First, what is documentary hypothesis? It had been commonly believe that Moses wrote the first five books of Torah/ Old Testament. Julius Wellhausen explains that the Pentateuch was developed from independent, parallel and complete narratives, which were combined into the current form by a series of redactors (editors). there were four main sources, combined into their final form by a series of redactors, R. These four sources came to be known as the Yahwist, or Jahwist, J; the Elohist, E; the Deuteronomist, D, and the Priestly Writer, P. Second, starting with Gen 12:1–4a, it has the characteristics of J source. “12 And YHWH said to Abram, “Go from your land and from your birthplace and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. …show more content…
15 For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your seed like the dust of the earth; so that if one man can count the dust of the earth then your seed also can be counted. 17 Get up, go around in the land to its length and its width, because I will give it to you.” 18 And Abram took his tent and came and lived among the oaks of Mamre which are at Hebron; and he built an altar to YHWH there.” (Friedman, 2003) The documentary hypothesis assigns personal visits from Yahweh, and use of the personal name prior to Exodus 3 to the Jahwist source. In this story Yahweh appear can be translate to a personal visit by Yahweh. With the use of the name, Yahweh and personal visits are key descriptions of the J source written by an author/editor living in the southern kingdom of Judah between the years 922-722 BCE. The Jahwist presents a study of history, rather than ethical theology. Yahweh’s character is known by his actions. The history of Abraham moving and building an altar dedicated to Yahweh. The threefold of the promise of land, descendants, and blessing is repeated. Instead of YHWH saying that the land was for Abraham and his offsprings, Yahweh tells Abraham that the land is for his …show more content…
15 For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your seed like the dust of the earth; so that if one man can count the dust of the earth then your seed also can be counted. 17 Get up, go around in the land to its length and its width, because I will give it to you.” 18 And Abram took his tent and came and lived among the oaks of Mamre which are at Hebron; and he built an altar to YHWH there. (Friedman, 2003)” In these passages, Yahweh is the name referring to the lord. Yahweh referred back to the promise of land and descendants, two of the three promises. The land is as far as you can see and multiplies of descendants. Characteristics of the J source are given, as such the name of Yahweh, a personal visit of Yahweh, the study of history, and the threefold promise. The J source written by an author/editor living in the southern kingdom of Judah between the years 922-722
At that time God said to me, [Moses]: 'carve out for yourself two tablets of stone, like the first ones, and come up to me to the mountain, and make for yourself an ark o...
Hindson, E. E., & Yates, G. E. (2012). The Essence of the Old Testament: A survey. Nashville, Tenn: B & H Academic.
The Old Testament and the Bible itself has been studied extensively for centuries. Archeologists and Scholars have labored and pondered over texts trying to decipher its clues. It does not matter how many times the Old Testament has been studied there will always be something new to learn about it or the history surrounding it. In the book Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction, the author Lawrence Boadt presents us with a few different authors of the Old Testament that used different names for God and had a unique insight into the texts. These four sources are titled P for priests, E for Elohim, J for Jehovah, and Y for Yahweh (95). These four unique sources help us realize that there is more than one author of the Pentateuch. These authors took the text and adapted for their culture. This independent source is used by scholars to help gain insight into what was behind the texts of the bible so we are not left with an incomplete picture of what went into the creation of the bible. Julius Wellhausen used these four sources to publish a book to able us to better understand the sources and to give it credibility with the Protestant scholars at the time (Boadt 94). These sources that is independent of the bible as in the DVD Who Wrote the Bible? and the Nova website aide in shedding light on the history that surrounded the writers who wrote the text and what inspired them to write it in the first place. The DVD shows the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls and the extensive history of the texts and all its sources in an effort to try to find exactly who wrote the bible (Who Wrote). These scrolls have aided scholars immensely by giving us some of the oldest known manuscripts of the bible in the world today. It shows that the bible w...
dwelled in "the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel" (1
One day, Abram had a vision. In the vision God tells Abram to leave his father’s house which is today’s Iraq, and travel to a place that God will show him. God said that if Abram who becomes Abraham obeyed this command, his descendants would become a great nation, and that he will bless thee,...
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were called the patriarchs, or the founders of Judaism. Moses, being one of the great religious leaders in history, God. revealed his name, Yahweh. Yahweh means “to be” in Hebrew. The events recorded in Exodus indicate that through Moses a new and deeper understanding of God was revealed.
In the beginning, the Hebrew civilization, which was politically insignificant compared to other empires such as Egypt, produced a new form of religion that was based on a monotheistic all-powering god that created and controlled everything that they called Yahweh (47). The Hebrew people did not believe in what the Egyptians forced them to believe in and decided to rebel and protest against the unorthodox pharaoh and the Egyptian people who instilled all trust and life into this god-king. The Hebrew decided to leave Egypt, who was led by a profit by the name of Moses throughout many treacherous and tantalizing events. Once the Hebrew crossed the Nile River and the Red Sea, these followers of Yahweh decided to write and record all of their religious ideas, traditions, laws, advice literature, prayers, hymns, history, and prophecies in a series of books. These books are still in existence today and are known now as the Hebrew Bible, which ...
New Testament. Vol. 2. Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964.
Robinson, B. A. (2008, March 30). Books of the Hebrew Scripture . Retrieved May 7, 2011, from Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_otb3.htm
1: The portrayal of Yahweh or Jehovah in the Hebrew Bible differs from the portrayal of other gods in the ancient world primarily in the character 's essential mysteriousness. Outline some examples of that mystery and how it affects the human beings who revere God.
Following the creation story of the book of Genesis is the book of Exodus. In Genesis, God promised Abraham a “great nation from which all nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3)” and in Exodus God completes this promise through the creation of the holy nation, Israel. Exodus tells the story of the God who rescued his people out of Egypt because of the promise he had made to Abraham. God calls to Moses to complete his promise. God’s call to Moses is not only important because he liberates the Israelites but also because God reveals His name(s) along with His true Nature. God calls upon Moses and tells him that He’s back to help the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and that Moses is to lead them. God then gives him full instructions on what to tell the Pharaoh and, more importantly, the Israelites, who are promised, land “flowing with milk and honey”.
Collins, John J. A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007.
Land: A specific land was to be allocated to Abraham forever, with extensive boundaries starting from the border of Egypt to River Euphrates. God promised Abraham that his seed shall be made the dust of the earth and inherit the land. The control of the land was stretched out to the reign of King
God calls Abram while he is in Ur. He commands him to leave the country with his family to a land God has chosen. He promises to bless Abram and make his descendants form a great nation. This promise will be fulfilled in the Mosaic Covenant. God makes a promise to bless Abrams personally, and also promises that his name will be well known. This promise will later be fulfilled in the Davidic Covenant. God will bless anyone who blesses Abram, but will place a curse on anyone who attempts to cur...
LaSor, W., Hubbard, D., Bush, F., & Allen, L. (1996). Old Testament survey: The message, form, and background of the Old Testament (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans