From the Flood to the Babylonian Captivity
The first mention of a Hebrew is in Genesis 14:13 where Abraham is identified as a "Hebrew" (
Eevriy in Hebrew). In Exodus 2:6 Moses is identified as one of the "Hebrews" (
Eevriym in Hebrew) and throughout the Hebrew Bible the children of Israel are often identified as "Hebrews." A "Hebrew" is anyone who is descended from "Eber" (
Ever in Hebrew), an ancestor of Abraham and Moses (See Genesis 10:24).
The language used by the descendants of "Eber" is called "Hebrew" (
Eevriyt in Hebrew), but is never called "Hebrew" in the Hebrew Bible, but is instead referred to as the "Language of Canaan" (Isaiah 19:18) and the "Language of Judah" (II Kings 18:28, Isaiah 36:11, 13, Nehemiah 13:24, II Chronicles 32:18). While the Hebrew Bible may not refer to the language of the Hebrews as "Hebrew," we do know that their language was in fact "Hebrew," as attested to in the many
inscriptions discovered in the land of Israel from this period of time.
From the Babylonian Captivity to the Bar Kockba Revolt
After the time of King David, the nation of Israel split into two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The northern Kingdom of Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians around 740 BC and the southern Kingdom of Judah was taken into Babylonian captivity about 570 BC.
During their captivity in Babylon, the Hebrews continued to speak the Hebrew language, but instead of writing the language with the Hebrew script (often referred to as Paleo-Hebrew), they adopted the Aramaic square script to write the Hebrew language and the Hebrew script was used on a very limited basis such as a few Biblical scrolls and coins.
When the Hebrews returned to the land of Israel, around 500 BC, it was believed that the Hebrews had abandoned the Hebrew language and instead spoke the Aramaic language, the language of their captors in Babylon. The
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, in its first edition in 1958, stated; "
[Hebrew] ceased to be a spoken language around the fourth century B.C." However, much textual and archeological evidence has been discovered over recent years, which has revised this long established theory.
Bar Kochba letter from 135 A.D.
One of the most compelling evidences for the continued use of Hebrew into the 2nd Century A.D. is a letter from the Jewish General
Simon Bar Kockba (Shimon ben Kosva, as the first line of the letter states in the above picture), which is dated at 135 A.D., which he wrote during the second Jewish revolt against Rome. This letter, along with many others, was written in Hebrew, establishing the fact that Hebrew was still the language of the Jewish people, even into the second century AD.
Because of the overwhelming evidence of Hebrews continued use, the
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, in its third edition in 1997 now, states; "
[Hebrew] continued to be used as a spoken and written language in the New Testament period."
From the Bar Kockba Revolt to Today
When the Jews, led by Simon Bar Kockba, were defeated in the revolt of 135 AD the Jews were expulsed from the land and dispersed around the world initiating the Diaspora. At this point most Jews adopted the language of the country they resided in, but Hebrew continued to be spoken in the synagogues and Yeshivas (religious schools) for the teaching and studying of the Torah and the Talmud.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, c. 1912
In the late 19th Century Eliezer Ben-Yehuda began a revival of the Hebrew language as a living language for the Jewish people in Israel and when the state of Israel was established as an independent nation in 1948, Hebrew became the official language and, once again, Hebrew became the native language of the Hebrew people.
