Who Wrote The Pentateuch?

Taken From:  http://www.religioustolerance.org/

History of the Documentary Hypothesis:

Both Judaism and Christianity assumed that the Pentateuch -- the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) were written by Moses, as the Bible itself states. However, in recent centuries, alternative authorship has been proposed. The documentary hypothesis is now accepted by essentially all mainline and liberal theologians.

  • 11th Century CE: Isaac ibn Yashush suggested that the list of the Edomite kings in Genesis 36 was added by an unknown person after Moses died. For this assertion, he became known as "Isaac the Blunderer." 1
  • 15th Century: Bishop Tostatus suggested that certain passages were written by one of the prophets, not by Moses.
  • 16th Century: Andreas van Maes suggested that an editor added additional material to some of Moses' writings.
  • 17th Century: Thomas Hobbes prepared a collection of passages that seemed to negate Moses' authorship.
  • 18th Century: Three investigators (Witter, Astruc and Eichhorn) independently concluded that doublets in the Torah were written by two different authors. A doublet is a story that is described twice, as in:
    • the two creation stories in Genesis
    • two descriptions of the covenant between God and Abraham
    • two stories about the naming of Isaac
    • two stories about the renaming of Jacob
    • two versions of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20 & Deuteronomy 5)
    • two accounts of Moses' striking the rock at Meribah

    These doublets appeared to contradict each other. In most cases, one referred to God as Yahweh while  the other used the term Elohim.

  • 19th Century: Scholars noticed that there were a few triplets in the Torah. This indicated that a third author was involved. Then, they determined that the book of Deuteronomy was written in a different language style from the remaining 4 books in the Pentateuch. Finally, by the end of the 19th Century, liberal scholars reached a consensus that 4 authors and one redactor (editor) had been actively involved in the writing of the Pentateuch.
  • 20th Century: Academics have continued to refine the Documentary Hypothesis by identifying which verses (and parts of verses) were authored by the various writers. They have also attempted to uncover the names of the authors. In 1943, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu in which he urged academics to study the sources of Biblical texts. Recent archaeological discoveries and new linguistic analysis tools have facilitated the research into the hypothesis.

Belief in the documentary hypothesis was triggered by a number of factors, such as:

  • Anachronisms, like the  list of the Edomite kings
  • Duplicate and triplicate passages.
  • Various passages portrayed God in different ways.
  • The flood story appears to involve the meshing of two separate stories
  • The belief, centuries ago, by archaeologists and linguists that writing among the ancient Hebrews only developed after the events portrayed in the Pentateuch. Thus, Moses would have been incapable of writing the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures.

These factors led theologians to the conclusion that the Pentateuch is a hybrid document which was written well after Moses' death, and much later than the events portrayed. The authors and redactors are unknown. As it happens, their belief about Moses being illiterate is probably wrong. Archaeological evidence has since been found which shows that all of the major civilizations surrounding the Hebrews were literate at the apparent time of the Exodus. So one can assume that Moses knew how to read and write.

bullet J: a writer who used Yahweh/Jehovah as the divine name.
bullet E: a writer who used Elohim as the divine name. *
bullet P: a writer who added material of major interest to the priesthood.
bullet D: the author of the book of Deuteronomy. *
bullet R: a redactor who welded the contributions of J, E and P together into the present Pentateuch.

Writing by various authors, according to the documentary hypothesis:

  • J: a writer who
    • focuses on humanity in his writing
    • might possibly have been a woman. His/her writing shows much greater sensitivity towards women than does E
    • regularly used "JHWH" as God's name
    • describes God in anthropomorphic terms: God formed Adam from clay; he walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden; he spoke to Moses.
    • lived in the southern kingdom of Judah, during an early period of Israel's history when they followed a nature/fertility religion. May have been a member of the Judean court.
    • wrote a more or less complete story of the history of the Israelites from a Judean perspective
    • J was probably written between 848 BCE (when King Jehoram gained power in Judah) and 722 BCE when the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom Israel and took its people into exile. Some scholars date J to the 10th century BCE.
  • E: a writer who
    • writes about religious and moralistic concerns
    • in all probability was a man
    • consistently used "Elohim" as God's name
    • lived in the northern kingdom of Israel
    • wrote a more or less complete story of the history of the Israelites from the perspective of the northern kingdom
    • probably wrote between 922 and 722 BCE
    • may have been a priest from Shiloh who viewed Moses as his spiritual ancestor. 2
  • D: a writer who
    • lived after J and E, because he was familiar with later developments in Israel's history. He lived at a time when the religion of ancient Israel was in its spiritual/ethical stage, about 622 BCE.
    • wrote almost all of book of Deuteronomy, as well as Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings. A second writer edited the original text after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BCE. He added the last two chapters to 2 Kings and inserted short passages elsewhere to reflect the change in circumstances brought about by the Babylonian attack.
    • lived in Judah - probably in Jerusalem
    • was probably a Levitical priest - perhaps Jeremiah
  • P: a writer who
    • focused his writings on God
    • added material from a priestly perspective. It discusses priests' lives, religious rituals, dates, measurements, chronologies, genealogies, worship and law.
    • was a priest who identified Aaron as his spiritual ancestor
    • views God as a distant, transcendent  deity, less personal than in J and E; sometimes harsh and critical. The words "mercy," "grace" and "repentance" do not appear in his writing; they appear about 70 times in J, E, and D.
    • was displeased with the work of J and E and wrote P as an alternative history
    • rejected the concepts of angels, dreams and talking animals that are seen in J & E
    • believed that only Levites who were descended from Aaron could be priests
    • lived after J, E and D because he was aware of the books of the Prophets which were unknown to the others. Lived when the country's religion reached a priestly/legal stage, before the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE.
    • patterned his writing after the topics in J and E.
  • R: a redactor who
    • was an Aaronid priest and thus definitely a male
    • joined the writings of J, E, P and D together into the present Pentateuch.

How the Pentateuch evolved, according to the documentary hypothesis:

Friedmann suggests that when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom in 722 BCE, many refugees streamed south into Judea, bringing their sacred writing "E" with them. Subsequently, E and J were combined into a single document, referred to as "JE."

D was written perhaps a century later. It was conveniently "discovered" in the temple by the priest Hilkiah in 622 BCE, shortly after it was written. D was then joined with JE

P was written before the death of King Josiah in 609 BCE, probably during the reign of King Hezekiah. It was written as an alternative to JE.

R combined J, E, P and other documents together into the first four books of the Hebrew Scriptures. To this, he added D's writings, the book of Deuteronomy, to complete the Pentateuch. By the time that he did the editing, the JE, D and P documents were in wide circulation. Each was supported by various factions. R saw his task as attempting to join these sources together into a more or less cohesive, single document. Friedmann suspects that Ezra was the redactor.

First Ten Chapters of Genesis With Highlighted Authors

Color Code

bullet J: a writer who used Yahweh/Jehovah as the divine name.
bullet E: a writer who used Elohim as the divine name. *
bullet P: a writer who added material of major interest to the priesthood.
bullet D: the author of the book of Deuteronomy. *
bullet R: a redactor who welded the contributions of J, E and P together into the present Pentateuch.

CHAPTER 1

1    (P) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2    And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3    And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4    And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5    And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6    And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7    And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8    And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9    And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10    And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11    And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12    And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13    And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14    And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15    And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16    And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17    And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18    And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19    And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20    And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21    And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22    And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23    And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24    And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25    And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26    And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27    So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28    And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29    And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30    And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31    And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

CHAPTER 2

1    Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2    And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3    And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4    (R) These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, (J) in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5    And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6    But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7    And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8    And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9    And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10    And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11    The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12    And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13    And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14    And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15    And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16    And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17    But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
18    And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19    And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20    And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21    And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22    And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23    And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24    Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25    And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

 

CHAPTER 3

1    (J) Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2    And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3    But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4    And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5    For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6    And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7    And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8    And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
9    And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10    And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11    And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12    And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13    And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14    And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15    And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16    Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17    And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18    Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19    In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
20    And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
21    Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22    And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23    Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24    So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

CHAPTER 4

1    (J) And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
2    And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3    And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4    And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5    But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6    And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7    If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
8    And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
9    And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
10    And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
11    And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
12    When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
13    And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14    Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
15    And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
16    And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
17    And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
18    And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.
19    And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
20    And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.
21    And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.
22    And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.
23    And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
24    If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
25    And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
26    And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

CHAPTER 5

1    (R) This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
2    Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
3    And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
4    And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:
5    And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
6    And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:
7    And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:
8    And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.
9    And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:
10    And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:
11    And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.
12    And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel:
13    And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
14    And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.
15    And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:
16    And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:
17    And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.
18    And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:
19    And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
20    And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.
21    And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
22    And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
23    And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
24    And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
25    And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:
26    And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:
27    And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
28    And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
29    (J) And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
30    (R) And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
31    And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
32    And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

CHAPTER 6

1    (J) And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2    That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3    And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4    There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5    And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6    And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7    And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8    But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9    (P) These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
10    And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11    The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12    And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13    And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14    Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
15    And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
16    A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
17    And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18    But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.
19    And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
20    Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
21    And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22    Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

 

GENESIS CHAPTER 7: The story of the great flood:

Chapter 7 and 8 are of particular interest, as the text switches frequently between the two main authors. The Redactor seems to have wanted to preserve both the J and P accounts more or less intact. As a result, the text is quite repetitious:

  • In verses 7 and 13, J and P each describes Noah and family entering the ark.
  • In verses 10 and 11, J and P both describe the start of the rains.
  • In verses 17 and 18, J describes the increase of the waters and floating of the ark twice.
  • In verses 21, 22 and 23, J and P describe the drowning of the people and animals.

There are some conflicts in the stories which the redactor apparently decided to let stand:

  • In Genesis 7:19-20 and Genesis 7:15 "P" lists two of every species. But in Genesis 7:2-3 "J" specifies 7 pairs of clean animals and birds and 1 pair of unclean animals.
  • In Genesis 7:4, "J" describes the flood as being created by rain. In Genesis 7:11. "P" describes how it is formed rather from two sources:
    • "the fountains of the great deep" which was a great ocean that the ancient Israelites believed existed under the earth. and
    • "the windows of the heavens" when they were opened.

One or more verses from J are followed by one or more verses from P. If you read only the J verses, then you will get a coherent story. If you read just the P verses, you will see a consistent but slightly different story:

 
 
Verses by J Verses by P and by R
 1    And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
2    Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
3    Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4    For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
5    And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. 		 
  6    (R) And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
 7    And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.  
  8    (P) Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9    There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.  
  11   (P)  In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12   And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.  
  13   (P)  In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14    They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15    And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16    And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him:  
16 (Cont'd) and the LORD shut him in.
17    And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18    And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19    And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20    Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.		  
  21  (P)  And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22    All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23    And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 		 
  24  (P)  And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
 

CHAPTER 8

Again, we see frequent alterations between J and P.

  • Verses 1 and 2 contains duplicate descriptions of the ending of the rain.
  • Verses 13 and 14 give two dates when the ground was dry; the dates conflict.
  • Verses 21-22 and Genesis 9, verses 9-17 each mention that God will not engage again in mass genocide and extermination of (almost) all living animals - at least through the use of a flood.

 

Verses by J Verses by P and by R
  1   (P) And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;
2    The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped,
2 (Cont'd) and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3    And the waters returned from off the earth continually:		  
  3 (P) (Cont'd) and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4    And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
5    And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
6    And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:  
  7 (P)  And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8    Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9    But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
10    And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11    And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12    And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. 		 
  13   (P)  And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth:
13 (Cont'd)...and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.  
  14   (P)  And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
15    And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16    Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
17    Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
18    And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19    Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
20    And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21    And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
22    While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. 		 

CHAPTER 9

1    (P) And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2    And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3    Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4    But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5    And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6    Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
7    And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
8    And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9    And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10    And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11    And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12    And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13    I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14    And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15    And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16    And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17    And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
18    (J) And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19    These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20    And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21    And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22    And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23    And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24    And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25    And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26    And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27    God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
28    (R) And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29    And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

CHAPTER 10

1    (R) Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: (P) and unto them were sons born after the flood.
2    The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
3    And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
4    And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5    By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
6    And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
7    And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
8    (J) And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
9    He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
10    And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11    Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
12    And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
13    And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
14    And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
15    And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
16    And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
17    And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18    And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
19    And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
20   (P) These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
21    (J) Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
22    (P) The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
23    And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
24    (J) And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
25    And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.
26    And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazar-maveth, and Jerah,
27    And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
28    And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
29    And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
30    And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east.
 31    (P) These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
32    These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Some clues that Moses didn't write the Pentateuch, according to liberal theologians:

As mentioned elsewhere in this website, many Christian and Jewish conservatives believe that Moses is the sole author of the Pentateuch and that he was inspired directly by God to write text that is free of error. Other theologians have claimed that there is some internal evidences in the Bible that these conclusions are invalid:

  • Theologians were prompted to develop the Documentary Hypothesis as a result of observing the presence of doublets in the Pentateuch. These are pairs of stories which occur in two separate locations in the text. The doublets generally do not agree fully; there are usually minor differences between the stories. R.E.  Friedman, in his 1997 book "Who Wrote the Bible?" lists a number of them:
    • Two creation stories in Genesis.
    • Two descriptions of the Abrahamic covenant.
    • Two stories of the naming of Isaac.
    • Two instances where Abraham deceived a king by introducing his wife Sarah as his sister.
    • Two stories of Jacob traveling to Mesopotamia
    • Two stories of a revelation at Beth-el to Jacob.
    • Two accounts of God changing Jacob's name to Israel
    • Two instances where Moses extracted water from two different rocks at two different locations called Meribah.

    It is difficult to account for so many doublets -- most containing slight discrepancies -- if all five books were written over a short interval of time by Moses or by any other single individual. Liberal theologians reasoned that a much more logical explanation is that the books were written by multiple authors who lived long after the events described. That would have allowed the oral tradition to be passed from generation to generation in different areas of the land so that they had a chance to deviate from each other before being written down. In a few cases, triplets have been found in the Pentateuch where the same accounts appears three times. 10

  • Genesis 7:15: In the story of the Flood, these verses have Noah collecting two of each species of animals -- one male and one female . Genesis 7:2-3 specifies 7 pairs of clean animals and birds and 1 pair of unclean animals.
  • Genesis 7:11 describes water coming from the heavens and from below the ground to generate the worldwide flood. However, Genesis 7:4 describes all of the water falling as rain.
  • Genesis 7:11, 7:17, 7:24 and 8:3 specify different intervals for the flood duration which have no apparent resolution. 11
  • Genesis 11:31 This describes Abraham as living in the city Ur, and associates that location with the Chaldeans. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Chaldeans did not exist as a tribe at the time of Abraham; they rose to power much later, during the 1st millennium BCE.
  • Genesis 14:14: This verse refers to Abram pursuing some surviving kings of Sodom and Gomorrah to the city of Dan. However, that place name did not exist until a long time after Moses' death. Other locations are also identified in the Pentateuch by names that were invented long after the death of Moses.
  • Genesis 22:14: The verse states: "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day..." There are many verses in the Torah that state that something has lasted "to this day". That appears to have been written by a writer who composed the passages long after the events described, and long after Moses' death.
  • Genesis 36 contained a list of Edomite kings which included some monarchs who were in power after Moses' death. R.E. Friedman wrote: "In the eleventh century, Isaac ibn Yashush, a Jewish court physician of a ruler in Muslim Spain, pointed out that a list of Edomite kings that appears in Genesis 36 named kings who lived long after Moses was dead. Ibn Yashush suggested that the list was written by someone who lived after Moses. The response to his conclusion was that he was called "Isaac the blunderer." History has proven him to be correct, at least as viewed by most mainline and liberal theologians. 9
  • Exodus 33:7 describes Moses entering the Tabernacle. Yet, the Tabernacle had not yet been built; its subsequent construction is described in Exodus 35.
  • Numbers 12:3: This verse states "Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth." (NKJ) If Moses were that humble, it is unlikely that he would have described himself in these glowing terms.
  • Numbers 25:1 which describes the rebellion at Peor referred to Moabite women; Numbers 25:6 14 refers to Midianites.
  • Deuteronomy 34:5-9: These verses describe the death, burial, age at death, physical condition at death, and morning period for Moses. It is difficult for an individual to describe events at and after his or her death. Some have suggested that this portion of the Pentateuch (and only this portion) was written later by Joshua. However, R.E. Friedman wrote: "...in the sixteenth century, Carlstadt, a contemporary of Luther, commented that the account of Moses' death is written in the same style as texts that precede it. This makes it difficult to claim that Joshua or anyone else merely added a few lines to an otherwise Mosaic manuscript." 9
  • Deuteronomy 34:10 This states "There has never been another prophet like Moses..." (NLT) This sounds like a passage written long after Moses' death. Enough time would have had to pass for many other prophets to have arisen, to passed from the scene, and to have been evaluated.

 

 

  • J (standing for what the documentary hypothesists would term Jahwist) supposedly lived about 900–850 BC. He/she/they allegedly gathered the myths and legends of Babylon and other nations, and added them to the ‘camp-fire stories’ of the Hebrews, producing those biblical passages where the Hebrew letters YHWH (‘Jehovah’) are used as the name of God.

  • E (standing for Elohist) supposedly lived about 750–700 BC in the northern kingdom (Israel), and wrote those passages where ’Elohim is used as the word for God.

  • D supposedly wrote most of Deuteronomy, probably the book found in the temple in Jerusalem in 621 BC. (2 Kings 22:8).

  • P supposedly represents a Priest (or priests) who lived during the exile in Babylon and allegedly composed a code of holiness for the people.

  • Various editors R (from German Redakteur) supposedly put it all together.

 

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References:

  1. Kesey Graves, "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors: Christianity Before Christ," Adventures Unlimited Press, (2001), Page 291. Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
  2. The book of Genesis from the King James Version of the Bible.
  3. R.E. Friedman, "Who Wrote the Bible?" HarperCollins, (1997), Pages 246-247. Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
  4. R.E. Friedman, "The hidden book in the Bible: The discovery of the first prose masterpiece," Haper San Francisco. Review/order this book. The author traces the "J" component of the first four books of the Bible. He writes:  "Readers have an opportunity to see the first great prose writer's full achievement; an epic work of the struggle between God and humans. and between good and bad."