Following my post on who wrote the Bible, I want to talk about when it was written. I will admit up front that I am not using any specific resources for this. I have studied it in some detail, but some of my dates and facts may be off a little. My point isn’t to give you exact dates for the writing of specific books. My point is to show that the Bible was crafted over time to tell a very specific story.
The question of when the Bible came to be in the form we have it today has a lot to do with the story being told . . . at least in regard to the Old Testament. When we look at the Old Testament, we see the story of the beginnings of Israel as a nation, how they lived as a nation, and what eventually happened to exile them from their national homeland. This is the primary story of the Old Testament, and it culminates in an unsatisfying return to the land, still waiting for their promised new king.
In this collection of books, you have the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. This is the way the Hebrew Bible is arranged (called the Tanakh). Much of what would be considered the “original” forms of these books would have taken place during the time that Israel existed as a nation, between about 1000 B.C. to about 586 B.C. The Torah, at least the parts written by Moses, would obviously have been written prior to this period (probably somewhere from 1400-1200 B.C., depending on the date of the Exodus). This group of books would be the Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and the historical books (Joshua-2 Kings). It would also include most of the Prophets.
The writings are a little harder to nail down. These books would include Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Lamentations, and Daniel (which was considered part of the writings in the Hebrew Bible). It’s hard to say for sure when any of these books were written. We know that David wrote some of the Psalms during his time as king and earlier. We also know (or at least believe) that Daniel wrote some of his book during the Babylonian exile. Proverbs, at least in part, seems to be sayings of Solomon that were preserved. Lamentations was written by Jeremiah during his life as a prophet during the conquest by Babylon.
So, at least in my study, that’s about what we can know about the original forms of any of these books. However, as I said, these aren’t the forms we have today. Here is where the importance of the story comes into play. During the exile, it was recognized that the Jews needed a cohesive set of Scriptures to remind them of where they came from and how they ended up where they were. This took place most likely between about 586 B.C. and 400 B.C. It was during this time that scribes set out to edit and compile these writings into books that together told the story of the Israelites.
It was also during this time that we got the last few books written. These were Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and some of the minor prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). These books are the story of the Jewish people after their return to the land (Esther is actually still in Persia, but after the Jews were allowed to return home). The point is, the Old Testament didn’t really reach its final form until at least 400 B.C., although there are some reasons to think that there was still some editorial process taking place after that time as well. This also only applies to the 39 books that all Christian traditions agree upon. If you include other books, such as 1 and 2 Maccabees, you don’t get the full canon of the Old Testament until somewhat later.
What we see with the Old Testament then, is about 1,000 years of writing, editing, and compiling (let’s say 1200-200 B.C.). The New Testament is much different. Depending on the view of John’s writings, the New Testament was probably written over 20-50 years. The earliest books are thought to have been written in the late 40s A.D., and the latest are believed to have been in the late 60s A.D. (John’s books may have been written in the 90s, which is why there is debate).
Unlike with the Old Testament, we don’t see a clear editorial process, but there is evidence of some editing as I mentioned in my last post. Overall, though, the books of the New Testament are thought to have been in their final forms by the end of the 1st century, although they weren’t combined into a single collection yet. The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all seem to have been written before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The same is true of Acts and the Pauline Epistles. Some of the general epistles are less clear, and the canonicity of a few of them still debated even today. Finally, John’s writings are often dated into the 90s, but some people put them prior to 70 A.D. as well.
I do want to say that if you go search this stuff on the internet, you will find a lot of information that contradicts what I’ve said here. Many scholars will place the writing of the New Testament documents much later . . . far too late for the actual Apostles to have written them. Having looked into some of this, I feel like they are wrong, but check it out for yourself. I am definitely not the expert on dating of ancient manuscripts!
Anyway, let me summarize and wrap this up. The Old Testament books were written in their original forms over a period of about 1,000 years, but were edited and compiled into books during and after the Babylonian exile (about 586-400 B.C.). The New Testament documents were written from about 48 A.D. to the late 90s.
Just as with my post about the biblical authors, I wanted to write this so that we have a realistic view of the Bible. The truth is, there is evidence within the Bible, especially the Old Testament, that some things were written or added at a much later date than when the original author lived (ex., the Torah or Daniel). Again, this is something that people love to use against Christians to try to show that our faith is based on falsehoods and fairy tales. In the same way that the unanswered questions of authorship shouldn’t dissuade us from believing that the Bible is God’s word, neither should questions of dates. Again, the formation of the Bible we have today came through a long process, but a process that was guided by God the entire way. We can trust that what we have today is exactly what He wanted us to have.
Uncovering the Bible 