Seek Yahweh: Aramaic (1)

Transcription

1 Seek Yhweh: Armic (1) by Rev. John Cortright Scholrs hve debted bout the importnce of Armic in New Testment Studies. While mjority side with the ide tht the New Testment ws originlly written in Greek, there is fction of theologins who subscribe to n Armic primcy. They believe tht the New Testment ws first written in Armic nd lter trnslted into Greek. The division mong these cmps is often riddled with sttements of bsolutism. An exmple of such extreme views cn be seen is this sttement from the hed of the Ctholic Church of the Est. "... s the Ptrirch nd Hed of the Holy Apostolic nd Ctholic Church of the Est, we wish to stte, tht the Church of the Est received the scriptures from the hnds of the blessed Apostles themselves in the Armic originl, the lnguge spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, nd tht the Peshitt is the text of the Church of the Est which hs come down from the Biblicl times without ny chnge or revision." His Holiness Mr Eshi Shimun, Ctholicos Ptrirch of The Holy Apostolic Ctholic Church of the Est. April 5, The truth is nobody knows for certin, since there re no surviving first century New Testment mnuscripts. However, extnt Greek texts re older thn known Syric/Armic versions. Wht do we know bout the

2 Armic Lnguge, nd how is the nme of hndled in the surviving texts? The term Armic refers to the ncient lnguge of the Assyrins nd Bbylonins. At the time of Hezekih, round 700BC, the Jews requested Rbshkeh spek in Armic (Hebrew word Armiyth) nd not Juden (Hebrew word Yhhudith). At the time, the common people didn t understnd Armic, nd they didn t wnt the people to her the Assyrin propgnd (2 Kings 18:26). This verse shows there is difference between Armic nd Juden (Hebrew), even though both lnguges hve Semitic origins. When the Judens were tken into cptivity in Bbylon, they becme subject to ntion where Armic ws the dominnt lnguge. Before the time of Alexnder the Gret, Armic ws the lingu frnc of the Middle Est. However, the Jewish lnguge continued to be tught mong the exiles. After the return to the lnd of Isrel, Nehemih strongly reproved Jews who hd mrried foreign women. Their children knew the lnguges of Ashdod, but they did not know Juden (Neh 13:24 Agin the Hebrew word Yhhudith). Nehemih then purified the people from this foreign influence (Neh 13:30). A few centuries lter, the Greeks ruled the known world, nd there ws strong push to Hellenize the Jews. This finlly resulted in the Mccben revolt, nd from bout 140BC to 63BC, Isrel ws gin n independent ntion under the Hsmonen dynsty. Evidence suggests tht Hebrew ws the primry lnguge of the Jews living in Isrel t this time in history. Also, it seems tht the Hebrew lnguge continued s vitl lnguge in Jude until the time of

3 Christ. The vst mjority of mnuscripts found t Qumrn were Hebrew, not Armic. There re few surviving Old Testment Armic documents. These re referred to s Trgums. As well, some sections of the books of Dniel nd Ezr re written in Armic, not Hebrew. However, none of the New Testment mnuscripts surviving tody re truly this ncient, biblicl Armic. Rther, the proper term for these trnsltions is Syric. Syric is dilect of Middle Armic, which didn t come round until lte first century AD. Syric becme mjor literry lnguge from the 4th to the 8th centuries mong Christin communities in the Middle Est. The Syric/Armic script used t this time ws Estrngelā. Armic nd Hebrew shre the sme lphbet. Biblicl Armic from the first century (nd erlier) is very similr to Hebrew chrcters. However, Estrngel Syric script is very different. This is the Armic tht ws populr from the 4 th to the 8 th Century AD. This chrt shows comprison of these different styles of the Armic, Hebrew, nd Estrngel scripts. This chrt lists the first seven letters of the Armic, Hebrew, nd Syric Alphbet. Both the Armic nd Hebrew letters re similr in style. This style of clssicl Armic dtes to the first century nd erlier. However, Syric is quite different. Syric Estrngel script ws not used until lte first century nd ws populr between the 4 th nd 8 th centuries. New Testment mnuscripts which re clled Armic re not written in the Hebrew style script, but rther re in Estrngel nd, s such, re from much lter dte.

4 Before we consider Syric New Testment trnsltions, wht bout Armic Trgums? How ws the nme of used in Armic Old Testments? From the over 900 mnuscripts found in the collection known s the Ded Se Scrolls, there re only few frgments of Armic Trgums of the Hebrew Bible. One is from the book of Leviticus (Lev 16:14 nd 16:20). There re no usges of the nme of in these verses. The other Trgums found t Qumrn re from the book of Job. There re six usges in these Trgums where the Hebrew text hs corresponding usge of Yhweh. The following chrt shows the Armic trnsltion. 2 Qumr m Mnus cript ID Verse Refere nce 42:9 Nme of in Hebre w text Arm ic Equiv lent Ahl English Trnsliter tion English Trnsl tion

5 (1st) 42:9 (2 nd ) 42:10 (1 st ) 42:10 (2 nd ) 42:11 4Q157 Job 40:6 4Q157 Job 42:1 Ahl Ahl No usge Ahl Ahl Ahl No usge No usge The Armic word for is hl (Alh). In these Trgums, the letter lph () is dded to the end of the word or when the equivlent word Yhweh is used in the Hebrew. Perhps this is n emphtic form of the Armic word for nd s such is designtion for Yhweh in old Armic. It is interesting to explore the use of this four-letter word in the Armic sections of Dniel nd Ezr in the Hebrew Bible. In the trnsltion of the Jewish Tnkh, Dniel 2:4 7:28 is written in Armic. Also, Ezr, chpters 4:8-24; 5:1-17; 6:1-18, nd chpter 7:12-26 re ll in Armic. There re no Hebrew versions of these sections of Scripture, nd the nme of does not pper in ny of these verses. There re two uses of the Armic word

6 for Lord (mri) in the book of Dniel (Dn 2:47; 5:23). The word mri is simply title mening Lord, Mster, or ruler. The prctice of using the title Lord s surrogte for the nme of does not occur in ny of these Armic sections of the Old Testment. Nor is it ever used s such in ncient Armic Trgums. This prctice does not show up until the lte second century AD in Greek Old Testments produced by Christins. The Armic word for (hl) occurs 79 times in these Armic sections of the Old Testment And 28 times the use of Armic occurs with dded letter. Could these 28 uses be understood s n Armic surrogte for the nme of? Compring the Armic Trgums from the Ded Se Scrolls with these Armic sections of Ezr nd Dniel is very interesting. However, this uthor does not hve sufficient understnding of the Armic lnguge to mke much more thn n observtion. To my knowledge, there hs not been much written on this subject, but this could prove to be very interesting reserch topic. Syric, or middle Armic, cme round fter the beginning of the Common Er nd offers dditionl insight into study of s nme. The Peshitt version, written in Estrngel Armic script in the 5 th century AD, sheds tremendous light on this subject. This will be explored in prt II of this study on Armic. 1 Prefce of the Holy Bible From the Ancient Estern Text (A.J. Holmn Co, Copyright 1968), pg ii 2 This chrt ws compiled by viewing informtion from the NASB Bible; the chpter on Armic Bible Trnsltions (Trgums) by Gez Vermes, The Ded Se Scrolls in English (Penguin books, London, 1962), pgs ; nd n rticle

7 clled The Tetrgrm nd the New Testment, by George Howrd in the Journl of Biblicl Literture, 1977, pg 69 nd 70.