Who Wrote the Bible? or, A Serious Romp Through the Graf-Wellhausen-Friedman Documentary Hypothesis -- May 5, 2015

Or,
A Serious Romp Through the
Graf-Wellhausen-Friedman
Documentary Hypothesis
May 5, 2015

Moses as Author / Transcriber
 The Torah states that Moses wrote the Torah
 The Talmud states that Moses wrote the Torah
 The Mishna states that Moses wrote the Torah
 Josephus states that Moses wrote the Torah
 Jesus more or less states that Moses wrote Torah
 Maimonides says: “The Torah that we have today is
the one dictated to Moses by God.” (ca. 1200 CE)
 So that pretty well settles that. Or does it?

 Andreas Van Maes, 1514-1573,
Dutch Catholic priest
 Suggested that later Pentateuch
editors added phrases or updated
place names.
 His book was placed on the Catholic
Index of Prohibited Books.

 Isaac La Peyrère, 1596–1676
French Calvinist theologian
 Wrote explicitly that Moses was not
the author of the Pentateuch.
 His book was banned and burned; he
was imprisoned until he recanted and
converted to Catholicism.

 Baruch Spinoza, 1632-1677
Dutch philosopher
 Published a critical analysis of the
Pentateuch demonstrating that Moses
could not be the author.
 Already excommunicated from
Judaism, his book was placed on the
Catholic Index of Prohibited Books, 37
edicts were issued against it, and an
attempt was made on his life.

Developers of the Documentary Hypothesis
 Karl Heinrich Graf, 1815-1869, Old Testament
scholar and “orientalist”
 Wilhelm Vatke, 1806-1882, protestant theologian
 William Robertson Smith, 1846-1894, Scottish
professor of divinity and minister
 John William Colenso, 1814-1883, British
mathematician, theologian, biblical scholar, social
activist
 Julius Wellhausen, 1844-1918, German Biblical
scholar and “orientalist”

Suggestive indications of multiple
authorship
 Anachronisms (e.g., in Genesis there’s a list of Edomite kings who
lived long after Moses’ death, and place names appear that didn’t exist
until later in history)
 Duplicate passages aka “doubles” (e.g., two creation stories, two
versions of Joseph’s being sold into slavery, two versions of Moses
striking water from a rock, three versions of the Ten Commandments)
 Different versions of God’s name (Yahweh, Elohim, etc.)
 Vocabulary and stylistic differences (various)
 Obvious inconsistencies, such as in …

The Torah starts twice …
Genesis 1 Genesis 2
When God (Elohim) began to
create the skies and the earth –
when the earth had been
shapeless and formless, and
darkness was on the face of the
deep, and God’s (Elohim’s) spirit
was hovering on the face of the
water …
When God (Yahweh) made earth
and skies – when all produce of the
field had not yet been in the earth,
and all vegetation of the field had
not yet grown, for God (Yahweh)
had not rained on the earth and
there had been no human to work
the ground …

Creation Story Variations
 Was God’s name Yahweh or Elohim?
 Was creation highly structured (“God saw that this was good; there was evening
and there was morning, a second day.”)?
… or meandering with no day-by-day structure (“And God planted …”, “And God
said ...”, “And God caused a slumber to fall …”)?
 Did God make Adam and Eve at the same time (“He created them, male and
female”)?
… or did he decide Adam was lonely and make Eve out of a rib (“It is not good for
man to be by himself…”)?
 Were birds created from water or were birds created from earth?
 What was the order of events?

The Order of Events?
Genesis 1 Genesis 2
 Plants
 Animals
 Man & Woman
 Man
 Plants
 Animals
 Woman

Noah Story Variations
 7 each of “pure” (“clean”) animals, 2 each of impure
(unclean)?
OR … 2 each of everything?
 Flood lasted 40 days? OR … 150 days?
 Did Noah send out a raven or some doves?
 Was God’s name Yahweh or Elohim?

Ten Commandment Versions
Exodus 20 Exodus 34
1. No other gods but YHWH
2. No graven images
3. Do not use YHWH’s name for a falsehood
4. Remember the Sabbath
5. Honor your father & mother
6. Don’t murder
7. Don’t commit adultery
8. Don’t steal
9. Don’t falsely testify against your neighbor
10. Don’t covet your neighbors stuff
1. No other gods
2. No molten gods
3. Celebrate Passover
4. Rest on the Sabbath
5. Celebrate Shavuot
6. Three times a year men must appear before God
7. Don’t offer blood on leavened bread
8. Don’t leave the Passover sacrifice until morning
9. Bring the first fruits to the house of YHWH
10. Don’t cook a kid in its mother’s milk
The Exodus 20 version is repeated with slight
variations in Deuteronomy 5

How to understand these differences?
 Restatements of the stories may bring out different
lessons
 The different names of God can reflect the different
aspects of God (e.g., Elohim – transcendent God, Yahweh
– immanent God)
 Sometimes there are hidden or esoteric explanations that
we are challenged to uncover

Birds … from water or earth?
 The famous commentator Rashi (11th C CE) thought about the question of
whether birds were made from water, as Genesis 1 implies, or earth, as
Genesis 2 implies. Rashi decided that there’s really no contradiction. The
second creation account simply elaborates on the first, and in reality birds
were created from mud.

Current Scholarly Viewpoint on Authorship:
“Today the majority of academic scholars
accept the theory that the Torah does
not have a single author and that its
composition took place over centuries.”
(John J. McDermott, Reading the Pentateuch,
2002, and frequently quoted…)

The Documentary Hypothesis
An historical / critical method of understanding the Bible
Core assumptions:
 The Pentateuch (“Five Books of Moses”) was derived from
originally independent, parallel and complete narratives, which
were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of
editors (redactors).
 In some cases the source narratives incorporated earlier sources,
e.g., histories, genealogies, songs.
 The Pentateuch was assembled and edited over several
centuries.
 There were probably four main source documents that were
combined into the canonical version of the Torah (although the
specific number is not an essential part of the hypothesis).

The Source Texts
 J – the Yahwehist text, so named because of its consistent
use of ‫יהוה‬ (YHVH, in German JHWH) as God’s name.
 E – the Elohist text, so named because of its consistent
use of ‫אלהים‬ (Elohim) to refer to God.
 P – the Priestly text, evidencing special vocabulary, priestly
concerns.
 D – the Deuteronomistic text, Deuteronomy through Kings,
plus Jeremiah; has much different style, repetitions of J+E.
R – the Redactor, the scribe or group of scribes who compiled
and edited the canonical version of the Pentateuch.

The J (Yahwehist) Source
 It always uses the “personal” name of God, Yaweh - ‫יהוה‬
 God is described in human terms; he walks on earth, talks to
humans directly, debates them, worries about Adam’s mental health
 Episodic, narrative emphasis – good stories
 God describes himself as kind, merciful, compassionate,
longsuffering, faithful, forgiving of iniquity, transgression and sin
 Still, Yahweh is a warrior god, moody -- even tries to kill Moses at
one point because Moses forgot to circumcise his son!
 The core theology is God’s unconditional covenant with Abraham:
the promise of land, promise of “great nation” and many
descendants, promise of blessings and redemption.

The E (Elohist) Source
 It always uses God’s title, Elohim – ‫,אלהים‬ or El - ‫אל‬
 Frequent appearance of angels
 Sets ancestral stories in the North / Israel
 Favorable attitude to the Northern Tribes
 Unfavorable attitude to Samaritans’ claim of pre-eminence
in Israel

J Source vs. E Source
J Source E Source
Inhabitants of Palestine Canaanites Amorites
Moses’ father-in-law Reuel Jethro
God’s residence Sinai Horeb
Isaac’s son Israel Jacob

The P (Priestly) Source
 Concerned with priestly matters - ritual law, shrines,
sacrifices, and genealogies
 Formal, repetitive style
 God is majestic, transcendent; does not interact
directly with humans
 God does love the smell of a good burnt offering!
 Emphasizes crucial role of priests for all aspects of
religion and law
 Emphasizes centralization of all sacrifices in Jerusalem
 Absolute proscription of intermarriage
 The words “mercy,” “grace,” “repentance” and “kindness” never appear

The D (Deuteronomist) Source
 An entirely separate work
 Same author(s) as Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings
 Recapitulation and reworking of J, E and P
 Traditions of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) brought to the
south after the Assyrian conquest of the north
 Embraces nationalist reforms of King Josiah
 Portrays God’s covenant with Israel as contingent; if Israelites
are unfaithful they will lose their land and God’s support
 Provides an explanation of the fall of Jerusalem, the disaster
of the Babylonian conquest and exile: the Jews deserve their
sufferings

Key Dates in Torah History
 ca. 1050-930 BCE: David, Solomon; Unified North and South;
“Golden Age;” construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem
 ca. 930 BCE: Division into Israel (North) and Judah (South)
 721 BCE: Northern Kingdom (Israel) conquered by the Assyrians
 715-686 BCE: King Hezekiah of Judah (reformer)
 701 BCE: Siege of Jerusalem by Assyria (Sennacherib)
 641-609 BCE: King Josiah of Judah (reformer)
 586 BCE: Destruction of the First Temple, by Babylon
(Nebuchadnezzer II)
 587-518 BCE: Babylonian captivity (ca. 70 years)
 540 BCE: Conquest of Babylon by Persia
 538-332 BCE: Return from Babylon to Israel
 516 BCE: Second Temple built

Dating the JEPD/JPDP Sources
 Before 10th C BCE – Earlier oral and written sources
 ca. 850 BCE: J Source written (Southern Kingdom)
 ca. 850 BCE: E Source written (Northern Kingdom)
 ca. 690 BCE: P Source written – Before Temple Destruction
[following Friedman rather than Wellhausen]
 ca. 622-ca. 516 BCE: D Source written – Before Temple
Destruction and after, during exile
 [ca. 450 BCE: P Source written – After Temple Destruction]
 ca. 450 BCE: 5 books of Torah compiled by “Redactor”
NB: All dates are estimates and controversial.

So, here is the JEPD “narrative” …
 J: During the relatively stable years of
King David and King Solomon (1000–922 BC),
scribes in the royal court and Temple (the
two were intimately connected) began to
capture the Israelites’ oral histories and religious
stories in writing, the beginning of the J source.
 E: After the brief civil war following Solomon’s death (922 BC),
there were two kingdoms. Judah (the southern kingdom) kept
or continued the written tradition (J), and the northern kingdom
developed an alternative written tradition (E).

The JEPD “narrative” continued …
 JE: After the northern kingdom was conquered and destroyed by
the Assyrians (721 BC), Israelite refugees fled to Jerusalem,
bringing their written tradition (E) with them. Seeking to capture the
truths of both the J and E sources, a new tradition was created by
combining the two. This theoretical source is called the JE source.
 P: During the reign of King Hezekiah (715-686 BCE),
in part as a response to JE and to document
“correct” religious practices, priests in Judah wrote
their own more extensive version of the Torah,
creating the “P” source (ca. 690 BCE). The “P”
Source restricts all worship to the Aaronite line of
priests in the Temple at Jerusalem.

The JEPD “narrative” continued …
 D: King Josiah (649-609 BCE) implemented religious
reforms, and the first part of the D source (Dtr1) was
written then, before the exile. Dtr1 promotes
centralized worship in Jerusalem and role of priests.
The second part (Dtr2) was written during the exile/post exile
period (538 BCE). Dtr2 explains why God punished the
Israelites by allowing the Babylonian conquest.
 R: After the return from the Babylonian exile (518 BCE), a
scribe (“the Redactor”) edits together JE, P and D into a single
narrative. Since all previous source texts were well-known and
had supporters, the source texts couldn’t simply be ignored

Post-Exile Need for a New Torah
 The Persians urged Jews to return to Judah under the
leadership of Ezra and Nechemyah and practice their
religion.
 There was the need to affirm and revive Jewish
religious practice after the disruptions of exile.
 There were three different “torahs”: JE, P, and D.
Aaronid priests, who were in authority, wanted a single,
coherent religious text.

But why edit the source texts together?
Richard Friedman suggests: By the end of the Babylonian
exile “all of the sources were ‘famous.’ J and E had been around for
centuries and were quoted in D. P had been around since
Hezekiah’s days, it had been associated with a national reform, and
it had the support of the priesthood that was in power. D had been
read publicly in the days of Josiah, and it contained a law requiring
that it be read again publicly every seven years. How could the
Redactor have left any of these out? The issue again was successful
promulgation. Who would have believed that it was the Torah of
Moses if it did not include the famous stories of Adam and Eve (J),
the golden calf (E), Phinehas (P), and Moses’ farewell speech?”

The editorial process?
 Making disparate elements flow comfortably
together
 Deciding what to do with problems of
repetitions and contradictions
 Combining some doubles into single stories,
segmenting and weaving
 Shaping other doubles into parallel stories
 Providing continuity
 Arranging events in what was understood as the correct
historical sequence
 Adding some passages to enhance transitions and combinations
 Reconciling opposing sources when possible

So who was the wise, brilliant, knowledgeable
and talented Redactor who finally edited the
JEPD source texts together into the Torah that
was handed down to us?
WHO WROTE THE BIBLE?

Ezra (maybe)
Ezra (fl. 480–440 BC) was an Aaronid
priest, lawgiver and scribe.
He came back from Babylon as “a scribe
expert in the Teaching of Moses which
the Lord God of Israel had given, whose
request the king [Artaxerxes of Persia]
had granted in its entirety… Ezra had
dedicated himself to study the Teaching
of the Lord [set his heart to seeking out
Yahweh’s Torah].”
(Ezra 7)
Codex Amiatinus. early 8th C. CE

Ezra! Evidence?
 Ezra 7-10 and Neh. 8 describe how Ezra returned
from the Babylonian exile and reintroduced the
Torah in Jerusalem (Ezra 7-10 and Neh. 8).
 In the non-canonical Fourth Book of Ezra, Ezra restores the law
that was destroyed with the burning of the Temple in Jerusalem.
He dictates 24 books for the public (i.e. most of the Tanakh) and
another 70 for the wise alone (70 unnamed revelatory works).
 St. Jerome, the first translator of the Bible into Latin, in the 4th C.
CE said: “whether you choose to call Moses the author of the
Pentateuch or Ezra the renewer of the same work, I raise no
objections.”

Alternatives to the Documentary Hypothesis
 The Fragmentary Model - Pentateuch grew through the
gradual accretion of material into larger and larger blocks
before being joined together, first by a Deuteronomic writer (in
the late 7th century BCE), and then by a Priestly writer (6th/5th
century BCE), who also added his own material.
 The Supplementary Model – The “J Source” is a complete
document composed in the 6th century BCE as an introduction
to the Deuteronomistic history (the history of Israel that takes
up the series of books from Joshua to Kings). The Priestly
writers later added supplements to this (hence the term
"supplementary") in a process that continued down to the end
of the 4th century BCE.

The Synthesis of the Torah
 The Torah is in every way greater than the sum of its parts; it is a synthesis of history,
religion and literature, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in tension.
 The Torah is our core foundational text, regardless of the details of its origins.
 Torah scholarship is ongoing, with new techniques of linguistic analysis and new
archeological discoveries, which will increase our understanding of the Torah -- and
probably also multiply the questions we have about it.
 The Torah cannot be a single, static document; it is the experience of our multiple
personal encounters with it over time, together with the commentaries of those who have
sought to interpret it over the centuries.
 Understanding more about the context in which the Torah was written can help increase
our understanding of the lessons and truths we can draw from it.

Bibliography
 Finkelstein, Israel and Neil Asher Silberman. The Bible Unearthed: Archeology’s New Vision of
Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts. New York: Simon and Schuster/Touchstone,
2002. Print.
 Friedman, Richard Elliott. The Bible With Sources Revealed. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.
Print.
 ---. Who Wrote the Bible? 2nd ed. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997. Print.
 ---. Who Wrote the Flood Story? In: The Bible’s Buried Secrets. WGBH / PBS / Nova, aired
March 25, 2015. Online: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bible/flood.html
 Robinson, George. Essential Torah: a Complete Guide to the Five Books of Moses. New York:
Schocken Books, 2006. Ebook.
 Rosenberg, David, translator; introduction and commentary by Harold Bloom. The Book of J.
New York: Grove Press, 1990. Print.
NB: All images and screenshots are from the Internet and may be covered by copyright. They are
used in this presentation for educational purposes under the Fair Use provisions of the U.S.
Copyright Law.

Who Wrote the Bible? or, A Serious Romp Through the Graf-Wellhausen-Friedman Documentary Hypothesis -- May 5, 2015

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