[GonzoGOP]

In addition, Homer may very well been dependent only on oral tradition, whereas as I said before Moses had access to the best available written records.

That posits of course that those written records existed. Evidence however doesn't support that assumption. For the simple reason that to have written records you need one critical thing. Writing!

Egyptian hieroglyphs only go back to 3200 BC. Linear A, one of the oldest known non pictographic written language, comes from 2000-1900 BC. However neither of those languages would have been known to the Israelites until Joseph took his people into Egypt. That is usually assumed to be during the reign of Seti I (1290–1279 BC)

Hebrew as a written language only goes back to 1200-1000 BC. Coincidentally around the time Exodus is dated to. And in a way that makes sense. Moses wrote it down as soon as it became possible for him to do so. So if you state that it is was written down before that the whole Old Testament becomes not only an oral tradition but the translation from a completely dissimilar language.

So even if you accept the young Earth creationist view that the world is only 6000 years old, there still had to be thousands of years of oral tradition before anyone got around to inventing writing. Then at least a thousand more before the Israelites got exposed to it. Then a translation to get it into Hebrew.

[what's up]

Joseph took his people into Egypt. That is usually assumed to be during the reign of Seti I (1290–1279 BC)

Not sure why you cite those dates. Most likely he went to Egypt during Hyksos rule.

Hebrew as a written language only goes back to 1200-1000 BC

This is beside the point.

I was referring to documents which Moses had ACCESS to. These would be the ancient texts which you correctly stated would have been written long before he was born.

[tjd1454]

However neither of those languages would have been known to the Israelites until Joseph took his people into Egypt. That is usually assumed to be during the reign of Seti I (1290–1279 BC)

Hebrew as a written language only goes back to 1200-1000 BC.

Both of those statements are based upon suppositions which are open to serious question and, in my opinion, wholly insupportable.

Furthermore, such assertions (admittedly part of the "revealed orthodoxy" among skeptical professors who hold anti-supernatural presuppositions), belie a parochial and condescending cultural superiority towards the ancient Israelites, who are assumed - with no direct evidence - to have lacked written language until later in their history.

Clearly the written language of the early Hebrews developed just as every language has developed (including the English language). Thus, the classical Aramaic script of today's Hebew Bible developed out of earlier scripts, but that certainly does not imply that the Israelites lacked written language. To claim as much would be to hold a very weak position, as continued archaeological discoveries can only disprove such a belief, and are in fact doing so in contemporary Israel, where earlier inscriptions are being discovered.