I am a bit double minded on this topic. On the one hand, prior to the
twentieth century most cities were somewhat isolated. I used to have a
document that showed England had about twenty dialects within twenty
miles of London in the 1890's. It is my understanding that the English
language did not come close to being standardized until we had both a
published dictionary and a common Bible.
On the other hand, I seem to remember some of the most important trade
routes to Egypt connecting with Mesopotamia, Syria, and Phoenicia ran
right through Palestine. Greek merchants were actively involved trading
in this region early in the first millennium and I seem to remember a
study strongly suggesting that Greek mercenaries lived in Jerusalem
around the time of David. As I understand it merchants commonly
traveled from one village to another buying and selling local goods. I
have to consider it likely that they used a common trade language.
Earlier Hebrews may have used Egyptian for trade since at least in the
Amarna period Egypt controlled much of the area. During the period of
the Judges, they dealt with the Moabites, Canaanites, Philistines,
Midianites, etc. With this in mind I find it difficult to imagine that
Hebrew was ever isolated in any real sense.
Sincerely,
Michael Abernathy
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