The Yahwist: The earliest editor in the Pentateuch

Journal of Biblical Literature

Volumn 126, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 209-230

  Levin, Christoph ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH   (Germany)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 60949911201     PISSN: 00219231     EISSN: 19343876     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/27638432     Document Type: Review

References (46)

1. Considerations along these lines can be found already in Gerhard von Rad, "The Problem of the Hexateuch" (1938) in idem, The Problem of the Hexateuch, and Other Essays (trans. E. W. True-man Dicken; New York: McGraw, 1966), 1-78, esp. 50-67
2. also in Martin Noth, A History of Pentateuchal Traditions (1948; trans. B. W. Anderson; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1972), 46-62
3. See recently Markus Witte, Die biblische Urgeschichte: Redaktions- und theologiegeschichtliche Beobachtungen zu Genesis 1,1-11,26 (BZAW 265; Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 1998)
4. Konrad Schmid, Erzväter und Exodus: Untersuchungen zur doppelten Begründung der Ursprünge Israels innerhalb der Geschichtsbücher des Alten Testaments (WMANT 81; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1999)
5. Reinhard G. Kratz, The Composition of the Narrative Books of the Old Testament (trans. J. Bowden; London/New York: T&T Clark, 2005), 279-82
6. See, e.g., Witte, Die biblische Urgeschichte
7. Shown by Rainer Kessler, "Die Querverweise im Pentateuch" (Theol. diss., University of Heidelberg, 1972)
8. Rolf Rendtorff, The Problem of the Process of Transmission in the Pentateuch (1977; trans. J. J. Scullion; JSOTSup 89; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1990), 84-85
9. See Thomas Römer, Israels Väter: Untersuchungen zur Väterthematik im Deuteronomium und in der deuteronomistischen Tradition (OBO 99; Freiburg [Switzerland]: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1990)
10. Thus, e.g., Eckart Otto, Das Deuteronomium im Pentateuch und Hexateuch (FAT 30; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000)
11. See Frank Moore Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973), 301-21
12. Rendtorff, Problem of the Process
13. Blum, Die Komposition der Vätergeschichte
14. See Rudolf Kilian, Die vorpriesterlichen Abrahamsüberlieferungen literarkritisch und traditionskritisch untersucht (BBB 24; Bonn: Hanstein, 1966)
15. Renate Friebe, "Form und Entstehungsgeschichte des Plagenzyklus Exodus 7,8-13,16" (Theol. diss., University of Halle, 1967)
16. Volkmar Fritz, Israel in der Wüste: Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen der Wüstenüberlieferung des Jahwisten (Marburger Theologische Studien 7; Marburg: Elwert, 1970)
17. Erich Zenger, Die Sinaitheophanie: Untersuchungen z. jahwist. u. elohist. Geschichtswerk (FB 3; Würzburg: Echter, 1971)
18. Peter Weimar, Untersuchungen zur Redaktionsgeschichte des Pentateuch (BZAW 146; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1977)
19. The inconsistencies in the Yahwistic source make a separation between narrative and editorial text inescapable. The tensions are literary, even textual, in kind and do not fit the concept of a renarration of traditions by a historian. Because of the lack of differentiation, the "Yahwist" emerges as a literary collection with no distinctive profile; many texts are attributed to him that earlier research rightly saw as non-Yahwistic. For discussion, see Bernard M. Levinson, "Is the Covenant Code an Exilic Composition? A Response to John Van Seters," in In Search of Pre-exilic Israel: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar (ed. John Day; JSOTSup 406; London: T&T Clark, 2004), 272-325, esp. 284-88 and 315-17
20. Jean-Louis Ska, "A Plea on Behalf of the Biblical Redactors," ST 59 (2005): 4-18
21. Thus Levin, Der Jahwist. An outline of the thesis is also to be found in my book The Old Testament: A Brief Introduction (trans. Margaret Kohl; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005), 61-70
22. Ernest W. Nicholson (The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: The Legacy of Julius Wellhausen [Oxford: Clarendon; Oxford/New York; Oxford University Press, 1998], 161-65) presents a perfect and sympathetic outline, related to the summary in Der Jahwist, 414-35 ("The Yahwist's message"). Unfortunately he does not refer to the redaction-critical proof. My thesis is not initially based on tendency criticism but on analytical literary criticism, form-critical arguments, and language. Nicholson's most important objection is that the universalism of J can be found already in Amos and Isaiah (pp. 165-69). If this is true (and there are good reasons for doubting that the respective texts go back to the eighth-century prophets themselves) the universalism of J is just one feature among many others
23. The outline given here follows the detailed literary-critical analysis in Der Jahwist. Since 1993, however, a number of changes have occurred (and others may still follow). My present view of the J source may be seen from the English translation: http://www.at1.evtheol.uni-muenchen.de/ service/texte/index.html. The translation omits all non-Yahwistic text and marks the difference between the pre-Yahwistic sources and the editor's own contribution
24. COS 1:130; W. G. Lambert and A. R. Millard, Atra-Hcombining breve belowasīs: The Babylonian Story of the Flood (Oxford: Clarendon, 1969)
25. Julius Wellhausen, Die Composition des Hexateuchs (1885; 4th ed.; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1963), 10
26. See Levin, Der Jahwist, 237-44
27. The story of the exposed child is widespread; see the survey in Ulrich Luz, Matthew 1-7: A Commentary (trans. W. C. Linss; Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1989) on Matthew 2. The closest parallel, however, is the birth legend of Sargon of Akkad; see ANET, 119; COS 1:133
28. Martin Noth, The Deuteronomistic History (trans. J. Doull et al. from the 2nd ed., 1957; JSOTSup 14; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981), 4
29. Joseph Blenkinsopp, "A Post-exilic Lay Source in Genesis 1-11" in Abschied vom Jahwisten, ed. Gertz et al., 49-61, esp. 51
30. Albrecht Alt, "The God of the Fathers" (1929) in idem, Essays on Old Testament History and Religion (trans. R. A. Wilson; Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1966), 1-77, esp. 23
31. For detailed argumentation, especially with regard to the altar law of the Covenant Code, see Christoph Levin, "Das Deuteronomium und der Jahwist" in idem, Fortschreibungen: Gesammelte Studien zum Alten Testament (BZAW 316; Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 2003), 96-110
32. Hans Walter Wolff, "Das Kerygma des Jahwisten" ( 1964), in idem, Gesammelte Studien zum Alten Testament (TB 22; Munich: Kaiser, 1973), 345-73, esp. 351-54
33. See especially Heinrich Holzinger, Einleitung in den Hexateuch (Freiburg/Leipzig: Mohr Siebeck, 1893), 93-110
34. Levin, Jahwist, 399-408
35. compare also Levin, "The Yahwist and the Redactional Link between Genesis and Exodus," in A Farewell to the Yahwist?, ed. Dozeman and Schmid, 137-41
36. Isac L. Seeligmann, "Zur Terminologie für das Gerichtsverfahren im Wortschatz des biblischen Hebräisch" (1965) in idem, Gesammelte Studien zur Hebräischen Bibel (FAT 41; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004), 293-317
37. Manfred Weippert, "Assyrische Prophetien aus der Zeit Asarhaddons und Assurbanipals," in Assyrian Royal Inscriptions: New Horizons in Literary, Ideological, and Historical Analysis (ed. F. M. Fales; Orientis Antiqui Collectio 17; Rome: Istituto per l'Oriente, 1981), 71-111
38. See Joachim Becker, Gottesfurcht im Alten Testament (AnBib 25; Rome: Biblical Institute, 1965), 50-55
39. Martti Nissinen, "Fear Not: A Study on an Ancient Near Eastern Phrase," in The Changing Face of Form Criticism for the Twenty-First Century (ed. Marvin A. Sweeney and Ehud Ben Zvi; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 122-61
40. See Walther Zimmerli, "I Am Yahweh" (1953) in idem, I Am Yahweh (trans. D. W. Stott; Atlanta: John Knox, 1982), 1-28
41. Eduard Reuss, Die Geschichte der heiligen Schriften Alten Testaments (Braunschweig: Schwetschke, 1881), 251
42. See Otto Kaiser, Einleitung in das Alte Testament (5th ed.; Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1984), esp. 93-96
43. See Timo Veijola, "Das Bekenntnis Israels: Beobachtungen zu Geschichte und Aussage von Dtn 6,4-9" (1992), in idem, Moses Erben: Studien zum Dekalog, zum Deuteronomismus und zum Schriftgelehrtentum (BWANT 149; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2000), 76-93
44. The difference from the testimonies stemming from the Jewish colony on Elephantine, the island in the Nile, is remarkable. There as late as the fifth century a goddess Anat-Bethel, a god Eshem-Bethel, and other gods are worshiped side by side with Yahu. See Bezalel Porten, Archives from Elephantine: The Life of an Ancient Jewish Military Colony (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968)
45. John Van Seters (see n. 14 above), and Hans Heinrich Schmid (Der sogenannte Jahwist: Beobachtungen und Fragen zur Pentateuchforschung [Zurich: Theologischer Verlag, 1976]) mistakenly see the theologies of the Yahwist and Deuteronomist as closely related
46. Erik Aurelius, "Der Ursprung des Ersten Gebots," ZTK 100 (2003): 1-21, esp. 4-8