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EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 120 books. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).
Secular historians are not able to disclose the origin of the Hebrew language. In fact, for that matter, the same is true for any of the most ancient languages known, such as Sumerian, Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian), Aramaean, and Egyptian. The reason for this is that the earliest tongues appeared already fully developed in the earliest written records that have been discovered. The different views that have been advanced by scholars concerning the origin and development of Hebrew, such as those who would claim that Hebrew derived from Aramaic or from some Canaanite dialect, are simply speculative.
The Origins of Hebrew: The historical problem of the origins of Hebrew–sometimes raised as a question of the kind “What was the language spoken by the Patriarchs?” or “What was the language of the conquerors of Canaan?”
(www.myjewishlearning.com)
The same point can be made in some scholars’ efforts to explain how some words found in the Hebrew Scriptures originated. Some scholars have argued that many of the words in the Hebrew Scriptures were derived from Akkadian or an Aramaic source. However, as Dr. Edward Horowitz comments: “In the field of etymology [the study of word origins] there are wide differences of opinion among scholars, even among the very best of them.” He then goes on to cite some examples of renowned scholars of the etymology and their explanations of certain Hebrew words. I each case, Horowitz shows that these prominent scholars disagree amongst themselves, and then adds: “And so we have these never-ending differences between equally highly respected authorities.”—How the Hebrew Language Grew, 1993, pp. xix, xx.
The only trustworthy historical source for giving us reliable evidence of the origin of the Hebrew language is the Bible. The language was, of course, spoken by the Israelite descendants of “Abram the Hebrew” (Gen. 14:13), who, in fact, was a descendant of Noah’s son Shem. (Gen. 11:10-26) When we consider the prophetic blessing of God on Shem Ge 9:26), we are not stretching the realms of possibility in saying that Shem’s language was Hebrew and it was not affected at the tower of Babel when God confused the language of the people who rebelled against Him. – Genesis 11:5-9.
Shem, who was not involved in this rebellion, his language would remain the same as it was before the flood, wherein “the whole earth had one language and the same words” from the time of Adam onward. (Gen. 11:1) The Bible infers that the language that would become known as Hebrew may have evolved as to characters, and was, in fact, the original one language before the flood of humankind, given by God to Adam. Based on the mass disagreement, undecidedness, and speculation from secular history, we know no other.
