Gary Anderson on Hebrew as the Language of Jesus

Reviewing the endnotes to Gary Anderson’s impressive history of sin (!), I came across this gem on New Testament scholars, Modern Hebrew and the language of Jesus:

Mishnaic Hebrew, in its limited sense, refers to the Hebrew of the Mishnah itself, a relatively early rabbinic work [ca. 200 CE] …. But when we speak of the dialect of Mishnaic Hebrew, we are talking about the living Hebrew language of the first couple of centuries of the Common Era, in other words, the language of Jesus himself.”

“Scholars vary in their opinions as to how fluent Jesus was in the various languages with which he was familiar (Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek). Most New Testament scholars assume that Aramaic was his mother tongue and that Hebrew was a secondary language. …. Part of the problem is that the best scholarship on the Hebrew of the late Second Temple period is being done at the Hebrew University and is written in modern Hebrew. Only a handful of New Testament scholars could follow this discussion, and I know of none who do. As a result, the case being made for Hebrew as a living language in the first and second centuries CE has gone unnoticed.” 

~ Gary A. Anderson, Sin: A History (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), 95-6, 215 note 1 (emphasis added)

The book itself is a fascinating analysis of a shift from sin conceived as burden to sin conceived as debt, that ranges across the testaments, through rabbinic literature and Christian Syriac, concluding with a rousing defense of Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo? I wager that only a handful of Old Testament scholars could attempt such a feat.

Back to the topic of Hebrew as a living language during the Second Temple period: My posts on Jesus’ mother tongue from 15 years ago (!) are here:

Jesus’ Mother Tongue

Jesus' Mother Tongue Part 2: The Supposed Dominance of Aramaic in First Century Galilee

A Whole Canadian

Some 40 years ago I announced to an auditorium full of students at the American missionary boarding school I was attending that “I am a whole Canadian!” Unlike my three older siblings, who were born in Somalia and carried US passports, I was born in Canada not far from where our Canadian father was raised, and I traveled under a Canadian passport. 

Only later did I learn that US citizenship could not be so easily avoided. Because my American mother spent the first eighteen years of her life in the state of Oregon, I inherited US citizenship automatically. Like it or not I am a dual citizen. I brandish my US passport when I need to enter the United States, and I file US taxes as required by US law, but my political allegiance remains the same as it was for that 10-year-old boy: I am a whole Canadian. 

And so it is with considerable dismay that I watch the US president threaten a (now postponed) trade war intended to wreak havoc on his country’s closest ally under the false pretext of enhancing border security and the false claim of a trade deficit, but with the apparently serious aim of annexing Canada (!).

• On enhancing border security as a pretext: The amount of Fentanyl passing through the Canadian border into the US is a tiny percentage of the total. Trump will not say what changes have to be made for the threat of tariffs to be lifted: “Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show the agency [seized 19.5 kilograms](https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics) of fentanyl at the northern border last year, compared to 9,570 kilograms at the southwestern one.” (Source)
• On a so-called trade deficit: “Trump is fixated on the Canada-U.S. trade deficit, which is largely driven by American demand for cheaper Canadian oil. When oil exports are excluded, the Americans actually have a trade surplus with Canada, according to Canadian government data.” (Source)
• On the economic impact of 25% tariffs: “The Canadian economy is set to face the most severe shock since the COVID-19 pandemic and will probably sink into a recession if a tariff war persists, say top economists.” (Source) 
• On Trump’s desire to make Canada the 51st state: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6633776

It occurs to me that Trump’s bullying might stem from genuine ignorance as well as malice. He may not realize that Canadian identity has historically been formed by its opposition to the United States. Why wouldn’t Canadians want to join the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave? An answer from someone who has lived in both countries, as well as Africa, Europe and the Middle East: Let me count the ways. 

There is precedent for Trump’s behaviour—none of it good: In 1866 “a bill to annex Canada was introduced in the U.S. Congress” (Source). Thanks to the aftermath of the American civil war, it never came to a vote. No coincidence that Canadian confederation occurred one year later, in 1867. More recent precedent includes Germany’s annexation of of German-speaking Austria in 1938, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

To my American friends: This isn’t right. Please say something, at least in prayer.

As a Christian, Trump’s threats to my own nation prompt a different sort of reflection:

• What does it mean to love my enemy? 
• What does it mean to affirm that my primary political allegiance is to the one who is “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36; see Phil 3:20)?
• I’ll be honest here: Evangelical American support for first-term Trump was a faith-shaking sucker punch to the gut. What does it say about the Truth I affirm when so many who profess it are so quick to believe lies? How can those who claim to be concerned with character and morality follow someone who cares not a wit for either of these things? … What, then, does it mean for me to treat my misguided co-religionists as brothers and sisters?