113 The Narrative Role of Semitic Languages in the Book of Acts is not Aramaic. Paul’s use of Hebrew is therefore not an indication that Hebrew was the vernacular, although it may count as evidence that a good number (but not necessarily all) within the crowd could understand Hebrew to some degree.15 This understanding of Paul’s tactic, I believe, is supported by a similar use of Hebrew in the presence of a foreign persecuting authority in a slightly earlier Jewish writing. In 4 Maccabees, we are told of a mother who, in the presence of the persecutor, urged the youngest of her seven sons to join his brothers in martyrdom. The narrative twice states that her address to her son was in Hebrew (12,7; 16,15). What might be the point of this detail? It would appear that she chose that language spe- cifically in order to communicate a message contrary to that which the king expected of her. This is implied in 4 Macc. 12,8-9, where the king is pleased to expect the boy to relent, in response to what he assumed was his mother’s plea for him to give in for her sake. The king evidently had believed that the mother had tried to talk her son out of his headstrong stand for the national religion, and he was eager to receive from him the obeisance that would save his life. The mother had communicated the opposite of what the king expected, however, and she pulled off this subterfuge by using a language that the king could not understand. The similarity with what is going on in Acts is striking, perhaps even to the point of raising the question of dependence (at some level). 2. Semitic Languages in Acts 26 A brief look at the remaining reference to “the Hebrew dialect” in Acts is in order, especially since the foregoing investigation may offer a way forward in this case as well. The phrase τῇ Ἑβραΐδι διαλέκτῳ reappears in Acts 26,14: 26,12 ...I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, 13 when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my compan- ions. 14 When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language (τῇ Ἑβραΐδι διαλέκτῳ), “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.” It is worth noting that the interpretation offered here challenges the once widely held 15 view that the book of Acts intended to show that Christianity was not a threat to Rome. Paul’s behavior in this instance speaks of his non-cooperation with the Romans.