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Hebrew Bible

Narrative
Not in article yet God promised the land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants forever. The land of Israel extended from Dan in the north to Beer-sheba in the south and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. At different times, the Israelites controlled a larger or smaller territory. The land was divided into 12 regions named for the 12 Tribes Israel.

Patriarchs and the Exodus
The Tanakh begins with the Genesis creation narrative. Genesis 12–50 traces Israelite origins to the patriarchs: Abraham, his son Isaac, and grandson Jacob. YHWH promises Abraham and his descendants blessing and land. The covenant God makes with Abraham is signified by male circumcision. The children of Jacob become the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob's son Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, but he becomes a powerful man in Egypt. During a famine, Jacob and his family settle in Egypt.

Jacob's descendants lived in Egypt for 430 years. After the Exodus, the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years. God gives the Israelites the Law of Moses to guide their behavior. The law includes rules for both religious ritual and ethics. This moral code requires justice and care for the poor, widows, and orphans. The biblical story affirms God's unconditional love for his people, but he still punishes them when they fail to live by the covenant.

United monarchy
God leads Israel into the promised land of Canaan, which they conquer after five years. For the next 470 years, the Israelites were led by judges. In time, a new enemy emerged called the Philistines. They continued to trouble Israel when the prophet Samuel was judge (1 Samuel 4:1–7:1). When Samuel grew old, the people requested that he choose a king because Samuel's sons were corrupt and they wanted to be like other nations (1 Samuel 8). The Tanakh presents this negatively as a rejection of God's kingship; nevertheless, God permits it, and Saul of the tribe of Benjamin is anointed king. This inaugurates the united monarchy of the Kingdom of Israel.

An officer in Saul's army named David achieves great militarily success. Saul tries to kill him out of jealousy, but David successfully escapes (1 Samuel 16–29). After Saul dies fighting the Philistines (1 Samuel 31; 2 Chronicles 10), the kingdom is divided between his son Eshbaal and David (David ruled his tribe of Judah and Eshbaal ruled the rest). After Eshbaal's assassination, David was anointed king over all of Israel (2 Samuel 2–5).

David captures the Jebusite city of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6–7) and makes it his capital. Jerusalem's location between Judah in the southern hills and the northern Israelite tribes made it an ideal location from which to rule over all the tribes. He further increased Jerusalem's importance by bringing the Ark of the Covenant there from Shiloh (2 Samuel 6). In 2 Samuel 7, God promises David that he and his descendants will reign over Israel forever. David's son Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem.

Exile and return
After Solomon's death, the united kingdom split into the northern Kingdom of Samaria with its capital at Samaria and the southern Kingdom of Judah with its capital at Jerusalem.

The Kingdom of Samaria survived for 200 years until it was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. The Kingdom of Judah survived for longer, but it was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The Temple was destroyed, and many Judeans were exiled to Babylon. In 539 BCE, Babylon was conquered by Cyrus the Great of Persia, who allowed the exiles to return to Judah. Between 520 and 515 BCE, the Temple was rebuilt.

Development
Might be useful: Besides the worship of the non-Canaanite god Yahweh, early Israelites also worshipped gods found in Canaanite religion, including the creator god El and his wife Asherah and the storm god Baal. Biblical scholar John J. Collins states, "[Israelite religion's] novel aspects came into being as modifications of beliefs and practices that had been current for centuries. The Hebrew language uses the word El for God, and the term inevitably carried with it associations of the Canaanite high god." The archaeological evidence contradicts accounts found in the Book of Joshua (written c. 600 BCE, around 500 years after the events it describes) of a single Israelite conquest of Canaan and the total destruction of the Canaanite population. Empires frequently dominated Canaan because major trade routes passed through it. The Egyptian Empire controlled the area between 1450 and 1200 BCE, and this is when most scholars believe the Exodus may have happened. The collapse of Egyptian control over Canaan created a power vacuum during which the Israelites first emerge as an identifiable people group. The Israelites emerged as a recognizable people between 1200 and 745 BCE, when a power vacuum existed after Egypt lost control of the region. The books of the Tanakh, however, were mainly written when Israel was dominated by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and the Greeks. Canaan was divided into various city-states.

Traditional attribution
The books that make up the Hebrew Bible were written down by sofer (scribes), the literate class of bureaucrats in a mostly non-literate, oral culture. The scribes were not authors but rather transmitters of Israelite oral traditions. The question of biblical authorship was not an important one until Hellenization in the 4th century BCE, long after most biblical books had been written. Greeks believed that a text's authority depended on its author, and Jewish tradition was pressured to identify authors for its writings.

Religious tradition ascribes authorship of the Torah to Moses. In later biblical texts, such as Daniel 9:11 and Ezra 3:2, it is referred to as the "Torah (Law) of Moses". However, the Torah itself only credits Moses with writing certain sections. According to scholars, Moses would have lived in the 2nd millennium BCE, but this was before the development of Hebrew writing. The Torah is dated to the 1st millennium BCE after Israel and Judah had already developed as states. Nevertheless, "it is highly likely that extensive oral transmission of proverbs, stories, and songs took place during this period", and these may have been included in the Hebrew Bible. Elements of Genesis 12–50, which describes the patriarchal age, and the Book of Exodus may reflect oral traditions. In these stories, Israelite ancestors such as Jacob or Moses use trickery and deception to survive and thrive.

King David (c. 1000 BCE) is credited as the author of at least 73 psalms. His son, Solomon, is identified as the author of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. The Tanakh describes their reigns as a golden age when Israel flourished both culturally and militarily. However, there is no evidence for this, and it is most likely a "retrospective extrapolation" of conditions under King Jeroboam II ((r. 781 – 742)).

The Book of Isaiah attributes its prophecies to Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1), while implying that it was his disciples who wrote down his teachings (Isaiah 8:16). The Book of Jeremiah attributes itself to the prophet Jeremiah with Baruch ben Neriah acting as Jeremiah's scribe (Jeremiah 36:32).

Early monarchy (10th to 9th centuries BCE)
In regards to the Exodus story, David M. Carr notes evidence for an early oral tradition: "To be sure, there may have been a 'Moses group,' themselves of Canaanite extraction, who experienced slavery and liberation from Egypt, but most scholars believe that such a group—if it existed—was only a small minority in early Israel, even though their story came to be claimed by all."

Modern scholars believe that the ancient Israelites mostly originated from within Canaan. Their material culture was closely related to their Canaanite neighbors, and Hebrew was a Canaanite dialect. Archaeological evidence indicates Israel began as loosely organized tribal villages in the hill country of modern-day Israel c. 1250. During crises, these tribes formed temporary alliances. The Book of Judges, written c. 600 BCE (around 500 years after the events it describes) portrays Israel as a grouping of decentralized tribes, and the Song of Deborah in Judges 5 may reflect older oral traditions. It features archaic elements of Hebrew and a tribal list that identifies Israel exclusively with the northern tribes.

By the 9th or 8th centuries BCE, the scribal culture of Israel (or Samaria) and Judah was sufficiently developed enough to produce biblical texts.

Before the Babylonian exile, ancient Israelite religion was cult-based (meaning that it was focused on sacrifices, votive offerings and prayers made at shrines or temples). Religious texts existed (such as Psalm 24:7–10 which describes a ritual procession), but they were not invested with sacred status.

Northern tradition

The Kingdom of Samaria was more powerful and culturally advanced than the kingdom of Judah. It also featured multiple cultic sites, including the sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan.

Scholars estimate the Jacob tradition (Genesis 25–35) was first written down in the 8th century BCE and probably originated in the north because the stories take place there. Based on the prominence given to the sanctuary at Bethel (Genesis 28), these stories were likely preserved and written down at that religious center. This means the Jacob cycle must be older than the time of King Josiah of Judah ((r. 640 – 609 BCE)), who pushed for the centralization of worship at Jerusalem.

The story of Moses and the Exodus appears to also originate in the north. It existed as a self-contained story in its oral and earliest written forms, but it was connected to the patriarchal stories during the exile or post-exile periods. The account of Moses' birth (Exodus 2) shows similarities to the birth of Sargon of Akkad, which suggests Neo-Assyrian influence sometime after 722 BCE. While the Moses story is set in Egypt, it is used to tell both an anti-Assyrian and anti-imperial message, all while appropriating Assyrian story patterns.

Scholars believe Psalm 45 could have northern origins since it refers to a king marrying a foreign princess, a policy of the Omrides. Some psalms may have originated from the shrine in the northern city of Dan. These are the Sons of Korah psalms, Psalm 29, and Psalm 68. The city of Dan probably became an Israelite city during the reign of King Jeroboam II (781–742BCE). Before then, it belonged to Aram, and Psalm 20 is nearly identical to an Aramaic psalm found in the 4th century BCE Papyrus Amherst 63.

Southern literature

The author of the books of Kings likely lived in Jerusalem. The text shows a clear bias in favor of the southern kingdom of Judah where worship of God was centralized at Jerusalem. The southern kingdom of Israel is portrayed as a godless, breakaway region whose rulers refuse to worship at Jerusalem. According to 1 Kings 12, the united monarchy came to an end when the northern tribes broke away from Judah and established the northern kingdom of Israel.

Composition
Quotations from Christine Hayes: The Hebrew Bible is an assemblage of books and writings dating from approximately 1000 B.C.E. (opinions vary on this point) down to the second century B.C.E. The last book within the Hebrew Bible was written in the 160s B.C.E. Elizabeth Hayes, Christine. Introduction to the Bible (The Open Yale Courses Series) (p. 9). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. The three divisions correspond very roughly to the process of canonization.6 The Torah probably reached a relatively fixed and authoritative status first (probably the early fifth century B.C.E.), then the books of the Prophets (probably the second century B.C.E.), and finally the Writings (perhaps as late as the second century C.E.). It is likely that by the end of the second century C.E., the entire collection was organized in a relatively stable form. Elizabeth Hayes, Christine. Introduction to the Bible (The Open Yale Courses Series) (p. 12). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.

The earliest surviving manuscripts are among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE.