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How Can We Know Who Wrote the Bible?

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 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.

Writers have their own unique style and perspective

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.

Each historical period is distinct

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.

The Documentary Hypothesis

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.

Who Wrote the Bible?

Babylonian Times

Baruch the Scribe

Shemaya the Nehelamite

Shemaya the Nehelamite

After immigrating to Egypt following the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah's former scribe authored most of Genesis


His stories are about what happened before, during and after the destruction of Jerusalem


Written: 580-560 BCE

Where: Egypt


Greatest Works: 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

Shemaya the Nehelamite

Shemaya the Nehelamite

Shemaya the Nehelamite

In the early Babylonian captivity, Shemaya wrote populist Exodus stories that will be canonized only 500 years later


His stories are about a populist perspective of the tensions between Hebrew workers and their priests


Written: 597-587 BCE

Where: Babylonia


Greatest Works (in Exodus): The Golden Calf and Stone Tablets, Baby Moses, Moses the Judge


Traits: clever, witty, class-conscious


Scholarly Name: the "E source" of Exodus, first chapters of "Second Isaiah"

Ezekiel

Shemaya the Nehelamite

Ezekiel

During the Babylonian captivity, before and after the destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel authored much of Exodus


His stories are about his personal experience being shunned by the Hebrew people in Babylonia


Written: 593-570 BCE

Where: Babylonia


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

Persian Times

Yeshua the High Priest

Yeshua the High Priest

Yeshua the High Priest

The High Priest during the Return to Zion, and the first High Priest of the rebuilt temple. Formulated a new covenant


His stories are about the glorious return to their homeland


Written: in 538-510 BCE,

Where: in 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

The Poet Priest

Yeshua the High Priest

Yeshua the High Priest

When Cyrus conquers Babylonia and frees the Hebrews, the Hebrews see it as salvation brought on by Yahweh


His stories are about the glorious return to their homeland


Written: in 538 BCE

Where: in 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"

Ezra the Priest-Scribe

Yeshua the High Priest

Ezra the Priest-Scribe

In Persia, 100 years after the Return, Ezra wrote, edited and issued the first biblical canon, focusing on the covenant with God


His stories are about a unified Hebrew theology


Written: around 470 BCE,

Where: in 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

Hellenistic Times

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Writers from the Hebrew community in Alexadria produced folk stories that are now in the books of Judges and Samuel


Their stories are about celebrating their heritage and culture, Hellenistic-Hebrew-style


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 Maccabean Poet

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

The poet writes about the grief felt by many over their dead sons during the celebrations of Hebrew independence


His stories are about the grief of many Hebrew parents who lost their boys during the war


When: 140 BCE

Where: Judea


Greatest Works: The Plague of the Firstborn, Psalms 119


Traits: tragic, Hellenized, bitter


Scholarly Name: none

Maccabean Editors

Alexandrian Hebrew writers

Maccabean Zealot Clerics

Once the Hebrews gain independence, the Maccabees have Pharisee scribes issue an expanded revised Bible


Their stories are about turning the Bible from elitist to populist


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)

Maccabean Zealot Clerics

Maccabean Zealot Clerics

Maccabean Zealot Clerics

After the war, the original priests were deposed and replaced by zealot clerics who relentlessly persecuted the priests


Their stories are about making all priestly traditions illegal


When: around 140 BCE

Where: Jerusalem


Greatest Work: nationalistic Passover rules,  half of the Ten Commandments


Traits: zealot, power-hungry, xenophobic


Scholarly Name: Parts of "P source" of Exodus (worship rules and harsh laws)

Judges of the Sanhedrin

Maccabean Zealot Clerics

Judges of the Sanhedrin

The new Hebrew Supreme Court publishes long lists of laws to bring back law, order, and equality after the civil war


Their stories are about protecting the poor and needy and higher taxes on the wealthy


When: around 140 BCE

Where: Jerusalem


Greatest Works: Half of the Ten Commandments, the civil laws of Exodus 


Traits: reformers, populists, tough on crime


Scholarly Name: Parts of "E source" of Exodus (ch.21 to 23)

Reinstated Priests

Maccabean Zealot Clerics

Judges of the Sanhedrin

Once the Maccabean leader John Horkinus reinstates the priests, they make last-minute changes to the canon


Their stories are about minimizing damage from populist editing


When: around 120 BCE

Where: Jerusalem


Greatest Works: Moses murders thousands of Hebrews, Shemaya prevents civil war 


Traits: bitter, subtle, precise


Scholarly Name: Unidentified

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