Jesus read and write

[Donray]

Did Jesus know how to read and write and if so in what language?

[brianbbs67]

[Replying to post 8 by brianbbs67]

Totally incorrect. People can read but not write.

Also, Jesus would not have learned Hebrew. The towns of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee, where Jesus spent most of his time, were Aramaic-speaking communities.

If Jeaus could write why don't we have any of his writings?

All Hebrews were taught Hebrew. Always were(unless in captivity) and still are. Yes apparantly he spoke Aramaic also.

Why don't we have his writings? Good question. He was 33 when executed. How much of what you or I wrote before 33 survives today? Truly, though the gospel of Yeshua would clear a lot up.

[Donray]

[Replying to post 8 by brianbbs67]

Totally incorrect. People can read but not write.

Also, Jesus would not have learned Hebrew. The towns of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee, where Jesus spent most of his time, were Aramaic-speaking communities.

If Jeaus could write why don't we have any of his writings?

All Hebrews were taught Hebrew. Always were(unless in captivity) and still are. Yes apparantly he spoke Aramaic also.

Why don't we have his writings? Good question. He was 33 when executed. How much of what you or I wrote before 33 survives today? Truly, though the gospel of Yeshua would clear a lot up.

Please prove your point that ALL Jews learned to read Hebrew. Please point to some studies that you based this on.

[Difflugia]

Here are three studies with different methodology that all arrive at a similar conclusion. Jesus likely didn't know how to read unless He was wealthy and politically connected, then it was about 50/50.

"Illiteracy in the Land of Israel in the first centuries C.E." by Meir Bar-Ilan

Comparative data show that under Roman rule the Jewish literacy rate improved in the Land of Israel. However, rabbinic sources support evidence that the literacy rate was less than 3%. This literacy rate, a small fraction of the society, though low by modern standards, was not low at all if one takes into account the needs of a traditional society in the past.

"Language and Literacy in Roman Judaea: A Study of the Bar Kokhba Documents", the PhD thesis of Michael O. Wise, later published as a book:

Still, the data we have argues that a reasonably high percentage of the Judaean male elite could read a book: about 30% (47.4% of 65%). For the full adult population, the same data suggest, the figure was far, far lower—probably on the low side of the range between 2.5-5%.

Jewish Literacy in Roman Palestine by Catherine Hezser. The link is a Google Books preview so I can't copy and paste, but I've linked to the chapter entitled "Degrees and Distribution of Literacy." Dr. Hezser's conclusion is if "literate" means the ability to sign one's name, then roughly 10-15% of the Jewish population was literate. If it actually means the ability to read, then it was "well below" that.

[Tcg]

Why don't we have his writings? Good question. He was 33 when executed. How much of what you or I wrote before 33 survives today? Truly, though the gospel of Yeshua would clear a lot up.

Unlike Jesus, we have easy access to very affordable writing materials.

In Jesus' day, writing materials would have been very rare and very expensive.

However, if Jesus could write, the fact that he was God, or at least the Son of God, would provide intense motivation to preserve his writings after his reported resurrection. Given the value of writing materials, none would be discarded nonchalantly. Certainly his, if there were any, would be highly valued.


Tcg

[Smythe]

Why, indeed, did Jesus leave no writings?

Even were he illiterate, if it had been important to him to leave a written testament, surely he could have dictated something, and just as surely it would have been preserved and passed down.

We have no such thing.

The conclusion must be that he did not view a written legacy as important.

It seems to me that his intended legacy must then have been how he lived: love God, love your neighbor, love each other as I have loved you. Easy to pass down through one's own actions, writing unnecessary.

[Donray]

[Replying to post 14 by Tcg]

Are you saying that Jesus could not turn a tree into quality writing paper???

Does this mean you don't belive that Jesus could do miracles???

[Avoice]

[Replying to post 1 by Donray]

It says he read from the Torah. So the Christian testament claims. I personally cant say one way or the other.

[Tcg]

[Replying to post 14 by Tcg]

Are you saying that Jesus could not turn a tree into quality writing paper???

Does this mean you don't belive that Jesus could do miracles???

What I do or do not believe is irrelevant. What matters is the record we have of Jesus. He is not presented as a man who performed miracles constantly.

For instance, when he felt his disciples needed swords, he told them to sell their cloaks and go buy swords. He didn't simply conjure up swords. We are presented a picture of a man who for the most part, obtained needed goods in non-miraculous ways.

If Jesus turned trees into writing paper, we have no record of it, at least none I've ever seen.


Tcg

[marco]

Why don't we have his writings? Good question. He was 33 when executed. How much of what you or I wrote before 33 survives today? Truly, though the gospel of Yeshua would clear a lot up.

"You or I" are not making messianic claims.

Keats died at 25 and we have a vast amount of his work; Shelley and Byron, too, died young and we have their work. Horace died at 42, about 6 years after Christ was born. Catullus was 30 when he died, half a century before Christ's birth. We enjoy their writing. Of course people have accumulated a lot of writing even though they died young.

What makes it odd in the case of Christ is that he had a message to communicate and he allowed his message to fade for years before being communicated, probably faultily, by folk who didn't know him. Christians now quarrel over what Christ meant. Such a pity when the written word, from the man himself, could have cleared things up.

[marco]

Given the value of writing materials, none would be discarded nonchalantly. Certainly his, if there were any, would be highly valued.

And what he could not afford to buy he could have made miraculously, unless of course he was (like Harry Potter) forbidden to use magic in certain circumstances (maybe for his own purposes).

The fact that Jesus defied the laws of physics makes discussion on his literacy superfluous, since he could have made himself literate miraculously. The tale of the young terror in the Temple suggests he did.