THIS MIGHT SURPRISE YOU
The answer
Before any king reigned over the Israelites. Genesis 36:31 reads: "These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites." The sentence knows that Israel will have kings, which in the story is centuries after Moses.
Why it’s interesting
A French priest, Richard Simon, pointed to this verse in 1678 as one written by someone who lived under or after Israel's kings. His bishop condemned the book. It was soon translated into English and widely read.
Scholarly consensus
Learn the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.