Is it just a great literary work, or is it really from God? If it is from God, who wrote it?
Answers (5)
The bible was physically written by various people, and each scribe wrote according to his own manner of speech and education.
Psalm 12:6 The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace [words] of earth, purified seven times.
Here we have a figure of speech called ellipsis. That means a word is used twice but one use is omitted. We know this is a figure because there is no such thing as a "furnace of earth". Also, "of earth" is a plural form to agree with words. If it were to refer to "earth" it would be singular. The bible speaks to us in our own earthly languages, not hidden or magical phrases that we don't understand. But the words are purified: the first usage of significant words defines them by the context. For that reason, the first word of the bible has to be "beginning".
The bible was recorded by very religious people. When they wrote a grocery list they would write "God" at the top of the page: they always put God first. If they had written the bible by their own wits, the first word would have been "God". But God puts His word above his name, so the first word had to be "beginning". And it took thousands of years for some man to notice what had been done there.
Here is a free book that lists about 900 figures found in the bible. It is almost the only work in the subject for the last two thousand years:
www.openlibrary.org/search?q=e.+w.+bullinger+figures+of+speech
Answer: 40 authors wrote the Bible over a period of 1,500 years. These Bible writers wrote as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17). [1] Moses was the first person to write portions of Scripture while John, the disciple of Jesus, was the last. Other famous people who wrote the Bible include: David, Daniel, Peter, Paul, Jonah, Isaiah, Solomon and David.
View Alphabetical List of:
Old Testament Writers | New Testament Writers
Diversity of Bible Writers
Those who wrote the Bible lived at different times, some separated by hundreds of years. In many cases they were complete strangers to one another. Some Bible writers were businessmen or traders; others were shepherds, fishermen, soldiers, physicians, preachers, kings—human beings from all walks of life. They served under different governments and lived within contrasting cultures and systems of philosophy.
2 Timorty 3:16 tells us the bible is "inspired of God". The bible also tells us at 2 Peter 1:21, "Men spoke from God as they were moved or guided by Holy Spirit."
God used 40 different men from different walks of life to pen his message in the bible, it's writers lived at different times and it took over 1600 years to write the bible. Let's illustrate a little, a businessman tells his secretary to write a letter. Who really is the author of the letter? It's the businessman, not the secretary. In the same way, the Author of the Bible is God, not the men he used to write it. God only guided or used them to write his thoughts. The bible is truly "the word of God." What's even more evidence that the bible is inspired by God is that even though 40 different men from different eras wrote the bible, the bible is harmonious.
The first chapters of the Bible explains how the world's problems started, and the last chapters tell us how God will solve those problems by making the earth a paradise.
Hired scribes penned the words on paper. Who hired them, and why, is unknown. Did a voice without a body dictate words to a select group of humans? I'm certain people think they hear voices, but saying the voice they heard was anyone in particular..... is impossible to prove. I believe, the purpose behind writing the book, was to control humans through fear, and the creator of "God", was completely insane, but extremely intelligent.
The bible was written over a 1600 years period by 40 different writers who lived at different times and from all walks of life.
The first book of the Bible tells us how mankind problems began. The last book shows that soon the whole earth will become a paradise.
The Bible covers thousands of years of history, the harmony of the Bible is impressive, but what would you expect when all 66 of its books have one author, God.