07-04-2004, 08:04 AM
Yes, even the Brittanica says of Greek:
abbreviation Lxx, the earliest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew, presumably made for the use of the Jewish community in Egypt when Greek was the lingua franca throughout the region. Analysis of the language has established that the Torah, or Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament), was translated near the middle of the 3rd century???
Whichever way you look at it, the surprised reaction is priceless. He didn't expect Paul to know Greek.
Personally, with educated Alexandrian Jews (such as Philo) obviously being profficient in Greek, it seems to me that Greek in Egypt was somewhat of an elitist language, causing the surprise of the chiliarch. Greek was spoken in Egypt, but was it the "lingua franca"...
This is surely a topic that needs further investigation, and has the potential to blow the lid off the "Greek is the lingua franca" claims.
abbreviation Lxx, the earliest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew, presumably made for the use of the Jewish community in Egypt when Greek was the lingua franca throughout the region. Analysis of the language has established that the Torah, or Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament), was translated near the middle of the 3rd century???
Whichever way you look at it, the surprised reaction is priceless. He didn't expect Paul to know Greek.
Personally, with educated Alexandrian Jews (such as Philo) obviously being profficient in Greek, it seems to me that Greek in Egypt was somewhat of an elitist language, causing the surprise of the chiliarch. Greek was spoken in Egypt, but was it the "lingua franca"...
This is surely a topic that needs further investigation, and has the potential to blow the lid off the "Greek is the lingua franca" claims.