Who is attributed with writing the early books of the Old Testament?

Answer 1

The Old Testament is the Christian term for the Hebrew Bible, which, in early years, was not a bound volume but a series of scrolls. There is not one Old Testament, in terms of a defined canon of books, but different canons for Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants.

The Hebrew Bible is believed to have been written over a period of several centuries in the first millennium BCE. The early Christians relied on the Septuagint, a Greek translation from the original Hebrew, dating from no later than 180 BCE. However, the Septuagint contains books both Catholics and Protestants consider to be non-canonical, as well as other material that the Jews dispute.

The Council of Jamnia, which appeared to have taken place around 90 CE, is believed to have finally defined the canon of the Hebrew Bible, except for the Ethiopina Jews who do not accept its legitimacy. However, recently some scholars have suggested that the Council was not about canonicity at all, asserting that they were actually dealing with other concerns entirely.

By the fourth century, the Christian church began to concern itself about exactly what Old Testament books should be included, and Bishop Melito of Sardis went to Palestine to discover which Hebrew books belonged in the canon.

The sixteenth century Council of Trent finally established the Catholic Old Testament canon, in response to Protestant arguments. The sixteenth century was really the point at which Catholic and Protestant Churches all identified exactly what books were regarded as forming the Old Testament.

Answer 2

It is generally accepted that the Council of Jamnia, around 90 CE, decided which books to include in the Hebrew Bible, thus effectively defining the Old Testament canon eventually accepted by the Protestants. By the time of the Hebrew canon became known to the Christians, they had already begun to form a view as to what the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, should include. This has resulted in several additional, deuterocanonical books being variously accepted by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Churches.

Another answer

Jewish tradition states (Talmud, Bava Batra 14b-15a) that each prophet wrote the Jewish book that bears his name. The Tanakh (Jewish Bible) was sealed by the Sanhedrin (council of sages) called The Men of the Great Assembly, whose members included the last of the Jewish prophets. This was around 2350 years ago.

Answer 3

A:The Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) is generally thought to comprise the earliest books of The Bible, and is traditionally attributed to Moses as having written it during the Exodus from Egypt.

Biblical scholars say the sources that actually collated and wrote the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) are anonymous, but they use modern names to refer to them. The four principal sources were: The Yahwist (or 'J Source'), Elohist ('E Source'), Deuteronomist ('D Source') and the Priestly Source ('P Source'). There was also a final Redactor ('R Source') and at least two intermediate redactors.

The Priestly Source wrote during or after the Babylonian Exile, so clearly the work attributed to this source was not early, but much of the Book of Genesis was quite early, being written more than 800 years BCE.

Answer 4

Did you mean who wrote the sixth book of the combined work now called "the bible". No one actually knows the factual author of the book called Joshua, however since the tribes of Israel were well established, its assumed that the scribes of the temple (tribe of Levi) would have maintained the account known as the book of Joshua, as it was the scribes who maintained the accounts of the kings (Chronicles) as well as the prophets.

Answer 5

Tradition says that Moses wrote the story of creation in the Book of Genesis, but the consensus of Old Testament scholars is that the Book of Genesis actually had multiple authors who wrote many centuries after the time attributed to Moses.

What is now the first creation story in Genesis (verses 1:1-2:4a) was written by an anonymous source now known as the Priestly source, based on another creation story learnt during the Babylonian Exile.

The second creation story (Genesis 2:4b-20) is much older in Judaism and was written by an anonymous source now known as the Yahwist, based on oral traditions in the southern Hebrew kingdom of Judah.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 6

The Torah, including Genesis (in the Hebrew) was written at God's dictation (Exodus 24:12) by Moses, as stated explicitly (Deuteronomy 31:24). Note:

According to tradition, there is only one Genesis creation-narrative, with ch.2 serving as an expansion of the brevity of ch.1, not a separate set of events (Rashi commentary, Gen.2:8).The same literary devices which the Torah employs to enrich its text, have been seized upon by "Bible-critics" in their ongoing attempts to undermine it. The Jewish sages, based on ancient tradition, identified many of these devices, which include:

recapping earlier brief passages to elucidate,

employing different names of God to signify His various attributes,

using apparent changes or redundancies to allude to additional unstated details,

speaking in the vernacular that was current during each era,

and many more. While Judaism has always seen the Torah as an intricate tapestry that nonetheless had one Divine source, some modern authors such as Wellhausen (the father of modern Biblical-criticism, 1844-1918) have suggested artificially chopping up the narrative and attributing it to various authors, despite the Torah's explicit statement as to its provenance (Exodus 24:12, Deuteronomy 31:24). This need not concern believers, since his claims have been debunked one by one, as Archaeology and other disciplines have demonstrated the integrity of the Torah. No fragments have ever been found that would support his Documentary Hypothesis, which remains nothing more than an arbitrary claim, whose falsehood has been pointed out:

Debunking the JEPD Documentary Hypothesis

The creation-narrative in Genesis (a Christian author)

The authorship of the Hebrew Bible

Archaeology

Answer 7

Moses wrote it (Deuteronomy 31:24) at God's dictation (Exodus 24:12).

Answer 8

lots of old guys