JERUSALEM—The archaeological community is mourning the loss of Gabriel Barkay this week, praising the renowned scholar for his groundbreaking discovery that the Old Testament was written centuries earlier than previously thought—a timeline that confirms the original scribes had ample opportunity to cut the begats, yet simply chose not to.

“Dr. Barkay’s life work proved that the Ketef Hinnom scrolls date back to the First Temple period, which is fascinating, but also deeply frustrating,” said biblical scholar Dr. Helen Weiss. “It means the authors weren’t rushing to meet a deadline before the Babylonian exile. They were sitting on that manuscript for arguably 400 years. They had four centuries to look at the Book of Numbers, realize it was an absolute snooze-fest of census data, and tighten the narrative. Instead, they apparently spent the extra time adding more rules about what to do with mildew in a tent.”

At press time, theologians were further disheartened by Barkay’s implication that God had started dictating the commandments early enough that He really should have seen the Golden Calf incident coming.