Writing​—Its Importance in Ancient Israel

HAVE you ever read some of the Iliad or the Odyssey, two great epic poems of ancient Greece? Those are thought to have been composed during the ninth or the eighth century B.C.E. How do these works compare with the Bible, which began to be written many centuries earlier? The volume The Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible observes: “The Bible has no fewer than 429 references to writing and to written documents. This is significant if it is remembered that the Iliad provides only one reference to writing and there is none in the Odyssey.”

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East explains that “in ancient Israel it seems that writing was an integral part of the religious experience.” For example, the Law covenant was put in writing and was later publicly read on a regular basis before all men, women, and children. It was also read and studied by people both in groups and in private. After considering some features of the Law, Alan Millard, senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool, concludes: “Evidently, reading and writing were assumed to affect life at most levels.”​—Deuteronomy 31:9-13; Joshua 1:8; Nehemiah 8:13-15; Psalm 1:2.

The apostle Paul explains how Christians should view the holy writings: “All the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.” Do you personally show appreciation for the Bible by reading it regularly?​—Romans 15:4.