when was the torah/old testament written and by who?

Answer 1

Ok- lets unpack that a bit. teh Tabach (what you refer to as the old testament) is made up of the Torah, Neviim and Ketuvim.

The Torah is the five books of Moses and was dictated by God to Moses who wrote it down.

Neviim(Prophetss) and Ketuviim (writings) were written down by people that experienced the events- generally the prophet involved or the anshei knesset hagadol (the great Sanhedrin) at the time. The distinctive feature of these books is that they
1) Are relevant beyond the time period which they recorded
2) Are considered to have been written by people who were driven by prophecy
3) Do not contain information that can be misinterpreted by the casual reader and lead them to heresy (The exception to this rule is Ecclesiastes- but the lesson it teaches is so important that the Rabbis included it.)

Answer 2

Classical rabbinic writings offer various ideas on when the entire Torah was revealed. The revelation to Moses at Mount Sinai is considered by many to be the most important revelatory event. According to datings of the text by Orthodox rabbis this occurred in 1280 BCE. However, the torah was actually compilled quite late in history, after the fall of Isreal. The torah was compilled by the Judaen's (Kingdom of Judah), rather than the Israelis (kingdom of Israel). The texts were combined into their current form in the post-Exilic period (late 5th century BC). For a more indepth study one can see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_hypothesis

Answer 3

the biblical old testament wasnt written by just one person. it was written by loads of different ones.

different books were written by different people, for different audiences.

however the torah is slightly different. it isn't all of the old testament books. its only the first 5, genesis, exodus, deuteronomy, leviticus and numbers.

theological scholars think that these were written by moses and many christians believing it was inspired by God.

back to the old testament. some of the writers were people who loved to write songs of praise, sorrow, joy, anger...people such as david in psalms and solomon in songs of solomon.

others are collections of wise sayings and advice, again by people like solomon, in proverbs.

some are prophesies, isaiah, jeremiah, eziekiel are the main ones but there are others.


so as you can see, many people put bits in and the whole thing was put together by somebody else. im not sure about when the old testament was compiled but the whole bible was probably compiled in about 400 ad by st jermome. he wanted the whole thing together written in latin so people could read it.

hope that helps

Answer 4

The Torah was composed by G-d and dictated to Moses, who wrote it down on parchment over 3,200 years ago.

Answer 5

The old testament was written by noggin the nog.

Answer 6

By God through men he inspired begining with Moses in 1500 BC.

Answer 7

Old fiction writers.

Answer 8

a bunch of loons

Answer 9

Dunno