Most ancient Hebrew biblical inscription deciphered

[Adsos Letter]

Source: EurekAlert
Rachel Feldman
University of Haifa

Prof. Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa who deciphered the inscription: "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."

A breakthrough in the research of the Hebrew scriptures has shed new light on the period in which the Bible was written. Prof. Gershon Galil of the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa has deciphered an inscription dating from the 10th century BCE (the period of King David's reign), and has shown that this is a Hebrew inscription. The discovery makes this the earliest known Hebrew writing. The significance of this breakthrough relates to the fact that at least some of the biblical scriptures were composed hundreds of years before the dates presented today in research and that the Kingdom of Israel already existed at that time.

The inscription itself, which was written in ink on a 15 cm X 16.5 cm trapezoid pottery shard, was discovered a year and a half ago at excavations that were carried out by Prof. Yosef Garfinkel at Khirbet Qeiyafa near the Elah valley. The inscription was dated back to the 10th century BCE, which was the period of King David's reign, but the question of the language used in this inscription remained unanswered, making it impossible to prove whether it was in fact Hebrew or another local language.

Prof. Galil's deciphering of the ancient writing testifies to its being Hebrew, based on the use of 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, such as asah ("did") and avad ("worked"), which were rarely used in other regional languages. Particular words that appear in the text, such as almanah ("widow") are specific to Hebrew and are written differently in other local languages. The content itself was also unfamiliar to all the cultures in the region besides the Hebrew society: The present inscription provides social elements similar to those found in the biblical prophecies and very different from prophecies written by other cultures postulating glorification of the gods and taking care of their physical needs," Prof. Galil explains.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/uoh-mah010710.php
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Deciphered text at the link.

[Bluebear]

1. "I buried Paul"

j/k

[Schema Thing]

2. Sharpie, or gel pen?

[Ian David]

3. 10,000 B.C.E. is like 4,000 years before god created The Universe! n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Which was about 9000 years before the period this is talking about.

And about 1000 years before the founding of the first settlement at Jericho, in @9000BCE, or 3000 years before the creation.

[aquart]

9. We're all clear that "century" doesn't mean "thousand." right?

[Adsos Letter]

11. I think there may be some confusion about that, aquart.

:D

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. Oh, yeah. Hence, my post, pointing out that 10,000 BCE was 9,000

years prior to the time specified in the OP, and the earliest settlement in the region was a Jericho in app 9000BCE. Or didn't I say that? It's getting late. I thought I said that.

[RagAss]

4. PPPPFFFFFFFFT.

[proteus_lives]

8. Meaning?

[Faryn Balyncd]

5. Perhaps the right wing immigrant-haters would benefit by reading the text on the pot.

K & R

Thanks for interesting link.

:hi:

[merh]

7. what does it say about dinosaurs?

:shrug:

[proteus_lives]

10. What a cool process!

Another chapter in the human story.