Tel Arad

But recent evidence suggests literacy rates may have been higher during the Kingdom of Judah than previously thought.

Inside a small Judahite fort at Tel Arad on the northern edge of the Negev Desert, archeologists discovered over 100 Hebrew inscriptions.

These inscriptions record military administrative matters, like the movement of supplies between military posts.

In 2020, when researchers ran these inscriptions through a handwriting analysis algorithm, they determined that they were written by a minimum of 12 different authors, between four to seven of them stationed at Tel Arad alone.

Since a tiny fort like Arad couldn't have supported any more than 20 or 30 soldiers, this suggests a surprisingly high rate of literacy within the Judahite military.

But where did the Hebrew alphabet come from? Nowadays, when most people think of Hebrew, they picture the classic boxy style of Hebrew letters, which is commonly used in modern Hebrew today, as well as in editions of the Hebrew Bible.

Before his reign, worship of God apparently took place at different local shrines across the region.

For example, archaeologists have identified a temple to God at the site of Tel Arad in southern Israel.

Some scholars argue that before this centralization, tithes were brought to these multiple different local sanctuaries rather than a single central location in Jerusalem.

Evidence of this earlier practice may appear in the Hebrew Bible.

Mm.

But I'm like, but there are cannabinoids detected on the Tell Arad shrine, and it's just the only...

We just happen to f- have that shrine.

Every other shrine's been destroyed.

Pashchur appears to have been a common name at that time, perhaps particularly among those who are associated with ritual service.

In an archaeological find, it was found engraved on a pottery shard at the Bamah, the sacrificial platform at Tel Arad.

So there doesn't appear to be a direct connection between yesterday's perek and today's.

The previous prophecy appears to have taken place in the days of Yehoyakim, under when the king supported that kind of intense persecution of Yirmiyahu, whom he viewed as his nemesis.

And it's the same people.

Before 1948, it was the same community in Tel Arad and Masaf Eryata.

This was connected.

There was no fence and no border.