Who is the earliest historical person in the Old Testament?

A:

We can not be certain who was the earliest historical person in the Old Testament. There are good grounds for believing that King David was a real, historical person and King Saul is also quite likely to have existed, although neither of them was the great king of all Israel portrayed in The Bible. Prior to this, history becomes murky. Some of the Judges were probably historical, others not. The order in which the Judges are presented in the Book of Judges is clearly artificial, so we can not be sure in which order any historical Judges really lived. We can be sure that Gideon was a real, historical person since his real name, Jerubbaal, is also used in the Book of Judges, reflecting the early polytheism of Israel. The Song of Deborah (Judges 5), which mentions a battle that probably did happen, is thought to have been one of the earliest passages in the Old Testament so Deborah is also likely to have been historical.

We should exclude Joshua, Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as all members of their families, as being legendary, not historical people.