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Finding Biblical Authors

Methodology

Biblical writers are just like any other writers

Biblical writers are just like any other writers

Biblical writers are just like any other writers

 People are people and writers are writers. Whether they lived in 500 BCE or today. There is nothing more magical or mysterious about the ancient writing process than there is in the modern one. Once we treat the stories as stories written by humans just like us, we can glean a lot of information about the writers and the world they inhabited when they wrote their biblical stories.

 

Each writer has their own style and perspective

Biblical writers are just like any other writers

Biblical writers are just like any other writers

 Each writer, biblical or otherwise, writes in their own way. They can only do so from their own perspective, inner world and the reality around them, using preferred words and expressions. Once we identify the writer's fingerprint, we can find real actual biblical writers that we know existed, and see if there is one with an identical style, perspective and word choice.

The Documentary Hypothesis

Each historical period is distinct

Each historical period is distinct

It's been 150 years ago since we were first able to read the different layers of several biblical books, which were sewn together in editing to form the Bible we have today. Scholars named this finding the Documentary Hypothesis, and it allows us to read each of those layers separately, as it was written and meant to be read. This is an extremely valuable tool to seperate the layers

Each historical period is distinct

Each historical period is distinct

Each historical period is distinct

 Every form of art changes and evolves over time, according to what is going on in society at that time. When people cross a dramatic historical crossroads, the stories they tell change dramatically. So here are the dramatic historical events that spurred the Hebrews to write.

Here are the pivotal moments when the Bible was written and/or edited.

The Historical Context

The Great Disaster of Babylonian Times

587 BCE - The destruction of Jerusalem

The greatest disaster in ancient Hebrew history was the Babylonian armies of King Nebuchadnezzaar lay siege, sack and burn Jerusalem and other Judean cities, after which the Babylonians took thousands of survivors to live in this or that Babylonian city, supporting the Babylonian economy.


This destruction and deportation of Hebrews spurred Hebrew writers to write legends, myths and tales about what had happened to them. They wrote of destruction, exile, captivity, evil kings, vengeful gods and internal divisions.  

Writers from Babylonian Times

Baruch the Scribe

Shemaya the Nehelamite

Shemaya the Nehelamite

Shemaya the Nehelamite

Shemaya the Nehelamite

Shemaya the Nehelamite

Ezekiel

Shemaya the Nehelamite

Ezekiel

The Salvation and Liberation of Persian Times

538 BCE - The Return to Zion

The greatest miracle in ancient Hebrew history came exactly 49 years after doom. This miracle would reshape Hebrew theology, turn it into priestly and cement Yahweh as the only God the Hebrews were allowed to worship in the Hebrew land.

525 BCE - The Persian conquest of Egypt

Once the Persian empire took Egypt, the Hebrews in Egypt could communicate and travel to the Hebrew communities in Judea and Persia. They began sharing the texts they had been writing separately. The combination of these texts would push the Hebrews to rebuild the Jerusalem temple shortly after.

458 BCE - The Holy Canon travels to Judea

A delegation of wealthy Hebrew priests, led by Ezra the scribe, arrived in Judea from Persia with the first edition of the holy Hebrew canon. With the canon and a letter from the Persian king, they take over Judea from the locals and establish an oligarchy.

Writers from Persian Times

Yeshua the High Priest

Yeshua the High Priest

Yeshua the High Priest

The Poet Priest

Yeshua the High Priest

Yeshua the High Priest

Ezra the Priest-Scribe

Yeshua the High Priest

Ezra the Priest-Scribe

The Comfort and then Revolutions of Hellenistic Times

200s BCE - Hebrew writers in Alexandria

Egypt became part of the Hellenistic world in 322 BCE, when it was conquered by Alexander the Great, and when he died, his general Ptolomi took control of Egypt and set up the Ptolemaic dynasty.


Under the Ptolemies, the Hebrews in Egypt prospered like never before. They were given a whole quarter of the city of Alexandria, where they traded with the world and wrote Hebrew versions of Hellenistic comedies. Specifically, large parts of 1 Samuel and the story of Samson. 

140 BCE - Hebrew independence under Maccabean rule

Deep in Hellenistic time, a populist Hebrew revolution sweeps Judea. What began as a civil war against the oligarchic priests turned into a war of independence against the allies of the priests, the Hellenistic Seleucid empire. 


The Maccabean leader was a populist named Shimon Thasi, and once he and the populists were in power, they edited the Bible, turning it from priestly and elitist to populist. In the ensuing decades, there would be more minor additions.


Different factions would have a hand in the many additions to the canon, including zealot clerics, judges, and poets.

110 BCE - The old priests are back in power

Around 110 BCE, the Maccabean leader John Hyrcanus expelled the populists from the temple and the government, reinstating the priests whom his father, Shimon, had toppled and persecuted.

Writers from Hellenistic Times

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Maccabean Editors

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Zealot Levite Clerics

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Judges of the Sanhedrin

Judges of the Sanhedrin

Judges of the Sanhedrin

Judges of the Sanhedrin

The Maccabean Poet

Judges of the Sanhedrin

The Maccabean Poet

Reinstated Priests

Judges of the Sanhedrin

The Maccabean Poet

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