Thank you for the question on penning of the Bible, “I have known Quora to contain highly intelligent and intellectual benevolent people and icons. A question bothers me for quite a while now, hearing a lot of argument on it. What book in the Bible was the first to be written/penned down?”
Here are some additional thoughts on the penning of the first Scriptures. Modern scholars date the writings of the Old Testament to the Exile Period. For many of them, the Jewish history is fictitious without any historical evidence. I disagree with that viewpoint, but that is another discussion.
Looking at the text itself, it is my opinion that the words revealed to Moses by God was written down during the 40 years in the Wilderness.
A. The Book of Genesis doesn’t reveal the author of that book. It is assume and it would seem reasonable that for a nation to begin the first year of their history that the history of them would be recited or recorded.
It would seem unreasonable to think that a history was made of them hundreds of years later while they have laws of how they were to live in the Promised Land. Certainly children will ask about their history. Would parents and religious leaders say that they have no history or don’t know about their history? Oral tradition was a common manner to pass on one’s legacy.
B. The Book of Exodus and Deuteronomy provides some insight as to the writings of the Jewish laws.
- Exodus states that the Ten Commandments were written by God on stones (Ex. 20, 34).
- Exodus further states that God gave the Laws to Moses and the instructions in building the Tabernacle (Exod. 21–39. Ex. 21 says this, “These are the laws you are to set before them:..” In 24:7, the text says this: “Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey…25:8 “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. 9 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.”
The question becomes this: How did Moses remembered all the specific details of the Laws, of the details of the construction of the Tabernacle, and the Levitical function in the Book of Leviticus? It is possible that God enabled him to remember it or that he wrote it down when he was at the mountain with God. It is unclear.
3. Deuteronomy affirms what Moses taught the people during the 40 years in the Wilderness. Deut. 4 says this, “See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it” Deut. 5:1 affirms that Moses taught the people, but did he write anything down?
There are indications that the Laws were written or to be written down.
In Deut. 17, the text says this, “8 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.”
In Deut. 27, the text says this, “3 Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you…And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.”
In Deut. 31, the text says this, “So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law.”
Thus from the text itself, one can conclude that the Levitical Laws were written down otherwise the king could not make a copy of it nor were the Levitical priests to recite the Blessings and Curses. Deuteronomy would infer that the Laws were written down and held by the priests. As the original text became worn out through age or usage, it would be carefully copied since they believe that they were copying the very words of God.
Were all five books of the Pentateuch written at the same time? That is unclear but it seems more likely that they were written during the life of Moses, not hundreds of years later.
If the Books were written during the Post Exilic time period, this would imply that David couldn’t have brought the Ark into the Jerusalem nor Solomon couldn’t have built the interior of the Temple. The Babylonians had nothing to take away from Jerusalem since there would be no Temple. It does not seem reasonable to me that King Nebuchadnezzar would invade a place with no value to him. Scriptures record that the Nebuchadnezzar took some of the Temple treasure and that it was returned by Cyrus for the worship of God in the rebuilding of the Temple.
SUMMARY: The Biblical text states that Moses wrote the Laws of God into a book whereby the future kings of Israel was to make a copy of it. It seems reasonable that Moses would have written the history of Israel and the Laws when they would enter the Promised Land. The people had to know their history and their Laws.
-Kingston