Scribes, Scripts, and State Formation in Ancient Israel

Nathaniel E. Greene and Željko Stanojević

Nathaniel E. Greene

Lecturer
School of Divinity, History & Philosophy
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen, United Kingdom

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1853-8568

Željko Stanojević

Institute for Hebrew Language and Literature, Belgrade, Serbia

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0717-6184

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21434935

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Abstract

This scholarly publication examines the relationship between writing, scribal culture, political authority, and state formation in ancient Israel. Drawing on the Hebrew Bible, Northwest Semitic epigraphy, palaeography, archaeology, and theories of political development, Nathaniel E. Greene considers how scribes participated in the emergence of Israelite institutions and in the production of traditions concerning kingship.

Particular attention is devoted to the inscriptions from Tel Reḥov. Their securely dated archaeological contexts and cursive palaeographic characteristics provide evidence for sustained alphabetic writing during the tenth and ninth centuries BCE. The economic importance of the settlement, including its large apiary and regional commercial connections, further suggests a social environment in which record-keeping and scribal activity were required.

The study also addresses the emergence of Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, and related regional scripts during Iron Age II. Rather than interpreting these traditions as official scripts deliberately selected by individual states, Greene proposes that their distinctive features developed gradually through scribal mobility, family-based instruction, intergenerational transmission, and local adaptation.

A further section introduces Greene’s research project Warlord and Scribe: The Nascent Israelite State Beneath Its Textual Veneers. This work connects anthropological and sociological approaches to state formation with the study of scribes, the Deuteronomistic History, and the narratives concerning Saul and the origins of Israelite kingship in 1 Samuel 9–15.

The publication concludes by considering the methodological requirements of research in biblical philology, Northwest Semitic linguistics, epigraphy, palaeography, lexicography, and the historical development of Hebrew. It emphasizes competence in the relevant ancient languages, substantial engagement with previous scholarship, responsible citation, and a clearly defined original argument.

Keywords

Nathaniel E. Greene; ancient Israel; Hebrew Bible; Northwest Semitic languages; epigraphy; palaeography; scribal culture; scribal education; Israelite state formation; national scripts; Iron Age II; Tel Reḥov; Proto-Hebrew; Phoenician; Aramaic; Deuteronomistic History; 1 Samuel; Hebrew writing; ancient literacy; biblical philology

How to Cite This Work

Greene, N. E. and Stanojević, Ž. (2026). Scribes, Scripts, and State Formation in Ancient Israel. Belgrade: Institute for Hebrew Language and Literature. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21434935

Description

This open-access scholarly publication forms part of the series Scholarly Interviews in Hebrew, Biblical, Religious, and Jewish Studies. It presents Nathaniel E. Greene’s interdisciplinary approach to the study of ancient writing, scribal institutions, early Israelite political organisation, and the formation of biblical literature.

The publication is intended as a citable academic resource for researchers and students working in Hebrew Bible studies, ancient Israelite history, Northwest Semitic languages, epigraphy, palaeography, archaeology, literacy studies, and the social history of scribes.

Related Works

Greene, N. E. (2026). ‘To Bleat or Not to Bleat: A Note on Hebrew פעה and the Erroneous Use of Comparative Arabic Evidence for Hebrew Lexicography’, Vetus Testamentum, advance online publication.

Greene, N. E. and Hutton, J. M. (2025). ‘The Rise of “National” Scripts in the Iron II: A Proposal’, Maarav, 29(1–2), pp. 27–120.

Greene, N. E. (2025). Review of The Two Houses of Israel: State Formation and the Origins of Pan-Israelite Identity, by Omer Sergi, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 87(1), pp. 158–160.

Greene, N. E. (2023). ‘The Rhetorical Force of the Divine Feminine: An Assessment of the Feminine Imagery of Yhwh in Deutero-Isaiah’, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 85(2), pp. 219–236.

Greene, N. E. (2022). ‘Socio-political Gleanings from Northwest Semitic Paleography: The Inscriptions from Tel Reḥov, as a Test Case’, in Keimer, K. H. and Pierce, G. A. (eds.) The Ancient Israelite World. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 363–383.

Greene, N. E. (2018). Warlord and Scribe: The Nascent Israelite State beneath Its Textual Veneers. PhD dissertation. University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Greene, N. E. (2017). ‘Creation, Destruction, and a Psalmist’s Plea: Rethinking the Poetic Structure of Psalm 74’, Journal of Biblical Literature, 136(1), pp. 85–101.

Greene, N. E. (2017). ‘The Qubur al-Walaydah Bowl: New Images and Old Readings’, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 377, pp. 39–47.

Greene, N. E. and Parker, H. D. D. (2015). ‘Field of View: Northwest Semitic Palaeography and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI)’, in Hutton, J. M. and Rubin, A. D. (eds.) Epigraphy, Philology, and the Hebrew Bible: Methodological Perspectives on Philological and Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible in Honor of Jo Ann Hackett. Ancient Near East Monographs 12. Atlanta: SBL Press, pp. 209–239.

Greene, N. E., Heyn, M. K. and Hutton, J. M. (2012). ‘A Re-Edition of PAT 738 (CIS 4379)’, Maarav, 19(1–2), pp. 91–115.

Additional Keywords

scribes in ancient Israel; origins of Israelite kingship; Saul narratives; First Samuel 9–15; early Hebrew script; alphabetic writing in the Levant; Iron Age scribal communities; regional script development; family scribal networks; commerce and record-keeping; Tel Reḥov inscriptions; Tel Reḥov apiary; cursive handwriting; writing on soft materials; Northwest Semitic inscriptions; ancient scribal mobility; royal scribes; king’s scribe; state development in the southern Levant; political communication in antiquity; formation of biblical narratives; production of the Hebrew Bible; redaction criticism of Samuel; composition criticism of Samuel; literacy in the early Iron Age; script differentiation; material culture and writing; Warlord and Scribe; The Ancient Israelite World; Institute for Hebrew Language and Literature; European Hebrew Journal