Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Noel O'Riordan" <nor AT iol.ie>]

The one author supporters would have us believe that

1.    The author was able to switch at will from one style of writing to
another, and many of these switches last for entire narrative tracts before
he switches back.  E.g. gen. 1:-2:4a,- 2:4b-4:26

This of course implies that the author was conscious of this switch, so what
possible reason would he have had for doing this?  Not very conducive for
writing a continuos combined history.

2.    The author was either so weak that he did not notice doublets or
contradictions or he left them in deliberately

If you believe this then the view that the Pentateuch is a brilliant
literary work has to be jettisoned
To conclude that he left them in deliberately is to conclude that he was
using sources.

3.     You must conclude that all the material comes from his own mind, for
to acknowledge more than one tradition is in effect to acknowledge more than
one source.  From more than one source it is not that much of a leap to more
than one author.

4.    That the Pentateuch was written in its entirety very late in the post
exilic period

This causes problems for the development of tradition in 'Israel' For
example why do the 'P' texts reflect a different tradition to the 'D' texts,
i.e. different conceptions of the position of the priesthood and Law etc

5.     Oh I haven't got time for a 5, have to go do the Christmas shopping

Best regards

Noel O Riordan