A question re: the Bible/ Oral tradition and accuracy?

Question

Scholars vary on when they believe and who the believe wrote the Old Testament...but it's widely accepted that the Old Testament was not written until several hundred years after the fact...especially re: Abraham, Moses, Noah and ect....considering these are supposed to be the word of God....why were they not written sooner? and considering that Oral tradition was commonly used...isn't it safe to assume then that these "stories" could have been altered or changed accordingly over time?

It's my understanding the Dead Sea scrolls were written between 1st century AD and 2nd century BC....again after the fact.

Some scholars believe that the epic of Gilgimesh(hope I spelled that correctly) also mentions the same flood that is mentioned in the Bible. But that was written down...I believe it dates from 25th or 26th century BC....which def predates Abraham by some 500 years.

Nathan....then same could be said about Aesop....his fables have endured thousands of years..perhaps they were alterd a bit thru out time...but for the most part, moral jist was still intact.

Answer 1

The tradition that the Pentateuch was written by Moses is of course a fiction as most if not all of the pre-Babylonian exile material is. this of course creates a problem for Jewish claims that God gave them "the promised land" which in fact was given them by Cyrus the King of Persia, not God. But if you pay close attention the Old Testament itself tells you when the pre-Babylonian material was written and by whom:

Nehemiah chapter 8 makes it clear that the Jews had never heard the law of Moses until Ezra and Nehemiah showed up with "The Law of Moses" and read it to them and explained it.

Ezra is credited, by Jewish tradition, with the compilation of the books of the Old Testament. In an ancient apocryphal account, 2nd Esdras, or 4th Ezra, the books of the Old Testament are not only said to be put together by Ezra, but actually "channeled", or written by him! If this account is not historically accurate, it is at least allegorically correct in its assertion that some redactor, about the time of Ezra, wrote down a hodge podge of religious traditions and cultic practices and called it the "Law of Moses".

In this account Ezra laments that there is no existing Law, for all copies of it have been burnt or destroyed upon his return to the land of Palestine. His solution to this situation is to simply write a new one. Ezra had not been raised with the Law, for he and all his generation had grown up in exile in Babylon where animals were sacrificed as a form of worship. Had his generation possessed copies of the true Law during their exile, Ezra would not have said that no copies had survived. With no firsthand knowledge of the ancient Law of Moses, Ezra was forced to write a new and different Law based on his own experiences in exile. Ezra called this new law the "Law of Moses". Ezra's "new law" was no doubt based partially on older oral tradition, and perhaps even included scraps of earlier written material, but its main core of animal sacrifice was most certainly not part of the original Law of Moses if there was such a thing, since the Moses account is clearly a retelling of the account of the Akkadian Sargon the Great, Genesis is a conflation of Babylonian and Egyptian myth, and there is no evidence of Hebrew slavery in Egypt or an exodus from Egypt. So one man's fraud has set the stage for endless wars and slaughters in the name of a God whose laws Ezra simply made up. Of course it doesn't serve the cause of Zionism to admit any of this, and Western Christians are too ignorant and incurious to learn the truth for themselves.

Answer 2

The Old Testament was not several hundred years "after the fact." The books of Moses (the first 5 books) were written by Moses while he was alive. However, it is clear that there have been additions and edits afterwards. It is not known precisely who did those additions and edits, but Samuel is among those mentioned as possible editors.

The Chronicles are extracts from a broader historical document kept by the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Most of the prophets wrote there own chronicles, especially when God told them to write it down.

The book of Job was probably the only story passed on by mouth for hundreds of years, until it was written down about the time of Moses, possibly by Moses himself.

There were times when the Scriptures were lost, temporarily. Since Israel and Judah often fell into apostasy, as a whole the people were not careful at those times to preserve or even know about the Holy Scriptures. However, God made sure there was always someone around who did take care when everyone else turned away -- these were usually the prophets and Godly governors, such as Nehemiah.

You may be referring to the fact that the Old Testament was not completed at each stage -- books weren't added immediately upon being written; but often writings were not added to the accepted list of holy Scripture for hundreds of years.

The Jews, who were given by God the responsibility of preserving the OT Scripture, did not officially finalize the current content until after the time of Christ, after the fall of Jerusalem. Although there were always a set of officially accepted writings, as even Jesus and the Apostles refer to these -- and it didn't differ much from what we have today.

As for Oral tradition, some of it did make its way into the Scriptures by way of these editors.

Don't confuse when the Scriptures were written with when they were edited and assembled.

Answer 3

Yes, the Old Testament is the original game of Telephone.

While Jewish and Christian institutions teach that Moses wrote the first five books, biblical scholars believe in the documentary hypothesis.

The documentary hypothesis identifies five authors, known as J-E-P-D-R. Each author might have been a single Levite priest or a whole group.

Each author wrote from his Levite heritage perspective (favoring Moses or Aaron in the Mt Sinai story, for example) or time period (the final author wrote his part after the Babylonian exile, whereas the other four wrote their parts hundreds of years earlier).

There are specific examples of places and events mentioned that happened hundreds of years apart confirmed by the annuals of neighboring kingdoms and archeaological evidence.

For an expert explanation, read Richard Friedman's work.

Answer 4

Absolutely! Then you factor in a few Kings, and other leaders of the time, and they power that they wanted for themselves - and you have the bible. To believe that the bible is little more than a book of fables is silly - yet so many live by it. Its gets down right scary when you look at the Mormons and the Jehovah's witnesses.
People think that just because so many of the stories have the same accounts that they are all accurate...hasn't anyone ever heard of 'copying'? Do you Really think that Mark, Mathew, John & all the rest sat down at different times & wrote their book by themselves? No, it was commissioned by the government who needed a tool to control the people. The actual word of Jesus The Chirst has been mutilated throughout history.
There is No way that the bible is Factual or truly the word of God. Scholars who are not biased by there own belief in the bible or any other "holy Book" Know that. All other scholars are blinded by what they choose to belive in.

Answer 5

Many cultures have oral tradition. I want to add that many scholars believe that the Bible as first assembled by Moses, admittedly as you say years after the facts, was actually a collection of written histories. ( Please see Genesis 5:1) Secondly the Bible writers claim to be inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16) Who of course would have accurately know and been able to convey information prior to the life of the writers. This explains why there are 10 points with respect to the the development of planet earth in which the Bible ans scientists to agree, though there could be no way for Moses to know, since he wasn't there.

Answer 6

It is safe to assume that the stories could have been altered over time, but their meaning has stuck. Think about a modern situation in story-telling. You might forget some of the details, but make the story so it doesn't lose it's meaning, right? I think that's what more important when looking at the Old Testament is meaning. Also, many of the books in the Hebrew are poetic.

Answer 7

Oral tradition was serious business back in the day. Because we have a more written tradition, we have learned to rely less and less on our memories. However, before writing history down was prolific, oral traditions were kept and are known to be very accurate.

But, I take issue with the notion that the OT was written hundreds of years after-the-fact. There is no evidence to suppose this is the case.

Answer 8

The dead sea scrolls which are amazingly accurate date from approx. 3000 bc. So that's 5000 years ago.

So if the OT was written hundreds or even thousands of years after the events within, why couldn't that time be spanned just as accurately?

Answer 9

It is best to come through the bible and figure this out for your self or follow close the way some other person did it that does believe it to be the WORD OF GOD.
I AM THE KIND OF PERSON THAT NEEDS THIS INFORMATION AND THANK GOD FOR IT.

It is evident that Abraham had records [ Noah born year 1056 lived 950 years and 350 years of this was after the flood Gen.7:6; 9:28,29; year 2006, and his son Shem Gen.11:10,11 had 502 years after the flood or 152 years more life to 2158 and Abraham has 25 years of life to year 2183.
Abraham 2183 less 100 is 2083 and he is age 75 Gen.12:4; at 427 years after the flood, Gen.15:13,16 to Exo.6:16-23,26; Exo.7:7; 12:40,41 [430 years ]; Abraham was given the covenant of Promised Land 427 years after flood, 430 years or 857 years after the flood half a million Promised Land heirs are with Moses age 80 and in 40 years Deut.1:3; 29:5; 34:7; Josh 5:6,10,12; they are in the Promised Land 897 years after the flood, 2553 years after Adam created and 1513 years before Christ will be born into the Roman Empire #6 and they are escaped from Egypt Empire #1.
Moses dies 1513 before christ and 1Ki.6:1 480 years and 1Ki.11:42 36 years and king Solomon has died 997 before Christ, the Judah king at 391st year and 606 before Christ are in captivity of Babylon Empire #3 and the Promised Land is desolate and THERE WILL BE NO KING UNTIL KING JESUS, he was born 2006 years ago, now 2,612 years after Babylon AND THERE WILL BE NO KING UNTIL CHRIST JESUS.

KJV Bible published 1611 + 303 = 1914 or 2520 years after Babylon the world has the bible for the last days of the world as an excepted translation, in world that Satan is in from Eden, and Rev.12:6-11,12 Satan has a short time before Rev.20:1-6 THE KING CHRIST JESUS AND HIS WORLD.

Eph.2:7; Eph.3:21 the world with Jesus John 3:16 is without end.

So the bible was compiled 857 after flood[ 40 + 480 + 36 + 391 + 70 + 93 ] as Cyrus was 536 before Christ, Greece was 336 Before Christ the Mcaabees were 164 before Christ and Rome was in Judah 62 years before Christ.
They complied these 39 books in 1,110 years total for the Old Testament.
Moses compiled Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers Num.33:38,39 Aaron dies in 40th year. Deuteronomy and in 34:7 Joshua takes over to say Moses dies age 120.
It was in the temple when Jesus was age 12, the New Testament was finished when John was on Patmos in Roman Empire near 100 years after Christ.
The world had the KJV Bible 1611 for 395 years to year 2006 after Christ..
The bible for the last days and excepted translation from 1914 after Christ for the past is 92 years to year 2006 after Christ. Rev.9:1-5 [ 5x 30 = 150 the pit is open for Satan and the SEALED OF GOD ARE THERE must mean 150 years Dan.12:1-13 applies to the last days and began with Dan,12:1-7 [ 2500 years after Daniel for Michael to be on the scene, 8-10 is the original 2520 after Daniel, 12:11 [ 2x 1290 = ] 2580 and 12:12 [ 2x 1335 is 2670 less 2520 is again 150 years after 1914 that the pit is open for Satan ].
Michael is there to the end 1Thes.4:15-17;
THIS SHOULD NOT BE IGNORED IN THE LAST DAYS FOR SATAN Matt.24:3,36 ONLY GOD KNOWS THE DAY AND HOUR BUT 1Thes.5:1-9,21 To the children of the light of times and seasons, JESUS DOES NOT COME AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT.

Answer 10

If this were any other book, you're assumption would be correct. The Jewish scriptures however are not just another ancient book. They are the oracles of God.

If you accept the supernatural nature of the book, then it is not difficult to accept their accuracy. If however, you do not accept the supernatural nature of the book. Look at the internal evidence. Notice how Jesus and Paul use the OT. They treat it as reliable history.