Saturday 23 January, 2010

World
Middle East

This Hebrew inscription proves the Bible may have been written centuries earlier than critics have supposed

By Andrew Halloway

A recent discovery of the earliest known Hebrew writing supports the accuracy of Bible history.

Professor Gershon Galil of the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel has deciphered an inscription on a pottery shard that was discovered in the Elah Valley. The shard dates from the tenth century BC (the time of King David’s reign), making it the earliest Hebrew writing ever seen – a thousand years older than the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This discovery marks a breakthrough in biblical research in two ways. First, the fact that Hebrew writing existed at this early date makes it possible that at least some of the books of the Old Testament part of the Bible, which are written in Hebrew, were composed close to the time of the events they describe.

Previously, the majority of sceptical Bible historians had assumed that the oldest Bible books must have been written centuries later because there was no evidence that Hebrew was a written language so early in Israel’s history. This discovery changes all that.

Secondly, the inscription supports the Bible’s assertion that Israel was a kingdom in existence in the tenth century before Christ. Critics have previously argued that the great kingdoms of David and Solomon were at best small tribal communities at that time, and at worst never existed at all.

Explaining the significance of the inscription, Professor Gershon Galil says it “indicates that the Kingdom of Israel already existed in the tenth century BCE (Before the Christian Era) and that at least some of the biblical texts were written hundreds of years before the dates presented in current research.”

The inscription is written in ink on a six inch pottery shard found in 2008 during excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa led by Professor Yosef Garfinkel. The inscription was dated to King David’s reign, but the age of the script made it difficult to read and no one was sure if it was really ancient Hebrew or another language.

But language expert Prof Galil has now successfully deciphered the inscription and shown that it is indeed early Hebrew. He has shown that the inscription uses verbs particular to the Hebrew language, and content specific to Hebrew culture and not adopted by any other cultures in the region.

“This text is a social statement, relating to slaves, widows and orphans. It uses verbs that were characteristic of Hebrew,” Prof Galil says. “The inscription provides social elements similar to those found in the biblical prophecies and very different from prophecies written by other cultures,” he explains. It also refers to worship of the Lord.

Prof Galil also believes that it is significant that the shard was found in a provincial town in Judea. If Hebrew writing was going on in such a peripheral location in David’s kingdom, then it made it even more likely that there would be Hebrew scribes in the more central locations and in the capital, Jerusalem.

He says: “It can now be maintained that it was highly reasonable that during the tenth century, during the reign of King David, there were scribes in Israel who were able to write literary texts and complex historiographies such as the books of Judges and Samuel.”

He adds that the complexity of the text of the inscription, along with the impressive fortifications revealed at the discovery site, refute the claims denying the existence of a strong kingdom of Israel 3,000 years ago.

The details of the inscription are also similar to certain Bible verses, as if they were passing on the teaching of the Bible – which points to the existence of certain Bible books centuries before the late dates commonly touted by critics. The words of the text express care for the weaker members of society, and for foreigners living within Israel at the time, and indicate that the king should be involved in such care. It is highly reminiscent of such Bible verses as Isaiah 1:17, Psalms 72:3, Exodus 23:3 and others.

Translated into English, the inscription says: “You shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord]. Judge the slave and the widow. Judge the orphan [and] the stranger. Plead for the infant, plead for the poor and the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king. Protect the poor and the slave; support the stranger.”

Photo: Courtesy of the University of Haifa