By Craig D Wescoe 
Long before the Bible was bound in leather, Hebrew was scratched onto potsherds, carved into tunnel walls, and pressed into clay seals. Finds like the Siloam inscription, the Lachish letters, and the Ketef Hinnom silver scrolls give us Hebrew writing from the very centuries in which the biblical books were taking shape.
This article will survey the most important epigraphic discoveries and ask what they reveal about literacy, language, and faith in ancient Israel and Judah. (Placeholder article — full research to come.)