What is the oldest book in the Bible?
Ask which book of the Bible was written first, and most commentators in this collection point away from Genesis to a book that sits far later in the printed order. The reasons they give are drawn from inside the book itself — its length of life, its names for God, its silence about Israel — and they lead to a further question: why would God give this particular book first?
Job Comes First
Among the writers here, the usual answer is the book of Job. One reading notes both its likely age and its position at the head of a whole section of Scripture:
The Bible TreasuryI suppose perhaps the oldest book in the Bible is the Book of Job. At any rate, it bears the same relation to the poetical books as Genesis to the historical; so it is very early — after the flood, but before the law.
Why Its Place in the Bible Misleads
Job is printed after Esther, which makes it look late. That order reflects the type of writing, not the date:
William KellySome people are a little perplexed by the fact that it comes after the Book of Esther in the Bible. That has nothing whatever to do with the date of it. The Historical Books are given from Genesis to Esther — that is the end; then we begin the Poetic Books — Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Therefore it is that we necessarily go back here; because poetry was written certainly not after history, but concurrently with it.
The Evidence Inside the Book
No date is stamped on Job, so its age is worked out from the details of the story. One survey lists them:
Walter ScottJob must have been nearly a century old, if not more, when the Lord opened the controversy with Satan about His servant. The patriarch then had seven grown-up sons, for they had houses of their own, and three daughters, while after his trial he lived a hundred and forty years. Does not this long life conclusively point to a time certainly not later, and possibly earlier, than the days of Abram? This is further confirmed by a reference to the earliest form of idolatry, that of the heavenly bodies, the only kind mentioned in the book, and further by the frequency of the patriarchal title "the Almighty," occurring more often than in any other book of Scripture. Job too, like his contemporaries before the days of Moses, is seen acting as priest for his household.
A further mark of age is what the book never mentions: Israel is absent. That leads one writer to place Job "previous to the time of Israel's history, perhaps about the time of Abraham," while noting that "the writer is unknown."
Where the Writers Differ
The events of Job are early; when the book was written down is a separate question, and commentators differ. Some hold that Moses wrote it, and that even so it would still come first — written "probably forty years at least before the Pentateuch." Others place Genesis alongside it rather than after it:
William KellyGod, in the midst of all this, carries on His wonderful way, and did so before there was a Bible. You must remember that when the circumstances of Job occurred there was no written revelation. Genesis and Job were probably written very near one another: practically at the same time. There is no reference to the law; there is no reference to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, in Job.
One writer is content to leave the exact date open, holding that discussion of it "cannot be surprising" in a book that supplies no date, yet adding, "I have not myself the least doubt of its antiquity."
Why This Book Was Given First
The choice of subject for one of the earliest books is itself the point. Job is about suffering that makes no sense to the sufferer:
F. B. HoleIt was one of the earliest books of the Bible to be written, and from this we may learn the kindness of God. Knowing the fearful confusion that hard circumstances would produce in the minds of men, and particularly in the hearts of His saints, He caused this book to be written, which should make plain "the end of the Lord" (James 5:11)... And all this was put on record as soon as ever the written revelation of God began.
Its age also shows how God worked before anyone had a Bible to read. Faith "received His word, and pondered on His dealings, to rich profit, before scripture; though scripture, when it was given, added much to the blessing."
Summary
- Oldest — Job is the usual answer given here: after the flood, before the law, standing to the poetic books as Genesis does to the historical ones.
- Order — Its late position in the printed Bible reflects its poetry, not its date; the historical books run to Esther, then Scripture goes back to the beginning.
- Evidence — The age is read off the book itself: patriarchal lifespans, the earliest form of idolatry, "the Almighty" as the common name for God, a father acting as priest, and no mention of Israel.
- Debate — Commentators differ over the writing: some credit Moses, some set Genesis and Job at practically the same time, and one leaves the date open while holding the book plainly ancient.
- Purpose — God put the story of a crushed man on record as soon as written revelation began, so that from the first page of Scripture's history, suffering saints would know who is at the helm.