Darwin vs. Design – How the Universe Began

The Question of Origins I/II

During the past century, much of the world has accepted the theory of Evolution as fact. Yet the molecules-to-man theory has no direct evidence to support it at all. Origins provides overwhelming evidence in favor of Creation.

The theory of Evolution has been applied to most scientific fields and this video thoroughly exposes the blind speculation and evolutionary bias in three of these areas of science including: Cosmology, Chemistry, and Biology.

This visually rich, full production reveals conclusive evidence that the universe and all life were created by a Supernatural Being, and that the God of the Bible is that Creator.

Features widely-traveled Creationist speaker, Roger Oakland, who makes the issues easy-to-understand for laypeople. Various scientific experts share evidence and proofs.

Part I of II.

The Miracle Planet – 1:Evidence for Creation on Earth

In this film you will journey through a miraculous place where its features-mass, structure, temperature and so on-are designed “just right for life and for the survival of living beings”. That is our Earth… Millions of animals, plants, insects and sea creatures, all with different structures, colors and features live together on this special planet. The great harmony on Earth and the wonderful life on it are proofs of the existence of God and the artistry of His creation.

Out of Place Artifacts

Great summary of the evidence that is ignored by scientists and archeologists.

The Biblical Flood Explained

The Hydroplate Theory (A Plausible Explanation of the Flood)

Dr Walt Brown

This video shows how the waters of the Biblical flood came from inside the earth, and how this flood created many features of the modern earth.

Evolution vs. Creation: #8 Dinosaurs and the Bible

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Ben Stein)

This a must see film. It raises some extremely important surrounding creation and evolution. If the evolutionists are so certain of their position why won’t they allow another voice in the classrooms, scientific journals and universities?

Knowing that Jesus (Yeshua) spoke Hebrew is important to better understand His words and culture. Equipped with that knowledge we can more accurately interpret some of the hard sayings of Jesus. However, do you know Him? Knowing Jesus is the most important thing in life. Do you know what His name actually means?

“Iesous” (ιησους) is the Greek (from the Septuagint) equivalent of the Hebrew name “Yeshua”. “Yeshua” seems to be the first century equivalent of Yehoshua יהושׁע or Joshua. “Yeshua” comes from the Hebrew root “yesha” which means “salvation” while “Yehoshua” (Joshua) means YHWH is salvation. So, when you call upon His name, you are calling out “salvation”! It doesn’t matter what language you speak since Jesus knows your language! His message is very simple and easy to understand and you don’t have to know Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek to understand it! Here are some of the words of Jesus:

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
The Bible declares that all have sinned (Romans 3:23)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16 -18)
Jesus states that God loved us so much that he didn’t want us to be eternally separated from Him as a result of our sin.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'” (John 14:6)
Jesus declares that there is no other way to God except through Him. If we want to live forever with God we must go through the sacrifice of Jesus.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25, 26
Jesus died on the cross and then rose again on the third day proving that He indeed has the power to forgive sins. If we believe in Him as the payment for our sin, we will live forever in Heaven with Him.

So the question is, do you believe this? Jesus came to die for your sins and for mine. He is willing to forgive us just for the asking – and that is our part. We must put our trust in Jesus as our Savior for our sins rather our own efforts. Asking Him to do this for you is easy; it just requires a sincere heart.

Admit that you have done wrong (sin) and are in need of a savior to save you from eternal separation from God.
Repent: turn your back on your sins.
Look to Jesus and what He did on the cross as the payment of your sins. If you sincerely ask Him to forgive you of your sins He will do so based on His death on the cross.

If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, as the Scriptures clearly say, then you can have eternal life. I invite you to receive His gift of life to you and then to rest in the promise that you are a new creation and will live forever with Christ. If you would like pray or to speak with me one on one, please don’t hesitate to write or call!

Historical Evidence

The amount of historical evidence that Jesus and the Jewish people living in Israel of his day spoke Hebrew as their mother tongue is extensive.  Over the last hundred years, a better understanding of literary sources such as the Mishna has greatly elucidated the linguistic situation of ancient Israel.  Additionally, discoveries such as the Bar-Kochba letters, coins, inscriptions and the Dead Sea Scrolls have brought to light what some scholars a hundred years ago could not know regarding just how widespread Hebrew was at the time of Jesus.  There is, in fact, so much evidence that there is simply not enough space to cover it all since that would require several volumes. Rather, we will look at the most relevant and pertinent information regarding which language Jesus taught in.

The discussion of this chapter will proceed as follows.  First we will trace the development of Hebrew from the time of the Patriarchs to the time of Jesus and later.  We will see that Hebrew never died out as is so often claimed and that when the New Testament writers said Hebrew, they really meant Hebrew and not Aramaic.  Our exploration will reveal that while there were some Aramaic speakers in Israel at the time of Jesus, Hebrew was the language of the Jews and Aramaic was the language in which they conducted their dealings with non-Jews.  Then we will also consider the testimony of some ancient sources that consistently claim that Jesus spoke and taught in Hebrew, that the disciples spoke Hebrew, and that the Jewish people as a whole spoke Hebrew.

 Brief History of Hebrew

Table 1 Progression of Hebrew from Ancient to Modern

Biblical Hebrew

When talking about Hebrew, a brief history of the language is of great aid in understanding what is meant.  Just like today, when we talk about English, we are not speaking of the English that was spoken in Chaucer’s or Shakespeare’s day or even that of one hundred years ago.  While the latter two we can understand, most of us cannot understand the first due to radical changes in the language even though it is referred to as English.  Most educated English speakers, however, can figure out what Shakespeare is telling us – though there are certain words that may trick us and unless we dig deeper into what they mean, we may be left with a misunderstanding of what is being said.  Consider Romeo and Juliet.  In my younger years I thought that Juliet by saying, “wherefore art thou Romeo” was in reality asking where he was!  Only later did I discover that “wherefore” is an archaic way of asking the question “why” (which certainly helps to understand what she was asking!).

The development of Hebrew is in many ways similar to that of English.  At some point in the second millennium BC, the Hebrew of the Patriarchs emerged from the Semitic language family and became a distinct language.  This earliest form of Hebrew is referred to as Proto-Hebrew, and the period in which it was spoken lasted approximately up through the time of the Judges.  We can see traces of this older form of the language in the Song of Moses, Exodus 15, and possibly in the book of Job.[1]  From there, we can trace Hebrew to its next stage known as Standard Biblical Hebrew (SBH), which includes the majority of the books of the Bible such as Kings, Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and many others.  It is called Standard by Biblical Hebrew scholars since this is what we find most of the Old Testament scriptures written in.  Finally, the books after the return from the Babylonian captivity – Zechariah, Malachi, Haggai, Esther, Nehemiah, Ezra and Daniel (excluding half of Daniel and Ezra written in Aramaic) were all written in what scholars have called Late Biblical Hebrew (LBH).

While in all of these different eras the language was Hebrew, (similar spelling, vocabulary and grammatical features) there are differences that exist among them.  For example, the word “kingdom”, which in SBH is ממלכה mmlcha,[2] becomes מלכוּת mlchut in LBH.  Both are derived from the same root for king (and hence kingdom) but are clear and consistent variants.  Another feature is the addition of pronunciation aids.  For example, the spelling of David דוד dvd in SBH changes to דויד dvid in LBH.  There are many other examples demonstrating that the Hebrew in the Old Testament was a living language constantly going through changes.  Moreover, it never died out as attested by the fact that the latter, postexilic prophets were still writing in Hebrew.

Intertestamental Hebrew

The time between the Old Testament and the New Testament (shortly after the time of Jesus) is commonly known as the Intertestamental period.  Though none of the works written in Israel at that time were included in the Bible, many books in Hebrew were composed. Perhaps the most significant finding of this period is the Dead Sea Scrolls found in a region called Qumran near the Dead Sea, southeast of Jerusalem.  A group known as the Essenes inhabited the site from approximately the third century BC until just prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD

Discovered in the 1940’s and 50’s, the Dead Sea Scrolls contain more than 800 documents and fragments, most of which were in Hebrew, some in Aramaic and almost none in Greek. (Stone 2000:11)  Among the most notable finds in the Qumran region was the copper scroll written in Mishnaic Hebrew which gave an inventory of Temple treasure and where it had been hidden before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.  Also found in the caves of Qumran were the books of Ben Sira (in Hebrew), Jubilees (in Hebrew), and Testament of Naphtali (in Hebrew) as well as commentaries on books of the Bible.  Additionally, a document called the Community Rule was found, which was the rulebook for those living in the community. (see Safrai 1991b)

Mishnaic Hebrew

An important element in discovering the language of Jesus and first century Israel is the Mishna, a body of writings in Hebrew, which set forth rabbinical guidelines of how to apply the law to everyday life.  The Mishna includes the (oral) teachings of the Rabbis up through the second century AD, so it provides crucial confirmation that Hebrew was a spoken language.  It is divided into six parts dealing with every topic to which the law could be applied, e.g. contracts, marriage, work related issues, etc.  In other words, it employed vocabulary that was current and up-to-date at the time of Jesus (see Segal 1908).  The Hebrew vocabulary used in the Mishna is not solely that of the Bible, but neither is it Aramaic – it was the “modern” Hebrew of the day.  Many Hebrew words had changed, some had fallen out of use and others had even taken on a totally different meaning.

Nonetheless, many scholars have insisted that Mishnaic Hebrew was either an invention of the Rabbis or even a translation from Aramaic.  Dr. Shmuel Safrai, a founding member of the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research and past professor at the Hebrew University, notes that

most scholars since the beginning of the nineteenth century have concluded that Aramaic was the spoken language of the land of Israel during the Second Temple period. Even when scribes of that period or later attest that they wrote or transmitted traditions in Hebrew, scholars have persisted in claiming that this “Hebrew” was actually some type of Aramaic dialect then prevalent among the Jews of the land. It has even been claimed that the Hebrew in which the Mishna was written was an artificial language of the bet midrash, house of study, which was a translation from Aramaic, or at the very least heavily influenced by Aramaic. (Safrai 1991a)

However, the application of Hebrew to everyday situations strongly suggests that Hebrew was still a living language.  Consider by way of example the English word gay.  Just 30 to 40 years ago, this word meant merry, jovial.  However, if I were to say “I am feeling rather gay today”, I would at the very least get a lot of strange looks from those around me!  How quickly and radically a word can take on a new meaning.  But we would not say that gay is no longer English; it has a different meaning but it’s not a different language.  So, too, the Mishna used much of the vocabulary from the Bible – both Standard and Late Biblical Hebrew – but also coined new phrases to deal with then-current situations and occasionally even completely integrated vocabulary from Aramaic, Greek, Persian and other languages.

Furthermore, the possibility of it being a living language is corroborated by other Hebrew documents from roughly the same period, which we will discuss later. To say that Mishnaic Hebrew, the Hebrew of Jesus’ day was not a living language is truly an argument from silence.  All of the sources that we will look at plainly designate Hebrew as a living language and thus, in light of this evidence, the burden of proof should lie with those who maintain that Mishnaic Hebrew is an artificial contrivance. (Dr. Gallagher personal communication)

Bar Kochba

After the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD under the Roman General Titus, the Jewish people continued living in Israel though their numbers were greatly diminished.  From 132-135 AD, the Jewish people, under Simon Bar Kochba, rebelled against the dictates of Rome which had outlawed circumcision. Though they fought passionately, the Romans overwhelmed them and at the end of the revolt all Jews were expelled from the city of Jerusalem on penalty of death.

Letters of correspondence between Bar Kochba and his soldiers were discovered in 1951 near the Dead Sea.  They are a significant finding since they were written in Hebrew as well as Aramaic and Greek.  There are certain colloquialisms found in them leading to the conclusion that Hebrew was not a dead language nor was it a language reserved only for the synagogues.

The Hebrew documents clearly were written by an expert scribe, with the script being similar to printed Hebrew used today…they contain a number of colloquialisms causing some scholars to suggest that contrary to popular assumption, Hebrew at the time was a living and developing language. This is also reflected in the economic and military documents found in the Judean Desert… The widespread use of Hebrew in the period is confirmed by coins minted during the revolt. All fifty-one different types of coin found from that period have Hebrew inscriptions.  (Pileggi 1991)

The Bar Kochba letters are a weighty piece of evidence demonstrating that well after the time of Jesus the Jewish people in Israel were still speaking Hebrew.  After all, if you were leading a revolt against the strongest army of the world, wouldn’t you want to give your orders in a language that your subordinates might misunderstand?  And of course, a misunderstanding in war could cost you your life.  Thus, finding correspondence in Hebrew clearly confirms that it was a spoken language, not just a language of religious gatherings.

It has been suggested that the reason the Jewish leaders were so upset with Pilate regarding the sign on the cross of Jesus was due to the acrostic that the words spelled in Hebrew.  That is the first letter of each word “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (John 19:19) actually spelled YHWH, which, if true, would obviously be an affront to the pious leaders of the day.

For the above claim to be true, the Hebrew would have needed to be:  Yeshua Hanotzri W [1] -melech Hayehudim (Jesus of Nazareth and King of the Jews). I have capitalized what the transliterated letters would have needed to be to get YHWH.  The problem is that the letter Vav (represented by the W) is not reflected in the Greek texts of the Gospels.  Hence the above reconstruction is unsound and doubtful and is nothing more than a reconstruction.  If we had the Hebrew original, this would be a moot point, but unfortunately, it is not extant.

Below is the complete list of scriptural passages regarding the sign on the cross.  If the letters YHWH truly did appear on the cross as the reconstruction indicates, then we should clearly see this in the Greek text.  The Hebrew affix W (Vav), which means and, corresponds to the Greek word kai.  For the claim to be true, we should definitely see the word kai between the word Nazareth and the words the king.  If we don’t see this word, then the theory falls apart.

• John 19:19 “…JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

…᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων.

While the text of John is the most promising of the four, the underlying Hebrew would most naturally be rendered as: Yeshua HaNotzri Melech Hayehudim, thus becoming an acrostic YHMH, which means absolutely nothing.  As a note, we would not see the definite article in front of melech (king) in the Hebrew even though it is there in Greek due to the difference in Hebrew grammar.  In the Hebrew the definite article on yehudim (the ha) is adequate to make melech definite as well.

It should not be overlooked, however, that in the Bible and Jewish literature, a common way to write YHWH was to abbreviate it by just writing יה YH.  So, seemingly, perhaps the Jewish leaders were not so much seeing YHWH but just YH .  This theory could work if it were not for their very complaint a few verses later.  “Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Do not write, The King of the Jews, but, He said, I am King of the Jews.” (John 19:21)  Notice, they didn’t ask Pilate to change the YH (Yeshua HaNotzri) but specifically asked that the claim of kingship be removed and so the first two letters of the supposed acrostic were in no way an issue.

• Matthew 27:37 “…THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

…οὗτός ἐστιν ᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων.

Matthew provides little information, yielding a translation of Ze Yeshua Melech Hayehudim or ZYMH, meaning nothing.

• Luke 23:38 “…THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

… οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων.

Luke gives less information than a little less than Matthew: Ze Melech Hayehudim or ZMH, again meaning nothing.

• Mark 15:26 “…THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

… ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων.

And Mark records the most truncated of the four: Melech Hayehudim or MH, meaning nothing.

Conclusion:

In none of the texts above do we see the word kai, which, if the acrostic YHWH had been written in Hebrew, would have appeared in the Greek.  If it appeared in at least one of the texts, then we might conclude that it really was there.  However, since we don’t see it in any of the texts, which are our only records of what was (or was not) on that sign, we must conclude that the acrostic YHWH was not on the cross.  It is best to be silent where the Bible is silent.  Regardless, however, of what it spelled out, the reason that the Jewish leaders were angry was not because the writing somehow spelled out YHWH, but because it said he was the king of the Jews, an obvious declaration of Messiahship, which they plainly rejected.

[1] The letter vav before the letter M is pronounced as a long “u”.

Discovering the Language of Jesus: Hebrew or Aramaic?

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24 see also Luke 16:9,11,13)

The word mammon[1] has long been assumed to be Aramaic.  In fact, every Greek lexicon I checked said unambiguously that it is of Aramaic origin.[2] Many lexicons simply relegate the word to Aramaic a priori based on the fact that it is not Greek.  The word, in fact, comes from an old Hebrew root המון hamon meaning a number of different things making it somewhat difficult to translate.  But essentially, it means many, a lot.  Among the meanings [3] are riches and abundance.  It might seem to be somewhat of a stretch to say that hamon could become mammon.  However, considering that it was quite common for the letter mem to be added to the front of words to make them into other classes of words, it is not a stretch at all.  Consider the following examples:

• targum (translation), becomes translator by adding the letter mem to the front of the word – meturgeman
• melech (king), becomes kingdom by adding a mem to the beginning – mamlacha,
• zamar (to sing) becomes melody, psalm – mizmor
• yesha (salvation) – (from which comes the name Yeshua – Jesus) becomes with the mem – savior moshia
• hamon (a lot) becomes (money) mammon

Equally important is the fact that the word mammon is actually attested outside of the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament.  We find it nine times in the Mishna.  The passages in which mammon is found are in Hebrew (not Aramaic!) and are in reference to money and terms of payment.  One says, “If they give you a lot of money [mammon], you will enter…” Seder Nizikin 3:4 [4].  Another says, that if certain services are not performed, then a fine of money [mammon] will be paid (Seder Nizikin 4:8 [5]. And lastly, Seder Nashim Ktuvot 3:2 says in unambiguous terms that if so and so undertakes or commits to do something and then doesn’t pay then he will be fined as it says in Exodus 21:22:

• (Mishna Nashim Ktuvot 3:2)וכל המתחייב בנפשו–אינו משלם ממון, שנאמר “ולא יהיה, אסון–ענוש ייענש (שמות כא,כב) …Vkol hamitchayev benafsho – eino meshalem mammon, sheneamar velo yihiye, ason – yenosh yeanash (shmot 21:22).
• (Hebrew Bible, Exodus 21:22) – וכי־ינצו אנשׁים ונגפו אשׁה הרה ויצאו ילדיה ולא יהיה אסון ענושׁ יענשׁ כאשׁר ישׁית עליו בעל האשׁה ונתן בפללים) – …he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

There are two things in this text that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that mamon is a Hebrew word for money.  First of all, the Hebrew word “pay” (meshalem) appears before mammon (money) and secondly is the reference given to Exodus 21:22b which says “yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay (natan, literally give) as the judges determine.”  We see that the Mishnaic text actually uses some of the same words but updates pay (natan in Exodus 21:22b) with the up-to-date term pay money (meshalem mammon).  Since they use it in conjunction with that verse, which we know means pay and then update it with meshalem mammon, which, by the way, are in a 100% Hebrew context, we can definitively conclude that mammon was Hebrew.  While we cannot say that this was not an Aramaic word, it is worth noting that Targum Onkelos translates the word in the Exodus passage, which is related to the above Mishnaic passage, as natan – give. Moreover in places where the Hebrew Bible writes money as kesef (literally silver), Targum Onkelos follows suite with כַספָא kaspa.  If mammon were such a common Aramaic word then why is it not used in this of all verses when the Mishna does use it?

[1] The Textus Receptus has the spelling mamon, which agrees with Luke in every manuscript.  However, for sake of the accepted convention mammon will be used in this book.

[2] See in situ Thayers Greek Lexicon, Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Lexicon, Friberg Green Lexicon, UBS Greek Dictionary and Louw-Nida Lexicon

[3] The meaning of hamon: cry aloud, mourn, rage, roar, sound; make noise, tumult; be clamorous, disquieted, loud, moved, troubled, in an uproar.  Abundance, company, many, multitude, noise, riches, rumbling, sounding, store, tumult.  (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament hamon entry).

[4] Seder Nizikin 3:4 (im notnin lecha mammon harbe, ata niknas) אם נותנין לך ממון הרבה, אתה נכנס

[5] Seder Nizikin 4:8 (she-ein chayavin ela al tviat mammon kfiqudin)שאין חייבין אלא על תביעת ממון כפיקדון