More on North/South Hebrew Dialects

Andrew Compton over at the Reformed Reader wrote a “thinking out loud” kind of post where he ponders over the use of dialects and linguistics in the study of the OT. I think it is a good followup to my previous post on Aramaisms as a sign of Israelian Hebrew, not necessarily a post-exillic dating of a particular text. Check it out and really consider this crucial question:

Nevertheless, this seems like an interesting topic worth exploring further. The North/South relationship was key in Israel’s history and fleshing it out linguistically seems to be necessary in helping to understand better this dynamic. Beyond this, the next step is to aim to understand better how such an approach might help to fortify our Biblical theology. How might the North/South tension found throughout the OT help to proclaim Christ as the fulfillment of the OT? While I am again very excited about these questions, they must, I’m afraid, wait for when I can devote more time to them. Until then, I simply throw this out to whet your appetite!

Here is the post by Compton: The Reformed Reader: The Old Testament and It’s “Southern Accent” Y’all . . .