Subject: RE: tc-list Earliest Hebrew text

From: Curt Niccum <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 08:13:39 -0500

I assume that the reference is to two small silver rolls containing
forms of the Priestly Benediction from Numbers 6. These were discovered
in 1979 in Jerusalem at Ketef Hinnom. See E. Tov, Textual Criticism of
the Hebrew Bible, p. 118, for a brief description or, for a fuller
account, G. Barkay, "The Priestly Benediction on the Ketef Hinnom
Plaques," Cathedra 52 (1989) 37-76. The latter, unfortunately, is
available only in Hebrew.

Curt Niccum

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Steve & Jules Carson-Rowland [SMTP:[email-masked]]
	Sent:	Wednesday, June 10, 1998 7:36 AM
	To:	Textual List
	Subject:	tc-list Earliest Hebrew text

	In 'The Cambridge History of the Bible: From Beginnings to
Jerome' the
	section on the OT text implies, but does not state outright,
that the
	earliest manuscript evidence for the OT text is from the early
3rd century
	BC.

	Recently I saw a discussion where someone claimed the following:

	'In 1986, archaeologists found the earliest known text of the
Bible, dated
	to about 600 B.C'.

	Can anyone enlighten me as to whether this is the case and give
some more
	details. 

	Thanks,
	Steve Carson-Rowland

---

From: "Roderic L. Mullen" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 18:40:00 -0400

My guess is that the text from ca.600 b.c.e. that was referred to may be the
silver amulets discoverd by Gabriel Barkay with an inscription of the
priestly benediction "May the Lord bless you and keep you..."  --Rod Mullen

At 10:36 PM 6/10/98 +1000, you wrote:
>In 'The Cambridge History of the Bible: From Beginnings to Jerome' the
>section on the OT text implies, but does not state outright, that the
>earliest manuscript evidence for the OT text is from the early 3rd century
>BC.
>
>'In 1986, archaeologists found the earliest known text of the Bible, dated
>to about 600 B.C'.
>
>Can anyone enlighten me as to whether this is the case and give some more
>details. 
>
>Thanks,
>Steve Carson-Rowland
>