The Knowledge Of Writing In Iron Age Palestine -- By: Alan R. Millard

Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 46:2 (NA 1995)
Article: The Knowledge Of Writing In Iron Age Palestine
Author: Alan R. Millard


The Knowledge Of Writing In Iron Age Palestine1

Alan Millard

Summary

The Bible presents writing as a normal activity of daily life, but no Hebrew books survive from Iron Age Palestine to attest that. The written documents found there are few and brief in comparison with those from Egypt and Mesopotamia, yet they attest a varied use of writing which, this paper argues, reached beyond the scribal circles of palace and temple. Considered in the light of inscriptions from neighbouring lands, Hebrew epigraphy presents a richer source, lacking only royal monuments. On the basis of that evidence and analogies from other parts of the ancient Near East, a case is made for the possibility of written literature existing in the land from at least the tenth century B.C. onwards.

The Bible implies there was writing among the Israelites from the time of Moses onwards. The verb ‘to write’ first occurs when Moses wrote an account of the defeat of Amalek (Ex. 17:14), the verb is used of writing God’s words, by Moses (Ex. 24:4) and by God himself (Ex. 34:1; Dt. 4:13, etc.). Thereafter it is a normal activity, with the king commanded to write himself a copy of the Law (Dt. 17:18), or the citizen a divorce deed (Dt. 24: 1-3), then there are letters written (2 Sa. 11:14, etc.) and also registers (Nu. 11:26), legal deeds (Je. 32:10), chronicles (1 Ki. 14:19, etc.), prophecies (Je. 36) and advice (Pr. 22:20). That is the testimony of books preserved through generations of religious tradition. How does it stand in the light of epigraphic discoveries in Palestine and adjacent lands?

The recovery of 102 ostraca in the ruins of the citadel at Samaria in 1910 opened a new window on to the administration of a pre-Persian Iron Age state, the onomasticon and the use of writing

there. On grounds of stratigraphy and pottery form, those sherds are clearly dated to the eighth century BC, and to the earlier part of that century. The simple notes record deliveries of wine or oil to the centre from various places. Sixteen of the twenty-seven place names can be identified with those of ...

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