one of the class so they are on the same page. That’s what makes this such a great…
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Calvin and Luther on Greek and Hebrew
Almost two weeks ago I had the privilege of being a part of our Far West Regional ETS conference. I presented a paper on the importance of Greek and Hebrew for Martin Luther and John Calvin. It was a lot of fun researching, and I hope it encourages those thinking about ministry. In essence, the paper proposes that without attention to the original languages of Greek and Hebrew, the Reformation would never have happened. It was the return to attention to detail in the original languages that prompted the break from the Church of Rome, which had drifted into stark heresy. Although not everyone has the opportunity to learn Greek and Hebrew, those who can should learn it. It is a tremendous blessing from God to have all the resources for learning Greek and Hebrew available for us today. To get the full paper, look at the publications part of…
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Book Review: Learn Biblical Hebrew
Given my interest in teaching Old Testament subjects, I am always on the lookout for books with which to teach Hebrew. When I saw that John H. Dobson’s Learn Biblical Hebrew had been positively reviewed by Dr. Barrick (one of my own Hebrew teachers), I looked forward to the chance to look it over. There are many positives in the book. First, it is about as close to immersion as you can get through a book. From lesson one, the student is immersed in reading words and phrases. The student is given helpful pronunciation helps along the way. Although this may seem daunting, another help is access to audio pronunciation files at the book’s website. This allows the student to hear professional quality reading of Hebrew words and phrases to aid the pronunciation. Second, the book emphasizes reading the Hebrew Scripture instead of doing a workbook approach. Although workbooks can…