It is fortunately not necessary to discuss in this place all the intricate questions connected with the history and structure of the Priests’ Code. The Code as a whole is, even more obviously than Yahwist or Elohist, the production of a school,—in this case a school of juristic writers, whose main task was to systematise the mass of ritual regulations which had accumulated in the hands of the Jerusalem priesthood, and to develop a theory of religion which grew out of them. Evidence of stratification appears chiefly in the legislative portions of the middle Pentateuch, where several minor codes are amalgamated, and overlaid with considerable accretions of later material. Here, however, we have to do only with the great historical work which forms at once the kernel of the Code and the framework of the Pentateuch, the document distinguished by Wellhausen as Q (Quatuor foederum liber), by Kuenen as Priestly-Code², by others as Priestly-CodeKernel.¹ Although this groundwork shows traces of compilation from pre-existing material (see pages 8, 35, 40, 130, 169, 428 f., etc.), it nevertheless bears the impress of a single mind, and must be treated as a unity.
No critical operation is easier or more certain than the separation of this work, down even to very small fragments, from the context in which it is embedded. When this is done, and the fragments pieced together, we have before us, almost in its original integrity, an independent document, which is a source, as well as the framework, of Genesis. We have seen (page xli) that the opposite opinion is maintained by Klostermann and Orr, who hold that Priestly-Code is merely a supplementing redactor of, or ‘collaborator’ with, Jehovist. But two facts combine to render this hypothesis absolutely untenable. (1) The fragments form a consecutive history, in which the lacunæ are very few and unimportant, and those which occur are easily explicable as the result of the redactional process. The precise state of the case is as follows: In the primæval history no hiatus whatever can be detected. Dr. Orr’s assertion (The Problem of the Old Testament, 348 f.) that Priestly-Code’s account of the Flood must have contained the episodes of the birds and the sacrifice, because both are in the Babylonian version, will be worth considering when he has made it probable either that Priestly-Code had ever read the Babylonian story, or that, if he had, he would have wished to reproduce it intact. As matter of fact, neither is in the least degree probable; and, as we shall see presently, Noah’s sacrifice is an incident which Priestly-Code would certainly have suppressed if he had known of it.—In the history of Abraham there is again no reason to suspect any omission. Here is a literal translation of the disjecta membra of Priestly-Code’s epitome of the biography of Abraham, with no connexions supplied, and only one verse transposed (19²⁹): 124b “Now Abram was 75 years old when he went out from Ḥarran. ⁵ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and all the souls whom they had procured; and they went out to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan. 13⁶ And the land could not bear them so that they might dwell together, for their possessions were great, and they were not able to dwell together. 11b So they separated from one another: 12ab Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Oval. 19²⁹ And when God destroyed the cities of the Oval, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot away from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.—16¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. ³ So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband for a wife to him. ¹⁵ And Hagar bore to Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore to him Ishmael. ¹⁶ And Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.—17¹ And when Abram was 99 years old, Yahwe appeared to Abram, and said to him,” etc. Here follows the account of the covenant with Abraham, the change of his name and that of Sarai, the institution of circumcision, and the announcement of the birth of Isaac to Sarah (chapter 17).—The narrative is resumed in 211b “And Yahwe did to Sarah as he had spoken, 2b at the appointed time which God had mentioned. ³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. ⁴ And Abraham circumcised Isaac his son when he was 8 days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ And Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac his son was born to him.—23¹ And the life of Sarah was 127 years; ² and Sarah died in Kiryath Arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.” This introduces the story of the purchase of Machpelah as a burying-place (chapter 23), and this brings us to—25⁷ “And these are the days of the years of the life of Abraham which he lived: 175 years; ⁸ and he expired. And Abraham died in a good old age, an old man and full [of years], and was gathered to his father’s kin. ⁹ And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar, the Hittite, which is opposite Mamre: ¹⁰ the field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.—¹¹ And after the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son.” The reader can judge for himself whether a narrative so continuous as this, every isolated sentence of which has been detached from its context by unmistakable criteria of the style of Priestly-Code, is likely to have been produced by the casual additions of a mere supplementer of an older work. And if he objects to the transposition of 19²⁹, let him note at the same time how utterly meaningless in its present position that verse is, considered as a supplement to 191–28.—In the sections on Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, there are undoubtedly omissions which we can only supply from Jehovist; and if we were to judge from these parts alone, the supplementary theory would be more plausible than it is. We miss, e.g., accounts of the birth of Jacob and Esau, of Jacob’s arrival in Paddan Aram, of his marriage to Leah and Rachel, of the birth of Joseph, of his slavery and elevation in Egypt, his reconciliation with his brethren, and perhaps some other particulars. Even here, however, the theory is absolutely negatived by the contradictions to Jehovist which will be specified immediately. Dr. Orr’s argument on this point (The Problem of the Old Testament, 343 ff.) really assumes that the account of Jehovist is the only way in which the gaps of Priestly-Code could be filled up; but the examination of the story of Abraham has shown that that is not the case. The facts are fully explained by the supposition that a short epitome of the history, similar to that of the history of Abraham, has been abridged in the redaction, by the excision of a very few sentences, in favour of the fuller narrative of Jehovist.—(2) The second fact which makes Dr. Orr’s hypothesis untenable is this, that in almost every instance where Priestly-Code expands into circumstantial narration it gives a representation of the events which is distinctly at variance with the older documents. The difference between Priestly-Code’s cosmogony and Yahwist’s account of the Creation is such that it is ludicrous to speak of the one as a supplement or a ‘framework’ to the other; and the two Flood stories are hardly less irreconcilable (see page 148). In the life of Abraham, we have two parallel accounts of the covenant with Abraham in chapter 15 (Jehovist) and 17 (Priestly-Code); and it is evident that the one supersedes and excludes the other. Again, Priestly-Code’s reason for Jacob’s journey to Mesopotamia (281–9) is quite inconsistent with that given by Jehovist in chapter 27 (page 374 f.); and his conception of Isaac’s blessing as a transmission of the blessing originally bestowed on Abraham (28⁴) is far removed from the idea which forms the motive of chapter 27. In Jehovist, Esau takes up his abode in Seir before Jacob’s return from Mesopotamia (32³); in Priestly-Code he does not leave Canaan till after the burial of Isaac (35⁶). Priestly-Code’s account of the enmity between Joseph and his brethren is unfortunately truncated, but enough is preserved to show that it differed essentially from that of Jehovist (see page 444). It is difficult to make out where Jacob was buried according to Yahwist and Elohist, but it certainly was not at Machpelah, as in Priestly-Code (see page 538 f.). And so on. Everywhere we see a tendency in Priestly-Code to suppress or minimise discords in the patriarchal households. It is inconceivable that a supplementer should thus contradict his original at every turn, and at the same time leave it to tell its own story. When we find that the passages of an opposite tenor to Jehovist form parts of a practically complete narrative, we cannot avoid the conclusion that Priestly-CodeKernel is an independent document, which has been preserved almost entire in our present Book of Genesis. The question then arises whether these discrepancies spring from a divergent tradition followed by Priestly-CodeKernel or from a deliberate re-writing of the history as told by Jehovist, under the influence of certain theological ideals and principles, which we now proceed to consider.
The central theme and objective of Priestly-CodeKernel is the institution of the Israelitish theocracy, whose symbol is the Tabernacle, erected, after its heavenly antitype, by Moses at Mount Sinai. For this event the whole previous history of mankind is a preparation. The Mosaic dispensation is the last of four world-ages: from the Creation to the Flood, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, and from Moses onwards. Each period is inaugurated by a divine revelation, and the last two by the disclosure of a new name of God: El Shaddai to Abraham (17¹), and Yahwe to Moses (Exodus 6³). Each period, also, is marked by the institution of some permanent element of the theocratic constitution, the Levitical system being conceived as a pyramid rising in four stages: the Sabbath (22 f.); permission of the slaughter of animals, coupled with a restriction on the use of the blood (91 ff.); circumcision (17); and, lastly, the fully developed Mosaic ritual. Not till the last stage is reached is sacrificial worship of the Deity authorised. Accordingly neither altars nor sacrifices are ever mentioned in the pre-Mosaic history; and even the distinction between clean and unclean animals is supposed to be unknown at the time of the Flood. It is particularly noteworthy that the profane, as distinct from the sacrificial, slaughter of animals, which even the Deuteronomic law treats as an innovation, is here carried back to the covenant with Noah.
Beneath this imposing historical scheme, with its ruling idea of a progressive unfolding of God’s will to men, we discover a theory of religion which, more than anything else, expresses the spirit of the Priestly school to which the author of Priestly-CodeKernel belonged. The exclusive emphasis on the formal or institutional aspect of religion, which is the natural proclivity of a sacerdotal caste, appears in Priestly-CodeKernel in a very pronounced fashion. Religion is resolved into a series of positive enactments on the part of God, and observance of these on the part of man. The old cult-legends (page xii f.), which traced the origin of existing ritual usages to historic incidents in the lives of the fathers, are swept away; and every practice to which a religious value is attached is referred to a direct command of God. In the deeper problems of religion, on the other hand, such as the origin of evil, the writer evinces no interest; and of personal piety—the disposition of the heart towards God—his narrative hardly furnishes an illustration. In both respects he represents a theology at once more abstract and shallower than that of Yahwist or Elohist, whose more imaginative treatment of religious questions shows a true apprehension of the deeper aspects of the spiritual life (chapter 3. 6⁵ 8²¹ 1823 ff. 45⁸ etc.), and succeeds in depicting the personal religion of the patriarchs as a genuine experience of inward fellowship with God (compare 22. 2412 ff. 329 ff. 4815 f. etc.). It would be unfair to charge the author of Priestly-CodeKernel with indifference to the need for vital godliness, for he lacks the power of delineating character and emotion in any relation of life; but his defects are none the less characteristic of the type of mind that produced the colourless digest of history, which suffices to set forth the dominant ideas of the Priestly theology.
Another characteristic distinction between Jehovist and Priestly-Code is seen in the enhanced transcendentalism of the latter’s conception of Deity. Anthropomorphic, and still more anthropopathic, expressions are studiously avoided (an exception is Genesis 22 f.: compare Exodus 3117b); revelation takes the form of simple speech; angels, dreams, and visions are never alluded to. Theophanies are mentioned, but not described; God is said to ‘appear’ to men, and to ‘go up from them’ (Genesis 171. 22 f. 359. 13 48³, Exodus 6³), but the manner of His appearance is nowhere indicated save in the supreme manifestation at Sinai (Exodus 241 ff. 3429b 4034 f.). It is true that a similar inconcreteness often characterises the theophanies of Yahwist and Elohist, and the later strata of these documents exhibit a decided approximation to the abstract conceptions of Priestly-Code. But a comparison of the parallels chapter 17 with 15, or 359 ff. with 2810 ff., makes it clear that Priestly-Code’s departure from the older tradition springs from a deliberate intention to exclude sensuous imagery from the representation of Godhead.
It remains to consider, in the light of these facts, Priestly-Code’s attitude to the traditional history of the patriarchs. In the first place, it is clear that he accepts the main outline of the history as fixed in tradition. But whether he knew that tradition from other sources than Yahwist and Elohist, is a question not so easily answered. For the primitive period, direct dependence on Yahwist is improbable, because of the marked diversity in the accounts of the Creation and the Flood: here Priestly-Code seems to have followed a tradition closely akin to, but not identical with, that of Yahwist. In the history of the patriarchs there seems no reason to suppose that he had any other authorities than Yahwist and Elohist. The general course of events is the same, and differences of detail are all explicable from the known tendencies of the Code. But the important facts are that nearly the whole of the history, both primitive and patriarchal, is reduced to a meagre summary, with little save a chronological significance, and that the points where the narrative becomes diffuse and circumstantial are (with one exception) precisely those which introduce a new religious dispensation: viz. the Creation, the Flood, the Abrahamic covenant, and the Exodus. The single exception is the purchase of Machpelah (chapter 23), an event which doubtless owes its prominence to its connexion with the promise of the land to Abraham and his seed. For the rest, a certain emphasis naturally lies on outstanding events, like the origin of the name Israel (359 f.), or the settlement of Jacob’s family in Egypt (475–11); and the author lingers with interest on the transmission of the patriarchal blessing and promise from Isaac to Jacob (28³ 35¹²), and from Jacob to his sons (483 f.). But these are practically all the incidents to which Priestly-CodeKernel attaches any sort of significance of their own; and even these derive much of their importance from their relation to the chronological scheme into which they are fitted.—Hence to say that Priestly-Code’s epitome would be ‘unintelligible’ apart from Jehovist, is to confuse his point of view with our own. It is perfectly true that from Priestly-Code alone we should know very little of the characters of the patriarchs, of the motives which governed their actions, or of the connexion between one event and another. But these are matters which Priestly-Code had no interest in making ‘intelligible.’ He is concerned solely with events, not with causes or motives. The individual is sufficiently described when we are told whose son he was, how long he lived, what children he begot, and such like. He is but a link in the generations that fill up the history; and even where he is the recipient of a divine revelation, his selection for that privilege depends on his place in the divine scheme of chronology, rather than on any personal endowment or providential training.
The style of Priestly-CodeKernel can be characterised without the reserves and qualifications which were necessary in speaking of the difference between Yahwist and Elohist (page xlvii f.); there is no better illustration of the dictum le style c’est l’homme than in this remarkable document. Speaking broadly, the style reflects the qualities of the legal mind, in its stereotyped terminology, its aim at precise and exhaustive statement, its monotonous repetitions, and its general determination to leave no loophole for misinterpretation or misunderstanding. The jurist’s love of order and method appears in a great facility in the construction of schemes and schedules—genealogical tables, systematic enumerations, etc.—as well as in the carefully planned disposition of the narrative as a whole. It is necessary to read the whole work consecutively in order to realise the full effect of the laboured diffuseness, the dry lucidity and prosaic monotony of this characteristic product of the Priestly school of writers. On the other hand, the style is markedly deficient in the higher elements of literature. Though capable at times of rising to an impressive dignity (as in Genesis 1. 477–11), it is apt to degenerate into a tedious and meaningless iteration of set phrases and rigid formulæ (see Numbers 7). The power of picturesque description, or dramatic delineation of life and character, is absent: the writer’s imagination is of the mechanical type, which cannot realise an object without the help of exact quantitative specification or measurement. Even in chapter 23, which is perhaps the most lifelike narrative in the Code, the characteristic formalism asserts itself in the measured periodic movement of the action, and the recurrent use of standing expressions from the opening to the close. That such a style might become the property of a school we see from the case of Ezekiel, whose writings show strong affinities with Priestly-Code; but of all the Priestly documents, Priestly-CodeKernel is the one in which the literary bent of the school is best exemplified, and (it may be added) is seen to most advantage.
The following selection (from Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament⁸, 131 ff.) of distinctive expressions of Priestly-Code, occurring in Genesis, will give a sufficient idea of the stylistic peculiarity of the book, and also of its linguistic affinities with the later literature, but especially with the Book of Ezekiel.
אלהים as the name of God, uniformly in Genesis, except 17¹ 211b.—מין, ‘kind’: 111. 12. 21. 24. 25 6²⁰ 7¹⁴ (Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14; only again Ezekiel 47¹⁰).—שָׁרַץ, ‘to swarm’: 120. 21 7²¹ 8¹⁷ 9⁷ +¹ (outside of Priestly-Code only Psalms 105³⁰, Ezekiel 47⁹).—שֶׁרֶץ, ‘swarming things’: 1²⁰ 7²¹ + (only in Priestly-Code and Deuteronomy 14¹⁹).—פרה ורבה: 122. 28 8¹⁷ 91. 7 17²⁰ 28³ 35¹¹ 47²⁷ 48⁴ (Exodus 1⁷, Leviticus 26⁹; elsewhere only Jeremiah 3¹⁶ [inverted], 23³, Ezekiel 36¹¹).—לאכלה: 129. 30 6²¹ 9³ + (elsewhere only in Ezekiel (10 times), and (as infinitive) Jeremiah 12⁹).—תולדות: 10³² 25¹³ + (elsewhere 1 Chronicles 5⁷ 72. 4. 9 8²⁸ 99. 34 26³¹). The phrase [ו]אלה תולדות occurs in Priestly-Code 10 times in Genesis (see page xxxiv), and in Numbers 3¹; elsewhere only Ruth 4¹⁸, 1 Chronicles 1²⁹.—גוע: 6¹⁷ 7²¹ 258. 17 35²⁹ 49²³ + (elsewhere poetical: Zechariah 13⁸, Psalms 88¹⁶ 104²⁹, Lamentations 1¹⁹, and 8 times in Job).—עִמְּךָ, אִתְּךָ, etc. (appended to enumerations): 6¹⁸ 77. 13 816. 18 9⁸ 28⁴ 466. 7 +.—אחריכם, etc. (after ‘seed’): 9⁹ 177. 8. 9. 10. 19 35¹² 48⁴ +.—עצם היום הזה: 7¹³ 1723. 26 +; only in Priestly-Code and Ezekiel 2³ 24² 40¹ (Joshua 10²⁷ redactional).—יהם—למשפחותם: 8¹⁹ 105. 20. 31 36⁴⁰ + (very often in Priestly-Code: elsewhere only Numbers 11¹⁰ [Jehovist], 1 Samuel 10²¹, 1 Chronicles 5⁷ 647. 48).—ברית עולם: 9¹⁶ 177. 13. 19 +, only in Priestly-Code.—במאד מאד: 172. 6. 20 + Exodus 1⁷; elsewhere only Ezekiel 9⁹ 16¹³.—רכוש: 12⁵ 13⁶ 31¹⁸ 36⁷ 46⁶ +; elsewhere Genesis 1411. 12. 16. 21 15¹⁴; and 15 times in Chronicles, Ezra, Daniel.—רָכַשׁ: 12⁵ 31¹⁸ 36⁶ 46⁶ +.—נפש (= ‘person’): 12⁵ 36⁶ 4615. 18. 22. 25. 26. 27 +; “much more frequent in Priestly-Code than elsewhere.”—יכם—לדרתם: 177. 9. 12 + 36 times (only in Priestly-Code).—מגורים: 17⁸ 28⁴ 36⁷ 37¹ 47⁹ + Exodus 6⁴; elsewhere Ezekiel 20³⁸, Psalms 55¹⁶ 119⁵⁴, Job 18¹⁹ +.—אחזה: 17⁸ 234. 9. 20 36⁴³ 47¹¹ 48⁴ 49³⁰ 50¹³ +. Often in Ezekiel (44²⁸ 455. 6. 7. 8 4616. 18 4820. 21. 22); elsewhere Psalms 2⁸, 1 Chronicles 7²⁸ 9² [= Nehemiah 11³], 2 Chronicles 11¹⁴ 31¹ +.—מקנה: 1712. 13. 23. 27 23¹⁸ + (confined to Priestly-Code except Jeremiah 3211. 12. 14. 16).—עמים (= ‘father’s kin’): 17¹⁴ 258. 17 35²⁹ 49³³ + (also Ezekiel 18¹⁸; elsewhere Judges 5¹⁴?, Hosea 10¹⁴ +).—תושב: 23⁴ + 10 times (also 1 Kings 17¹?, 1 Chronicles 29¹⁵, Psalms 39¹³).—קנון: 31¹⁸ [34²³] 36⁶ + (outside of Priestly-Code, only Ezekiel 3812 f.; Proverbs 4⁷, Psalms 104²⁴ 105²¹).
In the choice of synonymous expressions, Priestly-Code exhibits an exclusive preference for הוליד in the sense of ‘beget’ over ילד (in the genealogies of Yahwist), and for the form אני of the 1st person pronoun (אנכי only in Genesis 23⁴).
Geographical designations peculiar to Priestly-CodeKernel are: Kiryath-’Arba‛ (for Hebron) 23² 35²⁷ +; Machpelah, 239. 17. 19 25⁹ 49³⁰ 50¹³ +; Paddan-Aram, 25²⁰ 282. 5. 6. 7 31¹⁸ 33¹⁸ 359. 26 46¹⁵ +.—To these may be added ארץ כנען, 11³¹ 12⁵ 13¹² 16³ 17⁸ 232. 19 31¹⁸ 33¹⁸ 35⁶ 37¹ +; the expression is found in Jehovist only in the Joseph-section (chapters 42, 44, 45, 47). Priestly-CodeKernel has כנען without ארץ only in בנות כנען (28¹ 36²).
In view of all these and similar peculiarities (for the list is by no means exhaustive), the attempt to obliterate the linguistic and stylistic distinction between Priestly-Code and Jehovist (Eerdmans) is surely a retrograde step in criticism.
The date of the composition of Priestly-CodeKernel lies between the promulgation of the Deuteronomic law (621 B.C.), and the post-Exilic reformation under Ezra and Nehemiah (444). It is later than Deuteronomy, because it assumes without question the centralisation of worship at one sanctuary, which in Deuteronomy is only held up as an ideal to be realised by a radical reform of established usage. A nearer determination of date depends on questions of the internal analysis of Priestly-Code which are too complex to be entered on here. That the Code as a whole is later than Ezekiel is proved by the fact that the division between priests and Levites, which is unknown to the writer of Deuteronomy, and of which we find the origin and justification in Ezekiel 446–16, is presupposed as already established (Numbers 3. 4. 8, etc.). It is possible, however, that that distinction belongs to a stratum of the legislation not included in Priestly-CodeKernel; in which case Priestly-CodeKernel might very well be earlier than Ezekiel, or even than the Exile. The question does not greatly concern us here. For the understanding of Genesis, it is enough to know that Priestly-CodeKernel, both in its theological conceptions and its attitude towards the national tradition, represents a phase of thought much later than Yahwist and Elohist.
The view that Priestly-CodeKernel was written before the Exile (in the end of the 7th century) is advocated by Procksch (l.c. 319 ff.), who reduces this part of Priestly-Code to narrower limits than most critics have done. He regards it as an essentially historical work, of considerable literary merit, embracing hardly any direct legislation except perhaps the Law of Holiness (Priestly-Codeʰ), and recognising the priestly status of the entire tribe of Levi, just as in Deuteronomy (Numbers 1716–24 and Priestly-Codeʰ in its original form). If that fact could be established, it would go far to show that the document is older than Ezekiel. It is admitted both by Kuenen and Wellhausen (Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels⁶ 116) that the disparity of priests and Levites is accentuated in the later strata of Priestly-Code as compared with Priestly-CodeKernel, but that it is not recognised in Priestly-CodeKernel is not clear. As to pre-Exilic origin, the positive arguments advanced by Procksch are not very cogent; and it is doubtful whether, even on his own ground, he has demonstrated more than the possibility of so early a date. In Genesis, the only fact which points in that direction is one not mentioned by Procksch: viz. that the priestly Table of Nations in chapter 10 bears internal evidence of having been drawn up some considerable time before the 5th century B.C. (page 191 below); but that may be sufficiently explained by the assumption that the author of Priestly-CodeKernel made use of pre-existing documents in the preparation of his work.
The last distinguishable stage in the formation of the Pentateuch is the amalgamation of Priestly-Code with the older documents,—in Genesis the amalgamation of Priestly-CodeKernel with Jehovist. That this process has left traces in the present text is quite certain a priori; though it is naturally difficult to distinguish redactional changes of this kind from later explanatory glosses and modifications (compare 6⁷ 77. 22. 23 10²⁴ 27⁴⁶ etc.). The aim of the redactor was, in general, to preserve the ipsissima verba of his sources as far as was consistent with the production of a complete and harmonious narrative; but he appears to have made it a rule to find a place for every fragment of Priestly-Code that could possibly be retained. It is not improbable that this rule was uniformly observed by him, and that the slight lacunæ which occur in Priestly-Code after chapter 25 are due to the activity of later scribes in smoothing away redundancies and unevennesses from the narrative. That such changes might take place after the completion of the Pentateuch we see from 475 ff., where LXX has preserved a text in which the dovetailing of sources is much more obvious than in Massoretic Text.—If the lawbook read by Ezra before the congregation as the basis of the covenant (Nehemiah 81 ff.) was the entire Pentateuch (excepting late additions),¹ the redaction must have been effected before 444 B.C., and in all probability the redactor was Ezra himself. On the other hand, if (as seems to the present writer more probable) Ezra’s lawbook was only the Priestly Code, or part of it (Priestly-CodeKernel + Priestly-Codeʰ),² then the final redaction is brought down to a later period, the terminus ad quem being the borrowing of the Jewish Pentateuch by the Samaritan community. That event is usually assigned, though on somewhat precarious grounds, to Nehemiah’s second term of office in Judæa (circa 432 B.C.).
Of far greater interest and significance than the date or manner of this final redaction, is the fact that it was called for by the religious feeling of post-Exilic Judaism. Nothing else would have brought about the combination of elements so discordant as the naïve legendary narratives of Jehovist and the systematised history of the Priestly Code. We can hardly doubt that the spirit of the Priestly theology is antipathetic to the older recension of the tradition, or that, if the tendencies represented by the Code had prevailed, the stories which are to us the most precious and edifying parts of the Book of Genesis would have found no place in an authoritative record of God’s revelation of Himself to the fathers. But this is not the only instance in which the spiritual insight of the Church has judged more wisely than the learning of the schools. We know that deeper influences than the legalism and institutionalism of Priestly-Code’s manifesto—necessary as these were in their place—were at work in the post-Exilic community: the individualism of Jeremiah, the universalism of the second Isaiah, the devotion and lyric fervour of the psalmists, and the daring reflexion of the writer of Job. And to these we may surely add the vein of childlike piety which turned aside from the abstractions and formulas of the Priestly document, to find its nutriment in the immortal stories through which God spoke to the heart then, as He speaks to ours to-day.