"E is brief, terse, and archaic; graphic, plastic, and realistic;
written in the theocratic interest of the kingdom of God. J is poetical
and descriptive, the best narrative in the Bible, giving us the history
of the kingdom of redemption. D is rhetorical and hortatory, practical
and earnest, written in the more theological interest of the training
of the nation in the fatherly instruction of God. P is annalistic
and diffuse, fond of names and dates, written in the interest of the
priestly order, and emphasizing the sovereignty of the Holy God and
the sanctity of the divine institutions" (Hexateuch, p. 265).
Each document abounds with characteristic words and phrases peculiar
to that document. Holzinger notes 108 belonging to E and 125 belonging
to J. Canon Driver gives 41 belonging to D and 50 belonging to P. One
of the chief distinguishing marks is the term used to designate the
Deity. In E it is Elohim, translated God; in J, Jehovah (Yahveh)
Elohim, translated Lord God. In D the writer continually uses the
phrase "The Lord thy God," this phrase occurring more than 200
times. "I am Jehovah" is a phrase used by P, including the Holiness
Code, 70 times. It is never used by E or D. "God of the Fathers"
is frequently used by E and D; never by P.
Bishop Colenso's analysis of Genesis is as follows: Elohist, 336
verses; Jehovist, 1,052 verses; Deuteronomist, 39 verses; Priestly
writer, 106 verses.
The Pentateuch was chiefly written and compiled from seven to ten
centuries after the time claimed. The Elohistic and Jehovistic
documents, the oldest of the four, were written at least 300 years
after the time of David and 700 years after the time of Moses. They
were probably written at about the same time. E belongs to the Northern
Kingdom of Israel, J to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The unanimous
verdict of critics is that Deuteronomy was written during the reign
of Josiah, about 626 B.C., 825 years after Moses died. The Holiness
Code belongs to the age of Ezekiel, about fifty years later. The
Priestly Code was written after the Exile, in the time of Ezra,
1,000 years after Moses. Important changes and additions were made
as late as the third century B.C., so that, excepting the variations
and interpolations of later times, the Pentateuch in something like
its present form appeared about 1,200 years after the time of Moses.
The higher Criticism--Its Triumph and Its Consequences.
The certainty and the consequences of the Higher Criticism of the
Pentateuch are thus expressed by Hupfeld:
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