Elusive Scrolls: Could Any Hebrew Literature Have Been Written Prior to the Eighth Century bce?
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Two reasons lead many scholars today to think that the Israelites were not able to produce long, literary works during the 10th and 9th centuries bce. First, there is a dearth of Hebrew inscriptions from that time; second, the Israelites did not have the necessary socio-economic resources until the 8th century bce. This article critically assesses these two lines of reasoning in light of current research in the epigraphy and archaeology of the Southern Levant. In addition, it provides several elements which indicate that the necessary conditions for the production of long texts were present in Judah/Israel in the early royal period.
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21
I. Finkelstein and B. Sass, “The West Semitic Alphabetic Inscriptions, Late Bronze IIA to Iron IIA: Archaeological Context, Distribution and Chronology”, HeBAI 2 (2013), pp. 149-220. B. Sass proposed dating the Byblos royal inscriptions later than the 10th century (The Alphabet at the Turn of the Millennium: The West Semitic Alphabet ca. 1150-850 BCE [Tel Aviv, 2005], p. 17).
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26
A. Millard, “The Ostracon from the Days of David Found at Khirbet Qeiyafa”, Tyndale Bulletin 62 (2011), pp. 1-13; M. Richelle, “Quelques nouvelles lectures sur l’ostracon de Khirbet Qeiyafa”, Semitica 57 (2015), pp. 147-62.
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28
Ibid., p. 4.
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33
Ibid., pp. 153-54, 158-60, 162, 167-69, 176-77.
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34
B. Legras, “La papyrologie documentaire grecque en 2005: Bilan et perspectives”, Anabases 1 (2005), p. 218 (online: http://anabases.revues.org/1480, visited the 06/29/2015).
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43
Finkelstein and Sass, “The West Semitic Alphabetic Inscriptions”, p. 199.
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46
Cf. Aḥituv, Echoes, p. 259 (assuming that there was a coregency between Joash and Jeroboam ii, so that the 9th, 10th and 15th years “all fell around 783-782” bce).
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48
Ibid., pp. 89 and 87 respectively; see also wss 711 and 1078 respectively.
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61
A. Lemaire, “Les inscriptions palestiniennes d’époque perse: Un bilan provisoire”, Transeu 1 (1989), p. 96 fn. 39.
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65
Ibid., p. xv.
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73
E. Eshel, “Jericho papUnidentified Texts ar”, in ibid., pp. 53-54.
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75
A. Lemaire, “Epigraphie et religion en Palestine à l’époque achéménide”, Transeu 22 (2001), p. 109. No papyrus from Yehud has been found since this article (see Lemaire, Levantine Epigraphy, p. 89.
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89
C. A. Rollston, “A Fragmentary Cuneiform Tablet from the Ophel (Jerusalem): Methodological Musings about the Proposed Genre and Sitz im Leben”, Antiguo Oriente 8 (2010), pp. 11-21.
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102
I. Finkelstein, “The Archaeology of the United Monarchy: An alternative View”, Levant 28 (1996), pp. 177-187.
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113
Ibid., p. 7.
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120
Lemaire, “Phénicien et philistien”, p. 247; P. K. McCarter, “Paleographic Notes on the Tel Zayit Abecedary”, in R. Tappy and P. K. McCarter (eds.), Literate Culture and Tenth-Century Canaan: The Tel Zayit Abecedary in Context (Winona Lake, 2008), pp. 45-59.
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124
A. Lemaire, “The Spread of the Alphabet”, Diogenes 218 (2008), pp. 49-50.
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138
Ibid., p. 54.
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139
Aḥituv and Mazar, “The Inscriptions from Tel Reḥov”, pp. 44-50, 195-199 fig. 7-11 (see p. 51 for the dating of stratum iv).
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140
Ibid., p. 190 fig. 2.
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141
Ibid., p. 193 fig. 5.
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143
Finkelstein and Sass, “The West Semitic Alphabetic Inscriptions”, pp. 195-96.
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147
Ibid., p. 57.
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148
Ibid., p. 56.
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149
Lehmann, “Calligraphy and Craftsmanship in the Ahirom Inscription”, p. 146; see also pp. 147, 160.
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Elusive Scrolls: Could Any Hebrew Literature Have Been Written Prior to the Eighth Century bce?
In: Vetus TestamentumSearch for other papers by Matthieu Richelle in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Two reasons lead many scholars today to think that the Israelites were not able to produce long, literary works during the 10th and 9th centuries bce. First, there is a dearth of Hebrew inscriptions from that time; second, the Israelites did not have the necessary socio-economic resources until the 8th century bce. This article critically assesses these two lines of reasoning in light of current research in the epigraphy and archaeology of the Southern Levant. In addition, it provides several elements which indicate that the necessary conditions for the production of long texts were present in Judah/Israel in the early royal period.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 408 | 46 | 5 |
| Full Text Views | 300 | 18 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 224 | 30 | 3 |