I made it...I survived the first four days of Hebrew. On Monday at 8:30am I did not know how to pronounce any Hebrew letters...now I can read a bunch of words, and even some verses, and with some work Psalm 23. The professor read that Psalm in class today...well first his intern read it, she did a nice job, then each student took a turn, reading a few words at a time, and then he read it with "feeling"...it was inspiring. To hear a psalm in its original language was...very cool...I can't wait till I can read it better than I do right now.
Right now I have memorized about 50 words...by the end of the weekend I should be up to about 150.
I find myself careening back and forth between gladness and despondency. One moment I am glad and thankful that I am able to learn the Hebrew language so that I can read the Old Testament in its original language. But it is hard, it is very hard work (language work is very hard for me anyway, even English), and I worry that all this work will be for naught, that I won't get it, and that I won't be very good at it. I want so much to be able to read the Greek and Hebrew of the Bible competently...but it is so hard and takes time...and I am so busy and distracted...and I fear that I am not smart enough...Oh stupid fear! BE Gone!
Anyway, I'll update later next week with my progress.
You will do fine because you have God on your team. He will use whatever knowledge you receive in whatever way he chooses. You are the vessel and a good vessel at that.
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