176 EEV. JOHN TUCKWELL^ M.li.A.S., ON MODERN THEORIES 



criticism of to-day. The theory thus started however \Yas not 

 confined to the Book of Genesis ; it was applied by Eichhorn to 

 the rest of the Pentateuch, and has since been extended to the 

 whole volume of Scripture from Genesis to Eevelation. Hence, 

 e.g., the Book of Genesis is said not to have assumed its 

 present form until the time of the Exile, say 500 B.C., and to 

 have been put together by a series of " liedacteurs " or 

 "Editors." The first of these is supposed to have become 

 possessed in some unknown way of the writings of the 

 unknown " Jehovistic" and "Elohistic" authors, " J " and "E," and 

 to have combined them into another document " J E." Then it 

 is supposed that a priest wrote an independent narrative " P 

 upon which a second editor fitted " J E " and added his own 

 editorial " adjustments " and so on. We thus have no less than 

 five writers to deal with in the Book of Genesis alone. The 

 Book of Exodus is assumed to have originated in mucli the 

 same way, and the priest is supposed to show his hand by a 

 jealousy for his class in those parts which make Aaron 

 co-operate with Moses before Pharaoh while "J" represents 

 Moses as acting alone. But Chapters xx, 23 — xxiii, oo, are 

 without any apparent reason separated from the rest of the 

 Book and called " The Book of the Covenant." The Book of 

 Leviticus is assumed to be throughout part of a so-called 

 " Priest's Code." But Chapters xvii-xxvi are for some 

 unknown reasons separated from the rest of the Book and 

 called the "Law of Holiness "(" H "). Where "P" obtained 

 it the critics do not know. The Book of Numbers is treated in 

 the same way. The Book of Deuteronomy has a still less 

 credible origin assigned to it. It is represented as written in 

 the days of Josiah, secreted in the temple, and then said to have 

 been " found " by Hilkiah the priest (see 2 Kings xxii and 

 2 Chronicles xxxiv), rrotwithstanding the statement that it was 

 " the Law^ of the Lord by Moses " (see Canon Driver's Intro- 

 duction). For this new version of the story or for limiting the 

 " find " to the Book of Deuteronomy there is not the least 

 historic foundation, nor for the further arbitrary restriction of 

 the term " Book of the Law " to Chapters xii — xxvi. 



It woidd be impossible in this brief paper to trace out the 

 results of the application of this theory to the rest of Scripture. 

 It must suffice to say that upon the same principle as Moses is 

 got rid of from the authorship of the Pentateuch and a series of 

 capital letters obtained in his place — " J," " E," " J E," " P," " H," 

 " D," " DS" " D'V' " DV' etc., so Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, 

 Isaiah, Daniel, the Evangelists and Apostles, and even our Lord 



