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ARCHAEOLOGY AND

THE BIBLE

Ancient Hebrew Manuscript No complete Hebrew or Aramaic original
New Testament manuscripts have been found,
May Be Original Gospel of although some early Christian historians such
as Origen, Eusebius and especially Jerome as-
Matthew!
sert that Matthew's Gospel was written in He-
brew. It is also clear from more recent
linguistic analysis that Hebrew/Aramaic say-
Jean Gilman ings lie within the Gospel accounts.
Review Staff Reporter
It is known that by the first century AD, the
JERUSALEM, Israel - Were the four Gospels Aramaic-Hebrew dialect had replaced tradi-
originally penned in Greek, Hebrew or Ara- tional Hebrew as a spoken language in Israel
maic (an ancient dialect of Hebrew)? in the time of Christ, and therefore, it is often
said that Jesus may have spoken Aramaic
Throughout the centuries, many scholars as- rather than Hebrew. However, Hebrew cer-
sumed that the original holy Gospels were tainly remained the literary language. It was
written in Greek, since the Greek manuscripts also the language of the biblical scholars as
are the oldest available to them. shown by the numerous Hebrew documents
found among the Dead Sea Scrolls and the
But did the disciples of Jesus originally com- contemporary rabbinical writings of the first
pose the holy Scriptures in a language foreign century AD.
to them, or do the Gospels of Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John have a Hebraic origin? While the debate over the original language of

the Gospels rages on, the most compelling
"Scholars and curious Christians have debated evidence to date in favor of a Hebrew Mat-
this issue without ever coming to any conclu- thew comes from a 14th century Hebrew trea-
sive answers," says the biblical historian, tise written by Rabbi Shem-Tob Shaprut
Prof. U. Avidan. "There are scholars and re- called "Even Bohan" ("The Touchstone").
searchers who hold that several of the Gos- Within this 12-volume work, Shem-Tob in-
pels may have been written in Hebrew or serted a complete text of the Gospel of Mat-
Aramaic and translated into Greek, while oth- thew in what appears to be its original
ers maintain that the Gospels were written in Hebrew form.
Greek but that their authors included Hebrew
expressions and traditions." Why would he do that?

However, an ancient document being analyzed "It is known from the polemic literature of the
by scholars today seems to reveal clues as to Middle Ages that endless debates between
the original language of at least Matthew's Christians and Jews were conducted in public
Gospel. According to scholars, this manu- forums to prove the superiority of Christianity
script provides languistic evidence showing over Judaism," says Prof. Avidan. Although
that the first book of the New Testament may Christians always won these debates, Jews
well have been written in the same language still carefully prepared their arguments. It was
as the Old Testament. therefore necessary to include Christian docu-
ments when available in order to help Jews

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