KNOWING THE BIBLE
Read and pray: "On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of Hosts; one of them will be called the City of the Sun." (Isaiah 19:18)
THE COMPLETION OF THE BIBLE
In this chapter, we will consider how the Bible was completed from a historical perspective. We will also consider when it was written and how it was accepted after being written. Although these are just facts, they are closely related to us as Christians.
BEFORE THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN
A. Without God’s Written Revelation
During the first two thousand five hundred years of human history, there were no written revelations from God. There were only His verbal instructions, such as those given to the patriarchs, including Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In Genesis, we see that before the Bible was written, God frequently appeared to the ancestors and gave them verbal instructions.
B. Instructions Passed Down Orally
Before the Bible was written, although there were no written revelations from God, there were oral instructions, passed down from generation to generation by the patriarchs. This fact can be evidenced by carved stone tablets discovered in Egypt and Babylon. In 1901, a black column was found in Persia, on which some ancient laws were inscribed. Some of these laws resembled the Law of Moses, even though this column was inscribed about five to six hundred years before Moses.
This proves that before the Bible was written, among ancient civilizations, there were verbal instructions from God that were passed on by their ancestors.
C. The Ancient Languages
If we want to understand how the Bible was written, we need to know something about the languages and alphabets used by ancient civilizations.
1. Akkadian
It is unknown what type of language humans used before the flood. According to historical research, the oldest language spoken by humans after the flood comes from Akkad, in the northwest region of ancient Babylon, and is called Akkadian. The three terms: Adam, Eden, and Sabbath¹, in Genesis chapter two, are probably Akkadian and not Hebrew.
Akkadian was originally composed of lines. These lines were drawn in wedge shapes. Eventually, this script developed into what is called cuneiform writing. This script was used until approximately two thousand years before Christ, around the time of Abraham.
2. The Babylonian Writing of the Tribe of Shem
From about two thousand years before Christ, the Babylonian writing of the tribe of Shem replaced Akkadian. We believe this is the origin of the Aramaic language, which appeared later. This type of writing was used until approximately six hundred years before Christ, during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar over Babylon.
3. The Language of Canaan and the Hebrew Language
Abraham’s homeland was Ur of the Chaldeans (Gn 11:31); it was located in Babylon. The people there were descendants of the tribe of Shem, and the language they used was the Babylonian language, as mentioned earlier. When Abraham was called by God to go to Canaan, all historians agree that he naturally abandoned his native Babylonian Shem language and adopted the local language of Canaan. This Canaanite language likely became the Hebrew language, or part of it.
Some scholars have considered the "language of Canaan" in Isaiah 19:18 as the language used by the Israelites, descendants of Abraham. Historians postulate that a large portion of the subsequent Hebrew language developed from this Canaanite language.
4. Aramaic
About six hundred years before Christ, the Israelites were taken captive to Babylon by the Babylonians. They remained there for a long time. Spontaneously, they left Hebrew and adopted Aramaic, which was the language of the Chaldeans.
After their return from captivity, history tells us that they still used the Aramaic language. At the time of the Lord Jesus, the Romans had already occupied the land of Israel, and although Greek was the commonly used language in the Roman Empire, the Jews still used Aramaic among themselves. Only the rabbis spoke and read the Scriptures in Hebrew in the synagogues.
If there were some in the synagogue who did not understand Hebrew, someone would translate it into Aramaic. Many historians have postulated that the language the Lord Jesus used to speak to people daily was probably Aramaic and not Hebrew. The words He spoke in Mark 5:41: "Talitha cumi" and in 15:34: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani" were Aramaic.
5. Greek
After the Roman Empire conquered the lands around the Mediterranean Sea and spread Greek culture everywhere, Greek became the common vernacular language used by all peoples in the Roman Empire at that time. All these languages are directly or indirectly related to the completion of the Bible.
THE LANGUAGES USED IN THE BIBLE
A. Hebrew
The main part of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew.
B. Aramaic
In the Old Testament, there are four passages written in Aramaic. They are: Jeremiah 10:11, Daniel 2:4-7:28, Ezra 4:8-6:18 and 7:12-26. These four portions are absolutely related to the Aramaic people (that is, the Babylonians). This is why the Bible used Aramaic instead of Hebrew.
C. Greek
The entire New Testament was written in Greek. Some sentences in it were written in Aramaic. These are the previously mentioned: "Talitha cumi" and "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani".
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Hymn - Praise the Lord - "Various"
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