This post was prompted mostly by the myth that Israel spoke Aramaic in much of ancient times. There is even a saying that Paul was speaking Aramaic in Acts 22 and the KJV translators erroneously translated it to Hebrew.
This is not what the Bible states, nor is it what archaeological finding suggest.
Anthropologically speaking, all artifacts found around Israel that relates to the Jews are written in Hebrew.
The Old Testament was written by Hebrew Priests and Prophets in the Jewish language (Hebrew), with the exception of most of the chapters in Daniel. The reason offered, for the book of Daniel being in Aramaic, is that in 606 BC Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came in and took the Jews captive to Babylon. Daniel and other young Jewish men were placed in the king's service and taught the King's language during that time (Daniel 1:1-4). Since the king of Babylon spoke Aramaic, that became the default language of Daniel. Another portion of Scripture came to mind as I studied [I believe the Scripture was brought to mind by the Holy Spirit, to whom I turn, first and foremost, for understanding of the Scriptures (John 16:12-14)]; God told Daniel (12:8-10) that the prophecy of his visions was to be sealed from man’s understanding until “the time of the end“.
When the Jews were in bondage in Egypt, when they were living in Ancient Israel, when they were in captivity in Assyria, Babylon, and during the Roman occupation of the land of Israel, the Hebrew people spoke both their Hebrew language and the language of their oppressors/conquerors. This continued through the dark ages and until present time. The Jewish people in the dispersion spoke both Hebrew and the language of the country in which they lived. Russian Jews spoke both Russian and Hebrew. German Jews spoke both German and Hebrew. American Jews spoke both English and Hebrew. For devout Jews, this is still true.
Mr Miller was a Jew in the concentration camps of Germany during World War II. Being an orthodox, he was only allowed to read the Scriptures in Hebrew. When he explained to his Rabbi that they were unavailable to him in that language, the Rabbi said that he could read the King James Version of the Old Testament because it was the closest translation to the originals. He was forbidden to read the New Testament. Through God's mercy, and his own piqued curiosity, he did eventually read the New Testament and came to know Christ as his Savior.
Why would they be forbidden to read the Bible in any language except Hebrew if it had been originally translated into Aramaic? Why would the KJV English be the preferred translation if it was erroneously translated?
What archaeological findings have there been? Here are a few.
While it was officially discovered in 2008, the Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostraca (a shard of pottery with writing on it) made the news in 2012 with a new analysis of its text. Scholars translated one line of the ostraca to read, “The men and chiefs/officers have established a king.” If this translation is correct, it could be the first reference to King Saul. The text itself is one of the earliest Hebrew inscriptions yet discovered.
In 1993, excavators at Tel Da uncovered an inscription with the word BYTDWD on it. They convincingly argued that the word means “house of David” and dates to the ninth century BC. The Aramean king who erected the stela in the mid-eighth century B.C. states in neat Aramaic characters, that he defeated the “king of Israel” and the “king of the House of David.”
The Ketef Hinnom scrolls, also described as Ketef Hinnom amulets, are the oldest surviving texts currently known from the Hebrew Bible, dated to 600 BC. The scrolls were found in 1979 in Chamber 25 of Cave 24 at Ketef Hinnom, during excavations and are known as KH1 and KH2. They are written in Paleo-Hebrew characters, not the Aramaic-derived Jewish square script Hebrew alphabet. These amulets were worn around the neck to protect the wearer from evil or to surround the wearer with the name of the Lord for protection.
In the Bible, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah were more than just contemporaries, they were personally close, and their names appear together at least 14 different times. Archaeologist Eilat Mazar and her team have discovered a small seal impression that reads “[belonging] to Isaiah nvy the prophet.” The royal seal of King Hezekiah in the Bible was also found. These were found with 33 other bullae imprinted from other seals, some bearing Hebrew names.
In 1838, Edwin Robinson discovered an ancient aqueduct in Jerusalem. Later, in 1880, some youths who were exploring the aqueduct discovered an ancient Paleo-Hebrew inscription in the wall of the tunnel. The inscription reads: “… this is the story of the tunnel … the axes were against each other and while three cubits were left to (cut?) … the voice of a man … called to his counterpart, (for) there was [a crack?] in the rock, on the right … and on the day of the tunnel (being finished) the stonecutters struck each man towards his counterpart, ax against ax and flowed water from the source to the pool for 1,200 cubits.” This inscription is thought to have been made by King Hezekiah's men.
There were seven scrolls initially found by the shepherd inside of a ceramic jar in a cave near Qumran. Later, researchers and public officials discovered more than 900 other manuscripts in 11 caves in the surrounding area. Located in the West Bank, near the Dead Sea, the first settlement at Qumran dates back about 2,600 years, but archaeologists believe the scrolls were penned between 250 B.C. and A.D. 68. These scrolls include copies of Genesis, Exodus, Isaiah, Kings and Deuteronomy, as well as hymns, calendars and psalms. Some of the works represent the earliest known copies of parts of the Hebrew Bible.
The copper scroll, discovered in 1952, was found alongside the Dead Sea Scrolls in what is now the West Bank in the Palestinian territories. It dates back nearly 2,000 years to a time when the Roman Empire controlled the Qumran settlement. Researchers believe that the scroll, written in Hebrew, might describe a treasure that was hidden by locals to keep it out of the hands of Roman forces during the area's frequent revolts against the empire.
The idea that Aramaic was the prevalent language of the Jews is a fallacy brought about by “scholarly” people who wanted to prove that they were more smarter and more ‘godly’ than our ancestors. The original translators of the King James Bible were highly educated men who spoke many languages including Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and more. They were humble and believed not only in the mercy, love, and grace of God; they also wisely feared the wrath and judgement of THE holy and righteous God that created all things and holds each man accountable to his his written word (Bible, Holy Scriptures) and his Word who became flesh, the only BEGOTTEN Son of God, The Lord Jesus Christ. So, they collaborated humbly and in sincerity, for years, to determine the translation of each and every text, as they were led by the Holy Spirit. Research just how amazingly smart and well-educated these men were, yet read their own testimony (in the preface of the King James Bible) of humility before God! Compare that to the arrogance of the self-declared wise and “godly” men who offer “better word” choices and ‘what God was trying to say’ doctrines, based on their own touted scholarship - NOT on the leading of the Holy Spirit. Not to mention the myriad words, phrases, and entire verses left out of the modern translations show that it was not the leading of the Lord, nor of His will to remove certain parts of Scripture that mankind today would find offensive.
Going back to the historical and anthropological evidence, I pose the following queries.
*Why would the Jewish people retain their language throughout 400 years in Egypt and during all the years of being in subjection to multiple Palestinian nations, only to lose it in the Babylonian captivity?
*Why would Jews speak Aramaic throughout the Roman occupation when the Romans forced their subjects to speak Koine (pronounced, coin-A) Greek? Is that not a repeated Satanic attempt to destroy God’s chosen nation by forcing assimilation into a strange/foreign (Gentile) culture (Exodus 11:7, Deuteronomy 7:6-8, 1 Kings 8:53, Ezra 10:11)?
*Finally, why would the Jews, so proud their lineage (sons of Abraham), pick up the Greek language during the Roman occupation and abandon the language that their ancestors spoke for almost a thousand years, only to pick Hebrew back up when they dispersed into other countries? They would not, and they did not. Jews spoke their Hebrew language from the days of Abraham, as well as the language of any people who were in power at any given time.
