Page:Biblical Libraries (Richardson).djvu/157

 assumes public inscription long before that time, quite comparable in extent to the inscriptions of Thutmose III or King Mesha of Moab and, although few long inscriptions have been recovered thus far, there is at least the Siloam inscription (cf. also Is. 30:8; Job 19:23, 24; Is. 8:1; Jer. 17:1; also the Decalogue). Each one of these three elements (even the collection of inscriptions in the temple) was it must be remembered called in antiquity a "library."

That this record system had reached back for some time before David seems to follow from the fact that among his chief officers appear both a "recorder" and a "scribe" (258:16-18; 20:23-6) since such subdivision of labor implies quite an evolution from the time when one official performed all functions. Under Solomon this subdivision proceeds still farther (I K 4:2-6); there are two scribes as well as superintendents of "officials" of