P1:IBE/LZX P2:IBE/ QC:IBE/IKJ Aggregation-FM.xml CY301/Schniedewind 0521829461 February2,2004 14:33 How the Bible Became a Book Forthepasttwohundredyearsbiblicalscholarshaveusuallyassumed that the Hebrew Bible was written and edited mostly in the Persian and Hellenistic periods (the fifth through second centuries b.c.e.). Recent archaeological evidence and insights from linguistic anthro- pology, however, point to the earlier era of the late Iron Age (eighth though sixth centuries b.c.e.) as the formative period for the writing ofbiblicalliterature.HowtheBibleBecameaBookcombinesrecentar- chaeologicaldiscoveriesintheMiddleEastwithinsightsculledfrom thehistoryofwritingtoaddresshowtheBiblefirstcametobewritten down and then became sacred Scripture. This book, written for gen- eral readers and scholars alike, provides rich insight into why these texts came to have authority as Scripture and explores why ancient Israel,anoralculture,begantowriteliterature.Itdescribesanemerg- ing literate society in ancient Israel that challenges the assertion that literacy first arose in Greece during the fifth century b.c.e. William M. Schniedewind is a professor of biblical studies and NorthwestSemiticlanguagesandthechairoftheDepartmentofNear Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has been a visiting scholar at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a Fellow at the Albright Institute of Archeological Research.HeistheauthorofTheWordofGodinTransitionandSociety andthePromisetoDavid. i P1:IBE/LZX P2:IBE/ QC:IBE/IKJ Aggregation-FM.xml CY301/Schniedewind 0521829461 February2,2004 14:33 ii P1:IBE/LZX P2:IBE/ QC:IBE/IKJ Aggregation-FM.xml CY301/Schniedewind 0521829461 February2,2004 14:33 How the Bible Became a Book The Textualization of Ancient Israel WILLIAM M. SCHNIEDEWIND UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles iii CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521829465 © William M. Schniedewind 2004 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2005 ISBN-13 978-0-511-33835-9 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-10 0-511-33835-X eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-13 978-0-521-82946-5 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-82946-1 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-53622-6 paperback ISBN-10 0-521-53622-7 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. P1:IBE/LZX P2:IBE/ QC:IBE/IKJ Aggregation-FM.xml CY301/Schniedewind 0521829461 February2,2004 14:33 Contents ListofFigures pagevi Preface vii Abbreviations xi 1 How the Bible Became a Book 1 2 The Numinous Power of Writing 24 3 Writing and the State 35 4 Writing in Early Israel 48 5 Hezekiah and the Beginning of Biblical Literature 64 6 Josiah and the Text Revolution 91 7 How the Torah Became a Text 118 8 Writing in Exile 139 9 Scripture in the Shadow of the Temple 165 10 Epilogue 195 SuggestedFurtherReading 215 Notes 217 Index 241 v P1:IBE/LZX P2:IBE/ QC:IBE/IKJ Aggregation-FM.xml CY301/Schniedewind 0521829461 February2,2004 14:33 List of Figures 2.1 Egyptian execration text page28 2.2 Special writing of God’s name in a Dead Sea Scroll 32 3.1 The development of the cuneiform AN sign 36 3.2 First-known alphabetic writing from Wadi el-Hol, Egypt 39 3.3 Tel Dan (House of David) inscription 42 3.4 Royal scribe before Bar-Rakib on throne 44 4.1 Early Israelite village at Beersheba 51 4.2 The Hebrew alphabet from Izbet Sartah 52 4.3 The Gezer calendar 59 5.1 The growth of Jerusalem during the Judean monarchy 68 5.2 Royal storage jar and Lemelekstamp 71 6.1 A conjectural reconstruction of a sealed deed with Seal impression 99 6.2 A receipt for payment of silver with seventeen signatures 101 6.3 The earliest Biblical text: silver amulet II 105 8.1 Cuneiform tablet listing rations for Jehorachin 151 8.2 Home of the royal Judean family in Babylon 153 9.1 The size of Jerusalem 170 9.2 Some differences between Old Hebrew and Aramaic scripts 176 vi P1:IBE/LZX P2:IBE/ QC:IBE/IKJ Aggregation-FM.xml CY301/Schniedewind 0521829461 February2,2004 14:33 Preface “Thereisnoendtothemakingofbooks.”–Ecclesiastes Heard across millennia of book making, these words from the preacher in Ecclesiastes ring true today. Recent technology, such as print-on-demand, e-books, e-mail, and the ubiquitous Internet, dis- seminate the written word more easily and more quickly than was possible in any previous era. Despite occasional laments from bib- liophiles, the book is alive, well, and rapidly multiplying. Thus, the production of annual book titles in the United Kingdom rose by 72percentduringthe1990s,accordingtotheInternationalPublisher Association, and book production in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the United States, and other countries also recorded significant increases. But while books may now seem without end, they do have a more definitebeginning,astheancientpreacheralsomayhaveknown.His words serve as a general warning about the relatively new practice of book production. The preceding verse inveighs against any writ- ingsexceptthe“sayingsofthewise,”whichinviteinterminablestudy and thus “weariness of the flesh.” A widespread concern for such weariness would have made sense only in a literate culture, or, more likely, in a society involved in the dangerous transition from an oral culture to a literate one. My study focuses on this transition in an- cientIsrael,thespreadofliteracyamongthesocialclassesofseventh- century Judean society. In doing so it looks at the beginnings of the making of one book – the Hebrew Bible. What follows is not an end to the question of how the Bible became a book. It does, however, offerafreshperspectiveontheBiblebylookingatimportantperiods of its textualization – that is, when it was written down – alongside new ideas about the development of writing and literacy in ancient Israel. The way the Bible emerges as a sacred text from such a context has profound implications for many religious traditions. It also has vii