The Art of Writing

This Wayne Jackson article is reprinted from the September, 1981 edition of the Christian Courier. The paper was published by the East Main Street Church of Christ in Stockton, California and was edited by Jackson.

Writing is perhaps the most important achievement that mankind has ever accomplished. Writing is first mentioned in the Bible in Exodus 17:14 when, after the Israelites had defeated the pagan king Amalek, God instructed Moses, "Write this for a memorial in a book..." Numerous other references to writing follow. Moses wrote, "the words of the covenant, the ten commandments" (Exodus 35:27-28; cf. 24:4; Deuteronomy 31:19, 22; Numbers 33:2; Joshua 8:31).

For many years however, the hostile critics of the Bible claimed that the Scriptures contained an error regarding this matter. It was forcefully argued that no alphabetic script existed in the days of Moses. This was one of the arguments employed by modernists to supposedly "prove" that the composition of the Pentateuch was of a later time than Moses. T. K. Cheyne, writing in the Encyclopedia Biblica contended that the Torah (law) was not written until almost a thousand years after the time of Moses (Vol. II, 1901, p. 2055). In fact, the modernists said that the art of writing was virtually unknown in Israel prior to the establishment of David's kingdom! Within the last half century however, these infidelic charges have been thoroughly demolished. Note the following:

1. In 1933, J. L. Starkey, a pupil of the famed archaeologist W. M. F. Petire began excavations at Lachish, a city of Judah which was prominetn in Joshua's conquest of Canaan (cf. Joshua 10). Among the amazing discoveries was a pottery ewer (water pitcher), "inscribed with a dedication in eleven archaic letters, the earliest Hebrew inscription known" (D. J. Wiseman, The New Bible Dictionary, 1974, p. 705). This artifact pre-dated Moses!

2. "The Old, or Palaeo-Hebrew script is the form of writing which is similar to that used by the Phoenicians. A royal inscription of King Shaphatball of Gebal (Byblos) in this alphabet dates from about 1600 B.C." (Charles Pfeiffer, The Biblical World, 1966, p. 33).

3. In 1904-05 Sir Flinders Petrie uncovered samples of the Proto-Semitic alphabet at Serabit el Khadem in the Sinai Peninsula. These inscriptions were found in turquoise mines in which Semitic laborers were being employed. W. F. Albright has dated these in the early 15th century B.C., though Jack Finegan dated them around 1989-1776 B.C. (Light From the Ancient Past, 1946, p. 126). The important fact about these particular inscriptions is that they are from the very area where God commanded Moses to write (Exodus 17:14).

4. In 1949, C. F. A. Schaeffer found a tablet at Ras Shamra containing the thirty letters of the Ugaritic alphabet in their proper order. It was discovered that the sequence of the Ugaritic alphabet was the same as modern Hebrew, revealing that the Hebrew alphabet goes back at least 3,500 years (S. H. Horn, Records of the Past Illuminate the Bible, 1963, p. 19).

5. In 1908, R. A. S. Macalister discovered a small limeston plaque at Gezer. It is dated in the 10th century B.C. Apparently it is a schoolboy's slate. On it is a list of farming operations for the twelve months. It is in the Palaeo-Hebrew script. Professor Gleason Archer observes that, "since it is obviously a mere schoolboy's exercise, it demonstrates that the art of writing was so well known and widely practiced in Israel during the tenth century that even children were being taught this skill in the provinces" (A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, 1964, p. 157).

As so, infidelity was wrong! Wrong again! Repeatedly wrong! And the Bible was right! Dr. W. F. Albright, who is certainly not to be considered a conservative scholar, wrote, "Only a very ignorant person can now suggest that writing (in many forms) was not known in Palestine and the immediately surrounding regions during the entire second millennium B.C." (Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 60, 1935).