Who do you think were the first writers of the Bible? Black, white, "other", or a "combo" of races?

Question

(I just asked this in the Cultures & Groups section. But this section is probably more appropriate, so I'm re-posting it here.)

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(WRITERS-- not storytellers, translators, etc... I'm talking about the people who first used the written word of any language to document the old and new testaments of the Bible.)

Explain your position. And please don't get pissy with me. I haven't even shared my opinion on the subject..... yet.

Thanks, y'all. ☺


Oh, and I'm not asking anything regarding fact vs. fiction.

Feel free to give any details leading up to what you think is the first composition of Bible books and the first formation of the Bible itself (or each testament separately).

I'm just curious about your opinions.

"Oh, and I'm not asking anything regarding fact vs. fiction." ----Sorry, when I said that, I should have said "fact vs. fiction regarding the accounts written about in the Bible." I apologize.

Answer 1

What is your definition of 'black' or 'white?' Contrary to popular opinion, the world is not divided into those two races alone. The writers of the Bible were Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament). The former were Semitic and would have looked similar to Middle-Eastern (and Jewish!) people today. The latter were Indo-European whites. The notion that all ancient peoples were 'black' is absurd, and was created in the 1970s by black radicals.


Edit: Moses did not write the Torah. The earliest sections of the Bible (Genesis and Exodus) were not written down until the 6th cent. BC, 700 years after Moses (if he was historical). This tradition is apocryphal legend, not reality.

Answer 2

The writers of the Torah and Tanakh were the Hebrews and the twelve tribes were spread all around the world. There are and were Hebrews, or more commonly known as Jews, in places you may never even consider. So, the races that the writers of these books is really irrelevant. These writers were most likely all different "colors." Now, the "Bible," or new testament, was compiled by the Canon... if you want to know more about those people, it was mostly royalty and political affiliates of Greek and Roman descent.

Answer 3

Well in the Book of Numbers one of those apposing Moses is an Ethiopian (Black) woman married to an Israelite.
Moses is married to a Shulamite (Thought to be black but no proof either Way.) or a Midianite (Arab) I can't remember.
I think there are 600,000 foot solders in the camp (Males 20 years and up.) And their number is estimated at 3 Million or so total. Factor this into that they have been in Egypt for 400 years and I would say it is likely that they were of many ethnic back grounds. Moreover, The tribes that descended from Joseph =Ephraim and Manasseh were name after Josephs two sons-Both 1/2 Egyptian and 1/2 Syrian (Hebrew=Herdsman) and Israel was only 70+ people 400 years earlier so they had to be other races.

On another point:
The Idear that the bible (namly the O.T.) was an oral history that predated writing or the Hebrews ability to write is a relitivly modern idear which weather true or fale is completly speculative. If you beleive the text it states that it was writen at the time by Moses (We can give the benifit of the doubt in that he didn't write about his own death.) this is implisted and no a controdiction but rather a samantical argument and an unfair one. One way to know for is to find the arch of the testamony for the torah is said to be writed on a skin inside of it. (Its sealed in a gold inlayed box- in one of natures most archyalogicaly hopitable regions on earth.)
P.S. I trust the whole book from Gen-Rev, no doubts here-Amen.

Answer 4

Moses is the Author of the first five books of the bible and he wrote those first 5 books in the Hebrew language. In fact the majority of the Old testament is written originally in Hebrew with a minor portion written in Aramaic. Aramaic being a mainly Arabic influenced language with Hebrew influences. Jews during the time of Jesus would have spoken Aramaic. The later New testament books where written almost exclusively in Greek.

The book of Job most likely is older than the Hebrew version of Genesis because Job probably lived around the time of Abraham. Abraham lived many hundreds of years before Moses was born.
Many people think that is very possible that Job was in fact among the patriarchs of the land of China. So he may have been very early Chinese but no solid evidence can prove it.

As far as race is concerned Moses was an Israelite ( a descendant of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. ) Jacob was renamed Israel be God as Genesis explains.

The interesting thing is that Noah's three sons Ham, Japheth,and Shem are the forefathers of every person on this planet today as described by the Bible. You can even trace a large portion of their descendants through "the table of Nations" in Genesis.
When I say Hebrew version of Genesis I am referring to the possibility that even God Himself may have written with his own hand the story of Creation and handed it down to Adam (the first man and created by God) Adam in tern may have added to the account along with Noah and the story of the great flood and took the written word with him to save it for future generations after the flood. Or God may have just told Moses the story outright and he simply wrote it down in his language.
Here's a very shortened break down sons of Noah by race that I've gathered in my studies.

Ham,s descendants : The ancient nation of Egypt Ethiopians possibly through his fourth Generation son Cush. The Chinese may even be descended from Ham as well as many Arab nations. Ham's descendants where truly the first explorers.

Japheth's descendants: Those who live along the sea as originally described and eventually the bulk of the Indo-European nations.

Shem's Descendants: Comprising the Semetic nations to include the Israelites.

Answer 5

moses was a Hebrew, a Jew, he wrote the first five books, all the other in the old testament where written by Jews, all from the basic area of present day Israel. the new testament where letters, exchanged amoungst the Apostles of Christ mainly at the various churches and to certain churches as there intros say to whom they are written, they where all Jews also, whites and blacks had nothing to do with the writing the Bible, they where all Jews, who , although from the middle east, are not middle eastern, they are Jews, Jews are a race and a faith, the only race that is both, but one does not have to be a believer of the Jewish faith if they are Jewish, lets make that clear. Isreali's are people from Israel, Jewish in race or faith or not, if I was to move to Israel, I would be an Israeli, not a Jew, and unless I changed my faith, not a Jew in faith. I could never be part of the Jewish race, as I could the faith.

Answer 6

The writers of the Old Testament were Middle Eastern. I guess that counts as White? These were people from the Levant, Persia, and Egypt. As far as we know these writers were of the same ethnic stock as the Jews, Egyptians, Turks, Arabs, and Persians which live in the Middle East to this very day.

Answer 7

Those who believe on the bible believe that the bible was in fact written by God, and he used the prophets to basically just copy it down. Not like possesion, but more like inspiration. So if this is true then it doesn't matter who wrote it cause they are all the same before God.

Answer 8

I would assume the writing was done by Semitic Aramaic speakers, so they probably looked something like modern Jordanians and the Mizrahi Jews of North Africa and the Middle East - light to medium brown complected and dark haired. There's no reason to think there was no presence of blacks in the region, but also no reason to think such was predominant.

Answer 9

The Pentateuch or the first five books of the Bible was written by Moses. Moses was of Jewish descent. His wife Shepora was Ethiopian, and most thought that she was black. Even though it has been thought to be edited by later writers the first one was Moses. As far as the color of Moses wife. Well, the reaction of Moses sister and brother told the tale that she probally was of another race or at least different from them.

Answer 10

Little doubt, most, if not all the writers of the Bible were of Jewish descent. Some, indoubtedly quite tawny, but would not have been considered of the black race.

I am dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
Like the tents of Kedar,
Like the curtains of Solomon.
Do not look upon me, because I am dark,
Because the sun has tanned me.
(Song of Solomon 1:5,6)