by Amanda Grable

Created on: July 09, 2008

The Hebrew Bible: A Collection of Many Voices
Whether "directly" from God or merely inspired writings on the topic of religion, there is no debate that the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament was written by the hands of men. When and where these men come from is a subject of much debate. The Hebrew Bible is a collection of voices that have changed over the course of time; this is shown by the many sources that the works are drawn from and the archaeological and textual evidence that coincides with the Biblical books. From the very beginning there is discussion as to the sources of the writings that comprise the Hebrew Bible. There is a theory of 4 different sources in the Hebrew Bible; the Yahwist source, the Elohistic source, the Deutoronomistic source and the Priestly source. It is shown that each of these groups have put their theories and beliefs into the organization of the writings. Some of these sources are found in the same books, some whole sections are seen from one point of view. This idea of editorial sources shows concisely how the Hebrew Bible speaks from many voices. In many ways the sources are also dated, ie this source came before that and so forth. It is assumed that the Priestly source came last while the Yahwist (J) and Elohistic (E) sources came earliest. I will show examples of how different books illustrate the fact that the Hebrew Bible comes from many voices and over a sources of time.

The first book that illustrates this fact is Genesis. In the beginning of Genesis we see the Priestly source come on strong. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness."(Genesis 1:1-4) This "dry formulate style" (Collins, 30) is typical of the Priestly source. They tend to dwell on "genealogies, dates and in ritual observance" (Collins, 30). "The Priestly account is no the whole story. Rather, it supplements the Yahwist account and it meant to forestall a negative interpretation of the human situation." The other account of creation found in the second chapter of Genesis that leads to the story of Adam and Eve is believed to be from the J source. "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said,

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