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TempestTossed
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I bought a book recently titled, Who Wrote the Bible?, by Richard Friedman. I am half way through it, and it seems to be an exciting read on the history of the first five books of the Bible. I recommend it. 
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TempestTossed
Guest
Sure. It is about the Documentary Hypothesis to explain the authorship of the first five books of the Old Testament. It starts out by explaining the arguments against Mosaic authorship, and from there it tells a story and builds a case that seems convincing. It is an acclaimed work of scholarship that is at the same time readable for anyone. I agree with it so far. I haven't read the whole book yet.
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TempestTossed
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I am not yet sure who authored the Bible, and I wouldn't trust any authorities on the matter. What makes the Bible different is the incredible influence it has had on the world, especially the Pentateuch. No other work of literature approaches comparison. The Pentateuch formed the foundation of the Judaic religion, which in turn founded both Christianity and Islam, guiding the world according to its principles.
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the Bible is timeless and it applies to all times and situations. that makes it different from all the other books. John 1v1 says that in the beginning was the word...... and in Hebrews 4 it is said that the word is alive and sharper than a double edged sword....
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TempestTossed
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Amen to that. The Bible without a doubt has more potency than any book in the world. It is more timeless than any literary work we know, and part of its power is the way it has evolved over the millennia. The Bible we have today was a little different from the Bible that existed in 1000 AD, which existed as only a scattered distribution of manuscripts among various Christian sects before the Synod of Hippo in 393 AD. The Old Testament also has its own epic story, as Jewish societies diverge, merge back together, kings fall, and the foundations of Christianity are laid with Deuteronomist laws and messianic prophecies. Any religion that persists must evolve along with the societies that adhere to it, and the study of the Bible charts the history of that evolution. A wonderful book.
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historians and archaeologists have agreed that the Book is accurate and true... and the coherence amazes me... a 66 books written over 4000 years by different authors, but they click as if they were written by a single author all at the same time
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Babel Fish
Regular Member
I have always been fairly comfortable with the idea that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch. But fortunately for me, ideas can be changed. Beliefs are a little trickier.
"It is better to be hurt by the truth than comforted by a lie." - The Kite Runner.
"It is better to be hurt by the truth than comforted by a lie." - The Kite Runner.
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TempestTossed
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Then Who Wrote the Bible? is for you, I think. I just finished reading it, and the explanation for how the first 5 books were finally unified into one storyline by a "redactor" (Ezra probably) is inspiring and makes sense at the same time. The rest of the Bible flows from those first 5 books.
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TempestTossed
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We can perhaps comfortably believe that much of the Bible was composed by God directly through human hands. There has to be more to it than that. Much of the Bible is written from the vantage point of the Jewish people. For example, read Psalm 137 (my favorite chapter in the Bible):
[sup]1[/sup] By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
[sup]2[/sup] There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
[sup]3[/sup] for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
[sup]4[/sup] How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
These are people speaking, not God. God was never taken captive in Babylon. when we remembered Zion.
[sup]2[/sup] There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
[sup]3[/sup] for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
[sup]4[/sup] How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
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kevin36
Regular Member
No, there doesn't.
Much of the Bible is written from the vantage point of the Jewish people...
These are people speaking, not God. God was never taken captive in Babylon.
Simply because there are other speakers within Scripture does not mean that God was not the author. Any author can quote another person, or write from the perspective of a group that he understands.
As an indwelling Spirit, God also has the unique ability of writing through other people, using their personnal experiences to tell the story that He wants to tell, through His inspirations to that person.
The psalmist may have penned those words, but it was through the inspiration of God, who is the ultimate author of all of Scripture.
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TempestTossed
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OK, please allow me to introduce you to the rest of Psalm 137:No, there doesn't.
Simply because there are other speakers within Scripture does not mean that God was not the author. Any author can quote another person, or write from the perspective of a group that he understands.
As an indwelling Spirit, God also has the unique ability of writing through other people, using their personnal experiences to tell the story that He wants to tell, through His inspirations to that person.
The psalmist may have penned those words, but it was through the inspiration of God, who is the ultimate author of all of Scripture.
[sup]5[/sup] If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill .
[sup]6[/sup] May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
[sup]7[/sup] Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
"Tear it down," they cried,
"tear it down to its foundations!"
[sup]8[/sup] O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-
[sup]9[/sup] he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
It is an expression of the most primal human desire for revenge. If the Jews were taken captive by Babylon, then it was God's will (Deuteronomy 28:36, 1 Kings 9:7). The captivity is not likely to be the will of the Jews, who expressed their hate of it so violently that Babylonian infants would not be spared. Do you think God would inspire such a thing? Maybe you do, and that is OK. I tend to take the most parsimonious (most likely) explanation. Very basic human elements are seen here, not so much divinity.may my right hand forget its skill .
[sup]6[/sup] May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
[sup]7[/sup] Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
"Tear it down," they cried,
"tear it down to its foundations!"
[sup]8[/sup] O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-
[sup]9[/sup] he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
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kevin36
Regular Member
Sarcasm unnecessary, but thanks anyway. I have my own.
If I were to be writing a narrative, I think I would also show the emotional state of anybody who had been through something so horrific. It aids the reader in his/her understanding. If it was all warm and fuzzy and nice, you'd have a pretty bad surprise when the world reached out and smacked you in the face, and emotions of that type suddenly surfaced.
Also, since we live in a sinful world people do sinful things, which is never God's will. He could force everything to be within His will, but that would remove from us our free will.
It's weak theology, IMO, to say that everything that happens is God's will. Scripture says He has a perfect plan for us, but that doesn't mean that we will follow it... which leads to questions about omniscience and predestination, right?
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TempestTossed
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I'm sorry, I didn't mean to seem sarcastic.Sarcasm unnecessary, but thanks anyway. I have my own.
You are right. It is bad theology to think that everything that happens is God's will. The reason I cited Deuteronomy 28:36 and 1 Kings 9:7 is to show that the Babylonian captivity was God's will according to the Bible. The Babylonian captivity is the subject of those verses, and there are more verses like it, expressing God's engineering of the captivity. If the captivity was God's will, then it seems unlikely to me that God would inspire a passage of such bloodlustful anger against Babylonian infants. It seems more likely to think that this was the Israelites and only the Israelites talking.
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