Aramaic Peshitta
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page XIV
In
Antioch of Syria, though it was a celebrated Greek city, Syriac, as well as
Greek, continued to be spoken. Professor Neubauer says, "Antioch and other
Syrian towns would not give up Syriac," (pp. 63, 70).
He says also, "Had Greek been generally spoken and taught, why should the
Talmud record a general exception, in favour of Gamaliel; and later, in the
second century.....in favour of the family of Judah the saint, the redactor of
the Mishnah," a decision that they "should be allowed to learn Greek,
because they had to conduct negotiations with the government," (pg. 67).
The Greek Scriptures record some of THE EXACT WORDS USED BY JESUS. Many of these
are words which were used only in Syriac dialects. This fact is often referred
to as proof that Christ spoke in Syriac. Bishop Walton, in the 13th of his
Prolegomena, section 19, says, "There are many purely Syriac words left in
the Greek N. T., which cannot be explained without a knowledge of Syriac; as
RACA, Matt. v. 22; MOMUNO, riches, vi. 24; BAR-DE-YAUNO, son of a dove, xvi. 17;
KURBONO, offering, Mark vii. 11; SHEBAKTHONI, thou has forsaken me, Matt. xxvii.
46; BENAI-REGESH, sons of thunder, Mark iii. 17; TALITHO, KUMI, Damsel, arise,
Mark v. 41; KHEKAL-DEMO, the field of blood, Acts i. 19. Many others occur in
Acts v. 1; ix. 36; John i. 47; 1 Cor. xvi. 22, --[MORAN ETHO, our Lord has
come]; and elsewhere. Indeed JESUS, the name of our Lord, is Syriac for Saviour;
the name MESSIAH is also Syriac, meaning Anointed......The writers of the New
Covenant first made known the heavenly words to the Jews, and to other
surrounding populations in this their native tongue, and afterwards wrote in the
Greek language, but in doing so retain everywhere a flavour of Syriac."
Prof. Neubauer says, with reference to 1 Cor. xvi. 22, written to Greeks,
"Is not the watchword, MORAN ETHO, [our Lord has come], which passed to
Greek-speaking populations, a sufficient proof that the speech of the first
Christians was Aramaic," (pg. 54). A still more decisive proof that it was
so, occurs in a remark made by Luke. He, guided by God's Spirit, said that the
word AKELDAMA, (in the Peshito KHEKAL-DEMO), the field of blood, was part of the
language commonly used in Jerusalem. There is no such word as KHEKAL, field, in
Ancient Hebrew. The only languages in which Castle, in his Lexicon of the six
related languages:- Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Samaritan, Aethiopic, and Arabic,
says it occurs, are Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. It does not occur in Gesenius's
Lexicon of ancient Hebrew. When therefore Luke says--"And it became known
to all the dwellers in Jerusalem, insomuch that in their language that field is
called AKEL-DAMA, that is, the field of blood," (Acts i. 19), we have
infallible proof that the Syriac language was the language of Jerusalem.