8. Dates of Old Testament Literature

The story of the development of Hebrew literature as given by the critical school is as follows: From the pre-Mosaic period came the folk- songs embodied in the Pentateuch, such as the sword song of Lamech, and the oral traditions respecting origins of the world, of nations, and of tribes such as were common to the Semitic world. From the Mosaic period were transmitted the body of Mosaic precepts and decisions which were later formulated in the earliest'written codes, but were at first handled down orally from the period of wandering, and also such songs as Ex. xv. and Num. xxi. 17-18. From the immediate post-Mosaic age (beginning about 1100 B.C.) came the Song. of Deborah and oral traditions respecting the conquest and the period of the Judges which followed hard after. It is regarded as probable that written records began soon after the establishment of the kingdom in the shape of official annals, and, later, temple records. About 1000 B.C. is the date of David's law of booty (I Sam. xxx. 24-25), his elegy on Saul and Jonathan (II Sam. i. 17 sqq.), and that on Abner (II Sam. iii. 33-34), and, soon after, Nathan's parable (II Sam. xii. 1-4), while the date assigned to the blessing of Jacob (Gen. xhx.), Solomon's prayer (I Kings viii. 12 sqq.), to the compiling of the book on the wars of Yahweh (cf. Num. xxi. 14) and of the book of Jasher (cf. Josh. x. 12-13); and to the Balsam discourses (Num. xxiii.-xxiv.) is c. 970. The primitive codes (Ex. xiii., xa. 23-xxiii. 19, etc.) were probably first collected in the same period (950-900 B.C.). The beginnings of formulated history in the J narrative, and the collection of the life of Saul are placed in the middle of the ninth pre-Christian century. Deut. xxxiii. is dated about 800, while to about 750 are assigned the E narrative and the cycle of Elijah and Elisha stories in their earliest form. Between 750 and 760 fall the prophecies of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, while the latter date is believed to be that of Judges xvii-xviii., and the Book of Samuel took nearly its present form about the same time. It is probable that early in the seventh century the nucleus of the Psalter was gathered, about 650 came the blending of the J and E narratives, and the Deuteronomic Code (Deut. v. or xii.-xxx.) was written and adopted soon after (621 B.C.). Meanwhile Nahum and Zephaniah (650-830) had taken form, Jeremiah had begun his work (625), while Habakkuk delivered his oracles about 605. The first edition of the Books of Kings is believed to have been issued about 600, and soon after Ezekiel began his work of instruction (in 592). The fall of Jerusalem was followed after no long interval by the writing of Lamentations and probably by Baruch's edition of the prophecies of Jeremiah, and the Book of Obadiah is also to be located in the same period. The exile was a time fruitful in literary production, including the Deuteronomic redaction of Judges-Kings except Ruth, the union of the J, E, and Deuteronomic narratives, the issue of Isa. xl.-Iv. (or lxii.), possibly the Holiness Code (Lev. xvii~xxvi.), and other beginnings of the Priest Code. Haggai and Zechariah belong to the period following the return, or 520-518. The early part of the fifth century doubtless saw the practical completion of the Priest Code and its blending with the Holiness Code, and the completion of the second part of Isaiah (chaps. lvi. [or lxii.]-lxvi.). Between 460 and 400 the Book of Ruth, the prophecies of Malachi, the documents used in Ezra-Nehemiah, and chapters inserted in the first part of Isaiah (such as chap. xxxiv.) were written. The next century (400-300 B.C.) witnessed the completion of the Pentateuch by the interweaving of all the documents, the completion of the books from Genesis to Kings, the issue of the prophecies of Joel, the compilation of Proverbs, the writing of Isa. xxiv.-xxvii., and of Job, while the nucleus of the Psalter, consisting of Ps. iii.-xli., was expanded by the addition of books ii.-iii. (Ps. xlii.-Ixxxix.), and it may be that Zech. ix.-xiv. is to be put in this period. To the latter half of the century Canticles is sometimes assigned. The work of the Chronicler (I-II Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah) is with great confidence placed about 300 B.C. Ecclesiastes is put late in the next century, Esther is not regarded as earlier than 200-150, while Daniel, considered the latest book in the canon (unless Esther postdates it), is dated 168-165, while the completion of the Psalter is put about 140. Although for the later books the dates given are regarded as indicated by facts which are reasonably certain, and on which there is a growing consensus, for the postponement of the beginning of literary work as exemplified in the Pentateuch the critics rely not merely on data supplied by the documents themselves, but on the general principle that advancement in culture and a certain fixity of institutions and life are required before writing may take form. This seems to be the law of literary development. See Biblical Introduction, I., and the articles on the separate books, in which the positions taken above as to the dates will be found to be traversed. It was not thought desirable to have a separate article upon these differences.

Geo. W. Gilmore.