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MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND EXTERNAL STUDIES

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION AND PEACE STUDIES.
COURSEWORK

COURSE CODE: RSD2103

COURSE NAME: THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
LECTURER: Dr. Hellen NAMBALIRWA
YEAR: TWO SEMESTER ONE
DATE: 8th/11/2018
NAME: REG NO: COURSE: SIGNATURE:
OKELLO CHARLES 16/U/2055 BAED
MAKEME CARO 17/U/5899/PS BAED
CHRISTINE
ALWEDO 17/U/11045/PS BAED
JACKLINE
KAMUSIIME 17/U/1782 BAED
RONALD
ABAHO PEDSON 17/U/1769 BAED
AJORE RECHO 17/U/2359/PS BAED
TUMWESIGYE 06/U/3277 BAED
EPHRAIM
ASAGO TEDDY 17/U/2964/PS BAED
WINFRED
KAMULI 11/U/14301/EVE BAED
PRISCILLA
QUESTION: WITH COMPLETE ILUSTRATIONS, DISCUSS THE MAIN
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS OF FOUR STRANDS IN
THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH.
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The documentary hypothesis is one of the three moddles used to explain the origins of the 1st
five books of the bible called collectively “the torah/pentateuch”. The other two theories are the
supplementary hypothesis and fragmentary hypothesis. The documentary hypothesis is an
attempt to chart the origins and authorship of the Pentateuch. It was formulated in its "classical"
form in the 1880s by the German theologian Julius Wellhausen on the basis of research done in
the 17th and 18th centuries. The documentary hypothesis proposes that the Pentateuch as we
have it was created sometime around the fifth and the fourth centuries B.C.E. through a process
of combining several earlier documents—each with its own viewpoint, style, and special
concerns—into one. It identifies four main sources: the "J," or Yahwist, source, the "E," or
Elohist, source (later combined with J to form the "JE" text) the "D," or Deuteronomist, text and
the "P," or Priestly source. The hypothesis further postulates the combination of the sources into
their current form by an editor known as "R" (for Redactor), who added editorial comments and
transitional passages. The specific identity of each author remains unknown, (although a number
of candidates have been proposed). However, textual elements identify each source with a
specific background and with a specific period in Jewish history.
On this note, the documentary hypothesis source of Pentateuch formation has several
characteristics that are identical to its formation. However, it is important to take note of a brief
overview of the four sources of documentary hypothesis before taking look of the characteristics
of each source as explained below;

J-“written about 850 BC by an unknown writer in the Southern

Kingdom of Judah . . . especially interested in personal biography,
characterized by vivid delineation of character. He often portrayed or
referred to God in anthropomorphic terms” (Archer, 89). This source uses

the Tetragrammaton (hwhy) YHWH (Yahweh) for God's name. J’s

narratives make up about half of Genesis, the first half of Exodus, and
some portions of Numbers. This tradition has a number of evident
characteristics as shown below;

emphasizes the importance of the southern Kingdom of Judah. J has a particular fascination for
traditions concerning Judah, including its relationship with its rival and neighbor, Edom; its
focus on Judahite cities such as Jerusalem; and its support of the legitimacy of the Davidic
monarchy. J is also critical of the other tribes of Israel, for example, by suggesting that the
Northern Kingdom's capital of Shechem was captured via a massacre of the original inhabitants
(Genesis 34).
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He presents God as Yahweh. J nearly always refers to the Deity as YHWH, by his specifically
Israelite personal name (usually rendered “the Lord” in English translations), though he is not
hidebound and also employs the term Elohim (“God”), especially when non-Hebrews are
speaking or being addressed.

It is characterized by narration. This is evident in the second creation account in Genesis chapter
2 verse 4 (b) to verse 25 where God is depicted as a moulder, gardener. In Gen. 3, Yahweh is
vividly seen walking and talking to Adam and eve in the Garden of Eden. In Gen. 18, Yahweh
invites himself to the meal with with Abraham and in turn, Abraham pleads with him to spare the
inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.

It also presents Yahwehs’s mastership over the universe. In yahwehistic tradition, God orders
and commands. This can be traced in genesis 3-16-17, Then he said to the woman, “I will
sharpen the pain of your prignancy and in pain you will give birth and you will desire to control
your husband but he will rule over you.” Genesis 12-1, the Lord told Abraham “leave your
father’s land, your relatives and your father’s family and go to the land that I will show you,.”
This command started the history of Israel. Another command can be started in exodus 3-5
where the Lord told Moses not to go close to him and to put off his sandals because he was
standing on holy ground.

The yahweistic tradition presents God as being merciful. It is evident that human beings are
called to respond to the Divine call and to obey Yahweh. The sin of humankind, according to this
tradition, is to want to take God’s place. This sin draws down a kind of “curse” on human beings:
Cain, the great flood, the tower of Babel, (Babylon). But the Yahwist’s God is One Who is ready
to forgive, particularly when people like Abram/Abraham (Genesis 18) and Moses (Exodus
32:11-14) intercede with Him. This God is always ready to renew His blessing and His covenant
with His people.

It also presents the nature of God as being faithful. God promised Abraham great prosperity and
indeed, it happened, Sarah was sterile, she always felt oblidged to the extent of even offering
Abraham her maid servant Agger to beget children. (Gen. 16-2,) the Lord did not fail. He
fulfilled his promise to Sarah and Abraham, it says ”the lord kept his word and did for sarah
exactly what he had promised, she became prignant and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his
old age….” Even when the jewish people themselves were liberated from Egyptian slavery after
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centuries and victorious struggles with pharaoh, the Lord fought for them. When they were
roaming in the desert for years, they lamented that, “why did god bring us from Egypt? We are
dying of hunger and our cattle are dying of thirst” still, He came in and saved them.

God is often represented as being very much like a human being (“anthropomorphism”). He
presents God as one who acts and speaks like human persons, a being with whom they have
direct intercourse. For example, in the creation story of Genesis 2-3 Yahweh is in turn a
gardener, a potter, a surgeon, and a tailor. God walks and talks with the human creature in the
garden (Genesis 2). Yahweh invites Himself to a meal with Abraham, and even bargains with
him over sparing the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18). And human beings live
on familiar terms with Yahweh, and even meet Yahweh in the routines of everyday life.

The E source is another strand of the documentary hypothesis to take in to consideration. This
“written about 750 BC by an unknown writer in the Northern Kingdom of Israel . . . The Elohist
began his account with the patriarchs (presented in the remainder of Genesis, in which the J and
E strands are combined). The first passage that can be assigned to E with reasonable certainty is
chapter 20 of Genesis, which parallels the two J variants of the “She is my sister” story. Unlike
these, it tries to mitigate the offensiveness of the subterfuge: though the patriarch did endanger
the honour of his wife to save his life, his statement was not untrue but merely (deliberately)
misleading. E makes up about a third of Genesis, half of Exodus, and some portions of Numbers.
It has the following characteristics;

The E source stresses the importance of prophets and prophetic statements. Throught the
narrative, E chooses the term prophet for Abraham and his characterization of a prophet as one
who is an effective intercessor with God on behalf of others. This is in line with his speculations
on the unique character of Moses as the great intercessor as compared with other prophets (and
also with Joshua as Moses’ attendant).
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He presents God as Elohim (till Ex 3.) Significantly, E avoids using the term YHWH throughout
the narrative with one apparent exception in Genesis and it is only after telling how God revealed
his proper name to Moses, in chapter 3 of Exodus, that he refers to God as YHWH regularly,
though not exclusively. This account (paralleled in the P strand in chapter 6 of Exodus) is
apparently based on a historical recollection of Moses’ paramount role in establishing the
religion of YHWH among the Israelites (the former Hebrew slaves).

It presents the theophany (manifestation of God to man). In this tradition God is always
portrayed as utterly different from human beings. The “Elohist” avoids “anthropomorphisms”—
ways of talking about God as involved in human-like activity. This inaccessible God of “E” does
not reveal Himself through anything like face-to-face encounters, but rather through
“theophanies,” or spectacular Divine manifestations, like the burning bush. The call of Moses
“one day while Moses was taking care of the sheep and the goats of his father-in-law Jethro, the
priest of the median, He led the flock across the desert and came to Sinai, there the angel of the
Lord appeared to him as a flame coming from the middle of the bush.”” God appeared in a midst
of the lightening, thunder and storm which is a usual element in relation to theophany, in Exodus
19-16, reads “one morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightening flashed and a dense
cloud came down on the mountain. It was a long loud blast and all people trembled. ….”

God in this strand of tradition is often portrayed as revealing Himself through dreams. One
cannot make an image of this Deity. “E” never speaks of God walking and talking with human
beings in the garden or on the road. This is the second means of divine communication and is
very frequent, the ancient attached more importance on dreams than we do actually and
attributed proper value to them. They believe that God speaks to his people through dreams for
instance, the dream of Jacob in Genesis 28-12-17 “then as he slept then dreamed of a stare way
that reached from earth to heaven and He saw the angels of God going up and down stare-way ”
we can also find a dream in Genesis 46-2-3, “during the night, God spoke to him in a vision,
“Jacob Jacob!” “Hear I am,” Jacob replied. The elohist is against all forms of idolatory, images
and is even more hostile to any representation in image of god. For instance, the most expensive
of all is the scene of the golden calf “the people asked Aaron to make them a sculpted image of
Yahweh” (exodus 32-1-12.
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“E” also presents a strong stand against foreign deities because of the ever-present threat of the
Phoenician/Canaanite religion of Ba’al and Asherah in the north (cf. Genesis 35:2). The northern
prophets condemned these fertility cults not only as unfaithfulness to the covenant with Yahweh,
but also as “adultery,” because they broke the “marriage bond” between Yahweh and Israel (cf.
Hosea 1-3).

The narratives in the “Elohist” tradition appear to be a later re-working of the basic “Yahwist”
accounts. They tend to be less vivid, less concrete, than the “Yahwist” narratives. Some
interpreters even suggest that “E” never was actually an independent written “document” in its
own right, but only a series of additions to the basic “J” story. And even where “Elohist”
material may be present in our present Pentateuch, sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish
“J” from “E”, since they would naturally cover much the same material in a similar way, and
would of necessity used a lot of the same vocabulary. An example of this occurs in Genesis 15,
the great covenant between God and Abram. Almost all interpreters recognize that both strands
of tradition are present, but they simply throw up their hands in dividing this passage and simply
designate it as a combined “J-E” account. The same is true of the story of the offering of Isaac in
Genesis 22, which is mostly “E,” but with many “J” elements interspersed.

The d (Deuteronomist) source. In the seventh century, Deuteronomy was established. The D
writer continues much of his writing on other books where he acts as an editor with a
specific kind of homework. In his documents, worship is centralised at Jerussalem deut 12
verse 1 to 7. Acts of false worship are forbidden deut 16 v21 and 2 18-10-11. God’s love for
Israel is emphasised with the resultant requirement of Israel;’s response through
obedience. Obedience breeds blessings while disobedience judgement. The covenant
relationship requires social justice. This source contains almost the whole of Deuteronomy
and even other books of the old testament like 1 and 2 kings among others.

It is characterized by repetitions. For example: “Yahweh translated as (“The LORD”) your God
(Hebrew: Elohim),” ... “Hear, O Israel, remember ... ”...“Keep the commandments, laws, and
customs” . . . There is a constant mixture of the second person singular and the second person
plural. This, doubtless, is a sign of two stages in the editing of the book. In the Book of
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Deuteronomy as we have it today, it becomes the affirmation that the people is a single body, but
that every believer among this people keeps his or her own personality.

The writer is also characterized by showing God’s relationship with the Israelites through
covenants. These covenants were done to remember the covenants that God did with the
patriarchs of Israel.

It also presents God’s love for Israel. This is emphasised with the resultant requirement of
Israel’s response through obedience. Obedience breeds blessings while disobedience
judgement.

The style of writing is very emotional. This strand of tradition is not content just to teach. It
wants to convince people that they should obey. It is written in a kind of “preaching style.”
Deuteronomy favors long speeches, with much urging to obedience that is typical of a preacher
delivering a sermon. This feature stands apart from the often short stories and incidents that are
described in the Books of Genesis and Exodus.

The final major document of the Pentateuch according to the

documentary hypothesis, the Priestly code, or P, is very different from
the other two. Its narrative is frequently interrupted by detailed ritual
instructions, by bodies of standing laws of a ritual character, and by
dry and exhaustive genealogical lists of the generations. He equally
adds some brief, drab records—with frequent dates—of births,
marriages, and migrations. Priests who survived the destruction of
Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. were concerned that the story of God and his
people not disappear. They also wanted to preserve and even revive
traditional religious practices. They felt that neglect of such religious
practices was the major reason God punished Israel with the
Babylonian exile. Maybe if they were diligent, they reasoned, it would
not happen again. Instead of concentrating on Israel's historical
traditions, P deals more with formal religion and worship, the
priesthood and its regulations, genealogies, and sacrificial practices; in
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short, everything that enabled the community to maintain a right

relationship with God and retain its identity in the face of changing
times. The P material is found not merely in Leviticus but throughout
the Pentateuch , including the early chapters of Genesis and one of the
creation accounts. P makes up a fifth of Genesis, large portions of
Exodus and Numbers, and nearly all of Leviticus. This source has the
following characteristics;

It presents the discerning order and structure in God's plan for the world. This concern for
order extends all the way from his story of creation, through the genealogies, into the
categories of sacred and profane, pure and impure, clean and unclean. The Priestly writer
did have a sense of history, and was very attentive to historical progression. This can be
seen, for example, in his designations for God. God reveals himself progressively in history,
and each major stage of the Priestly source is marked by a self-consciously appropriate
divine name. The first stage is creation. Elohim is used to refer to God. Elohim is the generic
name for God and has connotations of power and distance, consistent with P's rendition of
creation. The second stage is the ancestral period. Elohim revealed himself to Abraham as El
Shaddai (Genesis 17:1). We are not sure what this name means. It could be "God of the
mountain" or "Mighty God," but it was used uniquely in this age, and uniquely by P. The
third stage is the Mosaic era, when Elohim revealed his personal name Yahweh to Israel
through Moses (Exodus 6:2-3).
The Priestly source emphasizes the continuity of God's care for Israel as demonstrated in its
history. This is evident in certain pervasive themes: For instance, the theme of blessing.
Blessing is something God does for the world. It is an expression of his favor. There are four
epochs of blessing in the Priestly History. Each epoch of blessing is a stage in the
development of God's interaction with his creation, culminating in blessing to Israel. For
instance, "And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill
the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the
air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.'" (Genesis 1:28). To Abraham "I
will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land
of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:8) to Israel,
"Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your
name. . . . I am God Almighty: Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a group of nations will
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come from you; kings will come from your virility." (Genesis 35:10-11) another theme is the
word of God. Each of these stages of God's involvement with his world was driven by the
spoken word of God. God's word brought the world into being (Genesis 1), it made a
covenant with Noah after the flood (Genesis 9) and later with Abraham (Genesis 17), and
finally drew up the national covenant with Israel (Exodus 20).
It emphasizes on the Tabernacle and its altar, along with the Priestly conviction that Yahweh
tabernacles or dwells among the people. Thus over and over the Priestly writer is adamant to
stress that on account of this very fact—namely, that God dwells among the people in his
tabernacle—the people are to be holy and pure. Since God, the holy of all holiness dwells among
the people, this holiness cannot be threatened or contaminated in any way. The people are to
observe strict regulations of purity, both ritual and ethical purity. This is in fact the central most
important message behind the book of Leviticus as a whole. The commandments and sacrificial
observances are there in order to preserve the purity and holiness of the community. Thus
Yahweh’s foe, to put it in these terms, is impurity and unholiness both ritually and ethically. Any
individual who comes into contact with an impurity by extension puts Yahweh and his sanctuary
at risk, since the deity dwells among the people. The longer the impurity is not dealt with the
more this risk increases. In this Priestly conception there are no demonic forces or a Satan figure.
Such ideas only emerge in later literature.

Another expression unique to the Priestly corpus is its emphasis on eternal covenants and eternal
laws. There are three eternal covenants in the Priestly literature: the covenant of circumcision
with Abraham and his seed (Gen 17:1-14), the Sabbath (Ex 31:16), and the Aaronid priesthood
(Num 25:10-13). Conversely, there is no recognition of the Deuteronomic covenant nor the Sinai
covenant in the Priestly literature! Most notable are P’s “eternal laws,” which again accentuate
this priestly guild’s cultic concerns. The observance of Passover and the festivals of Unleavened
bread and Booths are decreed as eternal laws (Ex 12:14, 17; Lev 23:14, 41). The Aronid
priesthood itself is an eternal law (Ex 29:9; 40:15; Lev 6:15), as well as these cultic elements: the
daily lamp that must be kept lite by the Aaronid priests (Ex 27:21; Lev 24:4), the Aaronid
priesthood’s portion of the sacrifices (Ex 29:28; Lev 6:11; 7:34; 10:15; 24:9), the washing of the
Aaronid priests as they enter the tabernacle (Ex 30:21), the prohibition of beer and wine for
Aaronids before entering Yahweh’s presence (Lev 10:9). In addition to these eternal laws, there
are also the following: all fat is not to be consumed; it is Yahweh’s (Lev 3:17); and the
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observance of the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29, 31), and the prohibition against sacrifices made
in the open field (Lev 17:7) are all decreed as eternal laws from the mouth of Yahweh himself. In
other words, the whole care for and legitimation of the Aaronid priesthood and the sacrificial cult
is repeatedly highlighted throughout the Priestly source.

Another feature and expression unique to the Priestly corpus is its stern decree “to cut off”
individuals guilty of particular offensives. These are all presented as divine condemnations. The
neglect and non-observance of anyone of the following leads to being “cut off” from the
community, and presumably also the land: circumcision (Gen 17:14); the festival of Unleavened
bread (Ex 12:15, 19); Passover (Num 9:13); the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:29, 40); Sabbath
violations (Ex 31:14); contact with the dead (Num 19:13, 20); bootlegging holy oil or incense
(Ex 30:33, 38); eating a sacrificial meal in a state of impurity (Lev 7:20, 21); eating fat or blood
(Lev 7:25, 27), slaughtering or sacrificing outside the temple (Lev 17:4, 9); a blemished priest
near the temple (Lev 22:3); various sexual offences (Lev 18:29; 20:17-18); necromancy (Lev
20:6); child sacrifice (Lev 20:2-5); and any intentional sin (Num 15:30-31).

Priestly strand is characterised by emphasis on geniologies and they become the skeleton of
Genesis, onto which the meat and muscles of the body are added by “J” and “E.”
Genealogies are important for an exiled people without apparent roots. This idea of
including geniologies is crucial in tressing the history of the Israelites. This is illastrated in
Genesis 5:1 and in Numbers 3:1. They give the people their roots in history, and they
connect this history with the history of the creation helping them appreciate God as the
Initiator of Human race.
It refers to God is Elohim (till Ex 3) P uses the term Elohim for God until the self-naming of God
to Moses (Exodus, chapter 3, in the P strand.)
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REFERENCES;

Friedman, "Torah (Pentateuch)" in the Anchor Bible Dictionary.

W. Gunther Plaut, ed., The Torah: A Modern Commentary (New York: Union of American
Hebrew Congregations, 1981).

Lawrence Boadt, Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction (New York: Paulist Press, 1984).

The JEPD Theory - Saint Mary's Press

https://www.smp.org/dynamicmedia/.../TX001002_1-content-The_JEPD_Theory.pdf

the documentary hypothesis - Evidence for Christianity

evidenceforchristianity.org/images/stories/class_vthe_documentary_hypothesis.doc

Delineating the Four Major Strands of Tradition in the Pentateuch

wattslines.blogspot.com/2011/03/delineating-four-major-strands-of.html

The Documentary Hypothesis - Adventist Theological Society

www.atsjats.org/publication/view/88

The Documentary Hypothesis - Associates for Biblical Research

www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2010/09/24/The-Documentary-Hypothesis.aspx

Documentary Hypothesis - UMD CS

www.cs.umd.edu/~mvz/bible/doc-hyp.pdf