Jeff A Benner?

The dictionary propable would be good for now. Lexicons are good but for other reasons. When you get into tracing words they will become more valuable. Brown Driver Briggs (BDB) is the industry giant in that catagory. It is a bit difficult to use so I wouldn't start there.

The Stone is Jewish publication.

Let me know if you have any trouble with the vocabulary

One has to use judgement and discernment when viewing any commentary. But it is both useful and benificial to have another point of view.

Let me know if the vocabulary doesn't show up by tomorrow.

Glad it came. It is only sometimes that computers make our lives easier....does anyone know when that is

Shalom "Lay Down All" and others;

As you can see from my name I am the author of the books you were referring to and I thought I would give you a little background to myself.

First let me say that I agree with the advise of others, if you are new to studying the Hebrew language do not wholly trust anything I, or anyone else may tell you. Be grounded in the basics and generally accepted teachings. Then you are better prepared to discern the truth from others like myself.

I was born and raised in a Lutheran home, my father is a retired Lutheran minister. When I met my wife she belonged to an Assembly of God church and I started going with her. I quickly realized that the teachings of these two churches were vastly different. While I knew Lutheran Church Doctrine, I did not know the Bible very well.

I decided that I better start learning the Bible for myself and this began a search that has never ended. I started using a Concordance and Strongs dictionary to search out the original words but found that the translators were not very consistent in their translations of Hebrew words. For example I found that the phrase "living creature" in Gen 1 and the phrase "living soul" in Gen 2:7 were the identical Hebrew phrase " nephesh chayah". At this point I decided to learn the Hebrew language so that I could read the text in its original language. This was about 8 years ago.

Through my studies I have become more in line with the teachings of the Messianics and consider myself one know even though some of my views are different than the "standard" Messianic (if there is such a thing).

As for my books.... I have found that most dictionaries and teachings on the Biblical Hebrew language are based on a western perspective rather than from an ancient eastern perspective as the ancient Hebrews are classified as orietals (easterners). My current word, the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible, attempts to bring out the ancient eastern perspecitive of words in order for those who are studying the Hebrew language of the Bible the ability to read the text from an ancient view rather than a modern view.

As an example of the difference between the western and eastern perspective the word "believe" is an abstract word. Abstracts are western. Easterners like the ancient Hebrews are concrete thinkers. The Hebrew word translated as "believe" is aman (same root as Amen) and means "to be a firm support" and is seen like a tent peg driven into firm soil to support the tent. If one believes in God, it is not just a matter of knowing he exists or that he will do what he says, it is that we will suppport him. This means that we must act upon or belief not just know it.

It is a pleasure to meet you all.

Jeff A. Benner

And a pleasure to meet you Jeff B

The wonders of the internet...ahhh

debi b said:

One of our students took Hebrew at Moody Bible College and they taught Seow as a first semester course. It is an excellent book but a horrible first choice. She went home crying every day from frustration......

Click to expand...

So you dun recommend Seow? I just stole it off my Dad's shelf and was gonna start on it. hmmmm

Shalom Jeff - welcome to MJF!!! I do hope you'll enjoy your sojourn with us!

server problem

having trouble posting, just a test

I love Seow! But a word of caution. Seow was a student of Lambdin (I enjoy Lamdin too) but the style of writing is kinda "ivory tower" at times and uses ALOT of technical transliteration. When most people want to communicate what a Hebrew word sounds like with English letters they just sound it out (that is what leads to so many different spellings of Hanukkah, Chanuka etc). There was a system developed to indicate every single consonant and vowel, so you will need to learn two alphabets to go thru that book.

What I DO like about it and referr to it all the time is that in terms of spelling rules and gramatical concepts he is excellent at summing them up and putting them in one place. He also goes thru a few things that not many other books do and gives good examples.

Soooo, please don't misunderstand me I would not discourage you from "going for it" especially if you already have it. The difference between self-study and a college course is making the grade! You can take the time to go over (and over) the material until it is clear, but in a college setting they are movin on daily and you don't always have the time to digest the information YIKES! I have known far too many people that have taken Hebrew in a college setting and were so glad to be done with it that they laid it down and never picked it up again. This makes me sad

There is a pace that is too fast, and there is a pace that is too slow. And there is a certain amount of information that will ooze out the ears until it finds a place to fit (and that is ok too).

One more thing I would encourage - many grammar books have much to say about how to translate to make "good" English sentences. You will do well to train your brain to leave it the way it is. If your goal is to read Hebrew it is easier in the long run to stay literal and you will loose nuance of meaning by changing the word order. And trust me when it comes to adjectives it will make your life easier

debbi,

I think that CF has been under attack a lot lately by hackers, thus resulting in data loss, etc.

debi b said:

I love Seow! But a word of caution. Seow was a student of Lambdin (I enjoy Lamdin too) but the style of writing is kinda "ivory tower" at times and uses ALOT of technical transliteration. When most people want to communicate what a Hebrew word sounds like with English letters they just sound it out (that is what leads to so many different spellings of Hanukkah, Chanuka etc). There was a system developed to indicate every single consonant and vowel, so you will need to learn two alphabets to go thru that book.

What I DO like about it and referr to it all the time is that in terms of spelling rules and gramatical concepts he is excellent at summing them up and putting them in one place. He also goes thru a few things that not many other books do and gives good examples.

Soooo, please don't misunderstand me I would not discourage you from "going for it" especially if you already have it. The difference between self-study and a college course is making the grade! You can take the time to go over (and over) the material until it is clear, but in a college setting they are movin on daily and you don't always have the time to digest the information YIKES! I have known far too many people that have taken Hebrew in a college setting and were so glad to be done with it that they laid it down and never picked it up again. This makes me sad

There is a pace that is too fast, and there is a pace that is too slow. And there is a certain amount of information that will ooze out the ears until it finds a place to fit (and that is ok too).

One more thing I would encourage - many grammar books have much to say about how to translate to make "good" English sentences. You will do well to train your brain to leave it the way it is. If your goal is to read Hebrew it is easier in the long run to stay literal and you will loose nuance of meaning by changing the word order. And trust me when it comes to adjectives it will make your life easier

Click to expand...

Cool
Hey thanks.
I just finished the intro and started on chapter one. Alphabet! I hated learning the alphabet when i was young, but this is different, almost a joy.

Thanks again!

Henaynei said:

Shalom Jeff - welcome to MJF!!! I do hope you'll enjoy your sojourn with us!

Click to expand...

Shalom Henaynei;

Thank you very much and I am sure I will.

Shalom simchat_torah;

How are you? We have met in Paltalk, if you remember, where my nic is "Simchat Torah". Nice to see you again.

ah... so you're Simchat Torah? hahah... everyone always gets us confused. I've had my simchat_torah account on paltalk for 5-6 years now, but people still get me confused with you

I'm very well actually. I'll have some more topics of discussion later, but I'm swamped right now.

shalom,
yafet

Jeff A. Benner said:

We have met in Paltalk, if you remember, where my nic is "Simchat Torah".

Click to expand...

Simchat Torah I have sat in on your class a couple of times. Its good to see you here on CF!

Talmidah said:

Simchat Torah I have sat in on your class a couple of times. Its good to see you here on CF!

Click to expand...

Yes Talmidah , I remember, great to see you again. Unfortunately I do not have reliable internet at the moment and am unable to access paltalk but hope that will change soon.

Jeff