Changes

The Hebrew of the Old Testament, though "classical", is not uniform. Some of the Hebrew, as in the Song of Deborah, is very archaic. The narrative portions relating to Deborah are more "modern". The same is true of the poetic Song of Moses and its corresponding narrative. This indicates that the poetic portions were written much earlier than the narrative and very close to the time of the event itself. This suggests that the events were passed on orally and in song to the next generation before they were written down. Deuteronomy displays a type of Hebrew similar to some of the Prophetic literature.  What all this indicates is the "freedom" found in the Hebrew language of the Bible. In comparative terms to our modern sense and usage, it would be as if King James English with its magnificent cadences, Revised Standard English, more accessible and approachable to the modern man, and New International English, more familiar to the "man in the street", were to be used in one and the same version of the Bible to fit different "moods" and different usages and succeeding centuries. This evinces a most convincing and natural development of the language just as there is a most convincing and natural development of the culture and of the people of the Bible. Biblical Hebrew is thus shown to be very far different from an artificial or "school room" construct. It is a living language – or, more properly, living languages – used for different purposes and at different times.  

The Hebrew of the Old Testament, though "classical", is not uniform. Some of the Hebrew, as in the Song of Deborah, is very archaic. The narrative portions relating to Deborah are more "modern". The same is true of the poetic Song of Moses and its corresponding narrative. This indicates that the poetic portions were written much earlier than the narrative and very close to the time of the event itself. This suggests that the events were passed on orally and in song to the next generation before they were written down. Deuteronomy displays a type of Hebrew similar to some of the Prophetic literature.  What all this indicates is the "freedom" found in the Hebrew language of the Bible. In comparative terms to our modern sense and usage, it would be as if King James English with its magnificent cadences, Revised Standard English, more accessible and approachable to the modern man, and New International English, more familiar to the "man in the street", were to be used in one and the same version of the Bible to fit different "moods" and different usages and succeeding centuries. This evinces a most convincing and natural development of the language just as there is a most convincing and natural development of the culture and of the people of the Bible. Biblical Hebrew is thus shown to be very far different from an artificial or "school room" construct. It is a living language – or, more properly, living languages – used for different purposes and at different times.  

Unlike [[Greek]], which has an ample vocabulary, and case ending to determine which words are to be read with which words, what parts of speach (subject, object etc.). Hebrew is a contextual language - that is relatively few words but each word having a variety of meanings. This requires knowledge of the literature, and literatures - that is, knowledge of the context to determine the precise meaning. Biblical Hebrew has a help in this, though, and that is "signs" (t'amey Hamikr'a) that accompany the text, usually above the letters, sometimes to the side, which are divided into two main catagories - conjuctive and disjunctive. The conjuctive tie two words together, the disjuctive indicate that the words are separate in thought. These two catagories of signs also serve as punctuation - full stop (period), semi-stop (coma),and even thought groupings. they were written down by the [[Masoretes]] of the 5th cent A.D., that is the people that carried on the earlier tradition of how things were understood. Masoret=tradition. Thus, In [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 9:6, the Hebrew words themselves can bear the meaning "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor of the Mighty God..." or His name shall be called " Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God...". But the T'amey Hamikr'a decide the case. Between "Counsellor" and Mighty God" there is a disjunctive. Therefore His name shall be called Counsellor, the Mighty God..." is correct - according to the understanding that the Masoretes received.  

Unlike [[Greek]], which has an ample vocabulary, and case ending to determine which words are to be read with which words, what parts of speech (subject, object etc.). Hebrew is a contextual language - that is relatively few words but each word having a variety of meanings. This requires knowledge of the literature, and literatures - that is, knowledge of the context to determine the precise meaning. Biblical Hebrew has a help in this, though, and that is "signs" (t'amey Hamikr'a) that accompany the text, usually above the letters, sometimes to the side, which are divided into two main catagories - conjuctive and disjunctive. The conjuctive tie two words together, the disjuctive indicate that the words are separate in thought. These two catagories of signs also serve as punctuation - full stop (period), semi-stop (coma),and even thought groupings. they were written down by the [[Masoretes]] of the 5th cent A.D., that is the people that carried on the earlier tradition of how things were understood. Masoret=tradition. Thus, In [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 9:6, the Hebrew words themselves can bear the meaning "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor of the Mighty God..." or His name shall be called " Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God...". But the T'amey Hamikr'a decide the case. Between "Counsellor" and Mighty God" there is a disjunctive. Therefore His name shall be called Counsellor, the Mighty God..." is correct - according to the understanding that the Masoretes received.  

These "signs" also bear traditional melodies that vary according to the various dispersions of the Jews - Babylonian, Yemenite, Ashkenazic, Sephardic,etc. Yet, there are  melody lines common to all the dispersions. This could only have occured when all the dispersion were together. That was in the 1st Century before the Exile of the Jews by the Romans at 70 A.D. It is thus possible to reconstruct the melody, in part, that Jesus used when he sang, as was the custom, the prophetic portion in the [[synagogue]]. Some of these themes reappear in the [[Gregorian chant]] of the Church.

These "signs" also bear traditional melodies that vary according to the various dispersions of the Jews - Babylonian, Yemenite, Ashkenazic, Sephardic,etc. Yet, there are  melody lines common to all the dispersions. This could only have occured when all the dispersion were together. That was in the 1st Century before the Exile of the Jews by the Romans at 70 A.D. It is thus possible to reconstruct the melody, in part, that Jesus used when he sang, as was the custom, the prophetic portion in the [[synagogue]]. Some of these themes reappear in the [[Gregorian chant]] of the Church.