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This not meant to challenge the norms for dating scripture, just some functional insight into how the manuscripts came into being.
There is no doubt that hundreds of years of oral history within Genesis would be recorded at some given time.
The first literate hebrew mentioned is Joseph, which meant that not only did he now how to write cuneiform, as governor he had to have some measure of communication between egypt and the inhabitants under their control reaching to the Hittite empire north of palestine. This implies that a rudimentary knowledge of the common alphabet used by the inhabitants of that region would have been a practical necessity.
The existance of hebraic writing in a mine located in the Sinai, although impossible to date, does imply that possibility of literacy reaching to the time of Joseph and possibly beyond the time of the exodus.
Moses, as prince of Egypt was literate in cuneiform and possibly semitic script. The situation described at Shiloh would stress the need for written details in order to have built the sanctuary and to perform the necessary rites.
As of the death of Josua, only small narratives, with the exception of stories like that of Gideon are present in scripture, the reason being that every tribe was isolated by distance, forests, terrain, and by being few in number, the oral traditions of the period whould have taken time to be recorded.
Samuel by contrast is the start of a veritable explosion of detailed information that had to have been recorded.
The start of the kingdom introduced the start of written communication between empires, the introduction of chronicles and the need for scripture in order to build the temple.
Jeremiah describes the real-time recording of prophecy. The idea of a lengthy lapse between most events and the recording of these events is not paralelled in the common era. Most scripture within the common era was written within generations of the events and coresspondence.
Daniel is a good example of scripture that took time to record, adopt and distribute. There is a good possibility that the events associated with Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Esther were known within their community.
Daniel's situation is unique, his early life was known to the community and his perspective is that of a highly placed administrator with an ability to interpret dreams.
Daniel's perspective later in life is now that of a prophet.
The content of his revelations are radically different from the established body of prophecy. Only the fulfillment of his short-term revelations would validate and confirm his role as a prophet.
The content of Daniel's revelations in virtue of its radical content would have been a source of debate from its recording and would have disqualified its inclusion in the Tanahk hundreds of years later.
The description by Josephus of the arrival of Alexander the Great at Jerusalem is one possible indicator of its presence before its commonly accepted dating. The only disqualifying factor would be the credibility of Josephus and his sources.
Describing practical factors in the introduction of the writing of scriptures, while not conclusive, does open the door for more productive exploration of this issue.
There is no doubt that hundreds of years of oral history within Genesis would be recorded at some given time.
The first literate hebrew mentioned is Joseph, which meant that not only did he now how to write cuneiform, as governor he had to have some measure of communication between egypt and the inhabitants under their control reaching to the Hittite empire north of palestine. This implies that a rudimentary knowledge of the common alphabet used by the inhabitants of that region would have been a practical necessity.
The existance of hebraic writing in a mine located in the Sinai, although impossible to date, does imply that possibility of literacy reaching to the time of Joseph and possibly beyond the time of the exodus.
Moses, as prince of Egypt was literate in cuneiform and possibly semitic script. The situation described at Shiloh would stress the need for written details in order to have built the sanctuary and to perform the necessary rites.
As of the death of Josua, only small narratives, with the exception of stories like that of Gideon are present in scripture, the reason being that every tribe was isolated by distance, forests, terrain, and by being few in number, the oral traditions of the period whould have taken time to be recorded.
Samuel by contrast is the start of a veritable explosion of detailed information that had to have been recorded.
The start of the kingdom introduced the start of written communication between empires, the introduction of chronicles and the need for scripture in order to build the temple.
Jeremiah describes the real-time recording of prophecy. The idea of a lengthy lapse between most events and the recording of these events is not paralelled in the common era. Most scripture within the common era was written within generations of the events and coresspondence.
Daniel is a good example of scripture that took time to record, adopt and distribute. There is a good possibility that the events associated with Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Esther were known within their community.
Daniel's situation is unique, his early life was known to the community and his perspective is that of a highly placed administrator with an ability to interpret dreams.
Daniel's perspective later in life is now that of a prophet.
The content of his revelations are radically different from the established body of prophecy. Only the fulfillment of his short-term revelations would validate and confirm his role as a prophet.
The content of Daniel's revelations in virtue of its radical content would have been a source of debate from its recording and would have disqualified its inclusion in the Tanahk hundreds of years later.
The description by Josephus of the arrival of Alexander the Great at Jerusalem is one possible indicator of its presence before its commonly accepted dating. The only disqualifying factor would be the credibility of Josephus and his sources.
Describing practical factors in the introduction of the writing of scriptures, while not conclusive, does open the door for more productive exploration of this issue.
