Documentary Hypotheses Essay Example for Free

Documentary Hypotheses Essay Documentary hypotheses is the persuasion of scholars that the Torah was composed by many writers. The authors of the Pentateuch are thought to come from four different traditions known as J, E, D, and P. The J which stands for the Jaw hist are responsible for most of the genesis. The E stands for Elohist referred God to Elohim (Freidman, 1997). E wrote Aqedah story and other parts of genesis, and much of exodus and numbers. D ( the deutronomist ) wrote almost the whole book of Deuteronomy and probably Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and kings. P (the priestly source) provided the first chapter of Genesis, the book of Leviticus and other sections with genealogical information (Freidman, 1997). The following factors triggered documentary hypothesis. Duplicate and triplicate passages: This stories include, two description of the covenant between God and Abraham, two versions of the ten commandments, and two accounts of the moses striking the rock of at Meriba. God was described in different ways in some cases he was referred to as Yahweh while in other parts he was referred to as Elohim. The different sources had different names for God. The belief by archaeologists and linguistic centuries ago was that writing among ancient Hebrews only developed after events portrayed. So Moses was incapable of writing the first five books. Various passages showed God in different ways, for example the flood story. The flood story is described differently by the Various sources. The following contrast arises from this two stories. In the J source the authors refer to God as the lord while the P God is referred as God. The length the rains: in the J version of the story, the rains went for 40 days While in the p version of this story the rains went for 150 days. Moreover in the J version of the story, Gods character is revealed as a merciful God. Furthermore, he has mercy on Noah and save him from the floods due to his righteousness. The p version portrays God as vengeful However, the two stories has a similarity in the conclusion. God promise to never again destroy the earth in waters. The inconsistencies in the two story explains diverse authorship. Am strongly persuaded that the stories were written down by many authors. The Question left unanswered is which account of the story do we rely on, the p or J story?. The impact would be efforts to live accordance to Gods will. The stories shows that God is vengeful if man become sinful. Essay 2. The coming of pharaoh who knew not Joseph meant suffering . Significance of this suffering is that it moved God to rescuing the Israelites from Egypt. When God talked to Moses, he told him that he had seen the affliction of his people (Freidman, 1997). Many scholars has criticized the massive exodus. The ten plagues in the bible has been well detailed (Freidman, 1997). Exodus 12. 36 explains how Egypt was deprived their slave labor. After the Egyptians army drowned in the red sea, Egypt suffered a weak defense. This factors validate the exodus of the Israelites. According to the bible, the date can be accurately calculated. The bible records in 1Kings 6. 1, the fourth year of Solomons reign was the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were delivered from the land of Egypt. When we place the fourth year of his reign in the 960s B. C and take 480 years back it takes us to 1440s BC. Another Biblical Evidence on the dating is found on judges. This is when Jephthah tell the Ammonites that Israel had been in the land for 300 years Judges 11. 26. Jephthahs victory over the Ammonites could be traced back at 1100 B. C. This would place the arrival of Israelites arrival in the land at 1400s B. C. In consideration of thew 40 years after the exodus. This two scriptures are very helpful because the arrive at the same dating of the exodus. Archaeological and historical evidence includes the fact that numerous cities in those periods experienced a cultural change due to the arrival of the Israelites. The Israelites throughout the history concentrated in areas that were easy to defend against the Canaanites (Freidman, 1997). This supports the fact they were invaders. Furthermore, they doubters have claimed the evidence of armed destruction of some cities. The history of the Exodus is important because it formed a Jewish faith. Work cited R. E. Freidman who wrote the Bible , Harper Collins, San Francisco, CA (1997).