When Was the Bible Written? 

I understand. I had a similar experience in cultural anthropology. Having read the salient sources to the point I was thinking in an entitled manner (we in the west understand everything-you poor poor primitives), I was so enlightened (a relative term) at a lecture by Chagnon about his externship among the Yanamamo that it opened doors in my mind which have let a bit of light into the dusty shadows of my preconceptions ever since.

Is a "summary" not the last one?

@@elmajraz6019 nope. There's always spinoffs, multiverses, black labels, ultimate, and knights editions! When all else failed, we can always reboot and retcon!

@@AndreSamosir what? Could you give an example of every single one of them?

@@elmajraz6019 you got it or not?

@@king_halcyon nope

James/Peter/Paul movements across time and space would be most helpful.

Yeah please do it too.. I wanna learn about other religions 🙏

Thi is a great idea. Please do.

Stop mention Islam. Islam has no part in the Abrahamic beliefs. Islam is plagiarism

@@trevinowens70 lol.. what animosity..

Wonder why they don't have a definite time chart regarding the 1260 year timeline of Daniel and John's revelation? Is it only theoretical?

Your dates are a bit off

You can see some dead sea scrolls and some other early copies in Shrine of the Book museum in Jerusalem.

@@tlanimass952 Thank you!

I guess the mystery is finally solved

I was gonna say something

No. It was me.

Nee too

Finally

Not really. Joseph spent 3/4 of his life in Egypt and his whole entire family spent 17 years, during the drought.

There's a lot of disagreement about when Job was written. There's no hard evidence, but that's true about most of the Old Testament.

False. It was me who wrote it.

Maybe many years later additional stories were told were told and retold, then altered and became new stories of their own. A scholar noticed these stories he heard weren't in the writings and decided to add them for himself. The general populace accepted it having heard the stories retold for themselves. That's my guess.

Hello there, Moses

While the standard documentary hypothesis is no longer accepted, virtually no serious biblical scholar today doubts that the Torah has several layers. What is shown in this video is more akin to the Supplementary Hypothesis.

" there's good evidence that the Gospels were actually written way sooner " - is a line that fundamentalists (not just Protestant) want to believe. "It could have been added later or who knows," - yes, who knows. When something is lost to time, like authorship, then one has to use the internal evidence. That is how we know that the author of Matthew copied from the book of Mark, and how the author of Luke used both of them. This topic has been picked over exhaustively, but many Christians are afraid of the answers that academia provide. "it could be proof of prophecy" - miracles are not amenable to the historical method, thus no historian concludes that such and such was a miracle.

Too much effort on your part. Let me simplify the dating [Genesis 11] 11:27 Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. 11:28 Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in *Ur of the Chaldeans* *The Chaldeans do not take control of Babylon (Ur) until 626BCE* Therefore the bible could not have been written before the 6th century or very end of 7th.

Try 562 BC for the latest date when the Primary History was written (cf. 2 Kings 25:27)@@fordprefect5304

Yes, it's not just a lack of evidence. For example, we have lots of archaeological data on what the population levels and construction abilities in the Southern Levant were during the the time of David and Solomon and it's clear that the biblical account must be exaggerated. Likewise, we have lots of data about Egypt during the time of the Exodus as well. There's simply no way that 600,000 Israelite men + women and children left Egypt en masse at the same time. Keep in mind though that "legend" doesn't mean "didn't happen". It simply means the facts have been greatly embellished - which is not unexpected as ancient literature was usually written this way and not like modern history books.

He goes into the definitions more in some of the other episodes, but from my own understanding of it, all of the archeological evidence that we have about the history of the region just simply doesn't match the biblical narrative until that point. For example, at the time when the Bible says Jerusalem was the capital of a grand empire before the death of Solomon, the archeology shows that Jerusalem was little more than a remote village in remote hill country that none of the surrounding empires saw fit to mention even in passing. Once we get to stories closer in time to when the books were actually being written, the stories suddenly match both archeology and the records of surrounding kingdoms a lot better. David and Solomon almost certainly existed (the "Davidic Dynasty" was named after SOMEONE, after all), but the events attributes to them are such a mix of distant memory and embellished legend that it's unreasonable to take completely at face value. For the record, I'm Catholic and hold the view point that the stories of the Bible were written to teach us about God first, history second. Judging it for a lack of historical accuracy feels like judging a math textbook for using hypothetical examples. I don't care if Moses literally led the Jews out of Egypt through a parted Red Sea any more than I care that Jenny didn't really buy 200 watermelons for $2.65 each. Of course, if the literal historicity of it matters to you that's fine. I hope this helps!

Genomics/genetics rules out any of the older (than Abraham) characters as being real (e.g. Adam, Noah, etc.). The alleged exodus does not hold up under archeology. Whether there ever was a Samuel or not - well, that's debatable. So it's after Solomon when one can make arguments for some historicity, even if the stories contain a lot of fiction.

@@AndrewFullerton The historicity of these figures IS Important for theological reasons. I don't know where you stand on the diety of Christ but there are so many verses in the New Testament in which these figures are mentioned by Jesus not as fictitious characters. In Matthew 24 when talking of the Last days Jesus says those days will be like the days of Noah. Jesus being God should know of this especially when he claims in John 8:58 that even before Abraham was born, He was [I Am]. Regarding the archeological evidence pre 931 BCE israel. Could the reason be that Jerusalem was conquered, plundered and rebuilt so many times that the splendor of Solomon's temple and palace was lost and not preserved? It could be that not much history can be salvaged because God expressly commanded the Israelites not only to destroy altars erected to other gods But never should they EVER erect any statue and worship it. And also as other nations had monarchies, Israel did not. They had judges and prophets. May that's why we don't see much in the archeological evidence of their existence.

@@UsefulCharts OK that's fair. But consider the alternative explanation: could it be that we don't see much history during exodus and the conquest period because of the destruction? The Bible portrays the temple of Solomon to be Splendid. Maybe we don't see that in archeology due to the incessant ransacking, pillaging, plundering and rebuilding of Jerusalem. I cannot think of any city in antiquity that has been of so much importance and has received so much interest as Jerusalem both in the past and present, which is telling in itself. And also, why would ANYONE embellish these stories? You have a relatively small and historically insignificant group of peoples that believe that their God is THE GOD. Every other nation has multiple gods, they can see these gods, there aren't many rules and commandments unlike the Israelites' God. Don't do this, do eat that, they can't see this God Moses is talking about And, while in every other nations, their peoples are having orgies and sex parties but to the Israelites, not only should they Not commit adultery, they shouldn't intermarry with these gentiles. And that if they conquered a land they should drive out everything and everyone (an assignment Israelites failed in so many occasions) I don't see the incentive here for that supposed fabrication. Furthermore, according to archeology you once pointed out that it's King Omri and King Ahab that seem to be significant in Israel as far as the archeological evidence is concerned. The Bible shows that these kings were idolators and exceedingly evil as far as God's laws were concerned. Maybe it could be that we don't see much of David and other early kings of Judah in the archeological record because they were God fearing and because of that, no statues, or structures were erected in their honor?

It's the greatest story ever told

Yeah the BCU (Bible cinematic universe) is pretty wild!!!

I mean, it's half a millennium in the making!

absolutely!!!!

the longest and most complex fan-fiction too!!

no joke.!!!!

oh 100%!

Yeah, I studied History at university a few years ago now, focusing on ancient jewish and christian history. Having these videos would have helped me SO much with solidifying my contextual and chronological understanding of these biblical sources

for sure it is! I'm hoping Matt will also cover the Angels in some way.

I don't think so.

What is the link for the biblical genealogy video

The genealogy series starts here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-I6Oj-HyHIAY.html

@@UsefulCharts Thank you

Very similar for me-I had just finished rewatching the Who Wrote the Bible series the day before!

Wonder why we don't have a definite chart regarding the time line of 1260 years that John and Daniel describe? Lots of theories but no definite chart.

Can you explain where Yahweh and El fit into this? Aren’t they like both God Kings?

I don't see any serious study about the 1260 year timeline we are directed to understand by Daniel and Johns challenges. It seems only theoretically understood and nothing substantial.

Sometime in my past I learned from when it will rain in the Bible that the holy spirit guide them through it so there was no mistakes God's word?

lol unbiased

My all time favorite is Ester.

Book of Jonah!!! Sea Adventures, Giant fish, a message about xenophobia, and mercy.

Exodus

Genesis

Mine is Deuteronomy.

That's because all what the Bible says, are just made up stuff. And full of errors and contradictions.

You need to supply evidence for your claim that the book of Job is mythical.

@@christopherskipp1525 Nah, it's the other way around.

@@akyhne Wrong again.

@@christopherskipp1525 There's a flying dragon on the other side of the sun. It always orbits on the opposite side of where the earth is. Prove me wrong. If you can't, then it's a fact.

Bingo!

Yup, that's the same story that's found in the Bible. The idea of it being two seperate stories is based on deconstructing the text.

It has to do with time and trade routes. Israel is likely older than Judah.

@@UsefulCharts moses exist

Because the Judah tribe bonded with the Philistines, who were left of them on the coast. The Egyptians bonded with the Josephites who ended up the Northern tribes; remember Joseph being left for dead by his brothers and he ended up in Egypt for 93 years? Becoming the #2 man in control down there under the Emperor?

Hoping to publish a Timeline of Prehistory next year. It will include geological periods.

Yep, lots of religions left in the world to explore. Hinduism has a lot of sacred texts, which could provide enough material for a bunch of videos.

No. Ezra was born many decades after Cyrus made his decree. According to Ezra chapter 8, he lived during the reign of Artaxerxes I (which was 465-424 BCE) and according to tradition, he led the third of the four major returns.

​@UsefulCharts When did we change, Before Christ to Before Christ Era & After Death to Christ Era?

Wonder why they don't have a definite chart regarding the book of Daniel and Johns 1260 year timeline. Is it only theoretical?

you have a pretty good base on JPED it appears. i have many questions similar. i just finished 2 book by a brilliant Jewish scholar Nahum M Sarna "Understanding Genesis" (which tackles the Noah issue) and " Exploring Exodus: the origins of Biblical Israel" they are available online if you search. Sidebar: always fascinated with 1 Kings 10:14 & Rev 13: 17-18 Re: "666" . I'm on a continuing cycle on reading the Holy Bible (started abt 2 years ago) i finish an start over again and again etc. i think i'm on circuit 6 now. Being Catholic i have several books more. God Bless you !

Yeah, there are so many different versions of both the Documentary Hypothesis and the Supplementary Hypothesis (with good arguments for each) that it was very difficult to map. I kind of shot for the middle in order to visualize the basic consensus view.

He had (holy) ghost writers.

No. It was me who wrote it. Kent Hovind, Charles Darwin, and Ruchard Dawkins all confirmed it.

Nobody claims the Bible was written by God. In fact only Muslims make a similar claim with their book and that's how we know it's false, because if it was directly dictated by God there's no reason why God would be ignorant about the Earth's shape, or that he wasn't aware the Earth travels around the Sun and no the other way around.