When Was The Bible First Written And By Whom
The Christian Bible has two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the original Hebrew Bible, the sacred scriptures of the Jewish faith, written at different times between about 1200 and 165 BC. The New Testament books were written by Christians in the first century AD.
Other Chronologies: Septuagint Samaritan Jubilees Seder Olam
The canonical text of the Hebrew Bible is called the Masoretic Text, a text preserved by Jewish rabbis from early in the 7th and 10th centuries CE. There are, however, two other major texts, the and the Samaritan Pentateuch. The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of the original Biblical Hebrew holy books. It is estimated that the first five books of the Septuagint, known as the Torah or Pentateuch, were translated in the mid-3rd century BCE and the remaining texts were translated in the 2nd century BCE. It mostly agrees with the Masoretic Text, but not in its chronology.
The 2nd century BCE Book of Jubilees begins with the Creation and measures time in years, “weeks” of years , and jubilees , so that the interval from Creation to the settlement of Canaan, for example, is exactly fifty jubilees .
Dating from the 2nd century CE, and still in common use among Jews, was the Seder Olam Rabbah , a work tracing the history of the world and the Jews from Creation to the 2nd century CE.It allows 410 years for the duration of the First Temple, 70 years from its destruction to the Second Temple, and 420 years for the duration of the Second Temple, making a total of 900 years for the two temples. This schematic approach to numbers accounts for its most remarkable feature, the fact that it shortens the entire Persian Empire from over two centuries to just 52 years, mirroring the 52 years it gives to the Babylonian exile.
When Was The Hebrew Bible Written
Earlier than previously thought, say Tel Aviv University researchers
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Was the Hebrew Bible written earlier than previously thought? Thats what a 2016 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests. The study was led by Tel Aviv University doctoral students Shira Faigenbaum-Golovina, Arie Shausa and Barak Sober.
The TAU researchers analyzed multi-spectral images of 16 Hebrew inscriptions, which were written in ink on ostraca , using a computer software program they developed. The ostraca, which date to 600 B.C.E., according to the researchers, were excavated from the Judahite fortress at Arad in southern Israel.
When was the Hebrew Bible written? Ostraca with Hebrew inscriptions excavated from the Iron Age fortress at Arad in Israel may provide clues, say researchers from Tel Aviv University.
The researchers say they were able to identify at least six different handwriting styles on the inscriptions, which contained instructions for the movement of troops and lists of food expenses. A TAU press release notes that the tone and nature of the commands precluded the role of professional scribes.
The results indicate that in this remote fort, literacy had spread throughout the military hierarchy, down to the quartermaster and probably even below that rank, state Faigenbaum-Golovina, Shausa and Sober in their paper.
So when was the Hebrew Bible written? What does literacy in the Iron Age have to do with it?
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What Can We Know
There is one final cataclysmic event that will happen in the earth and the cosmos: the second coming of Jesus Christ, the judgment of the world, and an extraordinary molecular rearrangement of all things that will bring about a New Heaven and a New Earth. And here is the most important thing I could write: your faith or unbelief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ determines whether you will be part of that New Heaven and New Earth.
I cannot date the age of the earth because so many things have changed. But I can say with certainty that because Christ is risen from the dead so we will rise again from the dead. We will live with him in a new heaven and new earth forever. I do not fully understand even that. But that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Faith is trusting in God the things we cannot see: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen .
At the end of every great question in the Bible , the Holy Spirit appeals to the incomprehensible divide between man’s finite existence and God’s infinite reality .
Moses Hand Upon The Record
Although Adam and succeeding patriarchs left records, the first five books of the Old Testament are identified as âthe writings of Moses.â How did Moses come to receive credit for these essential books?
One theory holds that such credit is misleading. A number of Christian scholars point to evidence suggesting that several persons, probably none of them Moses, wrote these books. They point out that Mosesâ death is a part of the record and show how the books are written in differing styles and points of view.
Without further elaboration upon this theory, which has become widely accepted in scholarship, letâs examine what the Pearl of Great Price tells us: âThe Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I reveal unto you concerning this heaven, and this earth write the words which I speak. ⦠In the beginning I created the heaven.â
We see that Moses did make a record and that he was instructed to begin with the Creation.
But what about the changes in writing style? The continuing discovery of ancient records contradicts the theory that style changes in the Pentateuch indicate multiple authorship. As other manuscripts of that general age and area are carefully studied, it is seen that ancient peoples commonly used a variety of styles in one composition. Therefore some scholars think now that archaeological discoveries have rendered unsound the trend to find many unknown sources behind each book of the Bible.
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Literature And The Arts
The Bible has directly and indirectly influenced literature: St Augustine‘s Confessions is widely considered the first autobiography in Western Literature. The Summa Theologica, written 12651274, is “one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature.” These both influenced the writings of Dante‘s epic poetry and his Divine Comedy, and in turn, Dante’s creation and sacramental theology has contributed to influencing writers such as J. R. R. Tolkien and William Shakespeare.
Many masterpieces of Western art were inspired by biblical themes: from Michelangelo’s David and Pietà sculptures, to Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper and Raphael’s various Madonna paintings. There are hundreds of examples. Eve, the temptress who disobeys God’s commandment, is probably the most widely portrayed figure in art.The Renaissance preferred the sensuous female nude, while the “femme fatale” Delilah from the nineteenth century onward demonstrates how the Bible and art both shape and reflect views of women.
The Bible has many rituals of purification which speak of clean and unclean in both literal and metaphorical terms. The biblical toilet etiquette encourages washing after all instances of defecation, hence the invention of the bidet.
When Were The Prophets And Writings Written
Prophets were messengers sent to guide and to warn the people . Whether the people listened or chose to ignore the warnings, these messages were important. The prophets spoke for God and not for themselves. They shared information the people needed to know. They spoke the truth which came from God.
The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi all share writings from the prophets.
Other prophets are listed in the Bible. Miriam is known as a prophet, although her name is not included in the major or minor list.
The book of Jeremiah warns that people need to turn away from evil or face severe consequences. Some listened. Some did not listen. The book may have been written around 600 B.C. The book of Lamentations is listed as probably being written by Jeremiah, somewhere between 586 and 516 B.C.
Study Bibles offer detailed information about the prophets and the dates of their writings.
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More Versions And Translations
Many versions of the Bible exist now. Scholars have gone back to old manuscripts to produce more exact translations. New versions have been produced with more contemporary styles of language. The Bible has now been translated into more than 2,500 languages so that billions of people around the world can read it in their mother tongue. There are multiple versions online and downloadable audio versions. There is even an Emoji Bible. But whatever the format, the Bible remains the most popular book ever produced.
The Charred Lump Of Scroll Sat In An Archaeologists Office Impossible To Read Without Destroying It Until Now
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Scientists have finally been able to read the oldest biblical text ever found.
The 2,000-year-old scroll has been in the hands of archaeologists for decades. But it hasnt been possible to read it, since it was too dangerous to open the charred and brittle scroll.
Scientists have now been able to read it, using special imaging technology that can look into whats inside. And it has found what was in there: the earliest evidence of a biblical text in its standardised form.
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Where Did A Young
Simply put, it came from the Bible. Of course, the Bible doesnt say explicitly anywhere, The earth is 6,000 years old. Good thing it doesnt otherwise it would be out of date the following year. But we wouldnt expect an all-knowing God to make that kind of a mistake.
God gave us something better. In essence, He gave us a birth certificate. For example, using a personal birth certificate, a person can calculate how old he is at any point. It is similar with the earth. Genesis 1 says that the earth was created on the first day of creation . From there, we can begin to calculate the age of the earth.
Lets do a rough calculation to show how this works. The age of the earth can be estimated by taking the first five days of creation , then following the genealogies from Adam to Abraham in Genesis 5 and 11, then adding in the time from Abraham to today.
Adam was created on day 6, so there were five days before him. If we add up the dates from Adam to Abraham, we get about 2,000 years, using the Masoretic Hebrew text of Genesis 5 and 11.3 Whether Christian or secular, most scholars would agree that Abraham lived about 2,000 B.C. .
So a simple calculation is:
5 days + ~4,000 years
~6,000 years
Table 1. Jones and Ussher
| Name |
|---|
| c. 1630 | 3836 |
As you will likely note from table 2, the dates are not all 4004 B.C. There are several reasons chronologists have different dates,7 but two primary reasons:
| Name |
|---|
| 500 |
Can We Question God
My admission of ignorance concerning the dating of the earth does not bother me whatsoever. The reason is, when Job stopped his complaining before God because he ran out of words, the Lord answered him. Gods answer to Jobs assumptions about the secret counsel of God did not lack for sarcasm, holy derision that underscored the divide between God and Man:
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth.
Ouch. The answers to the Lords interrogation of Job are painfully self-evident:
No, my Lord, I was not around when You laid the foundations of the earth. No, my God, I have no understanding. Father, I have no idea about how you determined the measurements of the earth. No, Lord, I do not know. Morning stars singing together? Lord, this is beyond my ability to comprehend. Sons of God shouting for joy? Can I take a guess? Okay, Lord, I will be quiet. Thou art God. I am not .
There was a flood. Once more, the very constitution of the earth and life on it changed. So, dire events that fundamentally reshaped the earths system of life prevent me from comparing today to the beginning of the world.
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The Old Testament Was Already Put Together By The Time Of Jesus
- M.A., Christian Studies, Union University
- B.A., English Literature, Wheaton College
Determining when the Bible was written poses challenges because it isn’t a single book. It’s a collection of 66 books written by more than 40 authors over more than 2,000 years.
So there are two ways to answer the question, “When was the Bible written?” The first is to identify the original dates for each of the Bible’s 66 books. The second, the focus here is to describe how and when all 66 books were collected in a single volume.
When Were The First 5 Books Of The Bible Written
The Pentateuch is the first five books of the Bible. Some scholars say the first five books lay the foundation for the rest of the Bible. From In the beginning to the last verse of Deuteronomy, God gives us the opportunity to learn more about Him and to grow in faith. As a young child, I remember learning to name these books in Sunday School class. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were often recited to receive stickers on our class chart.
Bible researchers generally conclude that the first five books of the Bible were written probably during the 1400s B.C., at the time of Israels wandering in the desert.
Moses is named as the author of the first five books of the Bible. Moses may have written facts shared by others. The last part of Deuteronomy tells of the death of Moses, so that would have been written by another person. Joshua is listed as sharing about the death of Moses.
As you read and learn more about the Bible, look for facts shared by reputable researchers and scholars.
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Many Changes To The Bible Were Made Before It Was The Bible
Whether one believes that CERN is supernaturally changing the text of the Bible is immaterial when considering the changes made to the ancient source documents. Studies of the Greek documents from the first millennia demonstrate that numerous changes were made over the centuries. When documents were copied laboriously by hand changes of punctuation and errors of omission were all but inevitable. But changes of addition the insertion of entirely new verses were not. They were instead placed in the existing text as editorial or creative additions by unknown authors, forever changing the content of the Bible, many of them centuries before the first editions in the English language. An example of one such addition is present in the Gospel of John.
Archaeology Confirms The Bibles Historical Accuracy
Archaeologists have consistently discovered the names of government officials, kings, cities, and festivals mentioned in the Bible — sometimes when historians didn’t think such people or places existed. For example, the Gospel of John tells of Jesus healing a cripple next to the Pool of Bethesda. The text even describes the five porticoes leading to the pool. Scholars didn’t think the pool existed, until archaeologists found it forty feet below ground, complete with the five porticoes.1
The Bible has a tremendous amount of historical detail, so not everything mentioned in it has yet been found through archaeology. However, not one archaeological find has conflicted with what the Bible records.2
In contrast, news reporter Lee Strobel comments about the Book of Mormon: “Archaeology has repeatedly failed to substantiate its claims about events that supposedly occurred long ago in the Americas. I remember writing to the Smithsonian Institute to inquire about whether there was any evidence supporting the claims of Mormonism, only to be told in unequivocal terms that its archaeologists see ‘no direct connection between the archaeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book.'” Archaeologists have never located cities, persons, names, or places mentioned in the Book of Mormon.3
Archaeology consistently confirms the historical accuracy of the Bible.
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How Long Has The Bible Been Around
The earliest books to be written, more or less as we now know them, date back to the Deuteronomistic reforms of the seventh century, under King Josiah of Judah. There was a flowering of Jewish religious writings during the Babylonian Exile, upt to the second century BCE. The Council of Jamnia in about 96 CE is believed to have decided on exactly which books formed the Hebrew Bible, which was to become the Christian Old Testament.
The books of the present New Testament were written during the second half of the first century and the first half of the second century CE. Decisions made during the fourth century established the canon of the New Testament.
From the fourth century onwards, it is possible to say that we had a Bible, although different branches of Christianity hold moderately different views as to exactly which books should be part of the Old Testament.