What are the jobs all bible-writers had?

Answer 1

First understand, that the people who wrote what is contained in the work we refer to as "The Bible", did not set out with a mindset to penn a collective work.

Second understand that everyone, historically did not know how to write and many did not know how to read a language. For the most part, people were illiterate, don't confuse illiterate with stupidity as the two do not go hand in hand, no matter what some educator might tell you. Illiterate simply means one can not read or write a language, it in no way means the person is incapable of learning or understanding.

In days past, most communities were base upon farming, which provided the means to survive. There were little machines, therefore most work was manual labor, which required a vast amount of peoples time to perform. It was not common nor necessary for everyone to know how to read and write a language. Usually there were people assigned this duty, who were known as scribes (or lawyers). Scribes were versed in language reading and writing and usually Hebrew law (as found in leviticus). In the New Testament you will find those who were versed in Levitical law and who could write, referred to as lawyers.

A good study concerning a Scribe of the house of Israel, would be to study Baruch (the son of Neriah), who was the scribe to the prophet Jeremiah. You will find verses which discuss Baruch in the book of Jeremiah, chapters 32,36,43 and 45. Don't confuse the scribe of Jeremiah with Baruch the son of Zabbai, who you will find written in the book of Nehemiah.

Don't think of the biblical scribes as you would writers of novels and fiction of our current time. The job of a biblical scribe was more aligned with that of a court stenographer, or a lawyer.