Bible Question: In the biblical studies of the Exodus, I was told that there is a Elohist source whereas in another a priestly source. How do I distingush one from the other? Eg the passage in Exod 14:15-18. What are the guidelines used and how can I know more of these. |
Bible Answer: Perhaps this will give you some sense of the depth of this discussion. Personally I don't think it is worth worrying about. Just take the whole Word of God as just that the whole Word of God. Trusting that God was able to keep His Holy Word pure inspite of mans attempt to corrupt it. The Bible, for example, affirms that its first five books were written by Moses. In many places in Scripture those books are referred to as “the law of Moses,” using “law” in its broadest sense. Beginning in the late 18th century, however, and coming to a peak about a hundred years later, rationalist scholars developed the “documentary hypothesis.” They did not agree on all details, but the main idea was that the Pentateuch (the first five books) was written by a number of different men over a considerable period of time. Some of those men strongly affirmed that sophisticated codes of law did not even exist in Moses’ day and that he could not possibly have written any of the Pentateuch. (Incidentally, archaeology has long since proved that law was highly developed in the Near East centuries before Moses.) Some parts of the Pentateuch, they maintained, were not written or finally edited until after the Babylonian Exile. They divided those Bible books into various subparts—called J, E, D, and P (representing the supposed Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and Priestly sources of the parts). Behind that theory was the presupposition that only what is understandable to the human mind (rational) is true and reliable. Also behind it was the specific notion of evolution, then coming into vogue among many intellectuals. They reasoned that, because man and his ideas evolve, those parts of the Pentateuch that reflect more “primitive” stories and beliefs were obviously written earlier than those that are more “advanced.” later editors, or redactors, put it all together in its present form. They taught that monotheism (belief in one God) had not evolved as a theory of deity early in the Pentateuch period, so that part of Scripture must be dated later. Thus philosophy became the judge of biblical authority—and Scripture was declared unreliable. The most difficult part of the Pentateuch for rationalists to accept is its account of creation. There is no room in evolution for the immediate and full–grown type of creation described in Genesis 1–2. Some scholars, trying to allow for some sort of creation as well as some sort of evolution, hold that God got it all started by creating the raw elements, or perhaps primitive forms of life, and that evolution then took over, with God interjecting the soul at the proper time. But such “theistic evolution” or “progressive creationism” also contradicts Scripture. It imposes a philosophy and process on creation that the literal interpretation of Scripture does not allow. Again MacArthur, J. F. (1984). First Corinthians. MacArthur New Testament commentary. Chicago: Moody Press. |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Bible general Archive 2 | Author | ||
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Jimmy Thomas | ||
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Moses01 | ||
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9-1-1 | ||
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octoplus | ||
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EdB | ||
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EdB | ||
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asteng88 | ||
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gram25boys | ||
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LIVERIGHT | ||
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1way | ||
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asteng88 | ||
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new christian |