CX

Unless of course you are part of the indigenous population of Canaan and not a foreign invader from the desert.

Michael Ledo

From Bible Bloopers:

Alphabet Soup

“Thus, Wellhausen’s documentary hypothesis must, in the final analysis, be regarded as unsuccessful in attempting to substantiate its denial of Mosaic authorship in favor of the JEDP source theory.” –Josh McDowell


The first six books of the Old Testament and a little of Judges is believed by Biblical scholars (not Josh McDowell), due to internal evidence of language and structure, to have originated from five different sources. These sources are commonly designated J, E, P, D, and R.
 
The various sources tell parallel stories in the Old Testament. This accounts for the confusion and contradiction seen in these accounts. For instance the Bible starts out with a P (Priestly) account of creation in Genesis 1:1 and continues through 2:3. Genesis 2:4 starts out with a second account of creation. This time it is not “God” but “Lord God” (J, or Jehovah source) that does the creating. In Gen. 1:25-26 man was made after the beasts, in Gen. 2:18-20, man was made before the beasts. In Gen. 1:27 God creates man and woman together, in Gen. 2:21-25 Lord God creates woman as an afterthought.
 
The J source originated in the Southern Kingdom, and the E, or Elohim source, originated in the Northern Kingdom. J is a herdsman; E is a farmer herdsman. J climbs Sinai. E ascends Horeb. J sells Joseph to the Ishmeelites (Gen. 37:25-27). In E Joseph gets picked up by the Midianites (Gen. 37:28a). J calls the people who occupied Israel before the invasion “Canaanites.” E prefers to call them “Amorites.”
 
The E source use of the word Elohim is literally translated as “the gods.” It is used extensively throughout the Old Testament. The singular version of the word Elohim is elowahh, or eloahh. This singular version is unique to the book of Job.
 
El is an old Canaanite God, usually associated with a specific place or mountain. El is commonly translated as God. Examples appear in the original Hebrew texts, but are lost in translation when converted to English. Examples are El-Elyon (Gen. 14:19) taken from the Canaanite god Al Eyan. There is El-Shadday (Ex. 6:3) taken from “Sadidos,” son of Kronos. There are also local gods such as El-Roi (Gen. 16:13); El-Olam (Gen. 21:33) and El-Berith (Judges 9:46).
 
The P, or Priestly source, was written after the J/E text. It parallels the J/E document and is a torah within itself. The Priest’s job was to “decontaminate” much of the J/E story in order to restore the priesthood of Aaron. God’s image was made more dignified. P also wrote the laws, and most of Leviticus. The Deuteronomist, or D source was added circa 622 B.C. (see Old Testament Forgeries). D justified the genocidal history of God and Israel.
 
R, or the Redactor came along circa 434 B.C. (probably Ezra, see Old Testament Forgeries). R recognized the contradictions of J/E/P/D and inserted material in an attempt to alleviate this problem (Gen. 37:28b). He also added the ages of everyone and genealogical data for continuity.
 
Josh McDowell contends that the theory breaks down because there exist a few anomalies among the thousands of verses. The idea that the redactor made some copyist errors, or perhaps deliberately exchanged a J god for an E god is beyond Mr. McDowell’s intellect. Statistical errors used to prove such hypotheses (J/E/P/D/R) are well within the bounds of certainty.

Jimmy Higgins

(Bump!)...(in the night)