Today’s New York Times has a discussion of two ancient silver scrolls found in Israel in 1979. New analysis confirms that the scrolls date “from the period just before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.” and contain fragments from the Book of Numbers. Is that a fun data point, or what?
This has been mentioned in several LDS works in the last few years. It’s significant for a few reasons (noine particularly LDS though).
1) It gives us a “no later than” date for a P(riestly) portion of the OT.
2) It’s “magical,” something outside the
normal OT prescriptions.
3)Hmm. Can’t remember why else.
I am not so confident in using it for a terminus dating for P. The Priestly Benediction is a small piece of text that may well have circulated independantly (as the article notes). However, it does add support for claims of quotes to and allusions of the Book of Numbers in the Book of Mormon. (For example Numbers 12:6 in 1 Nephi 1:8 and 2:1).
Thanks for the page! Another source for this story is http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=17741. I’ve used the story to demonstrate that the concept of writing scripture on metal in the ancient world is not as ludicrous as it seemed to the learned world of Joseph Smith’s day. I think it’s a fascinating story. Thanks for calling attention to it.