What Language did Jesus Speak?
by Russell J. Schmidt
Of course, no one can be absolutely certain what language Jesus actually spoke, but most scholars say it was a form of Aramaic. Some say Jesus spoke Greek; others say He spoke Hebrew. I myself will side with the majority, not because I am a scholar in this field, by no means am I, but I do see that it makes the most sense. Although I also believed Jesus most likely spoke Hebrew and possibly Greek.
Those who believe Jesus spoke Greek, suppose this because the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures, was believed by many to be the translation Jesus may Himself quoted from and read from in the synagogue.
The case for those who say Jesus spoke Hebrew, may have a good case because, Jesus being a rabbi, would had to have had rigorous training and teaching in the area of the Levitcal priesthood. Scripture says nothing about Jesus’ training to be a rabbi, but when we look into Jewish law, we see that to become a rabbi, one had to go through an extensive learning in the Talmud, which are writings of Jewish Law in ancient Hebrew.
A clue that we receive in Scripture that Jesus had to have completed the process to become a rabbi, is found in the beginning of John 3. Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and member of the Jewish ruling council, came to Jesus and called Him rabbi.
Now, Jesus was called rabbi or teacher (rabbi means “teacher” or “great one”) mostly by His disciples, but there are Scripture references of others, outside of His circle, calling Jesus rabbi. Our most telling reason for believing that Jesus had obtained semicha, which is a Hebrew word for rabbinic ordination, is that Nicodemus here refers to Jesus a “rabbi”.
This is not a term that was or is used loosely. The Jewish Law requires a very strict regimen of studies to qualify for rabbinical status. Many young people who enter into this training to become rabbi’s are turned down if they cannot keep up with the rigorous program which includes memorization of Holy Jewish Scriptures.
By Jesus being called rabbi from another rabbi is forth telling, because it would be considered blaspheme for a religious leader to refer to one who is not qualified, as rabbi. Nicodemus even uses the word “we” in his reference to believing that Jesus is who He said He was. This is an indication that at least one more of the Pharisee’s sees Jesus as a rabbi.
Tradition states that in biblical times, a Jewish family may offer up their first born male child to the Levitical priesthood, as dedicating that child to God in training for the rabbinical priesthood. This process starts at a very young age. There are levels of accomplishments that need to be had by each child at particular stages of there spiritual development. If these accomplishments are not met, the rabbi’s in charge of the training process bless the child and return them to the families.
By the time a the child reaches their young adult years, they have accomplished much of the preliminary training process and are now considered rabbi’s in training. Is this the course that Jesus took? The Bible doesn’t tell us, but because He was called rabbi, one could assume He did go through this process.
If He did, then He most certainly would have spoken in Hebrew, because of the extensive training He would have received in ancient Hebrew Scriptures. He would have also spoken Aramaic, because it was most likely the primary language spoken among the Jewish people of that generation. And it is most probable that Jesus also spoke Greek, since it appears that the Greek language was more prominent in that generation than scholars first thought.
The evidence that would help us conclude that Aramaic was the foremost language amongst the Jewish people of that generation are many. Some scholars say that the Gospel of Matthew shows a significant Aramaic influence by using an Aramaic conjunction to tie his stories together.
Marks Gospel also showed a heavy influence toward the Aramaic language. For example; Mark 15:34, which reads Jesus’ quote, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” These words that Jesus spoke on the Cross shortly before He died were Aramaic. If Jesus didn’t speak Aramaic and it wasn’t the primary language of the Jewish people, than why would He speak it here?
Some of the names in that day were also Aramaic names. Jesus called Simon Peter, Kepha, which is the Aramaic name translated Simon. Even Caiaphas the high priest of the Pharisee’s; his name is an Aramaic name.
There are many more examples that can be found that would point to this as being true. With that said, the Hebrew and Aramaic languages are very closely related. It was common in those days to see some writings both in Aramaic and Hebrew intermixed. Much the same as some foreigners who speak English well as their second language will sometimes mix in English words with their primary language while speaking. I assume because certain words may have been more easily spoken in English.
For those of us who reside in the United States, for the most part we speak primarily one language, which is English, because of the influence of the English language around the world. Although Spanish has become a second language in the U.S. because of the Latino population that resides here, yet most American’s do not speak it.
In other parts of the world where their language does not have the influence that English has throughout the world, it is a mandatory part of their educational curriculum to learn the English language. So, in those countries most of the citizens are automatically bilingual, speaking their native language , as well as English.
In conclusion, the people in Jesus’ day, in and around Israel most likely spoke two to three languages; Aramaic most likely the primary language, Greek and Hebrew as secondary languages. Those secondary languages may not have been fluent for most of the people, but certainly they were familiar with them.
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