New Evidence Suggests Bible Was Written Earlier Than Previously Thought

Scholars in Israel, comprising of mathematicians and archeologists, have found compelling evidence that could push back the composition timeline of key biblical texts from earlier estimates.  

The researchers studied 16 inscriptions on ceramic shards, found at a desert fortress located in Arad, using algorithmic handwriting analysis. The writings, composed by six different authors, were dated to the 6th century B.C. The inscriptions implied a comparatively higher literacy level than scholars previously thought existed in the ancient kingdom of Judah.

Spearheaded by a team of researchers from the Tel Aviv University (TAU), the study gives further impetus to the long-running debate about the dating of biblical works, and whether they were composed before or after the period that saw the siege of Babylon, destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of its population to Babylon during the 6th century B.C.

According to the reports, the writings are not biblical texts. The inscriptions give details about the movement of troops and expenditure for provisions, their general tone suggests they were not written by professional record keepers. However, the fact seems to indicate a high rate of literacy in the Judahite administrative system and also provides a probable stage set up for the compilation of biblical texts, as per the report. The scholars point out that after the fall of the kingdom of Judah, a comparable level of literacy only re-emerged around 200 B.C.

In the past few years, many experts have credited the composition of various biblical texts, such as the Book of Joshua to the second Book of Kings, to the phase that came after the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. According to the researchers, the biblical texts were a consequent of the exile to Babylon, when their composers began to reminisce about the past and penned down the history on parchment

However, according to Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, those texts were most probably written somewhere during the late 7th century B.C. in Jerusalem, before the siege. A higher literacy level also backs the idea of some biblical texts having been already written by this time. The oldest known collection of some biblical texts, called the Dead Sea Scrolls, is believed to have been composed several centuries later.