Authorship of the Books of the Prophets and Writings

The questions concerning the authorship of the Books of the prophets are less critical and sensitive than the question of the authorship of the Torah. With regard to the Torah, very few medieval commentators – and sometimes even then only through allusion – speak of the existence of verses added at a later date, while in relation to the Books of the Prophets and the Writings many commentators have no objection to stating openly that a certain verse was added by the redactor. Such a position can be supported by the well known beraita in Bava Batra which claimed that most of these books did indeed have redactors who could well have added clarifications as necessary, as any faithful editor would do.

The impression arising from many sources is that the beraita in Bava Batra does not represent a tradition that was accepted unanimously, and that there are authorities who differed – both in later sources among Chazal, and also amongst medieval commentators.