An ancient Hebrew inscription on a shard of pottery, deciphered by an Israeli academic, shows that the Hebrew Bible could have been written hundreds of years earlier than previously believed.

The inscription from the 10th century BC, during King David’s reign, is the earliest known Hebrew writing, said a report in LiveScience. The report quoted a press release from the University of Haifa, where Professor Gershon Galil carried out his research n the Department of Biblical Studies.

Many scholars have so far thought that the Hebrew Bible originated in the 6th century BC, because Hebrew writing was thought to stretch back no further.

“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,” said Professor Galil.

BCE stands for “before common era,” and is equivalent to BC, or before Christ.

The writing was discovered more than a year ago on a pottery shard dug up during excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, near Israel’s Elah valley and it was initially unclear whether the writing was Hebrew or some other local language.

Galil was able to decipher the text by identifying words particular to the Hebrew language and content specific to Hebrew culture.

“It uses verbs that were characteristic of Hebrew, such as asah (’did’) and avad (’worked’), which were rarely used in other regional languages,” Galil said. “Particular words that appear in the text, such as almanah (’widow’) are specific to Hebrew and are written differently in other local languages.”

The text appears to be a social statement about how people should treat slaves, widows and orphans. In English, it reads:

1′ you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].2′ Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]3′ [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]4′ the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.5′ Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.

Courtesy: CathNewsIndia