1. Higher Criticism:
Yah-weh Elohim
The LORD God

2. My teen age experience – reading
Deuteronomy 34 : 5, 7-8
5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab,
according to the word of the LORD
7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye
was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty
days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
I Thought how strange, but I did not think anything about it.
My German Bible names the books of the Pentateuch – The
Books of Moses
So it must be
Moses who wrote
about his own death
It some years to
reconsider the fact

3. 1. Higher Criticism is a product of the
Enlightenment (Age of Reason)
2. Interpretations were based on human reason and a
naturalistic worldview.
3. The Bible was not considered God’s special
revelation but written by mere human
beings.
 Everything is to be explained naturally.
 The supernatural is excluded from
interpretations
 The Bible is only a human book and is to
be interpreted from a naturalistic and
eventually (in the 19th century) an
evolutionary perspective.

4. Higher Criticism is a branch of literary analysis that
investigates the books of the Bible and compares them to other
texts. . .
Higher Criticism includes:
 Source, Source criticism questions traditional authorship, so
it attempts to determine the original sources.
 Form, Form criticism assumes that style and cultural forms
influenced the writing of the text, so it attempts to determine the
original forms.
 Redaction, Redaction criticism believes the present day
documents are merely edited versions, so it attempts to determine
the specific revisions or edits to the text.
 Tradition,
 Literary,
 as well as others.
Source criticism is the pivotal method of higher criticism.

5. A. Definition:
1. Source Criticism is the study of the source
or origin of the material found in a
written document.
2. In the Old Testament it focuses on the
sources of the Pentateuch (Documentary
hypothesis) and Kings and Chronicles.

6. “The Four Document Hypothesis” which included
--“Q” ―Quelle‖ hypothetical lost source (material common to
Matthew and Luke and not found in Mark),
--Mark,
--L (material unique to Luke) and
--M (material unique to Matthew).
B. H. Streeter in 1924

7. 1. Traditional Conservative View
a. Moses is the author of the
Pentateuch
b. It was written ca. 1400 BC
c. It is inspired by God
2. Radical Documentarian View
a. Moses is not the author of any of it
b. It was written much later than
Moses’ time
c. It is a composite of many documents
and authors and a result of literary
evolution
d. It is not inspired by God. God is not
assumed to exist
Glenn Giles, The Documentary Hypothesis - Evidence for Christianity

8. Spanish rabbi
Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089-?)
He believed certain passages did not
come from Moses' own hand:
passages that referred to Moses
in the third person,
terms that Moses would not have
known,
places where Moses had never been,
 language that reflected another time
and locale from those of Moses. The Book Exodus with the commentary of
Abraham ibn Ezra, Naples 1488
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_ibn_Ezra

9. Andreas Carlstadt, (1486 –1541)
One time friend of Martin
Luther and 16th century scholar.
The description of Moses'
death was written in the
same style as preceding
narrative.
Moses could not have
described his own death,
therefore the book of
Deuteronomy may not be
his work.
Otto Eissfeldt, The Old Testament an Introduction, (1965) 159

10. The Birth of the Documentary Hypothesis
• From there Abraham journeyed
toward the region of the
Negeb…While residing in Gerar
as an alien, Abraham said of his
wife Sarah, “She is my sister.”
(Gen. 20:1-2)
• So Isaac settled in Gerar.
When the men of the place
asked him about his wife, he
said “She is my sister.” (Gen.
26:6-7)
• Richard Simon
(1638-1712) noticed
that some stories in
Genesis were very similar.
• He developed the theory
that the Pentateuch was a
compilation of a number of
sources.
• Some of these sources
could have been derived
from Moses.
For Simon Ezra was the editor of the
final form of the Pentateuch.
Thus, the Torah was a product of the
postexilic period; the fifth century
B.C.

11. The Birth and History of DH
Baruch Spinoza (1632 –1677)
a Spanish Jewish scholar who claimed the Pentateuch was
not written by Moses because:
1. in passages he is spoken of in third person rather than
first person (he rather than I) (Now the man Moses was very
humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth. Numbers 12:3 )
2 Moses could not have written of his own death in Deut. 34
3. unsubstantiated historical references (Gen 14:14; Ex 16:35;
Deut 1:1; etc.),
4. inconsistencies within the text (Ex 4:20; 18:2
A redactors (Ezra) composed the present-day Pentateuch many
years after the death of Moses.

12. • Jean Astruc (1684-
1766) noticed
something odd
about some lines in
Genesis 2.
• One referred to
God as Elohim. See
blue arrow:
• The other used
Yhwh. See red
arrow:
The Birth and History of DH
www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/pilchj/Documentary_Hypothesis.ppt

13. Moses compiled Genesis
from several centuries of
oral and written materials,
laying them out in
four columns; later editors
combined these columns to
produce a continuous
narrative.
This explains why some of
the narrative material is not
in chronological order
Employed
1. duplicate narratives
2. divine names Elohim
and YHWH
From two recognizable
primary and parallel
sources,
as well as some 10 minor
fragmentary sources.
From this time forward Moses was no longer considered the direct author of the Pentateuch/Torah.
The source, based on Elohim,
he titled A; the other source,
based on YHWH, he titled B;
the remaining material he
placed in two other columns, C
and D.
Otto Eissfeldt, The Old Testament an
Introduction, (1965) 161

14. He extended the criteria of
duplicate narratives
and the divine names used by Astruc
to include:
literary style
and thought content,
broadening his approach to include the entire
Pentateuch.
He Changed Astruc’s A and B to E and J
respectively,
which are the first letters of the corresponding
divine names—
He also identified several smaller Sources
Concluded that the Pentateuch was
much later than Moses and he could
not be the author.
Eichhorn
The Birth and History of DH

15. Alexander Geddes, a Scottish Roman
Catholic priest proposed a
―fragmentary theory‖ in 1792
Johann S. Vater, advanced in his
Commentar uber Den Pentateuch Vol 1-3 (1802,1805)
the idea that Genesis was composed
from at least 39 different
fragments which he dated from
Moses’ time up to 586 B.C.
Redactor
1400 BC
Chart from: Did Moses Write the Torah? Examining the JEDP Theory. Allan A. MacRae. Robert C. Newman.
Abstracts of Powerpoint Talks. - newmanlib.ibri.org

16. The origin of the Supplementary Hypothesis is to
be found in Heinrich Ewald review of
J.J. Stahelin, Kritische Untersuchungen
uber die Genesis (1831), and in Franz
Delitzsch (1852)
Heinrich Ewald (1823) noticed an impressive unity
running thru Genesis. It couldn’t very well
be a mass of independent fragments.
a. proposed the ―supplementary theory‖ of
the origin of the Pentateuch in which
there was ―one basic document or body
of tradition (E) which underlay all the
rest and which dated from about
1050-950 BC‖ (Archer, 83)
b. later additions were made by the J author
c. laws attributed to Moses by the text were
genuinely his. The rest were codified
by priests after the conquest of
Canaan
E
Basic
Document
(Grundschrift)
J supplement
Heinrich Ewald
Franz Delitzsch

17. Ewald later developed this to solve
problems in the Supplementary Theory,
as it looked like both J and E materials
assumed the existence of the other.
Ewald suggested that J and E
were types of material which
gradually accumulated, being
composed in view of the
currently existing compilation.
accumulation
accumulation
gradually
accumulated

18. Scholars began to explore the religious
history of Israel were they seemed to
discover development.
Also the evolutionary philosophic view of
Hegel began to have an impact.
Scholars began to see religious development
in the Torah which could be used to date the
documents.
Hupfeld's (1853) attempt to combine
stylistic criteria with developmental ones

19. Hermann Hupfeld (1853)
Re-examined the E document and proposed that
there were two documents (E1 and E2)
Karl Heinrich Graf (1866)
Graf divided P into historical P and a ―legal-P‖ document.
―legal-P‖ was later than D
Historical P was very early so had order
of documents as P,E,J,D, legal-P
Abraham Kuenen (1869)
argued for a unified P document
the order J-E-D-P

20. Julius Wellhausen (1878).
a. contributed basically nothing new
b. restated the four source theory with ―great skill and
persuasiveness, supporting the JEDP sequence
upon an evolutionary basis” fitted into Hegelian
dialecticism and the supposed evolutionary
development of polytheism to monotheism in the
Jewish religion. Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (1985 ed), p.89
―…was largely based on a Hegelian philosophy of history, not upon his
literary analysis. It was an a priori evolutionary scheme that guided
him…" – G.E.Mendenhall in The Bible & the Ancient Near East: Essays in Honor of William F. Albright., 32.
c. Became ―Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis‖ or
―The Documentary Hypothesis‖
d. Classic statement is found in his Prolegomena to the
History of Ancient Israel (New York: The World Publishing Co, 1957).
http://www.evidenceforchristianity.org/the-documentary-hypothesis-power-point/

21. Julius Wellhausen’s
Presuppositions
Wellhausen approached scripture with three
key presuppositions:
1. Scripture must submit itself to
human reason and “contemporary
methods of study and modes of
thought;
2. Scripture has errors
3. Humans are the only authors of
scripture.

22. Wellhausen established the criteria for
the classical theory of the documentary
hypothesis.
Since then, proponents use five literary
identifiers to distinguish the sources.
1. variation in the ways of referring to
God ((Elohim myhla and Yahweh hwhy)
2. Duplication (Doublets) and repetition
of material;
3. variation in vocabulary and literary
style;
4. contrasting author perspectives;
5. evidence of editorial activity.
Wellhausen’s Criteria Documentary Hypothesis.
www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/pilchj/Documentary_Hypothesis.ppt

23. Some Examples
of the Identifiers to distinguish the Sources
1. Variation in the ways of referring to God
The use of two different names for God (Elohim myhla and Yahweh hwhy) in
different passages.
For example:
1:1-2:3 uses Elohim
Gen. 4: 6-16 uses Yahweh
6 Yahweh said to Cain, "Why are you angry? …9 Yahweh said to Cain, "Where is
Abel, your brother?" …10Yahweh said, "What have you done? …13 Cain said to
Yahweh, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. .. 15 Yahweh said to him,
"Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold."
Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain, lest any finding him should strike him. 16 Cain
went out from Yahweh's presence, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of
Eden.
Gen. 1:1
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets.
Gen. 2:2
The earth was without form and empty, with darkness on the face of
the depths, but God's spirit moved on the water's surface.
Veha'arets hayetah tohu vavohu vechoshech al-peney tehom veruach
Elohim merachefet al-peney hamayim.
Gen. 3:3
God said, 'There shall be light,' and light came into existence.
Vayomer Elohim yehi-or vayehi-or.Gen 2 & 3 uses YHWH Elohim

24. a. two different stories of creation
b. two converged stories of the flood
c. two stories of the covenant between God and Abraham
d. two stories of Abraham claiming Sarah is his sister
e. two stories of Jacob making a journey to Mesopotamia
f. two stories of God changing Jacob's name to Israel
g. two stories of Moses getting water from a rock at a place
called Meribah
(From http://prophetess.lstc.edu/~rklein/Doc4/source.htm).
Some Examples
of the Identifiers to distinguish the Sources
2. Doublets seemingly repeating the same story

25. Noah's special status
Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you
and all your household, for I have seen that you
alone are righteous before me in this generation. [7:1]
Noah's special status
"For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the
earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the
breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But
I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come
into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives
with you." [6:17-18]
Animals by pairs and seven pairs
"Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male
and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not
clean, the male and its mate; and seven pairs of the birds
of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on
the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain
on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every
living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face
of the ground." And Noah did all that the LORD had
commanded him. [7:2-5]
Animals by pairs
"And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring
two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive
with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds
according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the
ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall
come in to you, to keep them alive. Also take with you
every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and
it shall serve as food for you and for them." Noah did
this; he did all that God commanded him. [6:19-22]
Duration of flood
The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty
nights. [6:12]
Duration of flood
And the waters swelled on the earth for one
hundred fifty days. [7:24]
End of flood
At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the
ark that he had made and sent out the raven; and it went
to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.
Then he sent out the dove ... He waited another seven
days, and again he sent out the dove... Then he waited
another seven days, and sent out the dove; and it did not
return to him any more. [8:6-12]
End of flood
In the six hundred first year, in the first month, the
first day of the month, the waters were dried up from
the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark,
and looked, and saw that the face of the ground was
drying. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh
day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God said to
Noah, "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your
sons and your sons' wives with you....[8:13-16]
Doublets repeating the same story with consequent contradictions
Weaving together two previous versions of the Flood Story, J source and P source
J P
http://www.evidenceforchristianity.org/the-documentary-hypothesis-power-point/

26. Genesis 1:2-2:3 Genesis 2:4-25
plants
animals
Man & woman (simultaneous)
man
plants
animals
woman
Creator Elohim mentioned
thirty-five times
Yahweh or Yahweh Elohim
mentioned eleven times
Doublets repeating the same story with consequent
contradictions

27. In the first account Israel sees the thunder and lightning and stays
at a distance from the mountain. But, in the second account they go
up to the mountain and see the smoke and fire.
Doublets repeating the same story with consequent
contradictions
When the people saw the thunder
and lightning and heard the
trumpet and saw the mountain in
smoke, they trembled with fear.
They stayed at a distance
(Exodus 20:18, NASB)
Then Moses led the people out of
the camp to meet with God, and
they stood at the foot of the
mountain. Mount Sinai was
covered with smoke, because the
LORD descended on it in fire. The
smoke billowed up from it like
smoke from a furnace, the whole
mountain trembled violently
(Exodus 19:17-18, NASB)

28. Vivid narrative of Exodus 2—the childhood and
early career of Moses—
Ponderous accounts of the building and equipping
of the tent sanctuary in Exodus 36-40.
Some Examples
of the Identifiers to distinguish the Sources
"I talked to mom‖ or "I spoke to my mother.― These two phrases are from two
different people.
These same variations in writing style can be seen in of the Torah.
"Yahweh said to Moses." Numbers 21:16
"Yahweh spoke unto Moses." Exodus 4:30
3. Language and Style differences
Certain parts of the Pentateuch are:
statistical or enumerative,
other parts are narrative
most of Deuteronomy consists of exhortation

29. Documentary Hypothesis:
Composition of Pentateuch
Wellhausen proposed that the
Pentateuch was composed
from four main sources.
1)J = Yahwist
2)E = Elohist
3)D = Deuteronomist
4)P = Priestly writer

30. J Jahwist
written ca 800 BC;
Prefers the narrative style
and stories
stress on Judah;
Calls indigenous people
“Canaanites”
stresses leaders
anthropomorphic speech
about God
God walks and talks with
us
God is YHWH
uses "Sinai” for God’s
mountain
Yahwist
9th cent.
Jahwist
9th cent BC

31. E Elohist
Written ca 750 BC
stress on northern
Israel;
Calls indigenous people
“Amorites”
stresses the prophetic
refined speech
about God, narrative,
stories of warning
God speaks in dreams
God is Elohim (till Ex 3)
Uses "Horeb” as God’s
mountain in place of
Sinai
Yahwist
9th cent.
JE
JE
Jahwist
9th cent BC
Elohist
750 BC

32. P Priestly
Written in various
stages (Ezekiel to Ezra)
stress on Judah
stresses the cultic
majestic speech about
God
cultic approach to God
God is Elohim (till Ex
3)
has genealogies and
lists
Deuteronomist
650 BC later
Yahwist
9th cent.
JE
Jahwist
9th cent BC
JE (D)
Elohist
750 BC
Deuteronomist
650 BC later
Priestly
JEDP

33. Yahwist
9th cent.
D Deuteronomist
Written under high priest
Hilkiah & king Josiah 621
BC
stress on central
shrine
stresses fidelity to
Jerusalem
speech recalling God's
work
moralistic approach
God is YHWH
has speeches and long
sermons
Hilkiah the high priest said to
Shaphan the secretary, "I have
found the Book of the Law in the
temple of the LORD." He gave it to
Shaphan, who read it. 2 Kings 22:8
Yahwist
9th cent.
JE
Jahwist
9th cent BC
JE (D) Deuteronomist
650 BC later
Elohist
750 BC

34. J Jahwist E Elohist P Priestly D Deuteronomist
written ca 800 BC Written ca 750 BC Written in various
stages (Ezekiel to Ezra)
Written under high priest
Hilkiah & king Josiah 621
BC
stress on Judah stress on northern
Israel
stress on Judah stress on central
shrine
stresses leaders stresses the prophetic stresses the cultic stresses fidelity to
Jerusalem
anthropomorphic speech
about God
refined speech
about God
majestic speech about
God
speech recalling God's
work
God walks and talks with
us
God speaks in dreams cultic approach to God moralistic approach
God is YHWH God is Elohim (till Ex
3)
God is Elohim God is YHWH
uses "Sinai” Sinai is "Horeb" has genealogies and
lists
has long sermons
http://www.evidenceforchristianity.org/the-documentary-hypothesis-power-point/

35. Wellhausen’s sequencing and dating according
to his Developmental (evolutionary) View
Wellhausen divided, sequenced and dated the sources according to his view of
the development of the Israelite religion and Heglian evolutionary ideas
Lit. Society Religion Law
1. J
E
primitive, tribal,
semi-nomadic
(Judges)
free, unorganized, natural worship at
many local shrines; monolatrous at
best
Book of the Covenant
Ex. 20:22 – 23:19
(esp. 20:24)
2. D monarchy
(Samuel, Kings)
prophets, the real founders of
Israelite religion, advocate strict
monotheism; God personal, not
national; ethical, not natural; worship
centralized
Deuteronomic Law
(esp. 12:1-7)
3. P ecclesiastical
hierarchy in post-
exilic times
cultus end in itself; denatured,
formulistic worship; fraudulent
ancient setting created to give it
authority
Priestly Code
Ex 25-31; 35-40; Lv and
legal portions of Numbers
Summary of Wellhausen’s Evolutionary Views
[DOC] 6. Negative Criticism 26-29.doc - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary
PPT] Did Moses Write the Torah? - Newmanlib.ibri.org

36. CREATION OF THE PENTATEUCH
2100 BC--Abraham's Lifetime
2000 BC
1900 BC
1800 BC
1700 BC
1600 BC
1500 BC
1400 BC--End of Moses'
Life
Conservative Date for Pentateuch
1350 BC
1300 BC
1250 BC
1200 BC
1150 BC
1100 BC
1050 BC
1000 BC--King David's Reign J
950 BC
900 BC
850 BC
800 BC
750 BC
700 BC--Fall of Northern
Kingdom E
650 BC
600 BC--Josiah's Reform D
550 BC--Babylonian Exile P W
500 BC
450 BC W
400 BC Q JEDP
Pentateuch
The Evolution of the
JEDP Document

37. 1 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that
you alone are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean
animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its
mate; 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the
face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty
nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground." 5 And
Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood
of waters came on the earth. 7 And Noah with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives went into
the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and
of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,9 two and two, male and female, went into
the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood
came on the earth.
17 The flood continued forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and
it rose high above the earth.18 The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark
floated on the face of the waters. 19 The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high
mountains under the whole heaven were covered; 20 the waters swelled above the mountains,
covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic
animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human
beings; 22 everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out
every living thing that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals and creeping
things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth.Only Noah was left, and those
that were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters swelled on the earth for one hundred fifty days.
Bold type for (red) J sections, ordinary type (yellow) for P sections, and underlined
type for “harmonizing additions” from a later editor (blue). (Gen 7:1-9, 17-24)
A. Campbell and M. O’Brien, Sources of the Pentateuch: text, introductions, annotations. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993.

38. Genesis 5
Jawist (J) Source Priestly (P) Source Redactor (R) Source
29) Now he called his name Noah, saying, "This one
will give us rest from our work and from the toil of
our hands arising from the ground which the LORD
has cursed."
30) Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five
years after he became the father of Noah, and he
had other sons and daughters. 31) So all the days
of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven
years, and he died. 32) Noah was five hundred
years old, and Noah became the father of Shem,
Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 6
1) Now it came about, when men began to multiply
on the face of the land, and daughters were born to
them, 2) that the sons of God saw that the daughters
of men were beautiful; and they took wives for
themselves, whomever they chose. 3) Then the LORD
said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever,
because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be
one hundred and twenty years." 4) The Nephilim
were on the earth in those days, and also afterward,
when the sons of God came in to the daughters of
men, and they bore children to them. Those were the
mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 5) Then
the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great
on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. 6) The LORD was
sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He
was grieved in His heart. 7) The LORD said, "I will blot
out man whom I have created from the face of the
land, from man to animals to creeping things and to
birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made
them." 8) But Noah found favor in the eyes of the
LORD.
9) These are the records of the generations of
Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his
time; Noah walked with God. 10) Noah became the
father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11)
Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and
the earth was filled with violence. 12) God looked
on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all
flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 13)
Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has
come before Me; for the earth is filled with
violence because of them; and behold, I am about
to destroy them with the earth. 14) "Make for
yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the
ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out
with pitch. 15) "This is how you shall make it: the
length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth
fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16) "You
shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a
cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in
the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second,
and third decks. 17) "Behold, I, even I am bringing
the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all
flesh in which is the breath of life, from under
heaven; everything that is on the earth shall
perish. 18) "But I will establish My covenant with
you; and you shall enter the ark--you and your sons
and your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19)
A Sample of the Distribution of Sources in the Pentateuch

39. Distribution of materials of Jahwist, Elohist and
Priestly sources, as well as Redactor's contribution in
the first four books, following Richard Friedman
Distribution of Sources in the Pentateuch
R Friedman

40. Implications from the Wellhausen hypothesis which became widely
accepted
1. Moses could not have authored the Pentateuch
2. The Pentateuch is much later then the traditional view
3. The Law originated after the historical books, not before them.
4. The true history of Israel is very different from the history
narrated by the OT.

41. 1. Variation in the ways of referring to God
The same author can use different names for God in order to
reflect different characteristic
He ―selected the name YHWH when the text reflects the Israelite
conception of God, …express… attributes traditionally
ascribed to Him by Israel, particularly in His ethical
character‖ YHWH is employed when God is presented … in
His personal character and in direct relationship to the
people or nature‖
―It preferred the name Elohim when the passage implies the
abstract idea of the Deity…–God conceived as the Creator of
the physical universe, as the Ruler of nature, as the Source
of life‖ ―Elohim… as the Transcendental Being who exists
completely outside and above the physical universe” Umberto
Cassuto (Hebrew, 1941; English translation, 1961) in The Documentary Hypothesis and the
Composition of the Pentateuch: Eight Lectures (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1961) (31)
When applied to Gen. 1 and 2, it perfectly explains the different usages of the two terms in these
passages without a need to posit two different authors/sources.
--Genesis 1 is the story of Creation and Lord of the Universe which wouldrequire the term
“Elohim.” Indeed “Elohim” is the word used in that passage.
--With respect to Genesis 2-3, “God is portrayed as the moral Ruler,… YHWH. This is appropriate
here as it is dealing with God’s personal relationship with people.

42. --It is assumed that doublets were
pieced together by a redactor and this
is the cause of the perceived
―inconsistencies.‖
--Kaiser quotes Whybray about doublets
and the inconsistencies
―. . . the hypothesis can only be
maintained on the assumption that,
while consistency was the hallmark of
the various documents, inconsistency
was the hallmark of the redactors‖
Kaiser, 137
2. Doublets repeating the same story and consequent Inconsistencies
Another arguments against doublets indicating different sources may be chiasms.
Chiasms are simple literary structures which use reverse duplication. They are
found in the Pentateuch such as in Genesis 9:6
____A) Whoever sheds
_____B) the blood
______C) of man
______C) by man shall
_____B) his blood
____A) be shed.

43. 3. Language and Style differences
Variety in Language and style ―could just as well be a sign of differences in subject
matter that carry with them their own distinctive vocabulary and style‖
Kaiser, 137
Cassuto found that ―change in style depends on change of subject-
matter, not on differences of sources‖ (54)
Style can vary widely and still belong to a single person
Consider:
The painter Pablo Picasso

44. ―On the face of it, the study of the Pentateuch is in
ferment . . . The debate between different points of view is
lively and sometimes heated. As yet, no new consensus has
emerged about the composition of the Pentateuch.‖
(Gordon Wenham “Pentateuchal Studies Today,” Themelios 22:1 (October 1996): 3
“a fix is needed”
(Antony F. Campbell and Mark A. O’Brian , Rethinking the Pentateuch:
Prolegomena to the Theology of Ancient Israel (Louisville, KY: Westminster
John Knox Press, 2005), 1.

45. ―Another point to be kept in mind is what I do not mean when I take the position
that Moses was the author/compiler of the Pentateuch. I do not mean that
Moses wrote every single word so that the current form of the entire Hebrew
Pentateuch is exactly the same as it came from his pen. It is clear that there are
some post-Mosaic elements in the text. Not only the account of Moses death in
Deut. 34, but also other statements reflect post-Mosaic editorial activity.(Gen. 13:6b;
Gen. 36:31). A high view of inspiration does not preclude editorial work by someone
other than the original author.
I also do not mean that every word was original with Moses. It is not only
possible but likely that Moses made use of written sources (see Num. 21:14),
even
as Luke would later do in constructing his gospel (see Luke 1:1Ð4). It also seems
probable that Moses made use of oral tradition in composing the Pentateuch. It
bears emphasizing that originality is not a prerequisite for inspiration. All truth
belongs to God, and He has the right to inspire His prophet to make use of it, even
if it is derived from another source, whether oral or written.
In conclusion, in light of the weaknesses inherent in the documentary hypothesis,
this is certainly not the time for Bible-believing Christians to be flocking
to its banner. Rather, it is an auspicious time for them to affirm a more traditional
view, …‖
Greg A. King. The Documentary Hypothesis, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 12/1 (2001): 22-30.

46. "... it is true that the documentary hypothesis has
increasingly been shown to be flawed, and will
survive, if at all, only in a greatly modified form,
but that does not mean that we should ignore
the results of the last two centuries of
investigation. Our task is to find better ways of
understanding how the Pentateuch came to be
without writing off the real advances of our
predecessors.―
Blenkinsopp, The Pentateuch, p 28:

47. Moses the author of the Pentateuch according to the Bible
New Living Translation (NLT):
Passages in the Pentateuch itself:
Exodus 17:14 "Then the Lord instructed Moses, 'Write this down as a permanent record...'"
Exodus 24:4 "Then Moses carefully wrote down all the Lord's instructions."
Exodus 34:27 "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Write down all these instructions, for they
represents the terms of my covenant with you and with Israel.'―
Passages elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures:
Joshua 8:31-34 "He followed the instructions that Moses the Lord's servant had written in
the Book of the Law...―
2 Chronicles 34:14 "...Hilkiah the high priest...found the book of the Law of the Lord as it
had been given through Moses."
Passages in the Gospels which show that Jesus and John the Baptizer believed Moses to be the
author:
Matthew 19:7-8 "...why did Moses say a man could merely write an official letter of divorce
and send her away?", they asked. Jesus replied, 'Moses permitted divorce...'―
Mark 12:24 "...haven't you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the
burning bush..."
Luke 24:44 "...I told you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and in
the Psalms must all come true.―
Passages elsewhere in the Christian Scriptures:
Romans 10:5 "For Moses wrote..."

48.  No JEDP Document or
shred of it ever found
 Nor are there any
references to it anywhere
We have no J,
E, D, or P.
Documents,
BUT
We have hundreds
of manuscripts of
the Hebrew Bible