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The significance of the material itself from an American cultural perspective is that we all need to know the truth about the origins of the Scriptures. The oldest language in which Scriptures were recorded began in Mesopotamia as picture writing. It evolved from images to abstract symbols called cuneiform, then to alphabet. Egyptian hieroglyphics in contrast did not evolve into alphabetic writing. The Jewish scribes favored the Ashurai or Ashurit language, which they still recognize as the sacred language of the Torah. The technical term for the Ashurai language in Western theology is Ancient Aramaic, based on the fact that the Old Testament Scripture was recorded by the Jews during the Babylonian Captivity starting in the 5th Century B.C. Subsequently, the Jewish disciples and apostles recorded the New Testament Scripture also in Ancient Aramaic. This language became known as the scribal language. Jesus spoke and preached in this language. It was the same language that Abraham brought from the land of Ashur. All the Hebrew people spoke this language from the very beginning. Both Isaac and Jacob went home to the land of their grandparents to get married, and so they too continued to speak this language. Two thousand years since then, modern Aramaic has split off into many dialects. The dialects are so different today that only a few words and phrases are recognizable to all. Modern Aramaic is still in use in the Middle East and the Holy Lands. There are millions of people who speak it. This is the basis for this restoration of Scriptures from the original language in which it was conceived and recorded. Feb. 21, 2002 |