Below Dan speaks of the value of learning Biblical Hebrew and introduces the Online Hebrew course.

Why Learn Biblical Hebrew?

“There are a number of reasons for thinking that ancient people were no less intelligent than ourselves, and one of the most obvious is in their mastery of languages. Early on in the history of Israel, most people were illiterate, other than officers like scribes who attended the king. However, by the time of Hezekiah, an explosion of texts (now exposed by archaeology) demonstrates that literacy was becoming widespread, and indeed, Hezekiah would be the first of Judah’s kings to send out a royal announcement in writing (2 Chr. 30:1, 6). In time, of course, all the scrolls of the Hebrew Bible were duly collected and form what Christians call the Old Testament, which is about two-thirds of the Bible. This was the Bible of Jesus and the Bible of the apostles.

Learning Biblical Hebrew is a task not to be neglected in the modern world. There are at least two reasons why this is true. While it might be supposed that contemporary English translations of the Bible are quite adequate, and indeed they are quite adequate for general study, it still remains that when one wants to delve more deeply into the meaning of the Old Testament, and especially to avoid misrepresenting the text, a knowledge of the Hebrew Bible is indispensable. Beyond that, one must remember that in the modern world as in the ancient one, there will be those who may attempt to co-opt the text of the Old Testament to support an agendum at cross purposes with the writings of Moses and the prophets, and such distortions can only be defeated by one who actually knows what the Hebrew text says.

How Does the Course Work?

This online course seeks to train the student in the basic language of the Old Testament. While there are small portions of the Old Testament in Aramaic, the vast majority of the Old Testament is in Hebrew. In this course, you will learn to understand Hebrew grammar in order to be able to read the narratives, laws, and poetry of the Old Testament in the language in which they were composed. This is no small task, for ancient languages are generally more difficult than modern ones. Still, the rewards in the end are well worth the discipline and work required.
The course is set up in two sections, Basic and Advanced, the first focusing on Hebrew grammar and the second on advanced nuances and translation of poetry, figures of speech, literary structures, and textual criticism. As a student, you will be expected to work through the 29 grammar lessons consecutively, working from English to Hebrew, over a period of about nine months. The exercises will begin with shorter passages in Hebrew, but by Lesson 11, you will begin to translate larger paragraphs and eventually stories from the Hebrew Bible. This section of the course will approximate the same learning experience of a 1st year biblical Hebrew student in either university or seminary, and you should expect to spend about 12 hours per week in these studies. The advanced section of an additional eight lessons is shorter and will require an additional three months. 

Online studies always require the student an extra dimension of self-initiative and self-discipline, since you will not be in a traditional classroom. At the same time, it makes possible distance learning that might not be possible otherwise. It is to be assumed that as a student you already have a solid command of the English language, and the lessons are composed with this assumption in mind.

As your teacher, I have written all the materials for this course. Each element of biblical Hebrew grammar will be covered in consecutive written lessons along with MP3 audio files for learning to pronounce the Hebrew vocabulary. For each lesson, there will be exercises that you will complete and post on Moodle for grading. I will correct your work and post my comments for you on the university Moodle site. Alongside these lessons, you will be memorizing vocabulary words at about the rate of 30-35 per week. I will be continually available to you by email throughout your study, both to answer questions and to examine and comment on your work as you submit it.
In the end, the goal is for you to be able to read the Old Testament in its original language as well as to access scholarly tools that are composed for those with a working knowledge of biblical Hebrew. Many scholarly works about the Bible are written at a level that expects the reader to be so conversant. Such works are inaccessible to those who are confined to the use of preliminary and simplistic resources like Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and similar publications for the non-professional. If you complete this year of online study well, you will be able to match the capabilities of other students across the world who have completed their two years in biblical Hebrew in various universities and seminaries. It is a worthy goal, and I commend you for considering it!”

Dan Lewis, M.A.
University of Detroit-Mercy