Bible Possibly Written Centuries Earlier, Text Suggests

Bible Possibly Written Centuries Earlier, Text Suggests

By Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Staff Writer

The ancient text shown in this drawing was discovered on a shard of
pottery in Israel, and turned out to be the earliest known example of
Hebrew writing.

The ancient text shown in this drawing was discovered on a shard of
pottery in Israel, and turned out to be the earliest known example of
Hebrew writing. Credit: University of Haifa

Scientists have discovered the earliest known Hebrew writing — an
inscription dating from the 10th century B.C., during the period of
King David's reign.

The breakthrough could mean that portions of the Bible were written
centuries earlier than previously thought. (The Bible's Old Testament
is thought to have been first written down in an ancient form of
Hebrew.)

Until now, many scholars have held that the Hebrew Bible originated in
the 6th century B.C., because Hebrew writing was thought to stretch
back no further. But the newly deciphered Hebrew text is about four
centuries older, scientists announced this month.

"It indicates that the Kingdom of Israel already existed in the 10th
century BCE and that at least some of the biblical texts were written
hundreds of years before the dates presented in current research,"
said Gershon Galil, a professor of Biblical Studies at the University
of Haifa in Israel, who deciphered the ancient text.

BCE stands for "before common era," and is equivalent to B.C., or before Christ.

The writing was discovered more than a year ago on a pottery shard dug
up during excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, near Israel's Elah valley.
The excavations were carried out by archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel of
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. At first, scientists could not
tell if the writing was Hebrew or some other local language.

Finally, Galil was able to decipher the text. He identified words
particular to the Hebrew language and content specific to Hebrew
culture to prove that the writing was, in fact, Hebrew.

"It uses verbs that were characteristic of Hebrew, such as asah
('did') and avad ('worked'), which were rarely used in other regional
languages," Galil said. "Particular words that appear in the text,
such as almanah ('widow') are specific to Hebrew and are written
differently in other local languages."

The ancient text is written in ink on a trapezoid-shaped piece of
pottery about 6 inches by 6.5 inches (15 cm by 16.5 cm). It appears to
be a social statement about how people should treat slaves, widows and
orphans. In English, it reads (by numbered line):

1' you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].
2' Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]
3' [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]
4' the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.
5' Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.

The content, which has some missing letters, is similar to some
Biblical scriptures, such as Isaiah 1:17, Psalms 72:3, and Exodus
23:3, but does not appear to be copied from any Biblical text.