History Before Writing

"In the beginning ..." it says. Someone is telling us this story; someone who appears to be an eyewitness of the event. Of course that's not actually so. Biblical tradition tells us that these words were given to Moses, the great Servant of God. This, of course, I'm in no position to argue! Someone heard it, and he told someone, and he told someone, until millenia later someone finally wrote it down.

But let's look at that period between Moses and, probably, the great libraries of King Solomon.

As in many other societies at the same period of development, there was no written language. All facts, legends, and myths had to be remembered and passed on. And there was, for each generation, a person whose responsibility it was to see that these stories - these little histories, if you will - were told exactly the same generation after generation.

This was usually an inherited responsibility an Elder. A novice sat at the Elder's side during all these evenings as he related the histories of his people to those gathered around. This younger person at his side was responsible to remember - word for word - these same stories for the next generation.

This student was also drilled by the Elder to make sure that his protegé could repeat verbatim all the stories he'd heard. History could only exist accurately by what is referred to as the "oral tradition."

This term sometimes takes an argumentative form in its use. This oral tradition, as outlined above, was the most accurate history for centuries. When written language finally came along, and great libraries like King Solomon's were the storehouses for these, it was still the responsibility of the Elders to see that the Scribes copied the stories correctly, and the responsibility of the Scribes to see that each copy was identical to the one he was copying from.

"In the beginning ..."