The 'former prophets' consist of Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings. These were the sound bites of their day, which made it easy for others to remember them and then write them down. Sometimes, the prophets could be mime artists and dramatists, accompanying their actions by short spoken messages, often delivered in poetic form. Some books are substantial ( Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel), others are much shorter (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).

The books of 'latter prophets' preserve sayings and stories of religious and political activists ('prophets') who served as the spiritual conscience of the nation throughout its history, reminding people of the social values that would reflect the character of God. The Prophets is the largest section of the Hebrew Bible, and has two parts ('former prophets' and 'latter prophets'). Some parts undoubtedly date from that period, but as things changed old laws were updated and new ones produced, and this was the work of later editors over several centuries. These books were later called the 'Pentateuch', and tradition attributed them to Moses. The Hebrew word for Law ('Torah') means 'guidance' or 'instruction', and that could include stories offering everyday examples of how people were meant to live as well as legal requirements.

They are not 'law' in a modern Western sense: Genesis is a book of stories, with nothing remotely like rules and regulations, and though the other four do contain community laws they also have many narratives. The first five books, Genesis to Deuteronomy. It was traditionally arranged in three sections. The Hebrew Bible has 39 books, written over a long period of time, and is the literary archive of the ancient nation of Israel.

When was the bible written timeline