3. JE. The Jahwistic and Elohistic Sources. — A . Wlien we have taken away from tlie Hexateuch a;: the pa.ssages which can with a fair degree of probability be assigned to D or P, we lind that t!ie remainder forms a fairly complete and homo- geneous whole, giving us, by a succession of narratives more or less connected, an outline of Jewish history from the Creation to the Settle- ment in Palestine, in fact coverinf;, speaking generallj', the same ground as P. This remainder we might have regarded as one literary source, were it not that a difference of authorship is discovered by the use of Elohim and J" in Gn-Ex 3 (see al)Ove, ii. D), which enables us to distinguish at once a certain number of sections as belonging to J and E respectively. Thus to J belong •>'"^-* 5^9 6'-< 7-8 (ptly.) 9-'^" 108-19.21 m-s i2'-^-«-«' 13'-»- «b-iu. lab-is 15 (^vith some mixture perhaps of E), 1011.-14-14 18. iQi-as 22-'"-*' (unless the insertion of a reviser) 24. 28'»-'« 38. 39. To E we may with equal certainty assign 20'-" 21«-" 22'-" 2S'"-"- ""^ Sl^"'"- »-«* 31"-32'-' 35'-» 40-42. 45 (almost entirely) 46'-» 481. J. 8-sa 5oi>-» But in other sections either the name of God seldom occurs, or the names at first sight seem used iiiditlerently, the .sections being in the latter case generally compounded, as a close examination shows, of both sources. After Exodus, though we can readily see that both sources Btill continue, the distinction becomes more ditli- cult, because though E, unlike P, .still uses the name Elohim sometimes, J" is more generally nse<l ; I'Ut even here tliis occasional use of Elohitn IB often helpful in discovering E sections. The mixture of divine names in Un-Ex 3 sometimes ari-ses from the fact that Epiinwit/y uses the name J" and fice versA. Thus t oi necessity used the name J" in Ex 3'" itself, but al.so in Gn 28"', where the name has a peculiar emphasis, the point beiuL' that Jacob promises to worship his countrj-'s tlod even in a strange land ; the name is, however, sometimes a.ssigncd to a reviser. This is probably the case also with Gn 22", unless it be actually a Jahwistic pa.s.sage inserted in the E story. On the othei hand, Elohim is sometimes used by J : (1) Vheu God is spoken of by those not in covenant with J", as by Adam and Eve before the time of
Seth, when men began to call on the name of T" (Gn 4=«), and by the Serpent (Gn 3'-» 4=* etc.). (2\ When emphasis is laid on God's abstract nature, especially in contrast to man, Gn 16" 32** (see below, iii. 3. B). (3) In the construct .state, when with a following word it is used descriptivelj' of God, as '(Jod of Abraham,' 'of heaven and earth,' etc., Gn 24>- '• -■' 26*' etc.
B. The separation of J and E in mixed passages, and those especially in which the name of God ia for any of the reasons given not a sulhcient criterion, as in the later books of the Hexa- teuch, is a matter of considerable dillicult}', there beinjj no characters of J or E so marked as to enalde us (as we could with D and P) at once to assign the sections in which the}' occur to either source ; but it can in most ca.^es be decided with a fair degree of certainty. Moreover, the more the passages which can be definitely assigned to one source or the other, the easier the task becomes, because we obtain a larger number of criteria by which to recognize either source. But in spite of the labours of critics there still remains a con- siderable number of passages in which the division of sources is very uncertain. There is, too, always a certain danger of using as criteria compara- tively rare words or phrases, which possilly by acci(fent happen to occur once or twice in one source or the other. The rea.sonings by which the critical results are obtained are very complicated. They are chiefly those suggested by breaks in the narrative, points of contact, whether by continuity of lanjjuage or connexion of subject, with known E or J tragments, and the like. Such arguments are often more trustworthy than those derived from vocabulary. We can make this clearer by analyzing Gn 32 as an example. Here there is no P passage, and the whole certainly belongs to JE. Vv.' and '■* (Heb.-- ^, and so on with the other verses) are obviously the conclusion of an E section (31"-32-), the name Elohim being used throughout and constantly, though the section has no P characteristics. It will be seen on exami- nation that v^'.'""' belong to J. For (1) there is no apparent continuity between w." and '. (2) On the other hand, \'^'.'"'^ form a narrative continu- ous in itself without any obvious breaks, and the same is true of vv.'"^-'. (3) Vv.*"'*" contain paral- lels, dill'ering in detail, both with the preceding and the following paragraphs, and therefore belong to a different source from either. Thus v.'* gives a different explanation of Mahanaim from that given in V.*, and in vv.'"^*' Jacob is (a) agnin described as dividing his property in view of the coming of Esau, but (i) diJ'ercntUj, each drove by itself, w."- ", instead of the whole into two, v.', and (r) vnth a different purpose, in order to propitiate his brother uy degrees with an accumulation of peace-oHerings, \'\'.""*, not that one might escape if Esau attacked the other, as in v." ; (</) the pro- perty is dij/'crfnthj de-icribcd, goats bein^; added, slaves — male and female — omitted, or ratlier male slaves mentioned, not as part of the proposed present, but as having charge of it, cf\ vv."''" with '•'. Again, v.*"" is a repetition of v."*. (4) Again, both w.*-"* and '"'" have points of contact with other known J and E sections re- spectively. Thus the possessions of 32^' ' correspond very closely with 30-'', which belongs to J's account of the manner in which Jacob obtained his wealth bi/ trickery, 30"*"", and stands in contrast to K's account, which describes it as n miracle revealed by God in a dream, 31''"", or, at any rate, as bo ex- plained by Jacob. The latter passage is marked as E's by the constant use of Ehihim. Again, 32* refers to 31', an evidently J jmssage. So fai all is clear, but in rv."'", which has the appearance of a complete and unmixed passage, there is stima