Why Did God Write to us in Hebrew?

Many a college or seminary student has stepped into their first Biblical Hebrew class with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. There is deep excitement to read the Old Testament in its original language. After all, are not the original manuscripts of the Bible inspired by God Himself? There is an expectation of seeing the Bible and the world with new eyes, of glories before hidden but now clearly visible. Still, inevitably, one also experiences trepidation, and not without cause. Rumors have a way of escaping the confines of the classroom. Grammatical terms such as “Smikhut” or “VayYiqtol” or “Hiphil” are whispered in the halls by pale Hebrew students, looking around with furtive glances lest these horrid sounding terms materialize behind them.

The sad reality is that the excitement generally wears off under the weight of grammar lectures, vocabulary lists, and quizzes. For those who cross the finish line, there is an audible sigh of relief as they shelve their Hebrew books in a dark corner, there to gather dust away from sight. If this is the dismal case for students, what chance does a “normal” lay Christian have to learn Biblical Hebrew? As someone who has been teaching Biblical Hebrew for several years now, I could sit here and share many wonderful things about Hebrew. But all this must surely fall on deaf ears unless this important question be answered: “but is it attainable—for me?”

Is Biblical Hebrew Attainable?

I truly believe that learning Biblical Hebrew is attainable for anyone. That said, I do not think all programs, teaching methods and resources are created equal. The results of many Hebrew programs speak for themselves. Allow me to address three areas that are often overlooked when considering learning Hebrew:

First, Biblical Hebrew is a language, not a code for English. On the face of it, this assumption appears overly simplistic, if not entirely unnecessary. Of course Hebrew programs teach Hebrew as a language! However, we must distinguish between what is said or acknowledged and how it is implemented in the classroom. Biblical Hebrew is often treated as a WWII code to be cracked in order to “understand” the message. If one simply inserts these strange looking characters surrounded by dots and dashes into the correct conversion procedure, the output will be intelligible English. Unfortunately, if this is our understanding of how language works, artificial intelligence can easily produce better results than us. 

Begin thinking of Biblical Hebrew as a language that does what languages have always done: communicate ideas in unique ways, painting pictures of the world through particular word choices. After all, words matter. God is described as “long nosed.” We can convert this to “patient” and move right along, but if we talk about a burning nose (anger—perhaps implying a short nose), we complete a picture where the nose is front and center in describing certain emotions.

Second, I recommend reexamining the method of Biblical Hebrew instruction. The two main schools of thought are grammar-translation and some variety of living language instruction. Currently, the grammar-translation method holds the upper hand. However, with the overwhelmingly poor outcomes (i.e. many students are not using their languages after completing the course), why continue the same regimen?

Biblical Hebrew uniquely helps in tracing the story of the Bible through its story telling and vocabulary. Biblical Hebrew is a story telling language.

Practically, there are better and worse ways to learn a language. Learning lists of grammatical rules over the course of a year can help with limited precision of selected texts, but will it help you in the wild? It is one thing to memorize a rule that states “an attributive adjective follows the noun it modifies and agrees in definiteness,” but can you give an example in Hebrew? Can you actually communicate, both passively and actively? After all, reading the Bible is a conversation with the text, not a passive exercise. Find a method that teaches Biblical Hebrew as a language! This is not to say that grammar-translation is bad and living language is good. There are ditches on both sides. I think a happy medium can be reached where the strengths of both are enhanced and the weaknesses diminished.

Third, come with reasonable expectations. Languages take a long time to learn, especially for the majority of us. The standard model is one year for grammar and one year for texts. In my experience, it was not until after those two years that I actually began reading Hebrew for myself. Hebrew is a lifelong process. This should not terrify us. Most things in life that are worth doing are lifelong processes. Each step of the way is rewarding, and the more we keep at it the greater the rewards.

So, perhaps learning Biblical Hebrew is attainable. But so what? With our limited time and busy lives, why spend the time learning it? What is the payoff? There are many books and articles expressing the countless gems of learning Biblical Hebrew. If I could add one thing to the list, it would be this: Biblical Hebrew uniquely helps in tracing the story of the Bible through its story telling and vocabulary. Biblical Hebrew is a story telling language. After all, it has a special verb form built into the language for relating narrative, which reveals something about our God. Rather than simply writing a rulebook for how to live, God chose to paint the world and set the characters in a certain way, even down to the words used. Think of the Bible as a beautiful tapestry. It begins in Eden, is constantly reminding us what we have lost and inviting us to hope for our return to fellowship with our Creator. While this same tapestry is true and beautiful in whatever language we see it, I would argue that in Biblical Hebrew the threads between images and stories are larger, bolder, and brighter. But don’t take my word for it, try it out for yourself!