SUMMARY: As part of the release of the newest instalment in our DVD lecture series, we talked with Dr. Douglas Petrovich as the presenter of the ground-breaking and controversial topic Hebrew the World’s Oldest Alphabet.
And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD… – Exodus 24:4 (ESV)
What is your basic proposal regarding Hebrew writing?
The proposal I made is that the language of the inventors of the world’s oldest alphabetic script is Hebrew. The alphabetic script is the third-oldest known script, with cuneiform (wedge-shapes that signify syllables consisting of 1 consonant + 1 vowel) being the oldest, and hieroglyphics (pictures that represent various things, such as a consonant, a vowel, a syllable, an entire concept, etc.) being the second oldest.
The world long has known that the alphabetic script borrowed a small number of Egyptian hieroglyphs to formulate its alphabet, and that the oldest alphabetic inscriptions date to the 19th century BC and were found in Egypt and Sinai. A German scholar named Hubert Grimme published a book in 1923, in which he was the first to argue that ancient inscriptions from Sinai were written in alphabetic Hebrew script. Although he identified some of the alphabetic pictographs with the wrong consonantal sounds, his thesis is correct. So, my work does not claim to be the first to make this connection. It just claims to have succeeded where others have failed. (See Part 1 of a 3-part Thinker Update series on Hebrew as the world’s oldest alphabet.)
How did you get involved in this topic of the Hebrew alphabet as the world’s oldest?
I actually became involved in this topic by accident, stumbling into it unintentionally. As the story goes, I accidentally discovered the publication of animal remains—from the exact site where Jacob settled his family, and dated to exactly the right time in history—that match the 4 animals that were around the Israelites on the eve of the exodus. This took me down an archaeological research trail that led to the identification of Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh, Manasseh’s son (Shechem) in hieroglyphic inscriptions from Egypt and Sinai.
Under his Egyptian name, Manasseh wrote a caption to a drawing in which he identified himself and 5 of his companions as being “6 Levantines, Hebrews of Bethel, the beloved.” In that otherwise Middle Egyptian caption, he used a Canaanite syllabic (syllable) and a proto-consonantal letter (a letter of the original alphabet). The stele on which he inscribed this is older than any alphabetic inscription, which made me realize that (1) Jacob’s relocation of Ephraim and Manasseh to the settlement of their uncles led to their invention of a Hebrew script, and (2) Hebrew is the language behind the world’s first alphabet. All modern alphabets descended from this original, so everyone who can read this Thinker Update in English owes them a tremendous debt of gratitude. (See Part 2 of a 3-part Thinker Update series on Hebrew as the world’s oldest alphabet, discussing the proposed Manasseh inscription.)
What background do you have that qualified you to make these proposals?
The key to my background that qualified me to propose this claim is a combination of the quality of my teachers and the breadth of my fields of study. My bachelor’s degree and first two master’s degrees are from highly conservative Christian institutions, where I not only gained strong training in biblical history and hermeneutics (the study of interpretation), but a specialization in the biblical languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). Included in this training was the study of Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions.
After 10 years of teaching in a Christian seminary I helped to found in Siberia (Russia), I completed a third master’s degree and a doctoral degree at the University of Toronto, one of the world’s leading institutions in ANE (ancient Near Eastern) history and archaeology. The major of my Ph.D. was Syro-Palestinian archaeology, while my first minor was ancient Egyptian language, and my second minor was ANE religions. I also formally studied the archaeology of Egypt, Nubia, and Mesopotamia, and my language studies included three years of Middle Egyptian and Late Egyptian (hieroglyphics).
What has prevented others from making the same connections that you have made?
There are many answers to this question, so I will limit myself to several of them for the sake of brevity. First and foremost, I know of no other individual scholar with formal training in all of the above areas: biblical history, biblical chronology, Semitic languages, Syro-Palestinian archaeology, Egyptian archaeology, Hebrew/Aramaic epigraphy, Middle Egyptian language, epigraphy of hieroglyphic Egyptian, ANE religions, and ANE iconography. Without advanced training in all of these areas, there is no way that someone would be prepared to follow the same trail I followed that led to this unlikely discovery.
Another major issue that prevented others from making this discovery is a lack of openness. Most secular scholars in the fields of ANE history today either have interest only in proving the untrustworthiness of biblical historicity, as a hidden agenda, or want to remain outside this arena of discussion completely. Most Christian scholars who have training in biblical history of the second millennium BC are blindly committed to the late exodus view, which absolutely cannot be a plausible position if all of the claims in my book are valid. A final major hindrance is that even if the two previous issues could be overcome, precious few people would be willing to stand alone after presenting the entire case publicly, as has been required of me.
What has been the reaction to your proposals?
Ultimately, the reaction to my thesis is characterized best by calling it mixed, so I will give equal recognition to both sides. On a scholarly level, one reviewer expressed appreciation for my “unwavering commitment to studying the sojourn-exodus narrative and its historical milieu.” Other scholars have written to express their agreement with my conclusions and appreciation of the strength of the argumentation presented in my book. On a grassroots-level, countless people have written to me to testify of their appreciation for my work and to let me know that they now see how biblical history of the second millennium BC fits together with the evidence so perfectly.
As for my critics, they certainly do not lack in number, or in intensity when expressing their opposition to my thesis. Several credentialed scholars have contacted my publisher and actually demanded that my book be stricken from all forms of sale. Here is my response to them: if your view is correct, and someone comes along with a crazy or unfounded opposing position, what harm is that to you? If your view is correct, you should have utter and complete peace about any dissenting position. After all, what threat is there to the truth? However, if you have insecurity about your view, you will want to silence anyone who publicly opposes it, even if you must resort to censorship to pull this off.
What has been the biggest challenge to your conclusions from the academic community and what has been your answer?
Apart from the personal attacks and denouncements of my scholarly abilities, the biggest challenge I have faced relates to linguistic nuances and whether we can be sure that Hebrew is the correct language behind the inscriptions that everyone agrees to as being Semitic. All of these critics are committed to a narrative that cannot accept the possibility that, just as the Bible clearly teaches, the Israelites lived in Egypt for 430 years, from 1876 to 1446 BC, and that afterward they left Egypt never to return (as a nation!).
Part of my answer has been to demonstrate that the proto-consonantal Hebrew inscriptions display complete conformity to known epigraphical and biblical Hebrew of ancient times. In addition, I have articulated the importance of the distinctively Hebrew words that are found within the inscriptions I have translated and published. Three of these words are proper names (Asenath, Ahisamach, and Moses), all of which are used of only one biblical figure throughout the roughly 1000 years over which the Hebrew Bible was composed. In other words, not only does no other Semitic language refer to anyone with these names, but the Bible itself knows of only one person who possessed each of those names over an entire millennium. I wonder, what are the odds that the three people in these inscriptions are anything other than Hebrew? (See Part 3 of a 3-part Thinker Update series on Hebrew as the world’s oldest alphabet, discussing the controversy stirred over this proposal.)
Why are these issues important to consider?
These issues are important to consider because the trustworthiness of the historicity of the Bible is riding on the line. Having taken doctoral classes at Canada’s flagship university as a student, I personally witnessed university professors who mock the biblical story of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt and the exodus, since little evidence in support of these events has been published until my book came along. Many of our children are studying in universities where such one-sided, critical analyses are offered each semester, creating strong doubt in their minds.
Hopefully my second book, Origins of the Hebrews: New Evidence for Israelites in Egypt from Joseph to the Exodus will be ready for publication by the summer of 2021, which will arm our children with much more evidence to refute the derogatory evaluations of biblical history offered by their professors.
NOTE: Hebrew the World’s Oldest Alphabet as a lecture DVD by Dr. Petrovich is now available at the Patterns of Evidence online store.
TOP PHOTO: Dr. Douglas Petrovich during his lecture Hebrew the World’s Oldest Alphabet. (© 2020 Patterns of Evidence, LLC)
