Aramiac

In Syria is a small village called Ma’loula. It is one of the few places in the world where you can hear people speaking Aramaic. This ancient Semitic language is related to Hebrew. It is considered an endangered language since so few people still speak it.

Most linguistic and biblical scholars agree that Jesus spoke this language. “The towns of Nazareth and Capernaum, where Jesus lived, were primarily Aramaic-speaking communities.”1 For several hundred years, including the time during which Jesus lived, the Aramaic language dominated the areas of Galilee and Samaria, where Jesus spent most of his time. Hebrew and Greek were also spoken, but Aramaic appears to have been the most common day-to-day language of Jesus’ day.

The New Testament was written in Greek, but several phrases have been preserved as they were originally spoken in Aramaic. Here are some examples: “Maranatha” is Aramaic for “Our Lord is Coming” (I Corinthians 16:22). To a deaf man, Jesus said, “Ephphatha.” This means, “Be opened” (Mark 7:34). When Jesus was on the cross, He cried out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (Matthew 27:46). This means, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

To the little girl who was dead, Jesus said,“Talitha cumi.” This means, “Young girl, arise” (Mark 5:41). As I was studying this phrase, I excitedly recalled a monument I had seen just a couple of blocks away from our apartment in Jerusalem at the intersection of King George and Ben Yehuda Streets. The monument was the original façade of a girls orphanage and school that operated on King George Street from 1868-1948. (Eventually, in 1980, the building was demolished.) Over an arched doorway was the name of the orphanage: Talitha Kumi. The name was no doubt thoughtfully chosen to hearten young girls as they entered the building with the hope of improving their lives. How wonderful that these beautiful Aramaic words with their message of hope have been preserved in the middle of modern Jerusalem!

Some place names are uniquely Aramaic, most notably Gethsemane, which means “Oil Press” (Matthew 26:36; Mark 14:32) and Golgotha, which means “Place of the Skull” (Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17).

Even some people’s names – such as Cephas (Simon Peter), Thomas, and Tabitha – were distinctively Aramaic.

Of course, as all languages do, Aramaic has evolved over time. I wasn’t naïve enough to think that modern forms of Aramaic would sound exactly like the Aramaic spoken in Jesus' time, but I wanted to hear it anyway.

We have a friend in Jordan who frequently travels north to Damascus, Syria for business reasons. He volunteered to take us with him during one of his trips. At that time, for security reasons, it was not advisable for Americans to tour in Syria. And, other than my interest in hearing Aramaic spoken, we did not have much of a reason to go there anyway, so we never crossed over. The closest we got to Syria was viewing its majestic purple mountains from the northern area of Jordan, where we went once a week to give home Bible studies to Arab Christians.

Aram was one of Shem's sons (Genesis 10:21-23). Modern Syria includes what was once called the region of Aram and historians seem to agree that it gleaned that name because it was settled by Aram. Aramaic originated in this area. Syriac is a form of Aramaic.

As I studied about the Middle East, I learned about a lady who works at St. Mark's Church in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter of the Old City. (St. Mark's Syrian Orthodox church is one of two proposed locations of the Upper Room, where the events of Acts 2 occurred). This lady, whose name can be spelled either Jostina or Yostina, speaks Aramaic.

During our stay in Jerusalem, we went to St. Mark's Church and I was pleased to find that she was working there that day. A former 12th grade mathematics teacher, she speaks English and Arabic in addition to Aramaic. She has been living in Jerusalem for 11 years, serving as tour guide and caretaker. She told us that as she cleans the church she prays, "As I clean your church, clean my heart. Please my Lord."

I asked Jostina if she would speak some words in Aramaic and allow me to record her. She refused to speak in Aramaic, but volunteered to sing the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic for us. She closed her eyes and folded her hands in a traditional posture of prayer. Her voice was clear and her prayer-song resonated off of the stone walls. To my ears, it was a mournful tune, but it was thrilling to hear the syllables and nuances of this ancient language. The sounds seemed to resemble Arabic somewhat, due to its occasional guttural inflections, but it seemed smoother, a little more mellow than Arabic. I was thrilled that I was able to hear Aramaic spoken, and that I did not have to travel to Syria to hear it!

Jesus did not speak English, or French, or Spanish. The language of His time was one far different from ours. As I listened to Jostina singing her prayer in this nearly-extinct language that day in St. Mark’s Church, for a moment I allowed my imagination to travel back 2,000 years. Oh, what it must have been like to hear Jesus tell His parables in this language, to hear him speak lovingly to little children, and how beautiful the words “Talitha cumi” must have sounded to the brokenhearted parent of a young girl. Aramaic…it was a privileged language, blessed to be used by Jesus as He transmitted His message of hope to the world.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_of_Jesus