Page 18 - Yahwehs Book

From this time onward mankind was divided into people groups based upon the languages that they
spoke. This was the beginning of the various “tongues and tribes and nations” of mankind.

To grasp well the history of Bible languages, a very good place to start is with Abram/Abraham.
When Yahweh chose a specific people to be His unique possession in the earth, He began by calling
forth one man to be the head and progenitor of this people. This man was Abraham.

We know that Abraham’s descendants are identified as Hebrews. The Hebrews are a distinct race
of people, all descending from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet many Christians are stumped when
asked what people group Abraham belonged to before Yahweh called him. Abraham wasn’t always
a Hebrew. He belonged to one of the major families of mankind. The Bible tells us plainly which
one.

Deuteronomy 26:5
And you shall answer and say before Yahweh your God, “My father was a wandering Aramean,
and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty
and populous nation.”

Yes, Abraham was formerly an Aramean. He lived among the descendants of Aram. The language
these people spoke was Aramaic. Aramaic is not one single language, but it is a family of languages.
As often occurs, a people who speak one language become fragmented. In their isolation from other
groups who speak the same language, differences begin to enter in. New words are adopted. Various
expressions become unique to one people group. At times even the alphabet and spelling of words
may change. If the differences in these related languages are relatively minor, they are referred to as
dialects. However, if the changes are such that others who speak the original language can no longer
understand the evolved speech of a group of people, the dialect may be referred to as a distinct
language.

Hebrew, Syriac, and Phoenician are all Aramaic languages. Abraham was born around the year 2,000
B.C.. He lived for 175 years, which places him about a century before Hammurabi. As previously
mentioned, Abraham was born into the people of Aram. The Arameans settled along the Euphrates
River in an area that became known as Babylonia.