Hebrew Voices #195 – Ancient Hebrew in America?

In this episode of Hebrew Voices #195, Ancient Hebrew in America?, Nehemia speaks to a geologist about the only Paleo-Hebrew inscription found in an Indian burial mound during an archeological excavation. Is the Bat Creek Inscription scientific evidence of pre-Columbian contact with Israelite lost tribes or a 19th century hoax by a Smithsonian Institute archeologist?

I look forward to reading your comments!

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Download Audio Transcript Hebrew Voices #195 – Ancient Hebrew in America?

You are listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Nehemia: Shalom and welcome to Hebrew Voices in a joint episode with Mormon Book Reviews. Steven Pynakker is here with me hosting, and we are going to be speaking today to Scott Wolter. Hello Steven and hello Scott.

Scott: How are you doing?

Nehemia: I’m really excited! We’ll be talking about the Bat Creek inscription, which is a Paleo-Hebrew inscription that was discovered in a Smithsonian Institute archeological excavation in 1889. Steven, I’m going to hand it off to you now.

Steven: Okay. Well, welcome to Mormon Book Reviews, where an Evangelical encounters the Restoration. I’m your host, Steven Pynakker, and I’m honored and privileged to do this joint collaboration with Nehemia. By the way, Nehemia, it’s Pynakker!

Nehemia: Pynakker, okay!

Steven: I’m not calling you Nehemiah anymore!

Nehemia: I don’t mind you calling me Neheemiah, Nehemia. Just don’t call me baldy, that’s very sensitive!

Steven: Okay! So, I just want to welcome Scott onto the program as well, and I’m really excited to be doing this collaboration. And it’s really nice, because Nehemia, you’re an expert. You’re a scholar, and we’re both very interested in the subject of Mormonism. Of course, you’ve been doing this epic interview recently with my good friend Dan Vogel...

Nehemia: That was a seven plus hour interview, so we ended up breaking it up into multiple episodes. We’re about to broadcast the last episode.

Steven: That’s great, I love it! And I want people to check out Nehemia’s channel. For those of you who are interested in Mormon studies and history, it’s really a fascinating conversation that he’s having with Dan. And actually, it was my interview with Dan that kind of got you down that rabbit trail.

Nehemia: Absolutely.

Steven: It’s how we ended up becoming friends and collaborators. And I think to an audience, specifically to a Latter-Day Saint audience, who believe that the Book of Mormon is an ancient record of an ancient people that inhabited the American continent... And there’s this idea... people don’t realize, they think it’s just a story about one people. In the Book of Mormon there’s actually three transoceanic... I miss pronounced that, migrations to the New World. We had the Jaredites around the fall of the Tower of Babel, then we had what would become the Nephites and the Lamanites coming around 589 BC, and then we had the Mulekites also coming. So, in the Book of Mormon there’s three that are talked about.

So, if we find something, whether it is a relic that is from Book of Mormon times or not, it just makes the book more plausible that there have been groups throughout history that have been coming across.

And not only that, but my friend Hannah Stoddard of the Joseph Smith Foundation believes that the Nephites were also diffusing across the continent as well to the Old World. She believes specifically that the Dutch people are Nephites, so she thinks that I’m a Nephite.

So, it’s really interesting just to hear these stories. The Book of Mormon also talks about shipbuilding and sending things out away from the New World into the Old World, so it’s fascinating stuff. And honestly, I’m a big fan of our guest Scott, because you and the work that you’ve done with your show, America Unearthed on the History Channel... I’ve probably watched a vast majority of the episodes. And last night I got to reacquaint myself with your Bat Creek Stone episode that was ten years ago. I can’t believe it!

It’s amazing! I think it’s really fascinating because you’re not a Latter Day ...