The Bible Says That!? - Who Wrote The Torah? Pt. 6

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P and the period following the fall of the northern Kingdom of Israel

To keep it short, P is closely associated with the time of the southern King of Judah, Hezekiah (715-687 BCE).

P always makes a distinction between the Aaronid priests and just regular Levites. This distinction is especially prevalent in the two books of Chronicles which was likely to have been written when? During King Hezekiah’s reign.

P is super interested in making sure that all worship of YHWH takes place in 1 location: the temple/tabernacle. This is called “Centralization of worship.”

In J and E, lots of people make lots of sacrifices in lots of different places. In P, the only acceptable location is the tabernacle/temple and no where else on the entire planet.

King Hezekiah in 2 kings 18 focused so highly on making sure that people only worshiped at the Tabernacle/temple/Jerusalem that the text says “There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.” That is until… King Josiah – who did the same thing – who was Hezekiah’s great grandson!

P mentions the Tabernacle more than any other source. Only here are sacrifices to be made. Nowhere else. This further supports the connection between sacrifice and the first temple at Jerusalem as some scholars argue that the tabernacle was actually set up within the temple itself.

D and the time of King Josiah

The way D talks and writes (Deuteronomy and Joshua-2 Kings) suggests that D wrote around the time of King Josiah in 640-609 BCE.

The phrase “none rose like him” is only ever applied to Moses the prophet and Josiah the king. It occurs nowhere else in the Bible.

The phrase, “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” are only attributed to Moses in 6:5 and Josiah in 2 Kings 23:25. It occurs nowhere else in the Bible.

The phrase and concept of following the law so as to “not turn from the commandment, right or left” (Deut. 17:11,20) occurs in 2 places in D and is attributed to only 1 person, Josiah in 2 Kings 22:2

In Deut. 31:24-29, there is the mention of the “Scroll of Instruction (seper hattorah) and is only ever mentioned again in Josh 1:8; 8;31, 34; 23:6 (belonging to DTR material) and plays no part in Israel’s History until Hilkiah the priest finds it in the temple under who? King Josiah (2 Kings 22:8).

D in Deut. 12:3 says “you shall demolish their altars…and burn their Asherahs.” King Josiah in 2 Kings 23:6,12 Demolishes Altars and burns the Asherah. The text uses the exact same Hebrew words to describe this.

In D, Moses tells the people that if a law is to difficult to interpret, one should inquire with a priest or judge (Deut 17:8-12. Only 1 king in all of Joshua – 2 Kings actually does this: Josiah with Hilkiah in 2 Kings 22:13,18.

All of Josiah’s reforms that he enacts during his reign come straight from which book of the Bible? Deuteronomy – specifically ch 12-26. 12-26 is likely the oldest portion of Deuteronomy and serves as the core of the law code of Deuteronomy.

D is definitely linked to the reign of Josiah.

With all of these sources, there are specific events/ places/ times/ people that are inseparably linked to a specific source J, E, D, or P independently of one another. If it was all one single source, then how/why are each of these details and characteristics (events times, places, etc.) not all interwoven together? Why are they all separate and distinct? This provides additional evidence in support of this hypothesis.