Lucy Burroughs answered
Although Moses is said to have written the first five books of the Bible (also known as the Pentateuch and the Books of the Law), their authorship is quite sketchy, and nobody can know for sure who wrote them.
The Five Books of the Pentateuch
1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy
History of the Bible
Assuming that Moses was a real person, the first five books of the Bible describe events that Moses couldn't have known about. The Bible was redacted (edited, combined or merged) during Isaiah's time, probably after the Babylonian captivity began. It was edited again when translated into Greek during the Greek occupation, and all former versions were burned. The original writings of Moses no longer exist.
Oldest Version of the Bible
The most ancient version of the Pentateuch are the fragments from the Dead Sea scrolls, which are usually dated to the first century AD. The scrolls may have been buried to protect them from being burned by one of the Roman Emperors, possibly Nero. Although Constantine also gathered, re-wrote, and burned the scriptures of his time, the Pentateuch was probably not affected.
So, Who Wrote The First Five Books of the Bible?
To put it simply, people who hold to the Inerrancy of the Bible (meaning they believe everything in it to be true) would say that Moses wrote all five books. This is because it says so in the books themselves when they talk about Moses writing the law down.
The rest of the Old Testament also speaks of the Law as written down by Moses. Jesus himself refers to the pentateuch as being the words of Moses, so if you believe that the Bible is without error, you would have to say that Moses wrote it.
Other Theories
The other main theory is called the Documentary Hypothesis. This suggests that the Pentateuch is actually an edited document, taken from four principle sources and redacted at a much later date. The argument here states that, since there are many places where Bible stories are repeated in a slightly different way, (either once or twice, and with minor discrepancies in the accounts), there must be several different sources and therefore more than one author.
The Five Books of the Pentateuch
1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy
History of the Bible
Assuming that Moses was a real person, the first five books of the Bible describe events that Moses couldn't have known about. The Bible was redacted (edited, combined or merged) during Isaiah's time, probably after the Babylonian captivity began. It was edited again when translated into Greek during the Greek occupation, and all former versions were burned. The original writings of Moses no longer exist.
Oldest Version of the Bible
The most ancient version of the Pentateuch are the fragments from the Dead Sea scrolls, which are usually dated to the first century AD. The scrolls may have been buried to protect them from being burned by one of the Roman Emperors, possibly Nero. Although Constantine also gathered, re-wrote, and burned the scriptures of his time, the Pentateuch was probably not affected.
So, Who Wrote The First Five Books of the Bible?
To put it simply, people who hold to the Inerrancy of the Bible (meaning they believe everything in it to be true) would say that Moses wrote all five books. This is because it says so in the books themselves when they talk about Moses writing the law down.
The rest of the Old Testament also speaks of the Law as written down by Moses. Jesus himself refers to the pentateuch as being the words of Moses, so if you believe that the Bible is without error, you would have to say that Moses wrote it.
Other Theories
The other main theory is called the Documentary Hypothesis. This suggests that the Pentateuch is actually an edited document, taken from four principle sources and redacted at a much later date. The argument here states that, since there are many places where Bible stories are repeated in a slightly different way, (either once or twice, and with minor discrepancies in the accounts), there must be several different sources and therefore more than one author.
