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    WhoWroteTheBible PDF

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    Lefa Doctormann Ralethohlane

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 8
    ! Who— Wrote the Bible? w Richard Elliott Friedman CCopigh © 1967 by Richa Fede ‘Alls sed Inca the i of epacton lho prt nay frm abated by SUMMIT BOOKS {A Dion of Son Ste, Sinan & Schaner Baling 130 Avenue the Amare New Yo, New York 1020 SUMMIT BOOKS and clogon are rademaks ef Simon & Sete, Ie Desged by lig Peis Asecines Map by One Get else in the Unied Sots of Ameen woe Te s4 32 Fednan lca Elio "Whew the Bie? Dosen Trees ines Mle O Femateuh—Autoniip. 2. Bie OT Hite ncls—Authonhi 3. ible OT. Penotech Cie, teeta, 2-4. Bible OT. Hite aks~Crtcan, erection, 5. Docmetry ype (Petar ten) ina ESLLIS2675 1967 227-1065 67.1978 ISovosrias6s ‘Thisbook i dedicated to Reva A. Friedman and Lasine Frenan Linn, ‘with love. CHAPTER 2 JandE Two Clues Converge “Two and hal shoud ya afer the ven that | dese in the lt chap tok pace, tive investor f who wrote the Bible each independently mae he sme dacovery One es mit ‘sex, ne wae a pisclan, and one wa peo The deanery tha they ll made my eae don the combination fo pieces of evidence: debi andthe name of Go. They saw sat there were aparently wo version cach of ne ner of lea sores to account he eet, so secu of ech of ever sores stot the patch Abrsan sod Jac and w on Then they ovced that, te efter, one othe two verona srr ‘oul ero Goby one name and she oar econ wuld el Salty dient rie in the ease of the creation, fr example, the fit chapter ofthe Bible els one verano how the wok came tobe ceed the second chapter ofthe Bie sae over with diferent weno of ‘at happen. In many ways they dplce each then and ot sever pois they contrat each ctr For examples they de 0 Jond 3 seribe the sme evens in diferent onder. Inthe fst version, God treater planes et then animals, then ean anal woman, Inthe Second version, God erates sna fist, Then he efeates plans. ‘Then, s0 thatthe man should not be alone, Gal erates amas ‘Aad le, ser the man dos no Bnd a satsfactory mate among the tnimals, God erates woman. And so we have: Genes 1 Genesis 2 plants an imal plas tan &woonen ania ‘The oo stories have two diferent pictures of what Kappened. Now, the three inventigatos noticed that the fist version of the creation story always refers othe creator a& Gal—thiy ve ees “The second version aways refers to him by his name, Yahweh God— leven times, The fst vemion never cals him Yabwsh; the second ‘version never call im God Teter comes the star ofthe great flood and Noah’ ark, and it too, can be separated into two complete versions thar someines ‘plcare each other and sometimes contalit each ether? And, taztin, one version alway calls the deity God, andthe other version alway call im Yahweh. There ae fro versions of the story of the ‘onvenanbesween the deity and Abram.’ And, once aga, in one the deity introduces himself as Yahweh, and in one he introduces Inielf ax God. And so on. The investigators saw tha they were not simply dealing with «book the repeated ics great deal sed they inet not deling witha Toor collection of srnewhat sea stoi. “They had discovered to separate wotks that someone had ext Up and combined into one By WHO WROTE THE slate? ‘The Discovery of the Sources ‘Theft ofthe thee persons who mae this dacovery was a German ‘mine, Henning Berahard Witter, i I7I1. His book enade very Tile impact and wos in fet forgotten unt was rediscovered eneuis lates, tn 1924 ‘The aecond person to seit was Jean Astrc, «French profesor of| smolicine and court physician 0 Loui XV. He published his ings a the age of seventy, anonymously in Brassard secret in Pais i 1753. His book, too, made very tle impression on anyone, Some blitled it pethaps partly because i was by a medical doctor and not bya schol. Bue when a third perion, who was a scholar, made the same dis covery and published iin 1780, the work culo lenge ignore ie ‘The chin person was Johann Gotered Eichhorn, «known and re spected scholar in Germany andthe son of a pator. He called dhe soup of biblical stories that refered ta the deity a8 Gal *E” be: ‘aus the Hebrew word for God it El or Elohim. He called the group ‘of stories that refered eo the dely a8 Yahwsh J" (which in Grin 's pronounced like English ¥). “The iden thatthe Bible's ealy history was a combination of co ‘xiginally separate works by ewo diferent people lasted nly eighteen ears. Pracialy before anyone had» chance co consider he mpl cations ofthis ea fr the Bible and eligin, investigators discov cred that the fis five books of the Bible were not in fac, cven by tuo writess—they were by fo ‘They discovered that E was not one but two sources, The two had looked ike only one because the both eae the deity Elohim, aot Yahweh, Buc the investigators now noticed that within che propo stores that called the deity Elie there wee stl doubles. These ere alo diferences of stl, diferences of language, and differences ‘of ineress. In short, the same kinds of evidence thot had led to the aliscovery of | and E now led tothe discovery of thd source that had been hidden within E. The dferences of incre were intigu= Jing. This thi see of stories seemed to be particularly Ince In ‘ess. It contained stories about pret, Ine about pret mates Jend 3 of tinal, sacriice, incenseburming, and purty, and concer with dates, numbers, and measurements This source therfore came to be known asthe Priestly source —for shore, P “The sources J, Ey and P were fund co flow trough the fist four of the five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviews, and Numbers However, there was hardly 2 trae of them inthe ith bok, Deuteronomy except fra few lines in the Inst chapers. Deu- teronomy is writen in an ently diferent syle fom those of the ‘ther four books. The diferencer ae obvious even in tanalation. ‘The vocabulary is diferent. There are diferent recuring expesions snd fveite phrases. Thee ate doublets of whole sections ofthe ist orto There we Hae cngee of et bree ed the others: Even par of che wording ofthe Ten Commandments is diferent. Deuteronomy appeared to be independent, 2 fourth source Iwas called “The discovery thatthe Torah of Moses was realy four works that thal once been separate was not necessarily a eit in il Afer all, che New Testament also began with four Gospels—Matthew, ‘Mark, Lak, and John cach of which tld the story ints own Way ‘Why then was there such a hostile reaction, armor Christians and Jews, tothe idea thatthe Old Testament (oe Hebvew Buble) mighe begin with four “gospels” a well) The diference was thatthe He- brew Bible's fur souree had been combine so intricately and ae- czpted as Moses’ owe wing fr Solon, abou two thousand ears: the new discoveries were fying in the face of an old, accepted, sacred tradition. The biblical investigators were unraveling a bey ‘woven garment, and none knew where these new investigations ‘would lend The Story of Noah—Twice ‘Ths ft tn of th ble ad sexton» wn of compotion as any book on earth Imagine assigning four different people to write # book on the same subject, then taking thee four Sieren versions and cutting them yp end combining thes into one fog, continuous account, then elaiming tha the seount wa al by ” Wo WROTE THE siete? ‘one peron. Then imagine giving the book to detectives and leaving ther to gue out (I) that the Book was not by one person, (2) that ‘was by four, (3) who the four were, and (4) who cambined them, For those readers who want wo geta better sent of how this lok, {have trandated the biblical story of Noack, ast ppeaesin Gen ‘sis, with its wo sources printed in two different kinds of type. The food story isa combination ofthe J soues and the P source.) is fringe herein regular type, and P is princed in boldface epi, I You ead ether source fom beginning tend, and then go beck and ead the ther one, you wll beable to see for yours two complete, ‘ontinaous 2ecouns, each with its own vocabulary and concems ‘The Flood—Genesis (Priestly cext in boface capitals, J ext in eget rype) 58:22 comes 6 5 And Yahweh saw that the evil of humans was great in the etch, apd all the inclination of the thought oftheir heat was only ei a the day. 6 And Yahweh regretted chat he had made humans inthe earth, and he was grieved to his heart 7_And Yahweh sid, “I sall wipe out the humans which Ihave created fom the face ofthe earth, from human to best to creeping thing to bid ofthe heavens, for rere that | have made ther. ™ {8 ButNoah found favor in Yahweh’ eyes 9) Tuese ans Tue GENERATIONS oF NOAH: NOAM WAS A RIOHT- OUS MAN, PERPECT 1N HIS CENERATIONS. NOAH WALKED WITH Goo. 10 AND Noa sinzo TaRsE sons: Std, HAM, AND JAPHETE. 11 Ax main Eanrt was CORRUPTED BEFORE GoD, AND THE [EARTH WAS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE. 12 AND Goo saw THE EARTH, AND HERE FF WAS CORRUPTED, FOR. ‘ALLIES HAD CORRUPTED ITS WAY ON THE EAT, Jond E 8 13. AND Goo satp To Noan, “Tie m0 OF ALL FLESH HAS COME [BEFORE ME, FOR THE EARTH Is FLLED WITH VIOLENCE BECAUSE OF “TDM, AND HERE TAD GOUNG TO DESTROY THE WITH THE EARTH. 114 MAKE YOURSELE AN ARK OF GOPHER WOOD, MAKE ROOMS WITH {THE ARK, AND PITCH IF OUTSIDE AND INSIDE WITH PCH. 15 AND THIS 1S HOW YOU SHALL wax 11: THREE MUNDRED CCOMITS THE LENGTH OF THE ARK, IT CUBITS ITS WIDTH, AND ‘TMURTY CUBIS FS HEIGHT. 16 YOu SHALL MAKE A WINDOW FOR THE ARK, AND YOU SHALL [IME TF TO A CUBIT PROM THE TOP, AND YOU SHALL MAKE AN EN "TRANCE TO THE ARKIN IS SIDE. YOU SHALL MAKE LOWER SECOND, AND-THIRD STORIES FORT. 17 AND MERE TAM BRINGING THE L000, WATER OVER THE EARTH, TO DESTROY ALL FLESH IN WHICH 18 THE BREATH OF LIE ‘toa UNDER TE HEAVENS. EVERYTHING WHICH I$ ON THE LAND 18 AnD [ StALL ESTABLISH My COVENANT WITH YOU. AND TOU SSIALL COME TO THE ARK, YOU AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR WIFE AND YOUR SONS" WIVES WITH YOU. 19 ANDOF ALL THELIVING, OF ALL FLESH, YOU SHALL BRING TWO TO-THE ARK TO KEEP ALIVE WITH YOU, THEY SHALL BE MALE AND 20. Op Trims ACCORDING TO THEIR KIND, AND OF THE BEASTS ‘ACCORDING TO THEIR KIND, AND OF ALL THE CREEPING THINGS OF {DUE EARTH ACCORDING TO THR XIND, TWO OF EACH WiLL COME ‘TOYOUTOXEEP ALIVE. 21. AND YOU, TAKE FOR YOURSELF OF ALL FOOD WHICH WiLL BE copes 7 1 And Yahweh sald wo Noah, “Come, you and all your household, tw the atk, for ave sen you as righteous before mein ths genera: 2 Ofall che clean eas, take yourself seven pais, man and his 36 WHO WROTE THE aInLEt woman; and of che beasts which ae not clan, two, man and his 3 Alo of the bid ofthe heavens seven pir, male and female, to beep alive seed on the fae ofthe earth. 4 For in seven more days I shall an on the earth fry aye ane fory nights, and {shall wipe out all dhe substance that have made from upon the face ofthe earth” 5. And Noah dil according to all that Yahweh had commanded him. 66_Ax NOAM WAS 81x HUNDRED YEARS OLD, AND THE FLOOD WAS 7. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons! wives with him ‘come tothe ark from before the waters of the fod, 8 Op rue coEAn ntAsts AND OF TE BEASTS WICH WERE NOT CLEAN, AND OF THE BIRDS AND OF ALL THORE WHICH CREEP UPON 9 “Two oF eacH caue To Noatt To THE AR, MALE AND FEMALE, ‘AS GOD HAD COMMANDED NOK. 10 And seven days ater che water of the fad were on the eath- 11s Tamstx nunoazprat vean oF Noas's LIFE, 2 THe SECOND MON, IN THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF THE MONT, ON Ts DAY ALL THE FOUNTAINS OF THE GREAT DEEP WERE BROKEN UP, AND THE ‘WINDOWS OF THE HEAVENS WE OPENED. 12 And there was rain on de earch, forty days and forty igh. 13 IW sas viny DAY, NOAH AND SHIM, HAM, AND JAPHETH, "THE SONS OF Noa, AND NOAH'S WIFE AND 8 SONS" TREE Wives Wire THEM CAKETO-THE ARK, 14 ‘Tay AND ALL THE LIVING THINGS ACCORDING TO THEIR {XIND, AND ALL THE BEASTS ACCORDING TO THEIR KIND, AND ALL "THE GREETING THINGS THAT CREEP ON TE EARTH ACCORDING TO ‘THEIR KIND, AND ALL THE BIRDS ACCORDING TO THEIR KIND, AND EVERY WINGED BIRD. 15 _AND'THEy caxee TO NOAM TO THE ARK, TWO OF EACH, OF ALL "LESH IN WINCH S THE BREATH OF LIE. 16 AND THOSE WICH CAME WERE MALE AND FEMALE, SME OF ‘ALL FLESH cave, 48 GOD HAD COMDANDED iD. And Yanch Closed ifr him, Jond E 7 17 Aad the flood was on the earth for fry daye and forty nights, and the waters mulepied and ried the ay and it was lite fom the earth, 18 And the waters grew strong and multiplied greatly on the earth, sand the ak went on the sac of the water. 19 And the waters grew very very strong on the earth, and they covered ll the high mountaine tha are under ll the heavens. 20 Fifteen cubits above, the waters grew stonger, and they cov ceed the mountains. 21 AND ALL FLESH, THOSE THAT CREEP ON THE EARTH, THE ‘unos, THE BEASTS, AND THE WILD ANIMALS, AND ALL THE SWARD: {NO THINGS THAT SWARM ON THE EARTH, AND ALL THE HUMANS 22. Everything that had the breathing sprit of ife kits nowt, ‘everything that was on the dry ground, died 1B And he wiped out ll che substance tha was onthe face ofthe can, from human to beast, to creeping thing, and to bid of the heavens, and hey were wiped out fom che earch and only Nock 1nd those who were with him inthe ark were lee 24 AND THE WATERS GREW STRONG ON THE EARTH A HUNDRED omnes 1 AND Goo ewenseneo NOAH AND ALL THE LIVING, AND ALL "TU BEASTS THAT WERE WIra IM INTHE ARK, AND GOD PASSeD A \WIND OVER THE EARTH, AND THE WATERS WERE DECREASED. 2. AND THe FOUNTAINS oF THE DEEP AND THE WINDOWS OF THE REAVENS WERESHUT, and te rain was resrined fom the heavens 3. And the waters receded fom the earth contin, AND THE [WATERS WERE ABATED AT TE END OF A HUNDRED FIFTY DAS, 4 _ AND TH ARK RESTED, INTHE SEVENTH MONTH IN THE SEVEN- ‘TEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, ON THEMOUNTAIN OF ARARAT. 5. AND TIM WATERS CONTINUED RECEDING UNTIL THE TENTH (MONT IN TH TENTH MONT, ON THE RST OF THE MONTH, THE ‘TOPS OF THE MOUNTAINS APPEARED. 6 And ic was a the end of forty days, and Nosh opened the win- dow ofthe ark which he bad made ss WHO WROTE THE miBtet 7__AND Me SENT OUT A RAVEN, AND IT WENT BACK AND FORTH {UNTIL THE WATERS DRI UP FROM THE EARTH 8 And he sent outa dove from him to see whether the waters had cexsed from the face ofthe earth 9 And che dove did not find a reting place for it oot, and it ‘returned to him fo the ak, for waters were onthe fae of the earth, ane pt ot his Band nd 0k and ogi 1 hn fo the 10 And he waited seven more days, au he again sent outa dove from the atk 11 And the dove came to him at evening ime, and here was an clive leaf torn offi its mouch, and Noah knew thatthe waters had ced from the earth, 12 And he waited seven moe days, and he sent out dove, andi «id noe return to him eve again. 1D _ AND IT WAS IN THE S0¢ HUNDRED AND FIRST YEAR, IN THE [UST MONT, ON THE MIST OF THE MONTH, THE WATERS DRIED "ROM THE EARTIL And Nosh turned back the covering of the ark sn loked, and here the face ofthe earth had dri. 4 AND IV TH SECOND MONT, ON THE TWHNTY-SEVENTH DAY 15. AND Gov sroxe To oat, saxtN, 16 *Goour mow THE ARK, YOU AND YOUR WIFE AND YOUR sos wives wim You. 17 AU. tue uvine TINGS THAT ARE WITH YOU, OF ALL LESH, (OF THE BIRDS, AND OF THE BEASTS, AND OF ALL THE CREBPING ‘THINGS THAT CREEP ON THE EARTH, THAT GO OUT wrTet YOU, SHALL SWARM IN THE EARTH AND BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY 18 AND NoAlt AND ns SONS AND HS WIFE AND Hts SONS WIVES 19 AU THe LIVING THINGS, ALL THE CREEPING THINGS AND ALL {TUE BIRDS, ALL THAT CREEP ON THE EARTH, BY TEIN FaQCLIES, ‘Tey WENT OUT OF THE ARK. 20 And Nosh bur an altar to Yahweh, and he took sme ofeach of th clean beats and of ech ofthe clan Bi, and he fled ‘aetfces onthe aka Jed E 9 21. Ana Yahweh smelled the pleaane smell, and Yahweh sid to his thar," shall not again cae the ground on mais account, for the Inclination ofthe human heat i evil fom dir your, and I shall ‘ot again serie al the living at U have done 22 Alle rest ofthe das ofthe earth, seed and harvest, and cold fand heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not Each in Its Own Words “The very fact hat i i posible to separate our two continuous stones lke this is remarkable self and es strong evidence for he hypothesis. One need only try to do the same thing with any ater book to see how impressive this phenomenon i. ‘Buc i sno oly chat es pssible to carve out two soles. What rmakes the ease 10 pomerl is that eich sory consiently ses ts ‘own language. The’? story (che one tn boldfe) consent refers to the deity as God, The J story always uses the name Yahweh. P refers co the sex ofthe animal with the words "male and fra” (Gen 6:19; 79,16). } wee the terms "man and hie worn” (7:2) a8 well as male and female. P say that everthing "expited™ (6:17; TRI). sas tha everything “ied” (7:2). “The two versions do not just dif on terminology. They der on actual details ofthe story. P has one pai of each kind of animal} has sven pats of clean animals and one gir of unclean animal {('Ctean” means ft for sacri, Sheep are clean ons are wnlean.) D pitas the food at lasting year (37 days. J says twas forty days and forty nights. P has Noah sen outa raven.) rye a dove. P sbviouly has a concern for ages, dates, and measutcrnnts in eb Joes not. Probably che mos emarkale difference ofall betwosn the two i heieiflerent way of pictaring God Ie not jt that they al he dery by diferent names.) pltures a deley who can regret things that he has done (66,7), which raises interesting theolgiesl ques. ons, such ss whether an all-powerful, allAnowing being would ver epee past actions. I pte a dley who canbe "gived to his © WHO WROTE THE pIBLe? heart” (66), who personaly closes the ark (7:16) and smells Nosh’s sscrifce (821). This andhrpomerphic quality of J is virculy eel lacking nF. There God is regarded more a transcendent controle ofthe univer “The two flood stores ate sepuable and complete, Each has is ‘own language es own deals, and even it own conception of Gd. ‘And even cat i not the whole pctre. The ] fod sory language, ‘etl, and conception of God ate consistent with the languoge, det, and conception of Godin other stories. The P food sory ‘consistent with other P stores. And #0 on. The investigator found ‘each ofthe sources to bea consistent collection of soley, poems, tnd law The Doorstep ‘The dicovery that there were four separ, intemally consistent documents came o be known asthe Documentary Hypothesis: The process was als called “Higher Citiciom.~" What had begun a a Mea by three men ofthe eighteenth century came ro dominate in ‘vestiacons of the Bible by dhe end ofthe nineteenth century, 1 huad taken centres of collecing clue to amve a this stage which one could ego as ely advanced or really gute minal,

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