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Ancient Hebrew writings are texts written inBiblical Hebrew using thePaleo-Hebrew alphabet before the destruction of theSecond Temple during theSiege of Jerusalem (70 CE).
The earliest known precursor to Hebrew, an inscription in thePaleo-Hebrew alphabet, is theKhirbet Qeiyafa ostracon (11th–10th century BCE),[1] if it can be considered Hebrew at that early a stage.
By far the most varied, extensive, and historically significant body of literature written in Biblical Hebrew is theHebrew Bible), but other works have survived as well. Before theImperial Aramaic-derivedHebrew alphabet was adopted circa the5th century BCE, thePhoenicia-derived Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was used for writing. A derivative of the script still survives as theSamaritan script.
Hebrew is one of theCanaanite languages.[7] Thelanguage variety in which theMasoretic Text is written is known as "Biblical" or "Classical Hebrew" (c. 10th century BC –1st century). Varieties of Hebrew were spoken not only by the ancientIsraelites but also in adjacent kingdoms east and south of theJordan River, where distinct non-Israelite dialects existed, now extinct:Ammonite,Moabite, andEdomite. After the inhabitants of theKingdom of Israel (Samaria) had been deported in theAssyrian captivity approximately 721 BC, an equivalent linguistic shift occurred. In theSecond Temple period, which began after theBabylonian captivity in the 5th century BC, the two known remnants of theTwelve Tribes of Israel came to be referred to asJews andSamaritans (seeSamaritan Hebrew).
Genealogical classification of Hebrew:
Unlike Samaritan and Biblical Hebrew, the other varieties are poorly studied due to a lack of sufficient data. It may be argued that they are independent languages, as thedistinction between language and dialect is ambiguous. They are known only from very smallcorpora, coming from seals,ostraca, transliterations of names in foreign texts.
Hebrew and Phoenician are Canaanite languages, which, along withAramaic constitute theNorthwest Semitic languages. Extra-biblical Canaanite inscriptions are gathered along with Aramaic inscriptions in editions of the book "Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften", from which they may be referenced asKAIn (for a numbern); for example, theMesha Stele is "KAI 181".
The Hebrew Bible is commonly known in Judaism as the "Tanakh", it being a vocalization of theacronym TNK (תַּנַ"ךְ):Torah ("Teachings"),Nevi'im ("Prophets") andKetuvim ("Writings"). In Christianity it's known as the "Old Testament". The Bible is not a single, monolithic piece of literature because each of these three sections, in turn, contains books written at different times by different authors.[8] All books of the Bible are not strictly religious in nature; for example,The Song of Songs is a love poem and, along withThe Book of Esther, does not explicitly mentionGod.[9]
"Torah" in this instance refers to thePentateuch (to parallelChumash, חומש), so called because it consists of five books:Genesis,Exodus,Numbers,Leviticus andDeuteronomy. It is the core scripture ofJudaism andSamaritanism, honored in these religions as the most sacred of scripture. It is sometimes called the "Five Books of Moses" because according to the Jewish tradition, the Torah, as adivinely inspired text, was given toMoses by God himself onMount Sinai during theExodus of the Israelites from Egypt, which is portrayed as the founding event in the formation of the Israelite religion. Other than discussing the Exodus itself and the journey to thePromised Land, thePentateuch has such themes as the origin of the world, of humanity and of the ancient Israelites, the ancestors of modern-day Jews.
The Nevi'im section of the Hebrew Bible consists of two sub-divisions: the Former Prophets (Nevi'im Rishonimנביאים ראשונים, the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) and the Latter Prophets (Nevi'im Aharonimנביאים אחרונים, the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and theTwelve Minor Prophets). The first sub-division speaks much about the history of the Israelites following the death of Moses, arrival to thePromised Land and the history of the kingdom up until theSiege of Jerusalem by the Neo-Babylon Empire in 586 BCE.
The Ketuvim sector of the Hebrew Bible is a collection of philosophical and artistic literature believed to have been written under the influence ofRuach ha-Kodesh (the Holy Spirit). It consists of 11 books:Daniel,Ezra-Nehemiah,Chronicles, five books known as theChamesh Megilot and three poetic books, including theBook of Psalms, quotations of which comprise a large portion of canonical daily prayers in Judaism.
The oldest manuscripts discovered yet, including those of theDead Sea Scrolls, date to about the 2nd century BCE. WhileJewish tradition holds that the Pentateuch was written between the 16th century and the 12th century BCE, secular scholars are virtually unanimous in rejecting these early datings, and agree that there was a final redaction some time between 900–450 BCE.[10][11] The traditional view is that all five books were written in immediate succession, but some scholars believe that Deuteronomy was written later than the other four books.[12]
The traditional Jewish view regarding the authorship of the Pentateuch isthat it was written by Moses under God's order, except for the last eight verses of Deuteronomy which describe the death of Moses and were written by Joshua, Moses's student who became a prophet. In secular scholarly circles by the end of the 19th century, a popular proposition regarding the authorship was thedocumentary hypothesis, which has remained quite influential to this day, despite criticism.[citation needed] The books of the prophets are entitled in accordance with the alleged authorship. Some books in the Ketuvim are attributed to important historical figures (e.g., theProverbs toKing Solomon, many of thePsalms toKing David), but it is generally agreed that verification of such authorship claims is extremely difficult if not impossible, and many believe some or even all of the attributions in thecanon and theapocrypha to bepseudepigraphal.
Scholars believe that theSong of the Sea (Exodus 15) was compiled and passed orally before it was quoted in the Book of Exodus and that it is among the most ancient poems in the history of literature, perhaps going back to the 2nd millennium BCE.[13][14] TheSong of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:1–43) and theSong of Deborah (Judges 5) were written inArchaic Biblical Hebrew, also called Old Hebrew or Paleo-Hebrew (10th–6th centuries BCE, corresponding to the Monarchic Period until the Babylonian Exile).
The only descendants of the Israelites who have preserved Hebrew texts are the Jews and the Samaritans and, of the latter, there are but a few hundred left.[15] Both theSamaritan religion and the indigenousSamaritan language, which today is used only liturgically, differ somewhat from their Jewish counterparts, though the difference between thelanguage varieties is only dialectal. The canon of theSamaritans consists solely of a version of thePentateuch. It is slightly different from the JewishMasoretic Text version. Most are minor variations in the spelling of words orgrammatical constructions, but others involve significant semantic changes, such as the uniquely Samaritan commandment to construct an altar onMount Gerizim. It is to this day written in a script which developed from thepaleo-Hebrew script (namely theSamaritan script), whereas the common "Hebrew script" is in fact a stylized version of theAramaic script, not of the paleo-Hebrew script.[16]
Post-Biblical Hebrew writings include rabbinic works ofMidrash,Mishnah, and Talmud. In addition, there are non-rabbinic Hebrew texts from the Second Temple and subsequent periods.
The subject of the Talmud is the Torah-derivedHalakhah, Jewishreligious law, which at the time of its writing was indistinguishable from secular law, as indeed the dichotomy had not yet arisen in Levantine society. The Talmud has two components to it: theMishnah, which is the main text, redacted between 180 and 220 CE, and theGemarah, the canonized commentary to theMishnah. Very roughly, there are two traditions of Mishnah text: one found in manuscripts and printed editions of the Mishnah on its own, or as part of theJerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi), the other is found in manuscripts and editions of theBabylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli). Unless otherwise specified, the word "Talmud" on its own is normally understood to mean the Babylonian Talmud.
The Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in the 4th century CE inGalilee, and the Babylonian Talmud was compiled about the year 500 CE, although it continued to be edited later. While the Pentateuch is sometimes called the "Written Torah", the Mishnah is contrasted as the "Oral Torah" because it was passed down orally between generations until its contents were finally committed to writing following the destruction of theSecond Temple in 70 CE, when Jewish civilization was faced with an existential threat.[17]
Descent from the Talmudic tradition is the defining feature ofRabbinic Judaism. In Rabbinic Judaism it is believed that theoral traditions codified in the Oral Torah were co-given with the Written Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. This belief has, in contrast, been rejected by theSadducees andHellenistic Jews during theSecond Temple period, theKaraites andSabbateans during the early and later medieval period,[18] and in the modern non-Orthodox denominations:Reform Judaism sees all scripture as derived from human experience of the divine,Conservative Judaism holds that at the very least some of the oral law is man-made, andReconstructionist Judaism denies the very idea of revelation.[19] The vast majority of Jews today come from a Rabbinic Jewish background.Karaite Judaism is considered the main contrast to Rabbinic Judaism in our days, but even though Karaites constituted close to half of the global Jewish population around the early 2nd millennium CE,[20] today there but a few tens of thousands left.[21][22]
Of the two main components of the Babylonian Talmud, the Mishnah is written inMishnaic Hebrew. Within theGemara, the quotations from the Mishnah and theBaraitas and verses ofTanakh quoted and embedded in the Gemara are in Hebrew. The rest of the Gemara, including the discussions of the Amoraim and the overall framework, is in a characteristic dialect ofJewish Babylonian Aramaic.[23] There are occasional quotations from older works in other dialects of Aramaic, such asMegillat Taanit. Overall, Hebrew constitutes somewhat less than half of the text of the Talmud.
This difference in language is due to the long time period elapsing between the two compilations. During the period of theTannaim (rabbis cited in the Mishnah), the spokenvernacular of Jews inJudaea was a late form of Hebrew known asRabbinic or Mishnaic Hebrew, whereas during the period of theAmoraim (rabbis cited in the Gemara), which began around 200 CE, the spoken vernacular was Aramaic. Hebrew continued to be used for the writing of religious texts, poetry, and so forth.[24]
There are significant differences between the two Talmud compilations. The language of the Jerusalem Talmud is aWestern Aramaic dialect, which differs from the form of Aramaic in the Babylonian Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud is often fragmentary and difficult to read, even for experienced Talmudists. The redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, on the other hand, is more careful and precise. The law as laid down in the two compilations is basically similar, except in emphasis and in minor details. The Jerusalem Talmud has not received much attention from commentators, and such traditional commentaries as exist are mostly concerned with comparing its teachings to those of the Babylonian Talmud.
Religious texts whose authenticity is not officially recognized are termedapocryphal. Many texts have been lost. NoSadducee texts are extant.
TheSeptuagint included 14 books accepted by some Christians but excluded from the 24-bookHebrew Bible canon (i.e.,Tanakh), not all of them written originally in Hebrew. The Greeks use the wordAnagignoskomena (Ἀναγιγνωσκόμενα "readable, worthy to be read") to describe these books. TheEastern Orthodox Churches have traditionally included all of them in theirOld Testaments. Most of them, the ones namedDeuterocanonical, are considered canonical also by theRoman Catholic Church.
A significant number ofapocryphal works was written in the Second Temple Period (530 BCE – 70 CE); see alsoSecond Temple Judaism. Some examples:
The discovery of theQumran Caves Scrolls (3rd century BCE – 1st century CE),[25][26] unveiled previously unknown documents that shed light on the rules and beliefs of a particular group or groups within greater Judaism.[27] The Qumran Caves Scrolls encompass most of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They are associated with theEssenes. Notable examples:
Sefer Yetzirah is arguably the earliest extant book onJewishesotericism, although some early commentators treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory as opposed toKabbalah. In traditional lore, the book is ascribed to the Bronze Age patriarchAbraham.[28] Some critical scholars argue for the 2nd century BCE as an early date of its writing,[28] or the 2nd century CE,[29] or even later origins.[30]
Hekhalot literature is a genre of Jewish esoteric and revelatory texts produced some time between Late Antiquity – some believe from Talmudic times or earlier – to the Early Middle Ages.
Many non-canonical books arereferenced in the Bible. Most of them have been lost.
the biblical texts themselves are the result of a creative dialogue between ancient traditions and different communities through the ages
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Yezirah, Sefer".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Retrieved16 April 2013.