“Hebrew was the language of Judea.”
Interesting. As well as irrelevant.
Because Jesus lived in Galilee rather than Judea and in Galilee aramaic was the common tongue.
“Linguistically Galileans spoke a distinctive form of Aramaic whose slovenly consonants (they dropped their aitches!) were the butt of Judean humor.”
and there’s this:
“all of Roman Judea in the first century A.D. was a place of tremendous linguistic diversity. Centuries of political and religious change had resulted in the establishment of a culture in which Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin were written, read, and especially spoken by a multilingual group. This included governors and subjects, scholars and laymen, missionaries and proselytes, buyers and sellers, clients and kings. The rock of Masada, having yielded from its rubble Latin, Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew texts, exemplifies the societal internexus of New Testament Palestine.”
https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=6420
and there is a lengthy section arguing for multilingual practice at the following site:
http://www.ntgreek.org/answers/nt_written_in_greek.htm
“The Language of Jesus”
“In the time of Christ, three languages figured prominently in the lives of the people of Judaea — the common language of Aramaic, the language of Hebrew, used in the synagogues, and the Greek language — which was commonly spoken and understood throughout the Roman Empire.
“Some Aramaic words and expressions are preserved in the Gospels, such as Talitha cum, which means, “Little girl, get up!” (Mark 5:41). Also, Abba (”Father”; Mark 14:36; Gal.4:6; Rom.8:15); Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani (”My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”; Mark 15:34); Cephas (”Peter”; John 1:42); Mammon (”Wealth”; Matt.6:24, RSV); Raca (”Fool”; Matt.5:22, RSV). In fact, we can be specific and say that Jesus spoke a Galilean version of “western Aramaic,” which differed from that which was spoken in Jerusalem (Matt.26:73; compare Acts 2:7).
Jesus could also read and speak Hebrew. The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls has proved that Hebrew was used quite extensively in certain circles, especially for religious purposes. Jesus stood up and read the Hebrew Scriptures in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4:16-20), showing He could also read and speak Hebrew. Some Hebrew words are also preserved in the gospels, such as, Ephphatha (”Be opened”; Mark 7:34); Amen (”Amen”: Matt.5:26; Mark 14:30, RSV).....
“Because Jesus lived in Galilee rather than Judea and in Galilee aramaic was the common tongue.”
Excellent point!