One big clue that the Bible came along later is how little the stories of the kings and the prophets look back to the time of Moses or quote the Law of Moses, even when the topic calls for it. Though Moses and his story were likely known, in some form, there was no officially sanctioned book to appeal to. There were laws, but there was no Pentateuch, no Torah (Hebrew, meaning “teaching”), that served as a recognized compendium of ancient commands by which kings were judged.
