The Pentateuch
Excerpt
Authorship of the Pentateuch has traditionally been attributed to Moses in religious Jewish and Christian communities, but since the Middle Ages, some interpreters have questioned that association. The Pentateuch may have been compiled over a period of centuries as multiple authors or religious communities produced distinct versions of Israel’s early history and laws. Julius Wellhausen articulated the most influential version of this theory, identifying four source documents in the Pentateuch called J, E, D, and P. This model for the origin of the Pentateuch is called the “Documentary Hypothesis.”
The Documentary Hypothesis asserts that distinctions in style and content can be used to identify the material originating in each source document. For example, the creation narrative of Gen 1:2–2:4 is believed to derive from P, and the stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel (Gen 2:4b-4:16) are from J). Most of Genesis through Numbers is believed to come from P, with some from J. …
Barry, John D. et al. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016. Print.
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