Who wrote the Bible? Did the Bible copy from pagan myths? Are there alterations? How was it constructed? Can we trust it as a historical book? This explores how some books in the Bible may have been compiled through literary design and compared with other legends. Some books have specific authors associated with them who write from their perspective, but others do not, as they are compilations. Many theories exist about how the Bible was constructed, some from those who wish to discredit it, but can it be viewed as reliable?
Moses is credited with writing the Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). Moses wrote Exodus through Deuteronomy in his era, with a few annotations added by later authors after his death; however, Genesis describes events that predate Moses, so how did he write it?
It seems likely that Joseph compiled a pre-Moses version of Genesis from stories his father, Jacob, and their forefathers passed down to him, going back to Noah. Genesis dedicates 12 chapters to Joseph’s story, and much less to Isaac and Jacob. Abraham receives a significant portion of Genesis (13 chapters), but he is a central figure in the whole faith, so that makes sense. Joseph may even have had tablets from before Abraham (perhaps from Melchizedek), for Genesis 1-11. Joseph was a Hebrew slave sold into Egypt by his brothers, and he eventually became Egypt’s vizier. Moses worked and was raised in Pharaoh’s house for the first 40 years of his life before he fled to Midian as a fugitive, wanted for murder. Because Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s house, he likely read and wrote in Egyptian, so he could read Joseph’s records from the decades that had passed. Both were bilingual; in fact, Gen 46:21-24 shows that Joseph was bilingual.
The first eleven chapters of Genesis predate Abraham’s day, and that section includes the creation story, the fall, the flooded world, and genealogies that connect the pre- and post-flood worlds. We can see further evidence of pre-Genesis writing with the use of toledoth passages (‘These are the generations of …’), which seem to reference an external list of historical records of previous generations. Genesis 5 and 11 use the phrase “these are the generations of” when listing the genealogies from Adam to Noah and from Noah to Abraham, respectively. This section could also have been entirely based on oral tradition, all the way down to Joseph. However, the main point is that Moses wrote the version of Genesis that we are familiar with, even though its events occurred before Moses’ birth by over 200 years. Because much of Genesis is oriented toward Joseph’s perspective and concludes with Joseph’s story, Moses likely obtained some information from Joseph’s writings; otherwise, God would have revealed it directly. In addition, Moses added annotations regarding place names and other details. For example, in Genesis 2:10-14, he gives the names of the rivers that flowed from Eden and the direction they flowed, indicating the countries they flowed toward.
Gen 2:10 (NLT) A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.
The nations mentioned (Cush, Asshur, etc.) don’t exist yet, as they are named after Noah’s descendants from the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. The annotations help readers and hearers (the Israelites who sojourned in the wilderness and later) visualize and locate these places long lost to history. The flood terraformed the Earth, so the landscape is different. Rivers originate from mountains and flow into other water bodies, such as the ocean, implying that the Garden of Eden was located on a mountain. This supports the idea that the Tower of Babel was an attempt to create an artificial version of the Garden, built on an artificial mountain (a tower or step pyramid), and that it was constructed where Noah would have said the Garden used to be, somewhere in the plains of Shinar (Babylon). The text uses present-day (at Moses’ time) place names to describe past events.
Similarly, the text notes the name of the region of Bethel (House of God) in the stories of Abraham and Joseph. However, we find out that Bethel was first called Bethel by Jacob in Genesis 28:19 after Jacob had the dream of angels going up and down from heaven. The text tells us here for the first time that the Canaanites initially called the place Luz. That means that at the time of Abraham and Isaac, it was called Luz, but for most of Genesis it was called Bethel because Jacob (also known as Israel), the forefather of the Israelites (the audience), gave it that name. Genesis was written and preserved for the original audience of the Israelites at the time of Moses, so it does not retain specific details with the original names for later readers. Even after Moses’ death, Joshua 16:2, 18:13, and Judges 1:23-26 mention Luz because the original inhabitants continued to refer to it by that name. However, it is also called Bethel, as the Israelites referred to it. As in the modern, globalized world, every nation has a different name depending on the language spoken. Whether Moses or later scribes and compilers from the 2nd Temple Period of Judaism made these annotations is debated, and both may have contributed on a case-by-case basis.
The same is true of the book of Judges. Samuel or someone from his era likely compiled it, since its events precede Samuel’s birth. Samuel could not have written the book of Samuel, because Samuel died midway through it. Later authors compiled the Book of Samuel, which deals with King David’s reign, using source texts. 1 Chronicles 29:29 lists the sources: “All the events of King David’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in The Record of Samuel the Seer, The Record of Nathan the Prophet, and The Record of Gad the Seer.”
Judges 18:30 even says the tribe of Dan worshipped Micah’s idol “until the exile”. This refers to the conquest and exile of the Israelites by empires such as Assyria and Babylon, which occurred around 3-500 years after the events of Judges, so this annotation was added after the exile. Chroniclers recorded many historical narratives in the Bible, and later composites were created, most likely after the exile, to preserve key elements of these narratives.
The same is true for the Book of Psalms: it is a compilation of 150 songs written by various authors, and at least 73 are attributed to David. Some are anonymous but traditionally attributed to David. Sometimes, Jews in the first century, as evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls and even New Testament authors, such as in the book of Hebrews (Heb 4:7), refer to the Psalms in general as David’s writings. For example, Heb 4:7 quotes Psalm 95:7-8, which doesn’t assign an author but refers to it as the writings of David. The book of Psalms is divided into five sections, each with a different set of authors.
The first section is Psalms 1-41. Psalms 1 and 2 have no author headings. Psalms 3-41 make up the first section of five, and most are attributed to David, with a few unspecified, such as Psalms 10 and 33.
The second section has multiple authors, including David (Ps 42-72). The authors are the sons of Korah (Psalms 42-49), Asaph (Psalm 50), David (Psalms 51-71), and Solomon (Psalm 72). Psalm 72:19-20 concludes this section, stating that this is the end of the Psalms of David, son of Jesse. This suggests that the Book of Psalms once had 72 chapters, but later chapters were added.
Section 3: Asaph (Ps 73-83), the sons of Korah (Ps 84-85, 87-88), David (Ps 86), and Ethan the Ezrahite (Ps 89). Section 4: Ps 90-106 were written by Moses (Ps 90), not specified but likely David (Ps 91-100, 102), and David (Ps 101,103-107). Section 5: Psalms 107-150 were written mainly by David, with a few unspecified chapters that appear to be by David. One exception is Ps 127, which is attributed to Solomon.
More evidence appears in Proverbs 25, which notes that the advisers of King Hezekiah compiled this section of Proverbs, distinguishing it from the earlier collection of proverbial sayings that begins in chapter 10.
The Books of Kings, like the Chronicles pair, refer to larger books with more detail. The Book of Kings usually ends each section with, “and the rest of XX’s reign was recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel/Judah”. This suggests that some books preserved in the Tanakh (Old Testament) summarize information from other sources and highlight key events.
Some secular scholars will say the whole Bible was written post-exile based on a bunch of Ancient Near East myths and legends. They usually claim the Bible was written around 400 BC, while Israel was under Persian rule. Similarities exist between the creation story in Genesis 1-3 and the Enuma Elish (Babylonian creation story). Skeptics often say that means the Bible is plagiarized. One must realize that if these events are real, multiple sources would have versions of these stories, so it would be expected that, since everyone descends from Noah, they would all have the same story. The same claims are made about the similarity between Noah’s flood story in Genesis 6-11 and the Epic of Gilgamesh (the Mesopotamian flood story).
The similarities are not just between the Bible and other Ancient Near Eastern myths. These similarities span various flood stories around the world. They involve gods causing a great flood, and some people being saved in a boat.
– The Epic of Gilgamesh mentions how Utnapishtim, his wife, relatives, and baby animals survived a flood caused by the gods by building a boat.
– Tapi and his wife, in Aztec tradition, took animals on a boat to survive a flood.
– An Incan flood story tells of how Viracocha (the god) caused a flood to wipe out giants. Manco Cápac, the founder of the Incan civilization, and his wife survived by floating in a box.
– Nu’u, in one of the Hawaiian traditions, built a giant canoe to survive a great flood.
– The Hindu story of Matsya is about Vishnu causing a great flood but preserving Manu and the seven sages (Saptarishi) and animals in a boat.
In Chinese, the character for “boat” is made of characters that reference “8 people in a boat.” The character for “boat,” 船, is composed of three characters. 舟 means vessel, 八 means 8, and 口 means mouth or person. Noah, his wife, his three sons, and each of their wives made eight people, and they were on the Ark. In addition, the character for Flood is similar and uses symbols for water and the number eight. Image below.
These and others echo the story of Noah’s Flood. It’s almost as if people share a collective memory of a historical event, rather than simply stealing each other’s work and spreading it around the world thousands of years before the advent of globalization. The variations would be due to the fracturing of language at the Tower of Babel, as described in Genesis 11—something to consider.
Other anti-biblical theories suggest Israel was never a single nation before the exile and that the Genesis story originated from Judah, while the Exodus story originated from Israel. These stories were united under Persia to create a false history of a united nation. This view usually rests on the J, E, D, P, R theory of Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918), which posits five distinct authors and argues that the Bible evolved in stages, with none of the books being original, complete documents. This suggests that Judaism was originally a polytheistic, animistic, pagan religion that evolved over time into what it is today. The Bible morphed along with it to suit the later cultural needs.
J and E refer to the names of God used: J (Jehovah/YHWH) and E (Elohim). It is believed that two different authors used two different names for God. However, in context, Genesis 1 uses the title Elohim, which refers to God as the creator, and Genesis 1 is about cosmic creation. Whereas Genesis 2 focuses on God’s personal interaction with the first humans, it makes sense that Genesis 2 uses YHWH/Jehovah instead of Elohim, since this is God’s personal name revealed to Moses.
The D refers to the Deuteronomist, an author from the time of King Josiah, who is believed to have written the book of Deuteronomy. This is based on the story in the Bible in which King Josiah rediscovered one of the books of the Torah while cleaning out the Temple, after many years of abandonment due to the idolatry his predecessors had initiated in Israel. The book he found is believed to be the Book of Deuteronomy, and after reading it, he led Israel to repent (2 Kings 22-23). Joshua and Judges reference Deuteronomy as Moses’ writing, yet this theory dates it to around 600 BC. The P refers to the priest, from post-exilic temple Judaism. It is believed that they wrote several works around that time to tie the whole Bible together, laying the foundation for modern Judaism. Then R is the revisionist who cleaned it up and compiled it a few hundred years before the 1st century AD.
JEDP theory assumed that the Israelites were 100% illiterate and had to wait hundreds of years before writing their law and their foundational history. However, the Torah’s narrative itself was chronicled as they went through the wilderness like a diary. In addition, Moses was likely literate, having been raised in Pharaoh’s house in Egypt, where he likely used either the Egyptian or proto-Sinaitic script (a precursor to the Semitic alphabet) to write these things. Additionally, the Torah uses several Egyptian words and references cultural practices dating back to the 2nd millennium. Lastly, Moses even wrote annotations on place names alongside the ancient ones to indicate name changes to his original audience, using phrases like “to this day.”
More on Egyptian words in the Tanak here.
This idea reminds me of an old theory that King David didn’t exist, but recent archaeological finds like the Tel Dan Stele and the Mesha Stele have confirmed his existence. Claims can be made here and there, but without evidence, they are just theories. Newly discovered evidence has debunked some anti-biblical theories. Bible skeptics will always have their theories until they encounter new archaeological evidence that disproves them.
My point is that the Bible didn’t need to be written in this perfectly linear fashion to be true. It would be more suspicious if it were, because that would suggest one person telling a story at one time. Yet, upon closer examination, the text reveals a diverse range of cultural and historical settings across the various books of the Bible. It compiles writings from the perspective of a persecuted minority in Israel: the prophets. The same is true of the Gospels; Mark and Luke are not eyewitnesses of the events they record, so they gathered eyewitness testimony. John and Matthew, on the other hand, were apostles themselves and interacted with Jesus. Yet all four Gospel accounts are valid records of Jesus’ life, teachings, and the revelation of who He said He was, according to the prophecies of the Tanakh (Old Testament).
Although it is a compilation, the Bible is unified by a consistent belief in and worship of the one God and of Israel, even as community preferences for idol worship and pagan practices at different times resisted its influence. Each author has their own specific motives and writing style, but the main concept is that the Spirit of God moves them. This doesn’t mean God took control of them and forced them to write something they didn’t know. It means each person was moved to write about what was essential to their generation, and they often used preserved sources to gather information (like the citations in Kings and Chronicles). The author’s views usually oppose the community, responding to the abandonment of exclusive worship of the God of Abraham and the breaking of the commands they were bound to follow. This is why these prophets are usually persecuted and even killed.
None of the above threatens the historicity of the Bible. No history book is actually written in a perfectly linear fashion. Things are categorized based on subject and theme. For example, a US history book about the 60s will have a lot of coverage in that decade, but rather than writing a linear story with overlapping major events, it will divide the story into parts like “The Civil Rights Movement”, “The Cold War”, “The Space Race”, etc. These things are collections of interrelated stories that happened in the same era, but the presenter must present them in a way that readers can digest.
This is how the Bible is written, except that it has around 40 key authors, plus annotators, and spans over 1,500 years. Therefore, annotations and commentary will include information for new readers about changes in city and regional names, relationships between certain ethnic groups, and more. All these things are essential components of the preservation process. Copies are needed because animal parchment and papyrus leaves are organic and will decay if not preserved under the right conditions. Keeping the scriptures in the right conditions wouldn’t have been feasible when they were expected to be read aloud, and every copy was considered holy and to be put to use. The historicity of the Bible is not under threat because it is a compilation with updates, nor is it threatened by similarities with other cultures in the region.
Resources:
CMI – Did Moses Write Genesis?
CMI – Who Wrote Genesis?
Tel Dan Stele – Wikipedia
Mesha Stele – Wikipedia
6 Archaeological Finds that support the bible
Flood stories:
Crash Course – Meso American Flood Stories
A discussion with Nick Liguroi author of Echoes of Ararat
Epic of Gilgamesh vs Noah’s Ark
ICR – Flood tradition similarities around the world
ICR – Chinese characters and the bible
CMI – Chinese characters and bible – defense
AiG – Noah’s of various cultures
AiG – Australian Aborigines flood story
AiG – Comparisons of Various Flood Legends
AiG – Scientific evaluation of various flood accounts
AiG – Worldwide Flood legends
Ancient Egypt Flood Story:
” Chapter 175 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead is one example. This chapter describes a divine complaint made to Thoth by Atum, who states the children of Nut rebelled, caused evil, tumult, strife, and slaughter. This is exactly analogous to the situation before the Flood with the pre-Flood world being full of violence (Genesis 6:11). The chapter goes on to detail the destruction of all that was made, turned into Nun (the primeval ocean) by a floodwater. Only those left on the solar bark (called the Boat of Millions), along with Horus and his father Osiris, sail to the “Island of the Two Flames” where Horus inherits his father’s rule. This is all very evocative of the Genesis Flood and Noah’s family.”
CMI – Read More here