The Story of Our Bible

Our course of study is about books. But we begin the history of the books of the Old Testament with a chapter which takes us back to a time when the Hebrews had no books, and indeed could not read or write. In this early period, when as yet they were wandering from pasture to pasture on the edge of the desert, they did not even possess an alphabet, or a written language. Nevertheless, they were already composing songs, and stories, which were carried in the memory, and thus handed on from one generation to another. Some of these ancient songs are quoted in the Old Testament, as we shall see.

After the Hebrews crossed the Jordan, however, they began as a nation, to go to school. They learned from the earlier Canaanites how to plow and sow and reap; how to build houses of wood and stone. They also learned their alphabet. At that time, the alphabetical system of writing was a comparatively new invention. The Egyptians and Babylonians had used cumbrous systems, which were really modifications of picture-writing. Like the early American Indians, when an Egyptian wanted to send word to a friend that he had built a house, he drew a picture of a house and sent it to him. Later on, the Egyptians together with the Phoenicians worked out the idea that a simplified picture of an object might be used as the sign of the first sound in the name of that object. For example, the Phoenician and Hebrew name for "tent" was "beth," and the Phoenicians used a rough picture of a "beth," to stand for the sound "b." Following out this principle they selected twenty-two picture letters, which represented practically all the spoken sounds in their language. This alphabet, the Hebrews learned through the earlier Canaanites. The same alphabet was taken over later on by the Greeks, with some modifications, and by them passed on to the Romans

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