A study suggesting widespread literacy among ancient Hebrews before 600 B.C. has been dubbed \u201cone more nail slammed in the coffin\u201d of liberal theology\u2019s argument that Old Testament books could not have been written during the lives of David, Moses and other scriptural authors.<\/p>\n
The finding from a team of Israeli archaeologists and mathematicians counters notions that literacy was rare and isolated before the Jews\u2019 exile to Babylon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s plenty of evidence to suggest the Hebrews were writing,\u201d Daniel Warner, associate professor of Old Testament and archaeology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press. \u201cThis solidifies it. It really puts a damper into the liberals who have hounded us that most of [the Old Testament] was developed during the intertestamental period or the Babylonian captivity. That\u2019s just one more nail slammed in the coffin.\u201d<\/p>\n
A team of scholars from Tel Aviv University wrote in an April 11, 2016, article for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that inscriptions from a military outpost in Arad in southern Israel suggest \u201cthe proliferation of literacy among the Judahite army ranks ca. 600 BCE.\u201d Based on mathematical algorithms and other analysis, the scholars determined at least six distinct writers from various ranks of Judah\u2019s military contributed to a series of 16 ink inscriptions on ceramic sherds.<\/p>\n
This finding — combined with previous archaeological discoveries — suggests a widespread \u201cability to communicate in writing\u201d among all socioeconomic classes in ancient Israel, according to the article.<\/p>\n
\u201cWidespread literacy,\u201d the article states, offers a \u201cbackground for the composition of ambitious works such as the Book of Deuteronomy and the history of Ancient Israel in the Books of Joshua to Kings (known as the Deuteronomistic History), which formed the platform for Judahite ideology and theology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephen Andrews, professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said \u201cthe issue is literacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to the discovery of the writings of the ancient Near East, liberals denied the Scriptures based on the lack of evidence of writing,\u201d Andrews told BP in written comments. \u201cSince that time, some biblical scholars have subtly returned to that argument by suggesting that only a select handful or elite of the biblical culture could read or write.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe argument proposes that the theological writings of the Old Testament were too complex and sophisticated to be written by any other than the religious elite and only after the exile in Babylon. This article shows that writing was a common practice in Israel prior to the exile and refutes this argument. In fact, Judges 8:14 suggests that even a youth was able to write in the days of Gideon. Believers can believe the Bible when it says that \u2018Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord\u2019 (Exodus 24:4),\u201d Andrews said.<\/p>\n
Even apart from the most recent archaeological findings, Andrews said, there is ample evidence of writing dating back to 3200 B.C. Evidence of \u201ca true writing system … capable of expressing complex ideas\u201d dates to 2600 BC — hundreds of years before the supposed time of Abraham.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is no surprise then, that the Bible also refers to writing over 270 times,\u201d Andrews said, \u201cbecause the ability to write was well-known and used throughout biblical times. The first case of writing is found in Exodus 17:14 when God commanded Moses to record on a scroll the Israelite defeat of the Amalekites. Archaeology clearly shows that writing was used before 600 B.C.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warner explained that evidence for \u201cproto-Hebrew,\u201d precursor to the Hebrew language most Old Testament scholars study today, has not been dated prior to the 10th century B.C., following the times of Moses and David. That means some Old Testament authors likely wrote their original manuscripts in a language other than Hebrew. The Israelites brought that text into Hebrew as the language developed, he said.<\/p>\n
Gary Arbino, professor of archaeology and Old Testament interpretation at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, cautioned against making too much of the inscriptions from Arad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe writing of some portions of Scripture — by internal evidence of the biblical text — is reasonably seen to have taken place prior to the exile,\u201d Arbino told BP in written comments. \u201cI am not sure what the Arad research adds to the discussion, except perhaps that more levels of bureaucrats could read and write, and now we have concrete evidence of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dating biblical books can be a complex matter, Arbino said, with the \u201cfinal form\u201d of some books compiled after the exile even though much of their content was written before. That issue \u201cis not addressed by the research\u201d of Arad inscriptions.<\/p>\n
Still, Warner said, the study of Judahite inscriptions is part of the mounting evidence \u201cthat the Hebrews were capable of writing and, in fact, were probably pretty good at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
David Roach is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press, the Southern Baptist Convention\u2019s news service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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