Hebrew for the Rest of Us: Using Hebrew Tools without Mastering Biblical Hebrew

by Lee M. Fields

This is a companion volume to Greek for the Rest of Us by William D. Mounce. This book is a guide for English-only readers to understand the language of the Old Testament just enough to work with the Old Testament in more detail and to understand the scholarly literature on the Hebrew Bible. Its specific aims are to aid students to learn (1) why translations differ, (2) how to do Hebrew word studies, (3) what the basics of Hebrew exegesis are, and (4) how to read more advanced Old Testament commentaries with greater understanding. Herbrew for the Rest of Us is set up in a workbook format.

Genres: Reference, Christian

405 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 18, 2008

Reviews

[Richard Klueg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this book to teach a class of laymen in our church, and just let me share my experience for what it's worth. As a pastor with a working knowledge of biblical Hebrew, and a conviction that God's inspired Word demands the highest possible level of study, I invited folks to come and learn enough to be somewhat familiar with the language. I find no fault with the quality of the material in the book. I was pleased to learn a bit about some changes in the way Hebrew is taught since I first took it in seminary 40 years ago. However, after the first few chapters this particular approach did not really fit with our goal. In short, I would say that it is very well designed for a college or grad school course, but not for a group if interested laymen who only meet once a week. What the book does is pretty much skim over or skip the "brute memorization" of the mechanics of the language (the paradigms and parsing) and instead emphasize concepts that would be taught in a more advanced Hebrew class. Rather than memorizing the paradigms of QTL in the Qal, Niphal, Piel, Pual, etc., the student is exposed to possible aspects of the QTL Perfect: Constative, Instantaneous, Ingressive, Resultative, etc.

Good material, and a lot of it, but not what we were looking for. After the first few chapters, then, I completely stopped using the exercises and made up my own using printed sections of OT Hebrew text (Genesis 1, Psalm 1, and 1 Samuel 1). The first day of class people were holding the page upside down, which was understandable. But as we went on, I would take the part of Hebrew in the books lesson and find examples in these texts for them to see. It worked for our purpose: A basic familiarity with the Hebrew language, an understanding of translation issues, the ability to use online tools with profit (I recommended Bible Hub - it even includes BDB!), and how to do word studies. (The chapter in the book on word studies is excellent).

Please understand, I am not criticizing the book at all. I'm just saying that the amount of commitment needed to use it as intended is significant, probably close to the amount needed to take an introductory Hebrew course.

[Scott Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not nearly as helpful as Greek for the Rest of Us...it does give a good overview of Hebrew Grammar...but even for a basic knowledge it feels rushed and not as helpful as it is intended to be.

[Brian Chilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fields' book serves as an excellent beginning guide to Hebrew. At times, Fields confused matters far more than did Mounce in the Greek counterpart. Nevertheless, this was a great resource as it prepared me for a full Hebrew course.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going through this was a bit tough. Hoping that this does, however, help as a platform wherewith I can jump into biblical Hebrew and succeed.

[Pamela Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't started studying this book, as this is one that sits on my shelf, that is not the only one that I have bought for my library of books recently that I intend on reading or studying.

I have looked through it and it looks like it will be a good book to begin learning a language that will give the Old Testament more meaningful depth. I look at the Alphabet and browse the way to actually write each letter in my spare time which is rare.

I bought a CD to go along with it even though they are not the same as far as matching book to CD content.

Even though no one becomes proficient at mastering a new language every time it is nice to attempt to get as much understanding and saying those words helps to memorize at least some. There is always using it for a reference. I know each time I studied Spanish I kept applying more vocabulary even though I do not speak it as fluently as I would like to but some words just stay with me.

It is worth the effort and can be a challenge.