THE DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS AND THE YAHWIST SOURCE

Gabrielle Berrios

Poetry, Prophecy and Polytheism

September 26, 2016

 The Documentary Hypothesis is an idea that says the Torah, which consists of the five

books in the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), was most

likely written by difference sources, which have been broken down into four common threads.

This idea was recognized when the Torah was being read as literature and not as a sacred text.1 It

was noted that the Torah is written with stylistic variations; for example, the first signs are the

two creation stories2 and the multiple names for God. This hypothesis began developing in the

18th and 19th centuries in Germany to try and understand these differences.

Moses was originally given credit for writing the Torah, but this idea was rejected in the

17th century3, mainly because Mosess dies before the end of Deuteronomy. The main threads that

have been found in the documentary hypothesis are the J, E, D, and P sources, or the Yahwist (or

Jahvist), Elohist, Deuteronomist, and Priestly. This theory was presented by Julius Wellhausen in

1877 and is still largely accepted today.4 The Documentary Hypothesis is sometimes referred to

as the Wellhausen Hypothesis. The Yahwist source is the oldest source and can be dated back to

9th century BCE and most likely from Judean origin in the South. The Elohist source is from

around 8th century BCE and is from the northern tribes in Israel. The Deuteronomist source is

from the 6th century BCE and most likely written before the exile during King Josiahs reforms.

And the last source, Priestly, is the most recent from around 5th century BCE, believed to be

1 Baden, Joel S. The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis. Yale
University Press, April 2012. (13)

2 Depury, Albert. Yahwist (J) Source in The Anchor Bible Dictionary Vol. 6 Si-Z. Doubleday, New York, New
York 1992. Pages 1013-1019.

3 Ibid

4 Van Seters, John. The Pentateuch: A Social-Science Commentary. Series Editors: Diana J.V. Eldman and
Brian B. Schmidt. Sheffield Academic Press, 1999.
written while Hebrews were in exile in Babylon because of the texts similarities in relation to

Babylonian mythology.

The strand I have chosen to focus on is the Yahwist (or Jahvist) source. The J-source gets

its name from its reference to God of Israel as YHWH5, which is also known as the

Tetragrammaton, showing the divinity of the name of god. This is the oldest source and is dated

back to the 9th century BCE, around 950 BCE. In Knights work, he believes that this source is

founded around the time of the Solomonic Humanism which is the enlightenment when

Solomon ruled.6 This source starts to show up in the second creation story in Genesis 2. God here

is more anthropomorphic, physically coming to earth and speaking, showing feelings, and

making mistakes. God will commonly be in the form of a human and at one point actually

wrestles with Jacob. In The Book of J, Harold Bloom believes that the author of the J-source

writings lived in the Southern Kingdom of Judah while the kingdom was falling apart after the

death of Solomon which would have been around 922 BCE.7 This author even believes this

source may have been written by a woman because of the way women are represented in the

writings.8 Before the Torah was written all of these ideas were likely passed down orally, and the

Yahwist writer or writers were the first to write it down. Some themes that are common in the

5 Depury, Albert. Yahwist (J) Source in The Anchor Bible Dictionary Vol. 6 Si-Z. Doubleday, New York, New
York 1992. Page 1013.

6 Knight, Douglas. The Hebrew Bible and its Modern Interpretations. Editors Douglas Knight and Gene
Tucker. Fortress Press, PA 1985. Page 278. This was a time of political security, a nationalistic spirit,
building programs, new interest in culture and the arts, and an appreciation of human existence.

7 Bloom, Harold. The Book of J. Grove Press Inc. 1990. Page 9.

8 Ibid
Yahwist account are the leading out of Egypt into Canaan, the promise to the fathers, the

leading into the desert, and the revelation at Sinai.9

Now, I will compare the J-source to the other stories similar to it. To start, in Gen 1, this

first creation story is likely written by the Priestly author, God creates by speaking, he says

something and it happens, and it is always good. To compare the creation of man I will start

with Gen 1:26, Then God said, Let us make humankind in our image, according to our

likeness; and Gen 1:27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he

created them; make and female he created them. Like mentioned, God just says and it happens.

In Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into

his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. This pictures god as

something that can breathe and form something, like a potter into a human, not just say it. Also

in the first story god makes man and woman at the same time, but in this second story woman

comes later, So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; then he

took one of his ribs and closed up its space with flesh. And that rib that the LORD God had taken

from man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. (Gen. 2:22) Again God is pictured

here as a craftsman of sorts who actually brings his work to Adam.

We can again compare the Jahwist source to the Priestly source in Genesis 15 and

Genesis 17. Both of these stories are about the covenant God is making with Abram. In Genesis

15 the covenant God asks for is with the sacrifice of animals. This is most likely the Jahwist

source. In Genesis 17 God makes the covenant with Abram, changes his name to Abraham, and

says every make shall be circumcised, through this Sarah will have a child, even in her old age.

9 Depury, Albert. Yahwist (J) Source in The Anchor Bible Dictionary Vol. 6 Si-Z. Doubleday, New York,
New York 1992. Page 1014.
This account is most likely from the Priestly source because they always seem to have proper

ways to do things.
 Bibliography
Baden, Joel S. The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis.
Yale University Press, April 2012.
Bloom, Harold. The Book of J. Grove Press Inc. 1990
Depury, Albert. Yahwist (J) Source in The Anchor Bible Dictionary Vol. 6 Si-Z. Doubleday,
New York, New York 1992. Pages 1013-1019.
Knight, Douglas. The Hebrew Bible and its Modern Interpretations. Editors Douglas Knight and
Gene Tucker. Fortress Press, PA 1985. Pages 263-296.
Van Seters, John. The Pentateuch: A Social-Science Commentary. Series Editors: Diana J.V.
Eldman and Brian B. Schmidt. Sheffield Academic Press, 1999.