Study confirms widespread literacy in biblical-period kingdom of Judah
Who wrote the Old Testament and when was it written? Few of the books explicitly say who the authors were. Even the books of prophecy tell us little about how the prophecies came to be in written form. Traditionally the Torah is attributed to Moses. The idea that later authors should be very careful not to update the text is a modern idea that was not used in ancient times. Such happened repeatedly through the OT, as later writers would accept the mantle of earlier writers and complete the story.
Many modern scholars have concluded that the OT was the product of a small group of writers, compiling the legends and oral history of the Israelite people. When? Much of the nation of Judah was exiled to Babylon in 586 BC. Modern scholars often surmise that the OT was written after this exile. One argument for this has been the view that in earlier periods, the Israelite society was basically illiterate and hence would not have produced an impressive piece of literature such as the OT. This is an argument from silence. Few written records were found; therefore, the assumption was that few could write.
The recent post in the link above shows that one discovery can change the story quickly. In this instance, the discoveries were already available, but new techniques made new analysis possible. This report does not prove when any of the Biblical books were written. It does show that assumptions about late dates can be disproven very quickly. Is the OT to be trusted historically?
On the Reliability of the Old Testament
A lot of internal evidence supports the traditional dating. For instance, Kenneth Kitchen, renowned Egyptologist wrote the book, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, demonstrating over and over again that biblical history fits the traditional timeframes. It is hard to imagine that books written hundreds of years later would have got the cultural details so right. Acceptance or rejection of miracles is a matter of faith, not data. People reject the miracles, not based on evidence against them, but on the assumptions that they bring to the books.
https://voice.dts.edu/review/kenneth-a-kitchen-on-the-reliability-of-the-old-testament/
Patterns of Evidence
Timothy Mahoney presents a different view interpretation, particularly for the Exodus that again supports the historical reliability of the Bible.
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