Where Did Written Language Begin?

In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.Here’s this week’s question:Dear Dave and Tom:I’ve heard that the Jewish people were the first society to teach their children to read and write.I understand that reading and writing was found in earlier cultures, although it was mainly practiced among the ruling classes, or by those who had craft positions such as the scribes.If that’s the case, regarding the Jews, it would certainly explain why they were successful in societies where they were scattered.Is there any biblical support for their being a literate culture early on?

Tom:

Dave, this is kind of an interesting question because, you know, as we have been observing the church, and we’ve been saying this on our programs over and over, we’re getting away from The Word, we’re getting more into experientialism, we’re getting more into visual stuff, and so on.But as I have gone through the scriptures, particularly the first five books of the Bible, you find early on that the Hebrew people, I mean, first of all they were given the Word.God wrote the word, you know, with his finger on the tablets, but prior to that, Moses, before the people presented the Word and wrote it down.So, certainly early on you would have to say the Jews were literate, I mean— didn’t—they were to write things down and put it on the door post of the gates, and so on?

Dave:

Deuteronomy 6, yes, absolutely.Well, did other societies have this and when did this begin?It began to Adam, God is communicating to Adam, He’s telling him things.Adam certainly learned from God.I’m sure God showed Adam, or gave him the ability to read and write.Words are very important because words are not physical, they indicate that we are non physical beings.If I say, justice, what does it smell like, what does it taste like, how much does it weigh, what’s its texture, what does it sound like.This is a concept that we hold in our minds, and it has nothing to do with the 5 senses, nothing to do with the physical universe in which we live.So, God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and he became, the scripture says, a living soul.Now the Bible tells us we are soul and spirit.We are non physical beings living in a physical body.Words would be absolutely essential from the very beginning.You would think with words—you remember, we wrote, The Seduction of Christianity, one of the things in there we talked about was visualizing, and I think about 10 books criticized that book.And I remember the first one that came out and said, Why, they are against visualization—Well, you can’t even think without pictures—When you say, tree, people see a tree, when you say, car, people see a car.Really?So what do they see when you say, What do you see?What do you see when they say, justice, truth, holiness, God?When they say, God, you had better not see anything!

Tom:

Right, or you are into idolatry, and that was part of the problem.

Dave:

Absolutely!So, now words are the means of putting down on paper where we can communicate to others the ideas that God has given us, the capability of holding ideas, conceptual ideas that are presented in words.Well, the natural thing is you write these down.That’s the only physical manifestation of the idea is to put it on paper.When that began, Tom, I don’t have any confidence in 10,000 years ago, I think that’s too long ago, or whatever.And I have tried to study it, I have tried to figure out when was the first writing that they found and the dates are rather indistinct.

Tom:

Well, part of the problem is they are looking for examples in the materials that they are written down on, and it’s almost impossible to go back, so there is some speculation.On the other hand, we do have the scriptures.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

So we know that we can start with Moses.Okay, here he is, brought up in the house of Pharaoh, on the one hand.On the other hand, in his writings we find none of that culture, none of their gods to refer to, and so on.So, at least—

Dave:

Because he claimed to be inspired of the one true God.

Tom:

So, what would this be, around 1500 BC?But I think the thing that’s interesting Dave, is that, again, the Israelites, the Jews, as a society of people, they were commanded—First of all, they were given instructions, and the instructions were written down, they had to read the instructions, and then they had to teach their children the instructions and so on.And they did that, not that they did it consistently, they probably would have trouble during the time of the Judges when they were in rebellion that they did that.But certainly down through history they were a literate society, and I think that’s what helped them to be successful no matter where they were.

Dave:

Tom, you quoted a verse earlier, you didn’t say, Blessed is the Rabbi, that’s not what the Bible said, Blessed is the educated person who knows how to read and write, blessed is the man, any man, who in His law, God’s law, he meditates day and night.If we went to Deuteronomy 8, verse 3, God speaking through Moses says, and Jesus quoted it in His temptation in the wilderness, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”So, they definitely had it, they knew the Bible, the had it written down, they could read it, and talk about it and put it on their houses, and so forth.But Tom, all of that is interesting but the importance of the Word, that’s what we were talking about before, they are throwing out the Word of God for the counsel of men, the ungodly men.

Tom:

It’s meant for imagery, Dave.

Dave:

Right, and it is the Word of God by which we live.