Torah Authorship

Elohist

(E Source)

• refers to God as El or Elohim (until God reveals himself as YHWH)
• favours the Northern tribes (descendants of Joseph - Ephraim)
• portrays God as capable or regret and physically appearing

Deuteronomist

(D Source)

• originated from the 1st four book
• focuses on the centralization of worship in Jerusalem
• same author as Judges

Yahwist

(J Source - Jehovah)

• refers to God as YHWH, starting in Genesis 2
• depicts God as anthropomorphic
• supports the S and the Edomites (Esau descendants)
• depicts God as angry - nearly kills Moses, nearly kills all Israelites

Priestly

(P Source)

• God is still with the Israelites
• El Shaddai (God most powerful) for God before the burning bush incident
• concerned with Genealogies and Chronologies, making sure to get family names and events in order
• proper worship
• God is majestically, and Israelites are encouraged to not intermarry to keep holiness intact

Exodus

• Book of Exodus (going out) 2nd book of Torah/Pentateuch - one of the most important books in the bible
• authorship is attributed to Moses, but it's unlikely since the book contains info gathered only during the Babylonian Exile (6th Century BC)

Exodus and the Babylonian Exile

1. parting of Red Sea
2. Covenant Code similar to Code of Hammurabi
3. Moses' fleeing is similar to the Tale of Sinuhe
   Exodus is likely to be authored by a Yahwist

Joseph Dead

• after his death the children of Israel move to Egypt and multiply a lot
• a new pharaoh comes into power and enslaves all the Israelites
• orders Hebrew midwives to kill all of the male babies; due to fear from God they don't, also they make too many babies to kill
• instead pharaoh makes them drown babies in the Nile

Moses

• Levite woman gives birth to a child, who she hides for 3 months.
• When she can no longer hide him, she puts him on a boat made of reeds and floats him down the Nile, where he's rescued by the pharaoh's daughter and names him Moses ("to draw" [out of water]).
• Moses' sister Miriam tells the pharaoh's daughter to keep him.

Moses and Mount Sinai

Moses and Zipporah have 2 sons: Gershom ("sojourner" - reference to Moses' sojourn in Midian) and Eliezer ("God is help")

The Burning Bush

as Moses is tending his crops at Mt. Sinai

The Divine Tetragrammaton

• Moses is worried that he won't be a good advocate to pharaoh to free the people of Israel.
• God says I AM WHO I AM, pronounced Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh