SECTION III
Chapter 1 - Biblical Scholarship and Analyses

Duplication of Stories in the Bible

  Anyone who has read the Old Testament--from the beginning through to the
end-- will notice that many biblical stories are repeated TWO, sometimes
even THREE times.  For example, there are TWO different versions describing
the creation of the earth in the book of Genesis. Likewise, there are two
different stories describing the covenant between God and Abraham, the naming
of Abraham's son Isaac, God's changing Jacob's name to Israel, of Moses
getting water from a rock, the Ten Commandments, etc.

  Sometimes one Old Testament version may conflict with the other version.
Following are a few examples:

* According to Genesis 6:19 Noah took aboard his ark TWO of each kind of
  animal (both clean and unclean).  In the Genesis 7:21 version, Noah took
  SEVEN pairs of CLEAN animals.

* According to Numbers 35:6-7, the Levite priestly tribe was to receive
  certain territories as an inheritance.  Deuteronomy 18:1 states that they
  were NOT to receive an inheritance.

* According to Exodus 3:13-15 and 6:2-3, the Hebrews did not know the
  name of their god Yahweh, until God revealed it to Moses. But earlier
  accounts in Genesis (ex 4:26,22:14,26:25,27:20,28:13) show that even
  the older Jewish patriarchs knew God's name as Yahweh.

  It was not until the late eighteenth century, that biblical scholars began
applying the newly discovered "scientific" method of inquiry towards the Old
Testament to determine the significance of these duplicated stories. Johann
Gottfried Eichhorn, a respected German scholar and the son of a pastor,
studied the styles of these passages, and came to the startling conclusion
that the Books of Moses had been written by TWO authors. Per Eichhorn,
some LATER editor had skillfully interwoven these stories together into
the version we know today as the Old Testament.

   One group of these writers he called "E", (based on the hebrew word for God
of El or Elohim), because they always used the term "God" in their version
BEFORE God revealed his name to Moses in the story of the burning bush. The
other group he called "J" (the German word for Yahweh started with the
letter "J"), because this group referred to God as "Yahweh".

(Note: The proper Hebrew name for God was 'Yahweh'.  However ancient Hebrews
believed the name itself invoked power, and therefore whenever reading the
scriptures, they substituted the word "Adonai" (meaning Lord) for it.
They wrote these vowel marks above the word for "Yahweh" in their sacred
texts to note the substitution to take place.  The reading "Jehovah" is
therefore a misreading that occurred from combining the consonants of
"Yahweh" with the vowels from "Adonai".)

   Later biblical scholars found what they believed to be another
distinct text interwoven into the Old Testament.  This was named "P"
standing for priestly, because it was written in a distinctively
authoritarian style which was typically interested in detailed priestly
matters-- such as laws, ritual, purity, and sacrifice. It was also concerned
with exact measurements, dates and numbers.

   Many biblical scholars believe the "P" texts to have been written by
Jewish priests who had recently returned from their exile in Babylon,
and were busily restructuring society in Judah/Israel around the
newly rebuilt Temple (6th century B.C.E.)

(Note: One clue to support this theory is based on the fact that the
Persian coin--the daric was in general use in Palestine AFTER the Persians
defeated the Babylonians and freed the Hebrew captives. The critical
scholar de Wette pointed out that the book of Chronicles incorrectly
refers to darics being used by the hebrews during the times of King David.
(See 1 Chronicles 29:7. The interested reader is urged to read Richard
Friedman's book, WHO WROTE THE BIBLE for more details.)

  According to Richard Friedman, in his book WHO WROTE THE BIBLE,
the differences between the different versions of P with J and E, are:

  "obvious even in translation.  The vocabulary is different.  There are
  different recurring expressions and favorite phrases.  There are
  doublets of whole sections of the first four books.  There are blatant
  contradictions of detail between it and the others.  Even part of the
  wording of the Ten Commandments is different "
(Richard Friedman, WHO WROTE THE BIBLE P 53.) Because Deuteronomy,
which is the fifth book of the old testament and attributed to Moses, was
written in another completely independent and consistent style, this text
is often referred to as "D", by biblical scholars.)

Example of the "J" text and "P" Text in the Story of Noah's Ark

  For example, take the story of the Flood (Genesis 6:5-8:22)--which falls 
under the "J" version. (Note: This analysis is taken from Friedman's book, 
WHO WROTE THE BIBLE)

   Notice how God is referred in the following passages as "Yahweh" and is
represented as REGRETTING that he had created the human race and was
GRIEVED to His heart.  (This, in turn, has important theological implications
on how an all-powerful, all-knowing God could regret anything he had done):

GENESIS 6:
5  And Yahweh saw that the evil of humans was great in the earth and all
 the inclination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil all the day.
6  And Yahweh regretted that he had made humans in the earth and he was
 grieved to his heart.
7 And Yahweh said, "I shall wipe out the humans which I have created from the
 face of the earth, from human to beast to creeping thing to bird of the
 heavens, for I regret that I have made them."
8 But Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes.


  The next verses in chapter 6, are according to this theory, believed
to have been written by the "P" author.  Notice how the story seems to
start over again, and uses a distinctively differently language style--
with God depicted here in an authoritative, all-powerful being (and lacking
the more humanlike qualities of "regret" and "grief" shown in the "J"
text).  Also notice how God is referred to as simply, "God":

9  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, perfect in
 his generations.  Noah walked with God.
10  And Noah sired three sons:  Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11  And the Earth was corrupted before God, and the Earth was filled with
  violence.
12 And God saw the Earth, and here it was corrupted, for all flesh had
  corrupted its way on the earth.
13 And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the
  Earth is filled with violence because of them, and here I am going to
  destroy them with the Earth.
14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood, make rooms with the ark, and pitch
  it outside and inside with pitch.
15 And this is how you shall make it:  Three hundred cubits the length of
  the ark, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height.
16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit
  from the top, and you shall make an entrance to the ark in its side.  You
  shall make lower, second, and third stories for it.
17 And here I am bringing the flood, water over the Earth, to destroy all
  flesh in which is the breath of life from under the heavens.  Everything
  which is on the land will die.
18 And I shall establish my covenant with you.  And you shall come to the
  ark, you and your sons, and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
19 And of all the living, of all flesh, you shall bring two to the ark to
  keep alive with you, they shall be male and female.
20 Of the birds according to their kind, and of the beasts according to their
  kind, and of all the creeping things of the earth according to their kind,
  two of each will come to you to keep alive.
21 And you, take for yourself of all food which will be eaten and gather it
  to you, and it will be for you and for them for food.
22 And Noah did according to all that God commanded him--so he did.

   Genesis 7:1-7:5 reverts back to the "J" text.  God once again is
referred to as Yahweh. God once again appears gentler ("for I have
seen you as righteous before me"), and the story of God's commandment
to take animals to the ark is repeated. 

GENESIS 7:

1 And Yahweh said to Noah, "Come, you and all your household, to the
  ark, for I have seen you as righteous before me in this generation.
2 Of all the clean beasts, take yourself seven pairs, man and his woman;
 and of the beasts which are not clean, two, man and his woman.
3 Also of the birds of the heavens seven pairs, male and female, to keep
 alive seed on the face of the earth.
4 For in seven more days I shall rain on the earth forty days and forty
 nights, and I shall wipe out all the substance that I have made from
 the face of the earth."
5 And Noah did according to all that Yahweh had commanded him.

  As mentioned earlier, in Genesis 6:19-20, God commanded Noah to
take TWO of all the living to the ark. In Genesis 7:2 below, he tells
Noah to take SEVEN pairs of all CLEAN beasts (i.e. fit for sacrifice)
and one pair of all UNCLEAN beasts. (As noted above, some scholars have
resolved this difference by stating that the FIVE clean animals were
used for eating.) However other scholars have argued that because of
the difference in TERMINOLOGY between the two accounts (ie man and woman,
pairs, etc) that this indicates that these were written by two separate
writers.

   There are other differences too.  The "J" version depicts
the flood as lasting forty days and forty nights (see Genesis 7:17)
while the "P" version states that the flood lasted a year (see
Genesis 7:6,8:13,8:3-5).  The "P" version says in Genesis 8:7 that
Noah sent out a raven to test for dry land, while the "J" version
(in the next five verses, Genesis 8:8-12) states that Noah sent a dove.
Many biblical scholars have argued that Noah of course could easily have
sent out both a raven AND a dove.  The point is that the raven verse is
written in the "P" style and the dove verses written in the "J"
distinctive style.

     In his book, WHO WROTE THE BIBLE, Richard Friedman presents a
convincing hypothesis behind who wrote the "J" and "E" texts.
According to Friedman, there were TWO rival Hebrew priestly groups--
One group of priests at Shiloh appears to have had a great deal of
authority before being persecuted--first by King Saul, and later by
Solomon.  Their rivals were those priests in Jerusalem (in the southern
kingdom of Judah) who traced their lineage through Aaron, and were in
control of the Temple at Jerusalem.

  Later Jewish scribes pieced both versions together in a skillful manner,
so as to preserve BOTH holy accounts.

  Here are just a few of the analyses taken from WHO WROTE THE BIBLE:

EXAMPLE 1: Birthright of Jacob.

  * "J" version: Jacob gives his birthright to the youngest of his four
  sons, Judah. The older brothers were named Reuben, Simeon, and Levi in
  that order. Jacob was angry at Reuben for sleeping with one of his
  father's concubines. Simeon and Levi are described as being full of
  anger and wrath.  But Judah states "... you are the one your brothers
  will praise... Your father's sons will bow down to you." (Genesis 49:8).

  * "E" version: In the deathbed scene of Jacob, Jacob bequeaths the
double portion of his inheritance to Joseph, announcing that each of Joseph's
two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh will receive equal portions with their
uncles--Reuben, Simeon, and the others. Joseph places his two sons in position
before Jacob so that Manasseh, the older son would be blessed with Jacob's
right hand (ie the hand of preeminence). But Jacob thwarts this plan by
crossing his hands, so that the right hand falls on Ephraim's head.
Joseph protests the reversal, but Jacob insists that Ephraim will indeed
be the greater of the two.(Genesis 48:8-20)

   Why was this significant for the "E" writers (which were from Israel)?
Because Ephraim was used as a second name referencing the kingdom of
Israel (in the north).  Jeroboam's capital city, Shechem was located in
the hills of Ephraim. (WHO WROTE THE BIBLE P65--Also see 1 Kings 12:25)

  In both the "J" and "E" versions of the story of Joseph, Joseph's brothers
are jealous of him and plan to kill him.  But in the "J" version it is
Judah who saves him, and in the "E" version it is Reuben, the oldest who
saves him.

EXAMPLE 2: The Ark of the Covenant vs the Tabernacle.

  The "J" text consistently treats the Ark of the Covenant with great
importance. It is carried out first in procession  by the Israelites
from Mt.Sinai/Horeb to the  Promised Land. It is mentioned in another "J"
text as being important to the Israeli's military success--both past and
future. King David brought the ark from Shiloh to Jerusalem, and King
Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem with the ark in its room of Holy
of Holies. The ark was guarded by statues of cherubs on the throne
platform.

  The "E" text never mention the ark. (Friedman, WHO WROTE THE BIBLE, p 75).
Instead, the "E" text emphasizes the Tent of Meeting, or Tabernacle,
as symbolizing the presence of God. Once again, the Tabernacle was originally
associated with the city of Shiloh, which was the home of the rival hebrew
priests.

EXAMPLE 3: The Account of the Exodus

   According to Friedman, the "E" text emphasizes Moses' special role in
bringing about the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt, while the
"J" text focuses more on God's role.  The "E" text contains the story
of how the Israelites complain that there is no meat to eat in the
Wilderness, even saying that at least they ate good food when they were
in Egypt. The "J" version has no comparable account.

   In the "E" version, Joshua is the obvious hero.  He is the faithful
assistant to Moses. He leads the people in battle against the Amalekites,
He is the only Israelite not involved in the golden calf incident.
In the "J" text, Joshua plays no role.  Per Friedman, this is because
Joshua is identified with tribe of Ephraim--a tribe in the north.

Why Were These Texts Interwoven Together to Form the Old Testament?

  Many scholars (such as Friedman) believe that these different accounts
were combined together by Jewish scribes sometime after the Babylonian exile.
To understand why the ancient hebrews combined BOTH versions, one has to
understand their almost mystical reverence to the written word. (Religious
Jews, for example, even today write G-d, in place of the name of God, as
the printed words of God are believed to be imbued with a special power unto
itself). This reverence for the written word helps to explain why the scribes
who combined the text, literally did not want to tamper with the original
texts-- and thus just spliced the two accounts together, in as logical a way
as possible.

Theological Ramifications of Combining Texts

   Some of the theological ramifications of joining different texts together
in this way may have had unexpected results.  First of all, by combining
various descriptions of God (for example, the authoritarian God of the
"P" text, compared to the more human-like God of the "J" text), the result
has been to give the character of God more depth and dimension, as the
faithful try to incorporate all the facets of his personality into their
image of "God".

  The second result would also have theological implications regarding the
conduct of Jews. For, (especially in the case of the "J" and "E" texts where
rival priests are purposely presenting the other side in the WORST
possible way), the combination of the two texts makes it appear that
EVERYONE (ie all Jews) were wicked before the eyes of God.

Ten Commandments

  The multiple writer theory explains another puzzling occurrence in the Old
Testament.  That is, in Exodus 20, we read the famous version of the
Ten Commandments:

  (1) You shall have no other gods before me.
  (2) You shall not make a graven image, or any likeness of anything...
   [which is worshipped]
  (3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
  (4) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
  (5) Honor your father and your mother
  (6) You shall not kill
  (7) You shall not commit adultery
  (8) You shall not steal
  (9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
  (10) You shall not covet...anything that is your neighbor's.

 (Exodus 20:2-17 RSV, also see Deuteronomy 5)

  Moses destroyed this FIRST version of the Ten Commandments in his great
anger upon finding that his people had reverted back to idolatry. Later,
God instructed Moses to cut two tablets of stone to reissue the commandments.

   However this SECOND version of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34,
is very different from the first one. That is, the following moral
commandments are missing:

      --Honor they Father and Mother
      --Do Not Kill
      --Do Not Commit Adultery
      --Do Not Steal, Bear False Witnesses, or Covet

These commandments were replaced with new ones that were more interested
in the administration of sacrifices and worshiping (things which a priest
would coincidently also be interested in)

Below is the Second version, per Exodus 34.  (Note the first two commandments 
are similar to the First version.)

   (1) "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of 
the land whither you go... You shall tear down their altars, and break their
pillars, and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god,
for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)...

   (2) "You shall make for yourself no molten gods."

After this point, the rest of the laws are mainly interested in
ritual:

    (3) "The feast of unleavened bread you shall keep.  Seven days you shall
eat unleavened bread..."

     (4) "All that opens the womb is mine, all your male cattle, the
firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem
it you shall break its neck.  All first-born of your sons you shall redeem.
And none shall appear before me empty."

    (5) "Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest..."

    (6)"And you shall observe the feast of weeks..."

    (7) "Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the
Lord God ...;neither shall any man desire your land, when you go to appear
before the Lord your God three times a year."

    (8) You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven;
neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left until
the morning.

    (9) The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to
the Lord your God.

    (10) You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk".

     "And the Lord said to Moses, "Write these words; in accordance with
 these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel... And he wrote
 upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
 (Exodus 34:11-28 (RSV)

   A literal reading of Exodus would imply that it was this SECOND version
that was formally dubbed the TEN COMMANDMENTS! The first version was
originally a "P" text, while the second version in Exodus was a "J" text.
(Friedman, op cit, see p 250-2. Friedman does not take up the story of the
Ten Commandments in his book as I have--however I have used his tables to
identify which texts were used in these verses.) There is another
rendition of this story in Deuteronomy.  Here the first version reads
similar to Exodus 20.  The second version does not list the commandments
in details--thus implying it WAS an exact copy of the first version.)

The Development of the Old Testament Bible

  Many modern scholars believe that the Old Testament was written over
roughly a period of a thousand years--from about 1000 B.C.E. to around 100 C.E.  
Most of the books are thought to have been written down during or after the 
time of the Babylonian Exile (586-538 B.C.), from earlier oral traditions and 
histories remembered by the people. In the second to third centuries B.C. the 
Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek (which became known as the 
Septuagint).

  In the aftermath of the Jewish-Roman war of 66-70 C.E., Jewish rabbis
and scholars formed academies to purify their writings from pagan influence.
Following the defeat of the Jews to the armies of the Romans in 70 C.E.,
the leadership of Judaism had fallen to Pharisee scholars who carefully
revised and revamped their entire religion. With the Temple destroyed
and many Jews scattered outside of Palestine (especially after the second
revolt), Judaism was transformed by these scholars from a religion of
SACRIFICE into modern Judaism which is centered around the Torah.
(see Hoseah 6:6; Matthew 9:13,12:7)

  The first step taken by these Pharisaic scholars was to reconcile the
Jewish scriptures in Palestine with the Septuagint (Greek version of the
Torah) which was used by Jews of the Diaspora. The Diaspora Jews were more
hellenized than their Palestinian cousins and consequently had a more
liberal attitude towards the scriptures. Therefore one of the first tasks by
this group of Pharisaic Jews (led by Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai at Jamnia) was
to determine WHICH books were to be cannonized into the Jewish Bible.(Those
books of the Septuagint that were deemed uninspired, and therefore kept out
of the Jewish canon later became known as the Apocrypha, meaning "hidden
books.")

Septuagint Books that were Accepted into the Canon

  Everyone was in agreement that the five books of Moses was to be included
as the Torah--or books of Law. However, other books were more controversial--
For example, there was debate over admitting the  book of Ezekiel into the
canon, as there were passages in Ezekiel that appeared to contradict the
Torah (ie ref Ezekiel 46:6 vs. Numbers 28:11). These controversial passages
were reportedly harmonized by Hannaniah ben Hezekiah ben Garon--who was
said to have spent 300 barrels of oil laboring day and night writing
commentaries to prove that where Ezekiel "appeared" to be in conflict, it
was really in agreement.

  The book of Esther was NOT admitted into the cannon for another 150
years. The conflict over Esther was twofold:  First there was NO reference
to God, and secondly there was a reference to a holiday known as the feast
of Purim, which is not mentioned anywhere else in the Torah. Purim was a
popular feast, and ultimately the decision was made that this feast had
indeed been revealed to Moses.

  There was also a great deal of controversy over the books of Ecclesiastes.
Followers of the Jewish teacher Hillel believed that it was divinely
inspired, while followers of Shammai believed that it was not.  Finally,
it was determined to be of divine origin.

  The Song of Solomon was possibly the most controversial of all because
of its seemingly explicit sexual references.  (For example, Chapter 1
reads "O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth! For your
love is better than wine...Draw me after you, let us make haste... We
will exult and rejoice in you: we will extol your love more than wine...")
Some Jews interpreted these passages literally, to mean sexual longing
between a man and a woman.  Others interpreted these passages using ALLEGORY--
arguing that these verses symbolically represented God's love for Israel (and
to Christians, God's love for His church)

    According to Rabbi Akiba, in a passionate appeal for its inclusion,
"All the Scriptures are holy; but the Song of Songs is the holiest of all."
Based on these allegorical arguments, the Song of Solomon eventually
entered into the Old Testament canon. (Gerald A Larue "How the Old Testament
was Written", FREE INQUIRY Winter 1986-7 P 35-6)  Some have suggested that
the Song of Songs was originally a LIBRETTO of a small opera--just as the
book of Job was possibly originally a play. (John Romer, TESTAMENT P 149)

  Later commentaries on the Torah (first five books of Moses --Genesis
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, known also as the Books of
Law) were bound together into the Talmud.  Referred to as the "Oral" Law,
the Talmud consists of the Mishnah and the Gemara, and was fixed around
500 C.E. (Note the word "Talmud" means "study" and the word "Torah" means
"a showing of the way").

  It is interesting to note that some of the great Jewish sages noticed
many of the discrepancies between the texts they were including into their
Torah--but brilliantly explained they away--using allegory. For example,
the twelfth century Jewish scholar Maimonides, in his introduction to
his GUIDE TO THE PURPLEXED, explained away the discrepancies in the
Genesis story of creation as follows: "Creation has been treated in
metaphors in order that the uneducated may comprehend it according to
the measure of their faculties and the feebleness of their apprehension,
while educated persons may take it in a different sense".

   There are references in the Old Testament to books which have been
lost -- such as THE BOOK OF ACTS OF SOLOMAN (1 Kings 11:41)
           THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF THE KINGS OF ISRAEL
            (1 Kings 14:19)
           THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH
             (1 Kings 14:29)

  There are also scribal errors that have been identified, such as those in

    Leviticus 20:10
    1 Samuel 14:41 (where a truncation occurs)

  From this, Gerald Larue has concluded:

  "For the scholar who honestly follows the highest principles of research
... there can be no question that the Jewish Scriptures... are ....
the product of many unknown writers and editors and copyists..."   (Ibid)


What the Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls Tells Us Regarding the
  Accuracy of the Old Testament

   The official Jewish version of the Old Testament was designated by the 
Jewish rabbi Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, who lived in 1008 C.E. in Tiberias, 
along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls 
at Qumran has shown that early versions of Old Testament texts discovered here 
are REMARKABLY CLOSE to those used by Asher and modern Jews in general!

  However, archeologists have ALSO found other variant versions of the Old
Testament at Qumran--probably representing  versions used by competing
Jewish sects operating around the same time. For example, archeologists
have uncovered a Samaritan Pentateuch along with other texts similar to
the one used by rabbi Ben Asher.

 John Romer, in his book TESTAMENT, has concluded from this that the books
of the Old Testament did not exist in final form during the time of the
Qumran settlement:

  "So the question whether our Old Testament is an accurate copy of an
  ancient Hebrew original is no longer relevant; it seems that there never was
  a single original of the Holy Writings.  The best that we can say, from
  evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls, is that by the time the last of them
  were made in the first century C.E., the different versions held but small
  variations in them; but nonetheless each version still had its own integrity
  and its own ancient pedigree." (John Romer, TESTAMENT--THE BIBLE AND HISTORY,
  Henry Hold and Company, p 88)

  Also according to John Romer the extraordinary volume and diversity of
the scrolls makes it unlikely they were purely Essene writings.  For
example, there were "three contradictory rule books [which] were found quite
close together and ...several different versions of sacred texts appearing
in the same place."  (Ibid, p 144).  According to Romer, it is more likely
the Dead Sea scrolls thus represent a cross sampling of religious texts
taken from the libraries and synagogues in Jerusalem, and hidden in the caves
by Qumran just before the final siege by the Romans in 69-70 C.E.

  As of this writing no Christian, nor New Testament texts have been found at
Qumran. Still, this would not be impossible, because as we have seen there
were Christian Jewish sects that were worshiping in Palestine just prior to
the Jewish-Roman War of 66 C.E. (ie during the time when the Dead Sea scrolls
were hidden.)