Darrell L. Bock's Blog Bock's Blog Greek Language Knowledge in the Holy Land
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I just picked up John Collins and Gregory Sterling on Hellenism in the Land of Israel (edited volume). Articles by Hengel, van der Horst and Vanderkam are helpful. Not sure we have any specifics on first century Jewish authors writing in Greek from Galilee beyond Josephus (a question Bart Ehrman asked me in our radio debate).
What we have are 3 % mss at Qumran, significant Greek remains among ossuaries and some Greek collections (e.g. in Frey, 315 of 530 inscriptions are in Greek). Collins notes three writers of Greek in the Holy Land in the Maccabean period: Jason of Cyrene, Eupolemus, and an anonymous Samaritan. Murabba'at and Babatha archive 55% of 609 papyri in Greek. Romans issued their decrees in Greek. Van der Horst says Roman Palestine is largely bilingual. One sentence from that article: "The burden of proof is on the shoulders of scholars who want to maintain that Greek was not the lingua franca of many Palestinian Jews in Hellenistic-Roman-Byzantine period, in view of the fact that more than 50 percent, maybe even 65 percent, of public inscriptions in 'the language of Japheth'." (p. 166). He does also note use and understanding did vary according to locality, period, social status, educational background, occasion and mobility.
I would take it the more mobility, the more exposure is likely. Van der Horst also notes that we know a small percentage of people who lived then in what we have (a reminder that our evidence is fragmentary). But what we do have from a variety of locations shows the pattern.
Ehrman and Red Herring
It seems that the formidable Bart Ehrman Smoke Machine can burn almost any fuel to obscure a historical perspective and replace it will his questions. Did he suppose the Josephus was the only person in Israel who could write in Greek?
I am grateful for those of you who can refute his views with scholarship.
-Barry
Red Herring
Barry:
He was trying to suggest literary Greek from a Jew in the land was rare. Of course, our literary remains from the land from known individuals is rare. This is why the other evidence is important, espcially papyri evidence and those percentages, as well as the fact Rome issued its decrees in Greek, strongly suggesting knowledge of the language.
Hellenism and Judaism in NT times
Dear Darrell,
thanks for your blog-comments on "Greek in the Holy Land". As far as I am informed, even though the debates on so called "new perspectives on Jesus and Paul" are still hot, the more than 40 years old research results of Martin Hengel in "Judentum und Hellenismus" (Habilitation 1967) or in addition seen in even newer results, e.g. in Hengel/ Thornton: "Jesus in den Evangelien" Mohr-Siebeck, Tuebingen 2007 speak about "Greek speaking Jews" or about Jews which were mainly "hellenistic Jews". And without hellenistic influences, Judaism in the second temple periode or even in NT times did not exist at all. According to Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism interacted more or less as cross-cultural influences from one to the other and back again. Are these results still adequate to newer reseach done in this field? If yes, then we would have to conclude (here only presented in a nutshell) that Judaism and hellenistic thoughts and worldviews - even in the Gospels - determined the view on Judaism in Jesus´ time, also the use of the Hebrew Bible (the OT) by early followers of Christ, and the "theology" of nearly all NT writers. What do you think? Berthold
Hellenization for Berthold
Yes, the culture was thoroughly hellenized, as Hengel argued. The influence on Second Temple Judaism was pervasive, even on those groups that reacted to its presence. This is somethign the Dead Sea Scrolls showed us. The only issue is how deep into the culture did the language itself spread. This question is tied to the issue of the depth of literacy in the land. We know Greek was the language of administration and law (Millard, Reading and Writing in the Time of Jesus, p. 105). The fac that coins were in Greek shows this as well. We have evidence of some Greek writers in the centuries around the time of Jesus: Jason of Cyrene, Eupolemus, and Josephus. There are some Greek Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts, as well as texts found at Masada. The Talmud is late, but claims that Simeon ben Shetach in c 100 BC urged that all children should go to school (y. Ket. 8.32c). This is probably a reference to males, since other text show it was debated if females should learn Torah. Philo and Josephus point in a similar direction (Leg. Gai. 210; Apion 2.178). The question is how widespread this was and how much did people learn. Influence of the culture does not require literacy, but mere extensive presence and interaction. So Greek was around. Merchants and others doing business had to have enough in terms of speaking to function. Writing is another matter. That requires a better knowledge of the language. So it would be less common. Full literacy is estimated and put at anywhere from 3-10%.
Greek
Dear Dr. Bock,
I am writing on this subject (Diss Uni Tuebingen) and my results should be presented shortly. I missed you in Tuebingen because I was studying at the Hebrew U on an exchange program.
LUKE NEUBERT
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