“But in the Old Testament He only revealed Himself over time to one people and in only one language, Hebrew.”
No. He spoke through prophets who were not all just Hebrew-speaking. The scripture is filled with example after example of God being the God of the Gentiles, just as He is of the Jews, in both the Old and New Testaments.
Your whole premise is flawed. It is a detestable insult to the grace of God in that you infer favoritism on God’s part.
Acts 10:34-35 (KJV)
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
How many nations was that again, Peter? EVERY NATION. Wow.
Perhaps we should rename the title of this thread to “Lies, fabrications, and WhatNot.”
“God could have spoken to all the ancient peoples of those days and have them write His words in their languages, but He did not, why?”
Again, you err because you do not know the scriptures. As I’ve shown, there were prophets among the nations before the canon of scriptures were complete. And God raised up many prophets who addressed the Gentiles. God did not leave Himself without witness.
God sent prophets to Sidonians and Syrians:
Luke 4:25-27 (KJV)
But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
God ordained for people out of all nations to seek Him and find Him:
Acts 17:24-27 (KJV)
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.
God sent Jonah to the Babylonian city of Nineveh:
Jonah 1:2 & 4:11 (KJV)
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me...
And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
[A score is ten. God spared sixty-thousand people in Nineveh.]
God set apart Israel to be a light to the Gentiles, for all of the nations of the earth to be blessed, and that God would be glorified by all people:
Genesis 18:18 (KJV)
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
Genesis 22:18 (KJV)
And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Exodus 9:16 (KJV)
And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
Joshua 2:8-11 (KJV)
And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;
And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
Joshua 4:23-24 (KJV)
For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:
That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.
Psalm 22:27 (KJV)
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
There were periods of time in which Hebrew was NOT the dominate language of Israel. They were captives in Babylon and learned Aramaic. And even Hebrew itself changed over the centuries (much like modern English) during which the Old Testament was written.
2 Kings 18:26 (KJV)
Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
Ezra 4:7 (KJV)
And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, unto Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue.
Judges 12:5-6 (KJV)
And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
1 Samuel 9:9 (KJV)
(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)
Psalm 117:1 (KJV)
O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
So, for those who have ears to hear, God was always at work, saving Jews and Gentiles. The Word of God was proclaimed in the dominant languages of the world down through history. The world heard of God’s mighty power through the work He was doing in Israel. This message crossed language barriers and caused many non-Hebrews to be brought to the Lord. There were periods of time in which the predominant language of Jews was not Hebrew. And God used factors such as this to spread His fame and His Word throughout the Earth so that all people could fear Him, seek Him, and glorify Him.
Uh, this is the first I heard that God's word was in written in another language, aside from Hebrew. I always thought the "Biblical Scholars" were in agreement that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew (except for a very small portion of Daniel)and that it was divinely given to the Jews.