WRITING (rit'ing), (Heb. kaw-thab', to saw-far', to inscribe; characters in writing; Gr...ypdcpco,graf'o, to grave).
After the gift of language (which was indis pensable to rational creatures), it would seem that writing was the most highly beneficial and im portant boon which could be conferred on men possesses! of intellect and understanding, who from their circumstances must divide and spread over the whole earth, and yet he forced from various necessities to maintain intercourse with each other. Even in the first ages of the world writing was requisite not only to preserve unim paired the knowledge of God, but to transmit and receive accurate intelligence from the scattered communities, and to convey to posterity events which were destined to act upon all time.
(1) Antiquity. It is evident from the allusions made to the subject in the sacred Scriptures that the knowledge of writing was possessed by the human fatuity at a very early period. In the fifth chapter of Genesis it is said, 'This is the book of generations.' If there had been merely a tradi tionary recollection of 'the generations of Adam.' preserved only by transmission from one memory to another for more than a thousand years, the term book would have been most inapplicable, and could not have been used in the book of Job, which is considered by some to be the most ancient writ ten document extant (chap. xix :23, 24), it is said, 'Oh, that my words were now written, Oh, that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen!' Also Job xxxi:35, 'mine adversary had written a book.' Such ex pressions could not have been used, and would have had no meaning, if the art of writing had been unknown ; nor could there have been such terms as book and pen if the things themselves had not existed.
Before the law was given by God to Moses, he had been commanded to write the important trans actions which occurred during the progress of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan ; for in Exod. xvii :14, it is recorded, `And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book.' An
account of the discomfiture of the Amalekites is the first thing said to have been written by Moses. This battle was fought ere the people left Rephi dim (Exod. xvii :13), from whence they departed into the wilderness of Sinai (Exod. xix :2) ; and, therefore, that writing was drawn up before the events on the mount took place. The law was `written by the finger of God' (Exod. xxxi :18), B.C. 1491, and since that time there is no question as to the existence of the art of writing. The commandments were written on two tables of stone (Exod. xxxi:1) ; but immediately after wards, when Moses was interceding with God for the sinning idolaters, he says, 'Blot me out of thy book which thou hast written' (Exod. xxxii :32). If writing in alphabetical characters had been seen by Moses for the first time on the 'tables of stone,' he could not from these have had the faintest con ception of a book, which is a thing composed of leaves or rolls, and of which the stones or slates could have given him no idea.
Forty years after the law was written the Israel ites took possession of the land of Canaan, where the `cities were walled and very great' (Num. xiii : 28). Amongst other places which were conquered was one called by them Debir, but whose original name was Kirjath-sepher, or the City of Books, or Kirjath-sannah, the City of Letters (Josh. xv : 49; Judg. i :11). The Canaanites could not have gained their knowledge of letters or of books from the Hebrews, with whom they were entirely unac quainted or at war, and must, therefore, have de rived them from other sources. The Canaanites being the descendants of Canaan, a son of Ham, had probably preserved and cultivated the same arts and sciences which Misraim, another son of Ham, carried into Egypt (Gen. x :6).
'The Book of Jasher' (Josh. x :13), is men tioned by Joshua, but whether as a chronicle of the past or present is uncertain.