A young Lithuanian Jew in his early 20s changed history forever. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda moved to Jerusalem in 1881 and, in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, began to revive the Hebrew language. Unused in everyday life since the time of the Bible, he insisted that his family speak only Hebrew and used ancient roots of words to develop words of modernity.
Quite a formidable project.
Trains, planes, refrigerators, telephones…so many items did not exist before Hebrew fell into disuse. For centuries it existed only as a liturgical language of prayer or Bible study. But modern Hebrew? Could it ever come back to life?
It required more than a little effort, determination and even street signs urging locals to speak Hebrew. I mean, when you think of it, this may be why “shalom” turned out to be the word for hello, goodbye and peace. Maybe somebody got tired along the way and decided that when the guests said goodbye, there would finally be some peace!
But all kidding aside, a spiritual principle was at work: what we say determines where we are headed. And like the rudder of a ship, Hebrew was guiding the Jewish people home to Eretz Yisrael.
“For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent” (Zephaniah 3:9). Ben-Yehuda believed that the Jewish people’s unique language would be a key to their destiny. Within 40 years, most of the country’s inhabitants were decreasing their use of Russian, German and Yiddish, with the majority speaking modern Hebrew.
No other ancient language had ever been revived in such a manner to become a national, living language once again. Yet another prophetic miracle coming to pass… by the blessing of God and the cooperation of His people.
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