The Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet - Power On High

1 The Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. Understanding the Ancient Hebrew Language of the Bible based on Ancient Hebrew Culture and Thought Jeff A. Benner +. The Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet Unless otherwise noted, the Scriptures are taken from the HOLY. BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. About the cover: Photo taken at the University of Pennsylvania, Museum of Archeology and Anthropology by the author. The inscription reads "Sh'ma" meaning hear (see Duet ) and is inscribed on a piece of broken pottery dated 586 to 450 BCE.

2 Cover and Illustrations by the author The Anicent Hebrew Language and Alphabet , by Jeff A. Benner. ISBN 1-58939-534-4. Published 2004 by Publishing Inc., Box 9949, College Station, TX , 77842, US. 2004 Jeff A. Benner. All rights reserved. Any part of this book may be copied for non-profit educational purposes only, without prior permission. Otherwise, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Jeff A. Benner. Manufactured in the United States of America. To my wife Denise, who has taught me more about Hebrew thought through her actions then all the books I have read.

3 Table of Contents Introduction ..1. One - The Hebrews ..3. Who were the Hebrews?..3. The Origin of the Hebrew Language and The evolution of the Hebrew Alphabet ..9. Why study the Ancient Hebrew Language and culture?..16. How do we study the Ancient Hebrew Language and culture? ..17. Two - Hebrew Thought ..19. Abstract vs. concrete thought ..20. Appearance vs. Functional Passive vs. Active Nouns ..22. Three - Reconstructing the Original Hebrew Letter Reconstruction of the Alphabet ..26. Four - Hebrew Prefixes ..30. Five - The Root System of Parent Roots ..32. Child Adopted Words ..35. Benefit of studying words from a common Reconstructing the Parent Roots.

4 37. Methods for reconstructing the original Parent Root ..37. Six - Word Studies ..40. Voice ..42. Ancient Hebrew Words ..43. Seven - Hebrew origins of Appendix A - Ancient Hebrew Alphabet Reconstruction ..50. Appendix B - Learn to Read Ancient Hebrew ..66. Introduction ..66. Picture ..66. English letter ..67. English name ..67. Hebrew Hebrew Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet Hebrew meaning ..68. Appendix C - History of the Hebrew Script ..92. Appendix D Alphabet Charts ..115. Ancient Modern Derivatives ..116. Appendix E - Ancient Hebrew Parent Root Dictionary ..117. Purpose of the Cross reference to Strong's How to use the Appendix F Number Cross References.

5 184. Strong's Number - Ancient Hebrew Number ..184. Ancient Hebrew Number - Strong's Number ..196. ii List of Illustrations Figure 1 Pre-flood pictograph found in the pre-flood city of Figure 2 The scattering of the descendants of Noah's three sons..8. Figure 3 Ancient Shemitic/ Hebrew pictographic inscription on stone boulder c. 1500 BCE ..9. Figure 4 Ancient Hebrew inscription on potsherd c. 900 BCE ..9. Figure 5 Moabite inscription on stone c. 900 BCE ..10. Figure 6 Ammonite inscription on stone c. 900 Figure 7 Ugarit cuneiform inscription on clay tablet c. 1400 BCE ..10. Figure 8 Aramaic inscription on stone incense altar c. 500 BCE.

6 11. Figure 9 Aramaic inscription on stone plaque c. 20 CE..11. Figure 10 Hebrew writings from the Dead Sea Scrolls c. 200 BCE11. Figure 11 Modern Hebrew script from the Hebrew Figure 12 Pictographic Hebrew writings from the Dead Sea Scrolls c. 100 BCE ..12. Figure 13 Samaritan Figure 14 Greek inscription found on bowl c. 800 BCE ..13. Figure 15 Greek writing on New Testament papyrus c. 200 CE ..13. Figure 16 Egyptian Hieroglyphs from the Book of the Dead c. 1350. BCE ..14. Figure 17 Sumerian Pictograph on clay tablet c. 3000 BCE ..14. Figure 18 Sumerian Cuneiform on clay tablet c. 2500 BCE ..15. Figure 19 Hebrew root word Figure 20 The Ancient Hebrew Alphabet c.

7 1000 BCE ..45. Figure 21 The Ancient Hebrew Alphabet c. 1000 BCE (mirror image)..46. Introduction _____. This book is unique in that it will look at the Biblical Hebrew Language of the Bible through the eyes of the Ancient Hebrews who wrote it. Modern readers often ignore the fact that the Bible is an Ancient text and must be read as an Ancient text. The definitions of Hebrew words, just like any other Language , change and evolve over time. It is the goal of this work to bring out the Ancient Hebrew meanings of words to the student of the Bible as never before done. The study of the Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet begins with an understanding of the Ancient Hebrew culture as both are intimately related.

8 The original letters of the Hebrew Alphabet was actually pictures, or pictographs, similar to Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Each picture represented an object whose definition is closely related to the agricultural lifestyle of the Ancient Hebrews. By studying the culture and lifestyle of the Ancient Hebrews we can better understand their Language . In a work such as this, there will undoubtedly be some misinterpretation of the Ancient Hebrew culture and pictographs. The study of any Ancient culture is like putting together a puzzle. We will never have all the pieces to the puzzle, but the pieces we do have, we piece together and attempt to fill in the gaps as efficiently as possible.

9 Sometimes the gaps in the puzzle are small and easy to fill in based on the pieces around it. At other times Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet these gaps are large and difficult to fill in. There is much work to be done in this area of Language and word study and I hope that others, who have the same love for the Ancient Hebrew Language and culture, will take on the challenge of continuing the research needed to piece together the puzzle. 2. One - The Hebrews _____. Who were the Hebrews? The first person mentioned in the Bible as a " Hebrew " is Abraham1. "One who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew ". (Genesis ). Is Abraham the first Hebrew ?

10 The Hebrew word for " Hebrew " is yrb[ / eevriy2 and comes from the root word rb[ / avar which means, "to cross over". A Hebrew is "one who has crossed over". One of Abraham's ancestors was Eber3 (rb[). 1. Known as Abram before God changed his name. 2. The letter b (beyt) is pronounced as a "b" when at the beginning of a word, and usually a "v" within a word. 3. Genesis Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet The name Eber also comes from the same root rb[ / avar, making it possible that Eber was also a " Hebrew ". The Bible is the story of God and his covenant relationship (Hebraicly understood as "crossing over" from death to life) with an ancestral line beginning with Adam through his descendants Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob's descendants, who became the "nation of Israel" also known as "the Hebrews".]]]]