How long did it take to write the Bible?

If a friend handed to us a ponderous volume, consisting of sixty-six books, written by between thirty and forty persons, and at different times, extending over fifteen hundred years, and said, Notwithstanding all their differences there is a remarkable unity throughout, should we not be astonished? As a matter of fact, there is no such book as the Bible in this respect; nor could there be, unless all the writings it contained had been under the guidance of One mind, and its communications throughout given by the One Spirit.

We entertain but faint hope of convincing the sceptic or silencing the caviller, but we submit the following statement of facts as demonstrating that the Bible is, indeed, the voice of God to man; that He has imprinted on it Divine unity; that God only could have secured such remarkable agreement, such precision of statement, such oneness of mind and plan as are revealed in the Scriptures. Here are sixty-six books, the work of from forty to fifty writers, and their composition occupying a period of about 1600 years, written in the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and in courts, deserts, and dungeons; under circumstances, too, of gladness, sorrow, poverty, pain, and pressure.

There is neither book nor monument to which you can refer within several centuries of the time when Moses wrote the first portion of the Bible. Then, after a quarter of a century, Joshua, the second inspired penman, wrote the book to which his name is attached. Then comes another interval, a lengthy and sorrowful one, of more than 300 years, covering the times of the Judges, and well termed "the dark ages" of Israelitish history, when Samuel, the third inspired writer, brought up the Jewish annals to the times of David — the sweet Psalmist of Israel — his co-adjutors in the work being the prophets Gad and Nathan (1 Chron. 29:29). Another interval of 300 years, and we listen entranced to the grand and glowing strains of Isaiah — the prince of Hebrew prophets; perhaps the most magnificent piece of writing ever penned is the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah, and of course divinely inspired like every other line and word of Scripture. Yet another period of nigh 300 years, during which the voices of the prophets were lifted up in the land of Immanuel, or amongst the captives in Babylon and Mesopotamia — when their tears bedewed the sacred soil, and their sufferings and exercises are written on high, and Malachi closed the inspired records of the Old Testament; the editor of the whole being Ezra. A long and dreary blank of 460 years, unwritten in the pages of God's most holy Word — save in a few prophetic passages (Dan. 8, 10, 11) — brings us to a few years at most after the death of Jesus, when Matthew wrote of Christ — His messianic rights, glories, and sufferings. Within thirty years after, the whole of the New Testament was completed, save the Revelation, which was written about A.D. 96. Thus the whole Bible was finished and in the hands of the Christian, and in the keeping of the Church, or rather of God, ere the first Christian century closed.

The Old and New Testaments, besides their superior moral character, differ in two respects. They have an historical substratum, peculiar each to each, supported if their testimony be true by miraculous vouchers; and they are prophetic. Now none but God could clothe men with miraculous power for some worthy moral end, and this too where the ways of the men so invested preclude suspicion of trickery and collusion. Still less, if possible, could any but God give distinct prophecies of the most unlikely events hundreds of years before the fact. These qualities are found only in the Bible, the wonder of which is increased by the circumstance that its writers extend over a space of about 1500 years from Moses till the Apostle John.

Another piece of evidence for the Bible's inspiration is its unity. The Bible was written by 40 authors over a period of 1,600 years. Most of these writers never knew the others. When J. B. Phillips began work on his New Testament in Modern English, he was not predisposed to regard the Bible as verbally inspired (that the very words were God-breathed). But as the work progressed, Phillips was increasingly impressed and amazed at the unity that existed throughout the books of the Bible. He said, "In their different ways and from their different angles, these writers are all talking about the same thing and talking with a certainty as to bring a wonderful envy into a modern heart." [.]

When we reflect that the writers of the Books of the Bible were about thirty in number, that their writings ranged from about 1950 B.C., or over 3400 years ago, to about 90 A.D., or about 1850 years ago, we must come to the conclusion that the Book could not possess a definite plan, as it undoubtedly does, without ONE Master Mind behind it. Moreover, in the nature of things these writers described events of which they could not possibly have any knowledge by personal observation. For instance Moses wrote of the creation of the world well over 2400 years after the earth came into being as an ordered place for man's abode. This he could only have done by revelation, and that alone by the Mind who brought creation into being. Others prophesied of many events that still lay centuries off from fulfilment. These prophecies have been fulfilled to the letter. These men could not have foreseen these events. The prophecies must have been inspired by a Mind that looked down the centuries, and that Mind could only have been God's.

How came it about that one writer never contradicted another? They wrote in different centuries, unknown to each other with few exceptions, especially in Old Testament times. If they were uninspired the book would most certainly have been a jumble full of contradictions and absurdities, as is evidenced by the uninspired sacred books of heathen beliefs. But this is not so.

It is late in the history of the world to be going into the question of the origin of a Book, which began to be written about four thousand years ago, and the writing of which extended over half that time; but late or early, the question seems with some people to be still undecided, and open to debate; and certainly the antiquity of the dispute does not in the least lessen its importance, neither does it tend to diminish the ardour of the combatants, nor the interest of the onlookers.

Think, beloved brethren, of the human authors of this book, beginning with Moses over 1500 years before Christ, down to the latest of the apostles, John himself, at the close of the first century. Think, through all this long period of time, of the unity of thought and purpose in spite of the variety of authors. Let us look for a moment at a few of them. Here you have Moses, a man learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians you have the authors of the historical books, who were doubtless prophets you have the prophets themselves, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, who were men of ability unquestionably, and yet of very different walks in life. Ezekiel, for instance, was a priest, ministering about the holy things of God. Amos has a different character, a gatherer of sycamore fruit, a man utterly uncultured. Then you have the Psalms of David, the king upon the throne, and by Asaph and others, Levites in their place. You have Solomon, another king, the wisest of all men. Then in the New Testament you have those who were unlearned and ignorant men, fishermen, taken from their common toil, from the money changer's bench, or fishermen's net, or whatever might have occupied them, and entrusted with the pen that was to give the thoughts of God.

And so I say when we look not merely at the length of time through which the word of God was written, but at the various authors who were engaged, and their different characters, we are simply astounded when we see the absolute unity of authorship that is running through the whole perfect book. Whether it be Moses or Paul, whether it be Isaiah or John, you find one common purpose, one mind back of it all, presenting to us His thoughts, unfolding to us His purposes. There is a constant progress all the way through, and yet one consistent purpose from the very beginning to the end of it. Beloved brethren, this in itself is a witness to the divine perfection of the word of God, such as no other book in all the world could give us, and in itself is an argument for that divine inspiration which poor men quibble at so much, and yet which is clearly distinguished even by him whose eye is upon the very surface only.

Now it is such things as that we should look at and give them their proper weight when we take up God's word. Think of a book written in this way, written by authors so varied, and at times so distant one from another, all united and combined so to form one precious truth that the entire volume is as compacted together as any living organism could possibly be. Such is our Bible, God's book. I do not think of Moses, I do not think of the instrument save to wonder how God could take up such unlikely instruments and use them for His glory. For He had, if I may so speak, a twofold difficulty with such a man as Moses or as Paul. They had to unlearn, as well as learn. Again with such a man as Amos or Peter or John himself, you say the instrument is not fit, the mental endowment is not sufficient. Yet here He brings down the exalted one, He lifts up the lowly one, putting them on the one common plane using them as He finds them, making them the channels of His thoughts not their own thoughts yet with this remarkable fact that He never does violence to their individual character. Peter remains Peter and Moses remains Moses. Their abilities can be seen in their writings, their style is there, everything is there that speaks of the man, but there is nothing there that does not speak of God. How amazing how blessed that is.

Would it not be a miracle to suppose a succession of about forty to fifty impostors, of different nationalities, living at different times, and some residing 1400 miles apart, totally unacquainted with each other — so that many never exchanged word or letter — and this course of systematic deception continued during the long period of nigh 1600 years? — for, mark it well, Divine authority is claimed for each book, and the same themes as ruin and redemption, but with ever-increasing fulness of disclosure, run through the entire Divine volume. It would just be as easy for man to create and sustain worlds as to have written the Bible. Is it not so? But the Bible is Divine.

Further, when it is a question of the grave, we necessarily expect much more evidence in the Old Testament than the New, for the reason that the Old Testament covers the history of man over a period of 4000 years, whilst the New Testament covers less than 70 years. The first writer of the Old Testament was separated from the last by over 1000 years, whilst the first and last writers of the New Testament were separated by considerably less than 100 years.