Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Why are we necessarily talking about nomadic scribes using clay 
tablets, or even wax tablets? This discussion started with Israelites 
in Egypt and carrying records with them to Canaan. In Egypt writing 
was normally on papyrus, from c.3000 BC (??). Papyrus scrolls are not 
so heavy that nomads could not carry them - perhaps together with 
their portable sanctuary. At a later stage e.g. during the monarchy 
papyrus could have been imported from Egypt. (IVP "New Bible 
Dictionary" s.v. Papyri speaks of records of import of papyrus to 
Byblos c.1090 BC). Papyrus would not survive for millennia in the 
relatively damp soil of Canaan - and that is perhaps why we have very 
few written records from pre-exilic Israel. ("New Bible Dictionary" 
mentions a 7th-8th century BC Hebrew papyrus fragment from Wadi 
Murabbaat - is that dating accepted?)

Peter Kirk