(See Athlete.)
More than four hundred terms for writing appear in the Bible. The origins of this craft trace back to about 8000 B.C. with inscriptions on clay tokens in Mesopotamia. Writing was well-developed by the time of Moses, enabling him to record the Law (Ex. 17:4; 24:4). The two stone tablets of the Law were written with “the finger of God” (31:18). Another form of writing mentioned in Scripture is an “inward [or spiritual] writing” in which a message is written on the “tablet of your heart” (Prov. 3:3; 7:3; Jer. 17:1; 2 Cor. 3:3).
Ancient peoples wrote on clay, wax, stone, bricks, metal, parchment, and papyrus. The latter was called biblos, from which we derive the word bible. Papyrus manuscripts were perishable, and scribes were kept busy full-time transcribing records onto new papyrus. Were it not for faithful writers, we would not have the Bible today. (See Author; Scribe.)
God brought “every beast of the field and every bird of the air” to Adam for him to name and classify according to its kind (Gen. 2:19, 20), making Adam the first zoologist. Noah also classified animals and birds according to their kind (6:19—7:3). Scripture reports that Noah took aboard the ark complete sets (seven) of all the “clean” animals and birds, plus two of each “unclean” variety, in addition to a huge supply of food for all, making Noah a zookeeper as well as a zoologist. (See Ornithologist.)