36 



KE\r. A. H. FINN, ON THE 



colour and partly dark would show that difference of colour 

 does not mean difference of origin. The presumption would 

 then be that the panel was of one piece of wood, and the 

 appearance of a picture natural, not artificial. 



The fact, then, that peculiarities of diction or representation 

 are common to passages which vary in style is in reality an 

 indication that the whole work is of one piece, and that any 

 appearance of design has not been artificially produced by 

 combination. 



(iv) Added to all this there are certain characteristics which 

 link together the various parts. The tendency to repeat a 

 statement in an enlarged or varied form, sometimes alleged as 

 a special characteristic of P, is also found in passages attributed 

 to JE : parenthetic digressions are found both in D and P 

 (in Deut. ii, 20-23 ; x, 6-9 ; in P, Exod. vi, 14-17) : the use 

 of stated formulae is nearly as frequent in Deuteronomy {e.g., 

 *' the commandments which I command thee this day,'' " the 

 land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it as 

 in Leviticus : all the parts show a disregard of strict chronology 

 (in JE, Gen. xxxviii, Judah and Tamar, and Exod. xviii, 

 Jethro's visit ; in P, Num. vii and ix, events in first month 

 after the census of the second month : in D, Deut. i, 37, 38 ; 

 ix, 22 ; X, 6, 7). These characteristics are marks of a peculiar 

 turn of thought, and lie deeper than the surface variations on 

 which the critics rely. They are fair evidence that the whole 

 work proceeded from one mind. 



(d) Inter-relation of Parts. 



It has before now been pointed out* how closely the parts 

 varying in style are inter-related ; how they dovetail into one 

 another, and explain one another in a way that would hardly 

 be possible if they were due to different authors. It would be 

 superfluous for me to go over ground that has been already so 

 well covered, but perhaps I may be allowed to recapitulate 

 some points that have occurred to myself, and (so far as I know) 

 have not been noticed elsewhere. 



(i) The consistent use of holeed (tViH) in the genealogies 

 of the chosen line (Gen. v, 3-32 ; vi, 10 ; xi, 11-27), while yalad 



(l^"^) is used for other lines (Gen. iv, 18 ; x, 8-26), shows 



* See Orr, Problem of O.T., 346-559. 



