A Critical Examination of the Documentary Hypothesis - Essay Example

A Critical Examination of the Documentary Hypothesis For almost two thousand years, Christians believe that Moses wrote the first five booksof the Bible. The books-- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy-- are also referred to as the Pentateuch or Torah. However, recently, it is held that Moses did not write these books, and that they are a compilation of works by numerous writers over an extended period of time. This latter view forms the core of the Documentation Hypothesis. What is the Documentation Hypothesis The Documentation Hypothesis proposes that the Pentateuch is a composite work consisting of four literary strands. The four strands have been assigned the letters J, E, D, and P; each representing a different document or source that was woven into the fabric of the Bible. This set of assumptions is also known as the Graf-Wellhausen theory. According to this view, the letter "J" stands for the Yahwist ("J" from the German Jahweh) Narrative, coming from the period of the early Jewish monarchy, about 950 B.C. "E" stands for the Elohist Narrative from the region of the Northern Kingdom dating from about 750 B.C. "D" is best represented by the book of Deuteronomy and is said to have originated in the Southern Kingdom about 650 B.C. or later. And finally, "P" is the Priestly Document that comes from the period after the fall of Israel in 587 B.C. According to the theory, the Pentateuch reached its current form around the time of Ezra or about 400 B.C. (Closson) The conservative view holds to Mosaic authorship and treats the books as a literary unit. This does not mean that Moses did not use other documents to write the books. Since other Old Testament authors affirm Mosaic authorship, as do numerous New Testament writers and the early church fathers, the veracity of the Bible as a whole begins to crumble if Moses is not the author of the Pentateuch. (Closson) The Documentation Hypothesis began in 1753 when French physician Jean Astruc noted that the first chapter of the Genesis refers to God as Elohim, while the second chapter uses mostly Jehovah or Yahweh. Astruc believed that Moses must have used two different sources in writing Genesis, each having different names for God, and that the Elohim source was the older. This established the first principle of what is now known as the Documentary Hypothesis, the assumption that different divine names must mean different authors or sources. In 1780 Johann Eichhorn applied the idea of two sources to the rest of Genesis, Exodus, and finally to most of the Pentateuch. He gave up on the belief of Mosaic authorship as well. (Closson) In 1805, Wilhem De Wette argued that none of the Pentateuch was written before David. He established the "D" document standing for Deuteronomy, which he believed was written as propaganda to support political and religious unification in Jerusalem during the reign of King Josiah around 621 B.C. The "P" or Priestly Document of the current theory was added by Hermann Hupfeld in 1853. He believed that the E source should be split in two, the later becoming the new P document. The name most associated with the documentary hypothesis is Julius Wellhausen. His publications in the late 1870's argued from a Darwinistic perspective. (Closson) Counter Arguments Against Documentation Hypothesis The following are the defenses against the Documentation Hypothesis. In essence, according to Archer (105-110), the Documentary Hypothesis banished Moses into the illiterate mists of oral tradition. Archer pointed out that in the Hypothesis, the text of the Torah or Pentateuch is used as evidence but consistently evaded whenever it happens to contradict the Hypothesis itself. Further, sarcastically, according to Archer, the documentarians likewise assume that Hebrew authors differ from any other writers known in the history of literature in that they alone were incapable of using more than one name for God; more than one style of writing, no matter what the difference in subject matter is; more than one of several possible synonyms for a single idea; more than one theme or circle of interest. According to Green (xix-xxi), the Pentateuch has a singular and consistent theme which is treated with orderly structure suggestive of a sole author, who was Moses. The New Testament makes it clear that Christ did not dispute the Old Testament canon as accepted by the Jews, but fully accepted it as the Word of God. He challenged only the misinterpretation of it and failure to follow its teachings (e.g., Lk. 20:37, Jn. 7:19). When the Pharisees asked Christ about easy divorce (Mt. 19:3), He declared that Moses permitted divorce because of the hardness of their hearts. (Allis 5-12) Also, according to Allis, the documentation scholars doubt Moses' authorship citing that all legal codes of the Pentateuch date from long after Moses' time. Also, the slightest variations in diction, style, viewpoint or subject matter are presented as evidences of difference in author, date, and source; and these differences are often magnified into contradictions. Allis argued that the scholars' method denies the redemptive supernaturalism of Biblical history and insists to reconstruct it in terms of naturalistic evolution. The miraculous element is viewed with suspicion and regarded either as indicative of the late date and unreliability of a narrative, or as proof that it represents a primitive and unscientific account of phenomena in which a modern writer would see only the operation of natural processes. Arguments for the Mosaic authorship of the books which bear Moses' name are supported by historical evidence and the internal witness of the Pentateuchal books themselves. The Pentateuch is ascribed to Israel's great lawgiver and prophet (Deuteronomy 18: 15) by unanimous and unbroken tradition from the days of Moses himself through the entire Old Testament period and onward. The ancient Jewish synagogue, the inspired New Testament writers, and Christ, Himself sanctioned it. Both Jewish and Christian tradition in the Christian era fully support it. The historical evidence is practically unanimous until the documentary theory ascended in the last two centuries. Unger (223-224, 232-233). Unger argued the books were written in the desert by one who was thoroughly conversant with Egyptian life, and contain archaisms which point to the antiquity of the text. The elementary character of the doctrinal teachings furnishes additional evidence of early composition, consonant with the Mosaic authorship. Young (42, 45, 107) further corroborated that the human author of the Pentateuch was Moses, the great lawgiver of Israel. It is true that there is no superscription or introduction or express claim that the work in its entirety is from Moses. Nevertheless, there is convincing testimony, both of an external and internal nature, to support the position that Moses wrote the Pentateuch. "When we affirm that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, we do not mean that he himself necessarily wrote every word. Hammurabi was the author of his famous code, but he certainly did not engrave it himself. Christ was the author of the "Sermon upon the Mount," but He did not write it Himself. Milton was the author of Paradise Lost, but he did not write it all out by hand," said Young. In composing it, Moses may, as Astruc suggested, have employed parts of previously existing written documents. Also, under divine inspiration, there may have been later minor additions and even revisions. Substantially and essentially, however, it is the product of Moses, according to Young. Conclusion The Documentation Hypothesis is an opportunity for everyone to engage in passionate lifelong search for truth. Since the human mind is finite, we cannot know everything in this time and place, but it does not mean we will never know when we have journeyed onto another realm. For life has a spiritual dimension that affords illumination, as well as expansion of the knowledge of truth-- beyond words and earthly human logic. References Allis, Oswald T. The Five Books of Moses. US: The Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co. 1943. Archer Jr., Gleason L. A Survey of the Old Testament Introduction. Chicago: Moody Press. 1964. Closson, Don. "Did Moses Write the Pentateuch" Viewed 8 March 2007 at http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/does/moses.html Green, William Henry. The Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch. Michigan:Baker Book House. 1978 (Reprinted from the 1895 edition published by Charles Scribner's Sons). Young, Edward J. An Introduction to the Old Testament. Michigan: W.B. Eerdsman Pub. Co. 1949. Unger, Merrill F. Introductory Guide to the Old Testament. Michigan: Zondervan Pub. House. 1951. Read More