Archaeologists have found evidence to suggest that biblical texts may have been composed earlier than originally believed, it was reported in April.
A Tel Aviv University team used handwriting technology which found that a cache of Hebrew inscriptions, dated to around 600 BC, were written by at least six different authors. This discovery suggests there was widespread literacy in ancient Judah at the time that would support the composition of the biblical texts.
Longstanding debate
The findings, released on 11 April by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an American scientific journal, contribute to a longstanding debate about when biblical texts first began to be compiled: before or after the Babylonian siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC and the exile of its inhabitants to Babylon?
In recent years, many scholars have attributed the composition of a group of biblical texts, from the Book of Joshua to the second Book of Kings, to the period after the siege. That theory holds that the biblical texts were written as a result of the exile to Babylon, when the composers began to think about their past and put their history to parchment.
Others, however, believe that those texts were written in the late 7th century BC in Jerusalem, before the siege, and the study offers support for that theory.
Down the chain of command
The inscriptions themselves are not biblical texts, but detail troop movements and expenses for provisions, indicating that people throughout the military chain of command down to the fort’s deputy quartermaster were able to write. The tone of the inscriptions, which suggest they were not written by professional scribes, combined with the fortress’s remote location, indicate a wide spread of literacy at the time, according to the study.
A high level of literacy would support the idea that some biblical texts had already been authored by this time. The Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest known collection of certain biblical texts, are believed to date from several centuries later.
