Tag: jeff

The question would ask another question! What language did Adam and Eve speak and then ultimately this must have been the language God gave them! Hebrew is classified as a Semitic (or Shemitic, from Shem, the son of Noah) language. Was Hebrew just one of the many Semitic languages such as Canaanite, Aramaic, Phoenician, Akkadian, ect., that evolved out of a more ancient unknown language? Or was Hebrew and the Semitic family of languages, the original language of man? According to the Bible all people spoke one language (Genesis 11:1) until the construction of the Tower of Babel, in southern Mesopotania which occurred sometime around 4000 B.C. During the construction of the Tower, God confused the language of man and scattered the nations (Genesis 11:7-8). It is at this time the Sumerians (from the land of Sumer, known as Shinar in the Bible-Genesis 10:10, speaking non-Semitic, appear in southern Mesopotania. It is believed the Sumerians are related to the people living between the Black and Caspian Seas, known as Scythians, descendants of Noah’s son Japheth.  At approximately the same time the Sumerians appeared in Mesopotania, another civilization emerges in the south, the Egyptians. The original language of the Egyptians is Hamitic (from Ham, the second son of Noah) and also unrelated to the Semitic languages. During the time of the Sumerians and the Egyptians, the Semitic peoples lived in Sumeria and traveled west into Canaan. It would appear that after the Tower of Babel, the descendants of Japheth traveled north with their language, the descendants of Ham traveled southwest with their language and the Semites traveled west with their language. The point of origin from these languages is Babylon or the Tower of Babel. What was the first language spoken prior to the Tower of Babel? When God created Adam He spoke to him (Genesis 2:16) indicating that God gave Adam a language and that this language came from God Himself, not through any evolution of languages. When we look at all the names of Adam’s descendants we find that all the names from Adam to Noah and his children are Hebrew names, meaning that their names have a meaning in Hebrew. For instance, Methuselah (Genesis 5:21) is Hebrew for “his death brings” (The flood occurred the year that he died). It is not until we come to Noah’s grandchildren that we find names that are not Hebrew. For instance, the name Nimrod (Genesis 11:18), who was from Babylon/Sumer/Shinar and possibly the Tower of Babel, is a non-Hebrew name. According to the Biblical record of names, Adam and his descendants spoke Hebrew. In addition, Jewish tradition as well as some Christian scholars, believe that Hebrew was the original language of man! Source; Ancient-Hebrew.org  Jeff A. Benner