I was asked this question in an email and I thought it might be helpful to post the answer here.

Actually the question deals with how to date the books of the Bible overall, if there was a specific source I use for dating, and then specifically about the book of Job, because various commentators date it between mid 1400’s BC to 500 BC. Here is my answer:

That is a good question! But there is no easy answer to your questions and there are a number of reasons why. First some comments overall and then specifics on Job.

Overall, some general thoughts about the dating of books of the Bible overall

For some of the books, particularly the historical ones it is not difficult to date them. In the Old Testament 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings and in the New Testament, the book of Acts is fairly simple because it’s easy to compare them with what we know of secular history.

In the Old Testament, it get is much more difficult with the prophetic ones, because, after much study and comparison of many sources, I’ve come to the conclusion that the dating of the books depends primarily on the commentator’s view of scripture. If it is a high view of scripture, one that believes that the Bible was inspired by God and is inerrant, most books are dated earlier. For the prophetic books, this means that they would be dated before  the events they prophesied, which is what the books themselves state.

If however, the commentator has a low view of the Bible, if they look at scripture as a compilation of “sacred writings” but ones written by men, they will always date the books later, especially the prophetic ones and put them after the events prophesied, because regardless of whatever other historical, textual, or other evidence is in the books themselves they approach them with the prior decision that God could not be actually involved and therefore no prophecy could be real. They have to date them as after the events or they can’t explain their accuracy if they don’t attribute it to God.

Side note: One source I read did attribute prophecy to time travel, but obviously that is not a widely accepted view. . . . . .Continue Reading