There is no one definitive answer to why the Bible was written so late, as the composition of the Bible is a complex process that took place over centuries. However, there are several factors that likely contributed to the timing of the Bible’s writing.
One major factor was the relatively low levels of literacy in ancient times. Writing was a rare skill, and the vast majority of people were illiterate. As a result, the transmission of stories and teachings was largely oral, passed down from generation to generation through storytelling and memory. It wasn’t until much later in history, when literacy rates began to rise and the technology for writing became more widespread, that the Bible began to take written form.
Another factor was the political context of the time. The Bible was written during a period of great political upheaval in the Middle East, with different empires and kingdoms vying for power and influence. This instability meant that the Bible was subject to constant revision and editing, with different authors and editors adding their own perspectives and interpretations to the text.
Finally, the Bible was likely written so late because it was not a single document, but rather a collection of different books and texts written by different authors over a long period of time. The process of compiling these different texts into a single authoritative canon was a slow and gradual one, with different communities and religious traditions recognizing different texts as canonical at different times. It wasn’t until the fourth century AD that the Christian church finally settled on the current canon of the Bible.
