CHARACTERISTICS OF JEPD TRADITIONS IN THE BIBLE

Discuss the characteristics of the JEDP traditions

There is a literary problem: Use of the name of God, Duplications of some accounts (creation, Abraham and Sarah), some contradictions in the accounts(the account of the flood). How to find solution to this problem?

The solution of the documentary hypothesis Veragen and Graff: There are four documents. Others say that they are not documents but fragments of events. This is the fragment hypothesis. (Alexander Gedes). Others speak of supplementary hypothesis. This is the criticism against the fragment hypothesis which failed to explain this problem. They propose some supplements according to the milieu and the background.

This is chronological: JEDP.

According to the most influential version of the hypothesis, as formulated by Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918), the Pentateuch is composed of four separate and identifiable texts, dating roughly from the period of Solomon up until exilic priests and scribes. These various texts were brought together as one document (the Five Books of Moses of the Torah) by scribes after the exile.

        The Yahwist (or J) - written c 950 BCE. It is the oldest. The southern kingdom's (i.e. Judah) interpretation. The prominence of Judah here is consistent with the attention given southern personalities, localities, and shrines, all of which point to an origin in the south. It is named according to the prolific use of the name "Yahweh" (Adonai or Yahweh, in German, the divine name or Tetragrammaton) in its text. It alone among the sources preserves the tradition that the personal name of God was used before the time of Moses (Gen4:26). It is marked by the colorful folk narrative and the human and personal manner of describing the actions of God noted in our earlier observations. The theology is in Gn 12:1. Israel will be a blessing to the nations.

Chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis, wherein God forms man from the dust, breathes into his nostrils, walks in the garden, and the like are typical of J. The version of \Joseph story which depicts Joseph’s sale to Ismaelites and credits Judah with saving Joseph’s life is from the J narrative.

J constitutes the basic narrative core of the books of Genesis, Exodus and Numbers. It gives to the Pentateuch much of its epic and dramatic character. Through the pattern of promise and fulfillment it gives the continuity and the mood of anticipation in these books. Its stories of the garden, the flood, and the tower of Babel revolve around the theme of man’s repeated failures and God’s interventions for judgment and renewal. The Yahwist’s perspective is always the human one. This applies not alone to his personal conception of God, but to an existential rapport with all humanity and a characteristic manner of exposing universal human emotions in his narratives.

        The Elohist (or E) - written c 850 BCE. When the northern kingdom was stronger with the production of a distinctive corpus of tradition. It is also from the north because the northern tribes and localities like Betel, Shechem are prominent. As above, it is named because of its preferred use of "Elohim" as name of God throughout the book of Genesis. Its account of Moses’ call (Ex3:9-14) indicates its agreement with the priestly source (Ex6:3) that the personal name “Yahweh” was disclosed first to Moses. This source is closely interwoven with J. The source E is differentiated on the basis of notable contrasts with J: -the divine name; the moral tone of the Abraham-Sarah narrative; avoidance of anthropomorphic descriptions of God using angels and dreams as media of divine revelation. The theology is the fear of God. At a certain time the JE come together after the division of the kingdom when some tradition from North was accepted in the south.

            The Eloistic material does not appear at all in the first eleven chapters of Genesis, but alternates with J in the patriarchal accounts and in portions of the book of Exodus and Numbers. Since E in its extant form largely supplements J, the latter providing the common base, it is quite impossible to trace a continuous Eloistc narrative as one can do with J; and it is frequently necessary to speak of the two together as JE. Perhaps the finest narrative account to derive solely from E is the drastic and sensitive description of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son Isaac (Gen22:1-9). Here we find many places of worship Shilo, bethel Shehem, Gilgal.

        The Deuteronomic (or D) - written c 650-621 BCE , from the south Jerusalem to be precise during king Josaiah and the religious reform. others say from Babylon during exil. It dates specifically from the time of King Josiah of Judah. It is the name given to the traditioner or school which produced both the book of Deuteronomy as well as Joshua and most of the subsequent books up to 2 Kings. Although itself a composite work, Deuteronomy bears throughout the characteristics marks of a distinctive literary style, vocabulary, and theology. The book consists largely of laws couched in sermonic form and marked by such hortatory phrases as “hear , O Israel”, “remember”, “take heed to yourselves”, “with all your heart and soul”, “that you may live”, “keep all the commandments”, and the like. The theology is monotheism, one Law and one place for worship Jerusalem.

            Israel’s fidelity to God’s law, the uppermost concern of the Deuteronomist, is set forth as the only sure guarantee of the people’s corporate well being. Moses thus assures the people in Deut28:1 and the Israel’s disobedience, however will surely issue God’s displeasure in Deut28:15. This theological formula of obedience to God’s law brings reward and disobedience effects certain adversity is a consistent mark of the Deuteronomic school.

            Other characterstcs are the insistence on confining the cult to one central shrine 9presumed by the later generation to be Jerusalem) and the ascription of the election of Israel tonothng short of God’s inscrutable love (Deut7:7-8).

        The Priestly source (or P) - written during or after the exile of Babilonians, c 550-450 BCE. It is so named because of its focus on Levitical laws. It is distinguished by the unmistakable interests in priesthood and cult and by the method and precision associated with the priestly mind. A concern with ritual origins and the law and the genealogical (toledot) and chronological details of Israel’s past is manifest in a uniform style, marked by such stereotyped phrases as: “These are the generations”, after its kind”, “be fruitful and multiply”. The divine name s Eloim, El shadai before Ex 3:14 the Adonai. The theology is in Gn 1:28, Ex1,5,15 Be fruitful multiply and subdue.

            The detailed attention given instructions of the cult in the latter half of the book of Exodus, the prescriptions governing sacrifice, festivals and purity that constitute the whole of Leviticus, and the miscellaneous ritual laws and traditions in Numbers may with assurance be ascribed to this source. Chapter 1 of Genesis provides a good example of the formal priestly style in the service of cultic interests, that is to say, the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest as the prototype for the law of Sabbath.

Characteristics:

P. The rite, the cult, the liturgy, Levitical law and genealogies. Itinerary formulars in Ex, chronological details in Ex, Lev, Nb, Gn1. God is transcendent. Legalistic style.

D. Speeches, legal materials

E. Fear of God, God speaks through angels and dreams, the is an attention to Jacob then Abraham, the holy Mountain is Horab instead of Sinai, emphasis of prophet (Abraham is called prophet)

J. This is a storyteller in the bible. We find the use of anthropomorphic therms, Holy Mountain is Sinai, and we have the mention of the arc which is not in E. Means of communication in face to face with God. The difference between J and P is that God is approached through the priest as mediator, Narrative style.

The theory in that there is unity in the Pentateuch: the theory of the idea of promise and fulfillment. There is also a chronological unity in the account from Abraham.

Some scholars do not believe in the E because there is no text for this source.