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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



on an exact reconstruction of the later parts of 

 the document; but on many points there can be 

 no uncertainty, and it is clearly made out that 

 the author has strong priestly tendencies, and 

 devotes a very large proportion of his space to 

 liturgical matters. The separation of this docu- 

 ment may justly be called the point of departure 

 of positive criticism of the sources of the Old 

 Testament ; and present controversy turns main- 

 ly on its relation to other parts of the Pentateuch. 

 Of these the most important are — 1. The Jeho- 

 vistic narrative, which also begins with the cre- 

 ation, and treats the early history more in the 

 spirit of prophetic theology and idealism; con- 

 taining, for example, the narrative of the fall, 

 and the parts of the history of Abraham which 

 are most important for Old Testament theology. 

 That this narrative is not a mere supplement to 

 the other, but an independent whole, appears 

 most plainly in the story of the flood, where two 

 distinct accounts have certainly been interwoven 

 by a third hand. 2. Many of the finest stones 

 in Genesis, especially great part, of the history 

 of Joseph, agree with the Elohim document in 

 the name of God, but are widely divergent in 

 other respects. Since the researches of Hupfeld, 

 a third author, belonging to northern Israel, and 

 specially interested in the ancestors of the north- 

 ern tribes, is generally postulated for these sec- 

 tions. His literary individuality is, in truth, 

 sharply marked, though the limits of his con- 

 tributions to the Pentateuch are obscure. 



It will be remembered that we have already 

 seen that three currents of influence run through 

 the Old Testament development— the traditional 

 lore of the priests, the teaching of the prophets, 

 and the religious life of the more enlightened of 

 the people. Now, in the three main sections 

 of the early history just enumerated we find the 

 counterpart of each of these. The priestly nar- 

 rative of the Elohist, the prophetic delineation 

 of the Jehovist, the more picturesque and pop- 

 ular story of the third author, embody three 

 tendencies, which are not merely personal but 

 national, and which constantly reappear in other 

 parts of Hebrew literature. Up to the book of 

 Joshua all three run side by side. But the 

 priestly interest found little scope in the subse- 

 quent history ; and from the time of the Judges 

 we can generally distinguish only sections marked 

 by prophetic pragmatism, and others which, 

 though distinctly religious and even theocratic, 

 are, so to speak, written from a layman's stand- 

 point. The latter comprise a large part of 

 Judges, and by far the greatest part of Samuel, 



as well as the beginning of Kings. To the mod- 

 ern mind this part of the narrative, which is rich 

 in color and detail, is by far the most interesting, 

 and it is with sincere regret that we pass at 

 1 Kings xi. to a division of the history for which 

 the chief sources — cited as the Chronicles of the 

 Kings of Israel and Judah respectively — treat 

 almost exclusively of the outer political life of 

 the nation. In striking contrast to the uniform- 

 ity of this narrative are the interspersed his- 

 tories of Elijah and other northern prophets. 

 These histories are very remarkable in style and 

 even in language; and, containing some of the 

 noblest passages of the Old Testament, form one 

 of many proofs of the unusual literary genius of 

 the kingdom of Ephraim. But how are these 

 various narratives related to each other ? This 

 question is not easy to answer. In general, the 

 third or lay element of the history seems to 

 stand nearest to the events recorded, and even, 

 perhaps, to form the direct basis of the propheti- 

 cal matter; while, occasionally, old lists of names 

 and places, poetico-historical pieces, and the like, 

 form a still deeper stratum in the story (poetical 

 pieces in the book of the wars of Jehovah, Num- 

 bers xxi. 14 ; book ofjasher [the upright], Joshua 

 x. 13; 2 Samuel i. Lists like 2 Samuel xxiii.). 

 Whether the same hands or only the same ten- 

 dencies as appear in the non-Levitical parts of 

 Genesis run on as far as the book of Kings, is a 

 question which, though answered in the affirma- 

 tive by Schrader and others, cannot be viewed 

 as decided. Even the date of these elements of 

 the Pentateuch is obscure ; but, in the eighth cen- 

 tury Hosea refers quite clearly to passages of both. 

 Thus far there is tolerable agreement among crit- 

 ics ; but the Levitical or Elohistic history is the 

 subject of violent controversy, which, however, 

 turns mainly on the analysis of the legal parts of 

 the Pentateuch. These contain other elements 

 besides those already enumerated, of which we 

 need only mention the brief code which follows 

 the Decalogue in Exodus xx.-xxiii., and the 

 great repetition of the law in a prophetic spirit 

 which occupies the major part of Deuteronomy. 

 Both these codes may be called popular in tone. 

 They are precepts not for the priests, but for the 

 whole people; and the former is the fundamental 

 sketch of the whole theocratic constitution, 

 which the latter develops and to some extent 

 alters. Now, the book of Deuteronomy presents 

 a quite distinct type of style which, as has been 

 already mentioned, recurs from time to time in 

 passages of the later books, and that in such a 

 connection as to suggest to many critics since 



