…4. Finally, Karl W. Randolph weighed in as follows: “There’s another consideration that was common before the typewriter: even in societies with near universal literacy, there was ready employment for anyone who could write with good, clear penmanship.”But that’s not the issue here. First and foremost was determining precisely what this ancient text was. Hilkiah gave it to the scribe to read, and then later the scribe read it to King Josiah. Penmanship isn’t the issue. Rather, the problem was that this ancient sacred text was written in cuneiform (using west Semitic words), and accordingly the only one in Jerusalem who could read it was Shaphan the scribe, who as part of his regular duties read cuneiform letters sent to Judah from Assyria and Babylonia.
Jim StinehartEvanston, Illinois
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