Tuesday, May 8, 2007

What I'm Learning...No One Else Cares About!

I hesitate in even writing this post for fear that no one even cares, but hey, oh well. This place has become a place where I share what I have been learning and what God has been teaching me. So here's what I've been learning lately:

I have been quite interested in studying Jewish history, culture, and background in order to better understand the context that Jesus spoke in and that the Bible was written in. I had known that knowing and understanding Hebrew language and Jewish culture was important, but it had always been ingrained in me that understanding Greek language and culture was more important to understanding the New Testament. I was wrong.

We all know that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, thus making 77% of Scripture Hebrew right off the top. I had always thought that the New Testament was all written in Greek, but I was incorrect. While we have Greek manuscripts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the first half of Acts, the original text was actually written in Hebrew. Also, there are a lot of quotations found in the book of John and Acts that are Hebrew. Adding these books in with the Old Testament writings brings the grand total up to 90% of the Bible being written in Hebrew.

I am only beginning my quest for knowledge, but this information that I recently came upon reinforces my need to be a student of Jewish thought in order to better understand what it is Jesus has called us to. I trust that God will continue to lead me as I seek to understand what He is doing in this world and how I can get on board with His plan.

Sorry to bore you. I know I am nerdy. Hey, we are all nerdy at something. This is mine. What is yours? What is it about you that your friends give you grief for?

2 comments:

  1. Hey, I'm a faithful reader that cares...

    I've been wanting to get into either Hebrew or Greek for awhile now. It just seems like the little I've dug into makes things much more richer in scripture. Glad to see you're looking at it!

    Oh and Seattle? I must admit, it sounds pretty cool! I watched a video of one of the profs on their site. Sounds like an interesting ciriculum! You'll have to let me know how it turns out!

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  2. I am not sure I am ready to buy this book's scholarship....but it is some good information.

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