GlennThigpen wrote:...There is no indication that he was trained in Biblical Hebrew or any type of Hebrew at all.
...
I suggest you read through "Biblical Hebrew in Colonial America:
The Case of Dartmouth," in
American Jewish History, 1989, 79:173-80
(reprinted in Shalom Goldman's 1993 book,
Hebrew and the Bible in
America: The first two Centuries).
You might also wish to browse through the Rev. Ethan Smith's
several other volumes, besides
View of the Hebrews. Why
did Ethan Smith know (and use) biblical Hebrew? -- Because he
was taught it by Dr. John Smith in Dartmouth Hebrew classes.
Dartmouth was one of the
very few early American colleges to
employ a professor of biblical Hebrew and promote its study.
Up until 1809, annual orations were given in that language at
Dartmouth. And the students were expected to understand what
was being said to them in those addresses --- or, at least the
Divinity students such as Solomon Spalding and his friend Ethan
Smith were expected to understand that dead language.
Students can still study biblical Hebrew at Dartmouth -- it is
home to a noted Middle Eastern Studies Center and attracts
numerous Jewish students.
It would not surprise me at all, if one day a letter or paper of
Spalding's were discovered, in which he demonstrated his
knowledge of the language --- and I'd guess his proficiency at
least matched my own A- grade in two years of classes in
that subject, at Methodist Theological School in Ohio.
Of course, had I really wished to learn ancient Hebrew, I would
have been directed to the next school north of that seminary --
which is Oberlin College, host to expert instruction in the language.
UD
