People are people and writers are writers. Whether they lived in 500 BCE or today. There is nothing magical or mysterious about the writing process. Once we accept that empirical fact and treat the stories as stories written by humans 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, biblical or otherwise, writes in their own way. Everytime they write, they can only do so from their own perspective, inner world and the reality around them, using preferred words and expressions. There is no other way to write. Once we identify the style, perspective and favorite expressions that appear in a particular story, 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.
Just like films made in the 1930s are different from films made in the 1990s or today, so are biblical stories. Stories reflect a perspective on what is going on in the world at that time. This is true in stories set in the past, present or future, if they're realistic stories or include magic - they're always a perspective on the reality at the time of writing.
Here are the important periods in Hebrew history, which are all distinct and generate distinctly different stories (I rounded out the dates for convenience):
1. 900 BCE - 600 BCE: the Assyrian period. The kingdom of Israel was destroyed and
Israelites immigrated to Judea.
2. 600 BCE - 550 BCE: the Babylonian period. Judea and Jerusalem are destroyed and
thousands are taken captive to Babylonia, while others immigrate en masse to Egypt.
3. 550 BCE - 320 BCE: the Persian period. After chaotic centuries, the Persians usher in
an era of peace and harmony. Thousands of Hebrews return home to Judea.
4. 320 BCE - 170 BCE: the Hellenistic period: Alexander the Great conquers the ancient
world, and Hellenism becomes widespread and popular.
5. 170 BCE - 63 BCE: the Maccabean period: following an uprising, a civil war and a war of
independence, Judea is its own state again. Until the Romans come in.
In each of these periods, the Biblical writers were concerned with different things and had different values. Hebrew culture, like all cultures, never ceased to evolve and adapt to its time.
Around 150 years ago, scholars were able to identify the different layers in the first biblical books. These layers were sown 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 in its own succesion, as it was written before the final editing.
This allows us to know, for example, that the person who wrote about God sealing a pact with Abraham in Genesis is the same person who wrote about God reaffirming the pact with Moses in Exodus.
Below you can see which writers we have definitively identified so far.
After immigrating to Egypt following the destruction of Jerusalem, Baruch authored most of the stories of Genesis
When: 580-560 BCE
Where: Egypt
Greatest Works (in Genesis): The Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, the Flood, most patriarch stories, and Joseph
Traits: all-time great, emotional, tender
Scholarly Name: most of the "E+J sources" of Genesis
In the early Babylonian exile, the anonymous "Nehelamite" wrote Exodus stories that will be canonized only 500 years later
When: 597-587 BCE
Where: in the Babylonian captivity
Greatest Works (in Exodus): Midwives story, Baby Moses, God reveals his name to Moses, Moses the Judge
Traits: clever, witty, class-conscious
Scholarly Name: the "E source" of Exodus, first chapters of "Second Isaiah"
Throughout the Babylonian exile, before and after the destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel authored most of the stories of Exodus
When: 593-570 BCE
Where: in the Babylonian captivity
Greatest Works (in Exodus): Burning Bush, Moses pleads to let his people go, the Plagues (original), Wilderness stories
Traits: anxious, desperate, copywriter
Scholarly Name: Most of the "J source" of Exodus
The High Priest during the Return to Zion, and the first High Priest of the rebuilt temple. Formulated a new covenant
When: 538-510 BCE
Where: Persia and Judea
Greatest Works (in Exodus): the agricultural rules of Passover, worship rules of holidays
Traits: religious leader of Return to Zion
Scholarly Name: parts of the religious holiday rules in Exodus
When Cyrus conquers Babylonia and frees the Hebrews, the Hebrews see it as salvation brought on by Yahweh
When: 538 BCE
Where: Persia and Judea
Greatest Works (in Exodus and more): the Pillars of Cloud and Fire, a second version of the plagues, Isaiah 52
Traits: joyous, elated, euphoric
Scholarly Name: Parts of "Third Isaiah"
In Persia, 100 years after the Return, Ezra wrote, edited and issued the first biblical canon, focusing on the covenant with God
When: 490-450 BCE
Where: Persia and Judea
Greatest Works: editing of the Pentateuch, the Creation Story, Genesis doublet stories, biblical lineages
Traits: meticulous, obsessive, ideologue
Scholarly Name: parts of the "P source" of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
Writers from the Hebrew community in Alexadria produced folk stories that are now in the books of Judges and Samuel
When: around 280 BCE
Where: Hellenistic Egypt
Greatest Works: Samson, many parts of the books of Samuel
Traits: light-hearted, absurdist, sitcom-ey
Scholarly Name: none
The poet writes about the grief felt throughout Judea alongside with the celebrations of Hebrew freedom. The civil war left its mark
When: 140 BCE
Where: Judea
Greatest Works: The Plague of the Firstborn, Psalms 119
Traits: tragic, Hellenized, bitter
Scholarly Name: none
Once the original priestly caste is deposed, it is replaced by zealot priests looking to persecute their political enemies
When: around 140 BCE
Where: Jerusalem
Greatest Work: the new national rules of Passover, harsh holiday rules, the Ten Commandments
Traits: zealot, power-hungry, xenophobic
Scholarly Name: Parts of "P source" of Exodus (worship rules and harsh laws)
Once Judea is independent again, the Maccabees have Pharisee scribes issue an expanded revised Bible
When: around 140 BCE
Where: Jerusalem
Greatest Works: editing Exodus, rearranging biblical stories along a single chronological timeline, additions to books of Samuel and Kings
Traits: revolutionary, reformer, expert editor
Scholarly Name: Parts of "J source" of Exodus (with newer Hebrew)
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