New Evidence Suggests Bible Written Earlier than Many Scholars Believed
And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. – Exodus 24:4 (ESV)
When were the first books of the Bible written? That is a question that has been debated in academia for centuries. Israeli scholars are now surprised by the evidence from a collection of pottery fragments found in the remains of the ancient fort of Arad, Israel, near the Dead Sea. Their analysis suggests that the first books of the Bible’s Old Testament may have been composed earlier than many scholars believe. The researchers from Israel’s Tel Aviv University posted their findings Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study’s authors say that the writings of soldiers on pottery shards from around 600 BC reveal that literacy in Judah was widespread at the time and not restricted to a few of society’s elites as many historians had thought. The routine messages include things like lists of provisions and information on troop movements. Many were addressed to the fort’s quartermaster named Eliashiv.
“We’re dealing with really low-level soldiers in a remote place who can write, so there must have been some sort of educational system in Judah at that time … And they wrote well, with hardly any mistakes,” archaeologist and co-author of the study, Israel Finkelstein told The Christian Post.
“We’re dealing with really low-level soldiers in a remote place who can write, so there must have been some sort of educational system in Judah at that time … And they wrote well, with hardly any mistakes,” archaeologist and co-author of the study, Israel Finkelstein told The Christian Post.
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, …You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. – Deuteronomy 6:6,9 (ESV)
These findings match the numerous accounts in the Bible, which indicate that writing was used regularly by the people of Israel. Professor Finkelstein was featured in Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus, which highlighted his views that the Exodus did not happen as described in the Bible. However, he breaks with many scholars who hold that the earliest books of the Hebrew Bible were not composed until after the Babylonian captivity, which began in 586 BC when the First Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. The period favored by many scholars is from about 500-200 BC. In contrast, Finkelstein thinks that clues in the biblical text point to its authorship in the late 7th century (600s) BC.
Messages inscribed with ink on pottery fragments have given new insights into questions about when the Bible may have been written. (Photo: Michael Cordonsky, Israel Antiquities Authority)
According to Finkelstein, a high level of literacy in the period just before Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem shows that they had the intellectual resources to construct much of the Old Testament by this time, therefore this new study offers support for his theory.
“It’s the first time we have something empirical in our hands,” said Finkelstein. “Following the fall of Judah, there was a large gap in production of Hebrew inscriptions until the second century BCE, the next period with evidence for widespread literacy. This reduces the odds for a compilation of substantial biblical literature in Jerusalem between ca. 586 and 200 BCE.” [the time favored by many historians]
Filmmaker Timothy Mahoney interviewing Israel Finkelstein at Tel Aviv University for the film Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus. (Photo: Patterns of Evidence, LLC.)
Finkelstein’s views about how, when and why the Bible came into being can be further explored in the book Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus; A Filmmaker’s Journey.
The team of 9 scholars who conducted the study included mathematicians, archaeologists and a physicist. They carefully digitized images from the best samples among a group of over 100 shards that were originally excavated in the 1960s. Using sophisticated methods for image processing, document analysis and machine learning algorithms, the group was able to distinguish the unique styles of at least six different authors within the examined inscriptions. This helps overturn the majority view that only a tiny number of elites could write at this time. The idea that Judah had only a handful of writers has caused many to doubt that a work as sophisticated as the Bible could have been largely written before the fall of Judah, as the Bible claims.
So the men arose and went, and Joshua charged those who went to write the description of the land, saying, “Go up and down in the land and write a description and return to me. And I will cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh.” – Joshua 18:8 (ESV)
Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres. He captured a youth from the men of Succoth and interrogated him. The youth wrote down for him the names of the 77 princes and elders of Succoth. – Judges 8:13-14 (HCSB)
The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down. – Isaiah 10:19 (ESV)
Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres. He captured a youth from the men of Succoth and interrogated him. The youth wrote down for him the names of the 77 princes and elders of Succoth. – Judges 8:13-14 (HCSB)
The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down. – Isaiah 10:19 (ESV)
Letters found at the fort of Arad, Israel, and dated to around 600 BC show the unique styles of at least six different authors. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)
These finds also add one more piece to the puzzle in the debate over whether it is even possible for Moses to have been one of the writers as the Bible itself claims. The traditional view that Moses was the author of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) began to be increasingly challenged in the 17th and 18th centuries. But it was not until the 1800s that a branch of criticism known as higher criticism (centered in Germany) developed specific methods to examine the text in an effort to reconstruct its historical origins. In 1877 Julius Wellhausen published his system explaining the construction and development of the Torah (and the book of Joshua) and by 1900 his ideas had become mainstream.
Known as the Documentary Hypothesis (or the JEPD Theory), Wellhausen’s view proposed that there were four distinct authors of the Torah (not one, as in Moses). These four authors wrote over a period of several hundred years with the first writing occurring about 950 BC (some 500 years after Moses). Wellhausen used what he thought were clues in the text like style, the use of divine names, and appearance of literary patterns to distinguish the various authors. He believed the works of these authors were later compiled and formed into the finished version of the Torah resembling something like what we have today. Liberal religious scholars, such as the famous theologian Rudolf Bultmann, have used higher criticism of the Bible to “demythologize” it.
Known as the Documentary Hypothesis (or the JEPD Theory), Wellhausen’s view proposed that there were four distinct authors of the Torah (not one, as in Moses). These four authors wrote over a period of several hundred years with the first writing occurring about 950 BC (some 500 years after Moses). Wellhausen used what he thought were clues in the text like style, the use of divine names, and appearance of literary patterns to distinguish the various authors. He believed the works of these authors were later compiled and formed into the finished version of the Torah resembling something like what we have today. Liberal religious scholars, such as the famous theologian Rudolf Bultmann, have used higher criticism of the Bible to “demythologize” it.
Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. – Deuteronomy 31:9 (ESV)
just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” – Joshua 8:31 (ESV)
just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” – Joshua 8:31 (ESV)
Rabbi Manis Friedman reading from the Torah in Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus. Did the original composition of the Torah take place at the time of Moses (c. 1400 BC), near the end of Judah’s kingdom (c. 630 BC), or after the exile (c. 500-200 BC)? (Photo: Patterns of Evidence, LLC.)
Wellhausen’s theory went through many modifications during the 20th century but, by and large, some form of the idea of late/multiple authorship for the Torah is assumed almost universally in the religion, anthropology and humanities departments of today’s universities. Over time, the lack of evidence for literacy in Israel and Judah has influenced many scholars to push their date for initial authorship of the Torah later and later – into the period 400-200 BC. With this new study, we may be witnessing the pendulum of scholarly opinion beginning to swing back in the other direction. This will be one of the many issues to look for in the continuing investigations of filmmaker Timothy Mahoney.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua… – Exodus 17:14 (ESV)
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Taken from: http://patternsofevidence.com/blog/2016/04/15/new-evidence-suggests-bible-written-earlier-than-many-scholars-believed/
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Taken from: http://patternsofevidence.com/blog/2016/04/15/new-evidence-suggests-bible-written-earlier-than-many-scholars-believed/
