![]() | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(August 2024) |
History of literature by era |
---|
Ancient (corpora) |
Early medieval |
Medieval by century |
Early modern by century |
Modern by century |
Contemporary by century |
![]() |
Ancient Hebrew writings are texts written in Biblical Hebrew using the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.
The earliest known precursor to Hebrew, an inscription in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, is the Khirbet Qeiyafa Inscription (11th–10th century BCE), [1] if it can be considered Hebrew at that early a stage.
By far the most varied, extensive, and historically significant body of literature written in Biblical Hebrew is the Hebrew scriptures (commonly referred to as the Tanakh), but certain other works have survived as well. Before the Aramaic-derived Hebrew alphabet was adopted circa the 5th century BCE, the Phoenician-derived Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was used for writing, and a derivative of the script still survives to this day in the form of the Samaritan script.
The Hebrew language developed out of the Canaanite language, and some Semitist scholars consider both Hebrew and Phoenician to have been essentially dialects of Canaanite. [7]
The language variety in which the Masoretic biblical text is written is known as Biblical Hebrew or Classical Hebrew (c. 10th century BCE – 1st century CE). Varieties of Hebrew were spoken not only by the ancient Israelites but also in adjacent kingdoms east and south of the Jordan River, where distinct non-Israelite dialects existed, now extinct: Ammonite, Moabite and Edomite. After the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been deported from their homeland following the Assyrian conquest in approximately 721 BCE, an equivalent linguistic shift occurred. In the Second Temple period since the Babylonian exile, beginning in the 5th century BCE, the two known remnants of the twelve Israelite tribes came to be referred to as Jews and Samaritans (see Samaritan Hebrew).
Genealogical classification of Hebrew:
Unlike Samaritan and Biblical Hebrew, the other varieties are poorly studied due to insufficient data. It may be argued that they are independent languages, as the distinction between language and dialect is ambiguous. They are known only from very small corpora, coming from seals, ostraca, transliterations of names in foreign texts.
Hebrew and Phoenician are classified as Canaanite languages, which, along with Aramaic constitute the Northwest Semitic (Levantine) language family. Extra-biblical Canaanite inscriptions are gathered along with Aramaic inscriptions in editions of the book "Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften", from which they may be referenced as KAI n (for a number n); for example, the Mesha Stele is "KAI 181".
The Hebrew Bible is commonly known in Judaism as the "Tanakh", it being a vocalization of the acronym TNK (תַּנַ"ךְ): Torah ("Teachings"), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings"). In Christianity it's known as the "Old Testament". The Bible is not a single, monolithic piece of literature because each of these three sections, in turn, contains books written at different times by different authors. [8] All books of the Bible are not strictly religious in nature; for example, The Song of Songs is a love poem and, along with The Book of Esther , does not explicitly mention God. [9]
"Torah" in this instance refers to the Pentateuch (to parallel Chumash , חומש), so called because it consists of five books: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. It is the core scripture of Judaism and Samaritanism, honored in these religions as the most sacred of scripture. It is sometimes called the "Five Books of Moses" because according to the Jewish tradition, the Torah, as a divinely inspired text, was given to Moses by God himself on Mount Sinai during the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, which is portrayed as the founding event in the formation of the Israelite religion. Other than discussing the Exodus itself and the journey to the Promised Land, the Pentateuch has such themes as the origin of the world, of humanity and of the ancient Israelites, the ancestors of modern-day Jews.
The Nevi'im section of the Hebrew Bible consists of two sub-divisions: the Former Prophets (Nevi'im Rishonimנביאים ראשונים, the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) and the Latter Prophets (Nevi'im Aharonimנביאים אחרונים, the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the Twelve Minor Prophets). The first sub-division speaks much about the history of the Israelites following the death of Moses, arrival to the Promised Land and the history of the kingdom up until the Siege of Jerusalem by the Neo-Babylon Empire in 586 BCE.
The Ketuvim sector of the Hebrew Bible is a collection of philosophical and artistic literature believed to have been written under the influence of Ruach ha-Kodesh (the Holy Spirit). It consists of 11 books: Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles, five books known as the Chamesh Megilot and three poetic books, including the Book of Psalms, quotations of which comprise a large portion of canonical daily prayers in Judaism.
The oldest manuscripts discovered yet, including those of the Dead Sea Scrolls, date to about the 2nd century BCE. While Jewish tradition holds that the Pentateuch was written between the 16th century and the 12th century BCE, secular scholars are virtually unanimous in rejecting these early datings, and agree that there was a final redaction some time between 900–450 BCE. [10] [11] The traditional view is that all five books were written in immediate succession, but some scholars believe that Deuteronomy was written later than the other four books. [12]
The traditional Jewish view regarding the authorship of the Pentateuch is that it was written by Moses under God's order, except for the last eight verses of Deuteronomy which describe the death of Moses and was written by Joshua, Moses's student who became a prophet. In secular scholarly circles by the end of the 19th century, a popular proposition regarding the authorship was the documentary hypothesis, which has remained quite influential to this day, despite criticism.[ citation needed ] The books of the prophets are entitled in accordance with the alleged authorship. Some books in the Ketuvim are attributed to important historical figures (e.g., the Proverbs to King Solomon, many of the Psalms to King David), but it is generally agreed that verification of such authorship claims is extremely difficult if not impossible, and many believe some or even all of the attributions in the canon and the apocrypha to be pseudepigraphal.
Scholars believe that the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15) was compiled and passed orally before it was quoted in the Book of Exodus and that it is among the most ancient poems in the history of literature, perhaps going back to the 2nd millennium BCE. [13] [14] The Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:1–43) and the Song of Deborah (Judges 5) were written in Archaic Biblical Hebrew, also called Old Hebrew or Paleo-Hebrew (10th–6th centuries BCE, corresponding to the Monarchic Period until the Babylonian Exile).
The only descendants of the Israelites who have preserved Hebrew texts are the Jews and the Samaritans and, of the latter, there are but a few hundred left. [15] Both the Samaritan religion and the indigenous Samaritan language, which today is used only liturgically, differ somewhat from their Jewish counterparts, though the difference between the language varieties is only dialectal. The canon of the Samaritans consists solely of a version of the Pentateuch. It is slightly different from the Jewish Masoretic version. Most are minor variations in the spelling of words or grammatical constructions, but others involve significant semantic changes, such as the uniquely Samaritan commandment to construct an altar on Mount Gerizim. Remarkably, it is to this day written in a script which developed from the paleo-Hebrew script (namely the Samaritan script), whereas the common "Hebrew script" is in fact a stylized version of the Aramaic script, not of the paleo-Hebrew script. [16]
Post-Biblical Hebrew writings include rabbinic works of Midrash, Mishnah, and Talmud. In addition, there are non-rabbinic Hebrew texts from the Second Temple and subsequent periods.
The subject of the Talmud is the Torah-derived Halakhah, Jewish religious law, which at the time of its writing was indistinguishable from secular law, as indeed the dichotomy had not yet arisen in Levantine society. The Talmud has two components to it: the Mishnah, which is the main text, redacted between 180 and 220 CE, and the Gemarah, the canonized commentary to the Mishnah. Very roughly, there are two traditions of Mishnah text: one found in manuscripts and printed editions of the Mishnah on its own, or as part of the Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi), the other is found in manuscripts and editions of the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli). Unless otherwise specified, the word "Talmud" on its own is normally understood to mean the Babylonian Talmud.
The Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in the 4th century CE in Galilee, and the Babylonian Talmud was compiled about the year 500 CE, although it continued to be edited later. While the Pentateuch is sometimes called the "Written Torah", the Mishnah is contrasted as the "Oral Torah" because it was passed down orally between generations until its contents were finally committed to writing following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, when Jewish civilization was faced with an existential threat. [17]
Descent from the Talmudic tradition is the defining feature of Rabbinic Judaism. In Rabbinic Judaism it is believed that the oral traditions codified in the Oral Torah were co-given with the Written Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. This belief has, in contrast, been rejected by the Sadducees and Hellenistic Jews during the Second Temple period, the Karaites and Sabbateans during the early and later medieval period, [18] and in the modern non-Orthodox denominations: Reform Judaism sees all scripture as derived from human experience of the divine, Conservative Judaism holds that at the very least some of the oral law is man-made, and Reconstructionist Judaism denies the very idea of revelation. [19] The vast majority of Jews today come from a Rabbinic Jewish background. Karaite Judaism is considered the main contrast to Rabbinic Judaism in our days, but even though Karaites constituted close to half of the global Jewish population around the early 2nd millennium CE, [20] today there but a few tens of thousands left. [21] [22]
Of the two main components of the Babylonian Talmud, the Mishnah is written in Mishnaic Hebrew. Within the Gemara, the quotations from the Mishnah and the Baraitas and verses of Tanakh quoted and embedded in the Gemara are in Hebrew. The rest of the Gemara, including the discussions of the Amoraim and the overall framework, is in a characteristic dialect of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. [23] There are occasional quotations from older works in other dialects of Aramaic, such as Megillat Taanit. Overall, Hebrew constitutes somewhat less than half of the text of the Talmud.
This difference in language is due to the long time period elapsing between the two compilations. During the period of the Tannaim (rabbis cited in the Mishnah), the spoken vernacular of Jews in Judaea was a late form of Hebrew known as Rabbinic or Mishnaic Hebrew, whereas during the period of the Amoraim (rabbis cited in the Gemara), which began around 200 CE, the spoken vernacular was Aramaic. Hebrew continued to be used for the writing of religious texts, poetry, and so forth. [24]
There are significant differences between the two Talmud compilations. The language of the Jerusalem Talmud is a Western Aramaic dialect, which differs from the form of Aramaic in the Babylonian Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud is often fragmentary and difficult to read, even for experienced Talmudists. The redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, on the other hand, is more careful and precise. The law as laid down in the two compilations is basically similar, except in emphasis and in minor details. The Jerusalem Talmud has not received much attention from commentators, and such traditional commentaries as exist are mostly concerned with comparing its teachings to those of the Babylonian Talmud.
Religious texts whose authenticity is not officially recognized are termed apocryphal. Many texts have been lost. No Sadducee texts are extant.
The Septuagint included 14 books accepted by Christians but excluded from the 24-book Hebrew Bible canon (i.e., Tanakh), not all of them written originally in Hebrew. The Greeks use the word Anagignoskomena (Ἀναγιγνωσκόμενα "readable, worthy to be read") to describe these books. The Eastern Orthodox Churches have traditionally included all of them in their Old Testaments. Most of them, the ones named Deuterocanonical , are considered canonical also by the Roman Catholic Church.
A significant number of apocryphal works was written in the Second Temple Period (530 BCE – 70 CE); see also Second Temple Judaism. Some examples:
The discovery of the Qumran Caves Scrolls (3rd century BCE – 1st century CE), [25] [26] unveiled previously unknown documents that shed light on the rules and beliefs of a particular group or groups within greater Judaism. [27] The Qumran Caves Scrolls encompass most of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They are associated with the Essenes. Notable examples:
Sefer Yetzirah is arguably the earliest extant book on Jewish esotericism, although some early commentators treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory as opposed to Kabbalah. In traditional lore, the book is ascribed to the Bronze Age patriarch Abraham. [28] Some critical scholars argue for the 2nd century BCE as an early date of its writing, [28] or the 2nd century CE, [29] or even later origins. [30]
Hekhalot literature is a genre of Jewish esoteric and revelatory texts produced some time between Late Antiquity – some believe from Talmudic times or earlier – to the Early Middle Ages.
Many non-canonical books are referenced in the Bible. Most of them have been lost.
Ezra was an important Jewish scribe (sofer) and priest (kohen) in the early Second Temple period. In the Greek Septuagint, the name is rendered as Ésdrās, from which the Latin name Esdras comes. His name is probably a shortened Aramaic translation of the Hebrew name עזריהו, meaning "Yah helps".
Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until after 200 CE and as the liturgical language of Judaism and Samaritanism. The language was revived as a spoken language in the 19th century, and is the only successful large-scale example of linguistic revival. It is the only Canaanite language, as well as one of only two Northwest Semitic languages, with the other being Aramaic, still spoken today.
The Mishnah or the Mishna is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. It is also the first major work of rabbinic literature, with the oldest surviving material dating to the 6th to 7th centuries BCE.
Samaritanism is an Abrahamic monotheistic ethnic religion. It comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Samaritan people, who originate from the Hebrews and Israelites and began to emerge as a relatively distinct group after the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the Iron Age. Central to the faith is the Samaritan Pentateuch, which Samaritans believe is the original and unchanged version of the Torah.
The Torah is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is known as the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses by Christians. It is also known as the Written Torah in Rabbinical Jewish tradition. If meant for liturgic purposes, it takes the form of a Torah scroll. If in bound book form, it is called Chumash, and is usually printed with the rabbinic commentaries.
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, also known in Hebrew as Miqra, is the canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures, comprising the Torah, the Nevi'im, and the Ketuvim. Different branches of Judaism and Samaritanism have maintained different versions of the canon, including the 3rd-century BCE Septuagint text used in Second Temple Judaism, the Syriac Peshitta, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and most recently the 10th-century medieval Masoretic Text compiled by the Masoretes, currently used in Rabbinic Judaism. The terms "Hebrew Bible" or "Hebrew Canon" are frequently confused with the Masoretic Text; however, this is a medieval version and one of several texts considered authoritative by different types of Judaism throughout history. The current edition of the Masoretic Text is mostly in Biblical Hebrew, with a few passages in Biblical Aramaic.
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of works authored by rabbis throughout Jewish history. The term typically refers to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writings. It aligns with the Hebrew term Sifrut Chazal, which translates to “literature [of our] sages” and generally pertains only to the sages (Chazal) from the Talmudic period. This more specific sense of "Rabbinic literature"—referring to the Talmud, Midrashim, and related writings, but hardly ever to later texts—is how the term is generally intended when used in contemporary academic writing. The terms mefareshim and parshanim almost always refer to later, post-Talmudic writers of rabbinic glosses on Biblical and Talmudic texts.
The Samaritan Pentateuch, also called the Samaritan Torah, is the sacred scripture of the Samaritans. Written in the Samaritan script, it dates back to one of the ancient versions of the Torah that existed during the Second Temple period. It constitutes the entire biblical canon in Samaritanism.
The Law of Moses, also called the Mosaic Law, is the law said to have been revealed to Moses by God. The term primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
Masei, Mas'ei, or Masse is the 43rd weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the 10th and last in the Book of Numbers. The parashah comprises Numbers 33:1–36:13. The parashah discusses the stations of the Israelites' journeys, instructions for taking the land of Israel, cities for the Levites and refuge, and the daughters of Zelophehad.
According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah or Oral Law are statutes and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the Five Books of Moses, the Written Torah, and which are regarded by Orthodox Jews as prescriptive and given at the same time. This holistic Jewish code of conduct encompasses a wide swathe of rituals, worship practices, God–man and interpersonal relationships, from dietary laws to Sabbath and festival observance to marital relations, agricultural practices, and civil claims and damages.
Rabbinic Judaism, also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Rabbanite Judaism, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbinic Judaism has its roots in the Pharisaic school of Second Temple Judaism, and is based on the belief that Moses at Mount Sinai received both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah from God. The Oral Torah, transmitted orally, explains the Written Torah. At first, it was forbidden to write down the Oral Torah, but after the destruction of the Second Temple, it was decided to write it down in the form of the Talmud and other rabbinic texts for the sake of preservation.
The Paleo-Hebrew script, also Palaeo-Hebrew, Proto-Hebrew or Old Hebrew, is the writing system found in Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions, including pre-Biblical and Biblical Hebrew, from southern Canaan, also known as the biblical kingdoms of Israel (Samaria) and Judah. It is considered to be the script used to record the original texts of the Bible due to its similarity to the Samaritan script; the Talmud states that the Samaritans still used this script. The Talmud described it as the "Livonaʾa script", translated by some as "Lebanon script". However, it has also been suggested that the name is a corrupted form of "Neapolitan", i.e. of Nablus. Use of the term "Paleo-Hebrew alphabet" is due to a 1954 suggestion by Solomon Birnbaum, who argued that "[t]o apply the term Phoenician [from Northern Canaan, today's Lebanon] to the script of the Hebrews [from Southern Canaan, today's Israel-Palestine] is hardly suitable". The Paleo-Hebrew and Phoenician alphabets are two slight regional variants of the same script.
Bo is the fifteenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the book of Exodus. The parashah constitutes Exodus 10:1–13:16. The parashah tells of the last three plagues on Egypt and the first Passover.
Vayakhel, Wayyaqhel, VaYakhel, Va-Yakhel, Vayak'hel, Vayak'heil, or Vayaqhel is the 22nd weekly Torah portion in the weekly Torah portion and the 10th of the Book of Exodus. The parashah tells of the making of the Tabernacle and its sacred vessels. It constitutes Exodus 35:1–38:20. The parashah is made up of 6181 Hebrew letters, 1,558 Hebrew words, 122 verses, and 211 lines in a Torah scroll.
Vayelech, Vayeilech, VaYelech, Va-yelech, Vayelekh, Wayyelekh, Wayyelakh, or Va-yelekh is the 52nd weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes Deuteronomy 31:1–30. In the parashah, Moses told the Israelites to be strong and courageous, as God and Joshua would soon lead them into the Promised Land. Moses commanded the Israelites to read the law to all the people every seven years. God told Moses that his death was approaching, that the people would break the covenant, and that God would thus hide God's face from them, so Moses should therefore write a song to serve as a witness for God against them.
Mosaic authorship is the Judeo-Christian tradition that the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, were dictated by God to Moses. The tradition probably began with the legalistic code of the Book of Deuteronomy and was then gradually extended until Moses, as the central character, came to be regarded not just as the mediator of law but as author of both laws and narrative.
The Hebrew alphabet is a script that was derived from the Aramaic alphabet during the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman periods. It replaced the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet which was used in the earliest epigraphic records of the Hebrew language.
Biblical Hebrew orthography refers to the various systems which have been used to write the Biblical Hebrew language. Biblical Hebrew has been written in a number of different writing systems over time, and in those systems its spelling and punctuation have also undergone changes.
Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll, known also as 11QpaleoLev, is an ancient text preserved in one of the Qumran group of caves, and which provides a rare glimpse of the script used formerly by the Israelites in writing Torah scrolls during pre-exilic history. The fragmentary remains of the Torah scroll is written in the Paleo-Hebrew script and was found stashed away in cave no. 11 at Qumran, showing a portion of Leviticus. The scroll is thought to have been penned by the scribe between the late 2nd century BCE to early 1st century BCE, while others place its writing in the 1st century CE.
the biblical texts themselves are the result of a creative dialogue between ancient traditions and different communities through the ages