Strong's Definition - H3789
כּתב
kâthab
kaw-thab'
A primitive root; to grave; by implication to write (describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe): - describe, record, prescribe, subscribe, write (-ing, -ten).
BDB Definition:
1) to write, record, enroll
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to write, inscribe, engrave, write in, write on
1a2) to write down, describe in writing
1a3) to register, enroll, record
1a4) to decree
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to be written
1b2) to be written down, be recorded, be enrolled
1c) (Piel) to continue writing
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a primitive root
Same Word by TWOT Number: 1053
From the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT):
katab is the only general word for "write" and it is widely used. Curiously, it is not used in Genesis. Moses wrote on a scroll God's curse on the Amalekites (Exo_17:14). God himself wrote the Ten Commandments (Exo_31:18). Moses also is specifically said to have written the Book of the Covenant (Exo_24:4), the Sinai legislation (Exo_34:27), the names of the leaders of the tribes (Num_17:2-3), the wilderness itinerary (Num_33:2), the law "from beginning to end" (Deu_31:9, Deu_31:24) and Moses' final song (Deu_31:22, Deu_31:24). It is quite possible that the general references of Deu_31:9 and Deut 24 refer to the whole of the Pentateuch (cf. Deu_28:58-61; Deu_29:20-21) although critical scholars refer it only to Deut and question even that.
References to writing abound in the rest of the OT. Joshua wrote (Jos_24:26), a young man wrote for Gideon (Jdg_8:14, NASB, NIV), Samuel wrote the constitution of the kingdom-and others, prophets, kings, scribes and common people wrote as well. It appears from the many references in I and 2Kings that the court records of both Israel and Judah were written, preserved and available. The series of such notations begins with Solomon (1Ki_11:41) and goes to the breakup of the kingdom under Jehoiakim (2Ki_24:5). Similar records were kept by the Babylonian kings and some have been discovered (Wiseman, D. J., Chronicles of the Chaldean Kings, British Museum, 1956). Fortunately for Mordecai such records were also kept by the Persian kings. Like modern minutes and records, they apparently made dry reading (Est_6:1-2). The enigmatic references to the Book of Jasher may possibly be explained as referring to similar records. The word Jasher (like Jeshurun, Deu_33:26) is probably a poetic name for all Israel. The Book, of Jasher may thus have been a record book of the events of Israel in the pre-monarchy days as the annals of the kings of Judah and of Israel were in later days. It is mentioned only in Jos_10:13 and 2Sa_1:18. It bears no relation to the apocryphal book of the same name.
According to R. K. Harrison, Wellhausen still in his day held that the Hebrews did not write before the times of the monarchy (HIOT, p. 201). Such a view seems odd today, but it reminds us how little archaeology was really known one hundred years ago. Writing began among the Sumerians shortly before 3000 B.C. and at about the same time in Egypt. There was a wealth of literature by Abraham's day and Moses, trained in the learning of the Egyptians, surely could write Egyptian, Akkadian and Hebrew, possibly also Hurrian and Hittite.
Some have argued that although writing was available it was little used among the Hebrews who have left us few examples of their writing in comparison to the nearly one million clay tablets found in Mesopotamia and the abundant inscriptions and papyri in Egypt. Actually, we do have sporadic Hebrew writing scattered from Solomon to Ezra. We have very little after Ezra until the Dead Sea Scrolls. One possible explanation for this is that the Hebrews who used alphabetic script wrote on papyrus and leather. These materials are well preserved in Egypt (and the Dead Sea caves), but soon deteriorate in the Palestinian rainy season.
F. F. Bruce rightly emphasizes that the Hebrews in Palestine had a great advantage over the Egyptians and over those in Mesopotamia who wrote on clay tablets. The Hebrews had an alphabet. Whereas one must know several hundred signs to read Akkadian and also a large number to read Egyptian, the Hebrews only had to learn twenty-two. Says Bruce, "It is worth noticing that it was the alphabet that made it possible for all classes to be literate; its invention is therefore a landmark of great importance in the history of civilization," and, we may add, in the spread of the knowledge of God's word (The Books and the Parchments, rev. ed., 1963, p. 30). Harrison draws a significant conclusion, "It is no longer necessary to assume that an extended period of oral transmission is a necessary prerequisite to the written from of many if not all of the OT documents as is common in liberal circles" (HIOT p. 209).
Bibliography: Bruce, F. F., The Books and the Parchments, 3d ed., Revell, 1962. Cerny, J., Paper and Books in Ancient Egypt, Ares, 1977. Driver, Godfrey R., Semitic Writing: From Pictograph to Alphabet, rev. ed., 1954. HIOT, pp. 201-207. White, W., in ZPEB, V, pp. 995-1015. R.L.H.