Customer Reviews

Handbook of Biblical Hebrew: An Inductive Approach Based on the Hebrew Text of Esther (An Inductive Approach Based on the Hebrew Text of Esther, 2 Vols. in 1)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm currently working through this handbook. It is a very enjoyable way to learn Hebrew for those with analytical minds (you have to be a little nerdy) and for whom it is not convenient to take a class.

Two bits of advice. First, do NOT buy the 1989 single-volume edition. What ever publishing wonk came up with the single-volume idea had no understanding of how this program of study works. You need to have the lessons and grammar in separate volumes because of the cross reference system. With one volume you would be constantly flipping back and forth with your fingers stuck in several pages at once. To use this handbook you simply need generous table space to spread out two or three books plus your own notebook. So, search for a used copy of the two-volume edition. (I took mine to a print shop and had them strip off the old bindings and spiral-bind them so that they lie flat on the desk.)

Second, beware of many mistakes in the cross referencing, at least in the edition I have (first, 1979... I haven't found any indication that there was a later edition that corrected this). Some section numbers have digits inverted, or sometimes a nonexistent section is referred to. I wish I could find a complete list of errata, but no luck so far.

LaSor's approach to grammar was exactly what I wanted and needed almost thirty years ago when I began the greatest experience of my life--reading the Tanak for myself. Most grammars are a presentation of grammar rules, and evidently boring as hell. [editorial] This might explain so many Christian ministers who are really more interested in Greek than Hebrew cannot understand scripture.[editorial]

You need such grammars listing rules and paradigms, no doubt, especially the "encyclopedic" grammars. I have them all, I suppose: Gesenius, Jouon, Merwe, Waltke/O'Connor, etc., and use them. LaSor is not a denial of this. But it is the approach that makes the difference. He follows the grammar work of Harper and Powis Smith from over a century ago using the inductive method.

The inductive method as used by Harper and LaSor puts you straight into a biblical text. LaSor uses the book of Esther (Harper used Genesis). You are constantly in the text and then to the rules, learning them more in actual context, and to discern the text. LaSor uses rules based mostly on Gesenius, giving the section in Gesenius as reference but explaining enough to be left without Gesenius if that is your situation.

The original LaSor was a three item affair. You had a volume 1 "Lessons," 2 "Grammar" and a booklet of BHS Esther. It was a virtual "book party." I used the books outside of university, on my own, and did just fine, thank you.

I do not own the single volume above, and still use my old version of LaSor's program. I assume that the single volume version contains all the same information. For years students have asked about the best classical Hebrew grammar to start their study, and I say LaSor, but it's not available now. I couldn't find it. But you can now.

Not everyone benefits from inductive approach. If not, most of the grammars you will find out there will be of a "rules" approach that may suit you better. Graphic design has made some of the more modern grammars clearer, especially in the binyanim "the building" upon stems to form verbs (consonants will be dark text with lighter vowels, etc.). So most are not markedly different.