What
language did Jesus speak? Beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century a
mistaken notion – Jesus only knew and spoke Aramaic -- took hold that has
by-and-large continued to dominate both scholarly and popular opinion. Yet, the
results of a century of archaeological evidence have challenged this assumption
and brought a sea change of understanding regarding the linguistic environment
of first-century Judaea. The inscriptional and literary evidence reflects a
reality not unlike what we find with the Dead Sea Scrolls. Of the 700
non-biblical texts from the Qumran library, 120 are in Aramaic and 28 in Greek,
while 550 scrolls were written in Hebrew. Read the complete article at -- http://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/2014/05/judean-lingo/
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
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