A NY Times article last week reported on new evidence, developed with NASA computer-imaging assistance, suggesting that the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Pentateuch) could have been compiled during the First Temple period, before the Babylonian Exile, not during the later, Second Temple period as many scholars contend.
Investigators studied two tiny silver amulets, found in a large burial site, containing the familiar Priestly Benediction from Numbers 6:24-26: “May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace.” They concluded that the amulets probably dated back to the pre-Exile, First Temple period. Their findings don’t prove that the Pentateuch dates back that far, but they do suggest that at least some portions of the Book of Numbers were in existence at that time.
See also this article from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
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