Yahwist

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The term Yahwist (abbreviated: J ) is used by historical-critical biblical studies to designate one of the presumed source scriptures, which in the five books of Moses, the so-called Pentateuch , is Hebrew תּוֹרָה Torah can be explored using an editorial method.

The theory of the "Yahwist" - he got this name because the text passages assigned to him were named JHWH (יהוה, reconstructed pronunciation: "Yahweh") for the Abrahamic God even before his revelation ( Exodus 3:15  EU ) - originated with the historical-critical research of the Bible in the 18th century, but has lost some approval since the middle of the 20th century in Old Testament research.

Northern Reich Israel and Southern Reich Judah in the 9th century BC According to biblical information. the editorial changes to the texts are related to the political constellations. The "Yahwist" on the united kingdom under Solomon , the " Elohist " on the fight between the YHWH and Baals - worship in the northern kingdom , the Deuteronomy on the Assyrian threat to Judas and Jerusalem and the priestly scripture on the Babylonian exile .

Research history

With the Enlightenment, historical and critical research into the Bible began in Europe . Since the 18th century, the Bible has not only been received in its function as a revealed word of God, but has also been perceived and examined in its form as a book that has grown over time. From the 18th century onwards, historical criticism did away with the centuries-old notion that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch.

The beginning is marked by the observations of the Hildesheim pastor Henning Bernward Witter (1683–1715). He noticed that in the Pentateuch the divine name Yahweh changed with the word Elohim for "God" and discovered a double tradition in the first three chapters of Genesis . The creation of the world is told twice in succession, each with a different focus and different designations of God (once in Gen 1,1–2,4a  EU using the divine designation Elohim and a second time in Gen 2,4b – 3  EU , Gen 24  EU using the divine name JHWH ). There are also further double and multiple traditions in Genesis; for example in the Flood Tale ( Gen 6-8  EU ), the story of the endangerment of the ancestral wife ( Gen 12  EU ; Gen 20  EU and Gen 26  EU ) or the creation of the sanctuary in Bet-El (Gen 12; Gen 28  EU and Gen 35  EU ). Witter's observations were ignored or recognized for a long time.

Only similar insights from the French Jean Astruc , who was the personal physician of the French King Louis XV. started critical research on the Old Testament. In the multiple traditions within the Pentateuch (especially Genesis) he discovered two continuous and two other shorter, formerly independent source writings on which the present text is based. These source writings were put together by Moses in four columns (Astruc names these sources A, B, C and D). A later, post-Mosaic editor worked the four sources into one another.

Older document hypothesis

In Germany, Johann Gottfried Eichhorn expanded the Astrucs thesis to include the text complex Gen 1 - Ex 2 and divided the sources into a pre-Mosaic Elohist (named after the use of the divine title “ Elohim”) and a post-Mosaic Jehowist (named after the use of God's name “JHWH "). The spelling "Jehowist" corresponds to the reading of the name of God YHWH at that time, which was erroneously read as "Jehowa" until the 19th century. Karl David Ilgen expanded Eichhorn's thesis further by adopting a second Elohist and therefore distinguished a total of three sources. In terms of research history, this theory became known as the older document hypothesis (also: source hypothesis ).

Fragment hypothesis

In the 19th century, counter theories developed that tried to reconstruct the origins of the Pentateuch in a different way. The so-called fragment hypothesis was based on numerous, previously independent narrative wreaths (individual narratives on different topics such as Abraham, Creation, Flood and others), which were only gradually worked together to form an overall narrative. Representatives of this hypothesis were the English pastor Alexander Geddes and the German Johann Severin Vater .

Supplementary hypothesis

The supplementary hypothesis (also: basic script hypothesis) developed as a kind of mixture of document and fragment hypothesis , the most important representative of which is Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette . After its reconstruction, the Genesis initially consisted of a single (Elohistic) basic script or source, into which a Jehovistic editor gradually incorporated individual narrative wreaths that were in circulation.

The supplementary hypothesis , also: basic font hypothesis as a diagram

Newer document hypothesis

The so-called newer document hypothesis , which was developed in the late 19th century by the Old Testament scholars Karl Heinrich Graf , Abraham Kuenen and above all Julius Wellhausen (1878), was decisive for many years .

The newer document hypothesis as a diagram. J : Yahwist (10th – 9th century BC) [1] [2] E : Elohist (9th century BC) Dtr1 : Early (7th century BC) Deuteronomistic history; Dtr2 : late (6th century BC) Deuteronomistic history; P * : Priest (6th – 5th century BC) [2] D † : Deuteronomists R : Editor DH : Deuteronomistic history ( Book of Joshua , Book of Judges , Book of Samuel , 1st Book of Kings , 2nd Book of kings )

In the so-called moderns documentary hypothesis as of Wellhausen the whole is Pentateuch assigned four sources:

An editor (R JE ) worked in the Yahwist source script (J) from the time immediately after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. The Elohistic source (E) and thus created the "Jehowistic history" (JE). This was then incorporated into the priestly scriptures in the post-exile period.

Martin Noth expanded Wellhausen's thesis at the beginning of the 20th century and, through his "studies of the history of tradition", helped it to gain long-term validity and a broad reception in Old Testament research. According to Noth, the Yahwist source script originated around 950 BC. Chr. In circles around the Jerusalem court. It tells the story of Israel from the creation of the world to the exploration of the promised land (in the books of Genesis through Numbers ).

Theological profile and stylistic features

The use of the divine name jhwh serves primarily in the biblical prehistory (Gen 1-11) as a characteristic for the delimitation of the Yahwist texts. In the rest of the Pentateuch, the exclusion of the corresponding texts is more difficult. They are mostly characterized by a narrative style, while the texts of the priestly scriptures are more dominated by a "reporting style". In terms of content, the motive of the blessing and the promise of land to Israel is particularly important for the Yahwist, as is the relation of the blessing to the other peoples, for whom Israel itself is to become a blessing.

Since there is no consensus in current research about the scope and dating of those texts that were classically assigned to the Yahwist, only the classical characterization of the Yahwist, as worked out by the Newer Document Hypothesis, can be presented here.

Recent research - questioning the source J

Since the mid-1970s, the existence of a Yahwist source script has been increasingly denied (for the first time by Hans Heinrich Schmid ). According to recent research, J cannot therefore be a source because, on closer inspection, it lacks the essential characteristics of a source.

So the Yahwist has a beginning in the creation story , but no recognizable end. It turned out that the Yahwist can be found mainly in the books of Genesis and Exodus (see table below), hardly in the Book of Numbers and not at all in Leviticus and Deuteronomy . An alleged source J would therefore have ended with the exploration of the country and the Balaam story, which would not really make sense as the end of a story . In addition, in recent research, the fathers' stories on the one hand and the Exodus story on the other hand are viewed as two independent, in part even contradicting, original narratives of Israel. However, in the opinion of numerous researchers, the literary bridge between Genesis and Exodus was only created by the author of the priestly pamphlet. In addition, the Yahwist lacks a clearly perceptible, continuous narrative thread, a uniform basic theological direction, and uniform vocabulary. For these reasons, strictly speaking, J does not meet the criteria that recent research has worked out for the detection of a source writing.

Therefore, the more recent research often only starts from one real source within the Pentateuch, the priestly scriptures . The term source here presupposes the completeness of the narrative. Thus the priestly script alone has a continuous narrative thread extending from the creation of the world to the conquest of the land. It is characterized by a clearly recognizable theological line and recurring formulations. All other texts - including those that were previously assigned to the Yahwist - are counted among older or younger editors or viewed as older individual traditions that do not tell the entire story. Instead of a Yahwist , these newer exegetical drafts - for example by Reinhard Gregor Kratz , Erhard Blum , Eckart Otto , Erich Zenger , Jan Christian Gertz , Konrad Schmid , Markus Witte - speak of “pre-” or “non-priestly texts”.

Part of the Old Testament research sticks to the term Yahwist . On the one hand, the Munich Old Testament scholar Christoph Levin , who considers the Yahwist to be an (antideuteronomic) editorial layer that collects various narrative wreaths (Creation, Abraham, Balaam and others), works them together and thus creates a unified narrative thread from Gen 1  EU to Num 24  EU , the "Yahwist historical work", created. However, in contrast to the classification by earlier research, this is dated rather late (in the context of the Babylonian exile). John van Seters takes a different path and sees in the Yahwist a Deuteronomic, exile historian (similar to the Greek historian Hesiod or Herodotus ) who compiles motifs from the circulating stories and thus writes his history of Israel. For Van Seters, on the other hand, the priestly script is an editorial layer.

Central J texts

The central texts that were classically assigned to the Yahwist include:

Text corpus theme Bible passage
prehistory
Creation and the Fall Gen 2.4b – 3.24  EU *
Cain and Abel Gen 4  EU *
Deluge Gen 6.5–8.22  EU *
Noah Gen 9.18–26  EU *
Peoples table Gen 10.8–30  EU *
Tower of Babel Gen 11: 1-9  EU *
Paternal history
Abraham, Sarah and Lot Gen 12–13  EU *
Hagar's escape Gen 16  EU *
Abraham, Lot and Sodom Gen 18–19  EU *
Advertisement Rebekah as a wife for Isaac Gen 24  EU *
Birth of Esau and Jacob Gen 25.21-34  EU *
Jacob's sneaking of the firstborn blessing Gen 27  EU *
Encounter with God in Bet-El Gen 28.10–22  EU *
Jacob, Laban and the birth of the children of Jacob Gen 29–31  EU *
Jacob and Esau Gen 32–33  EU *
Birth of Benjamin and death of Rachel Gen 35  EU *
Joseph story Gen 37 * .39–50  EU *
Exodus, desert, Sinai
Suppression of Israel in Egypt Ex 1  EU *
Birth of Moses, flight, calling Ex 2–5  EU *
Seven plagues Ex 7.14-12.39  EU *
Red Sea Ex 13.17-14.31  EU *
Murmuring stories Ex 15–17  EU *
Apparition of God Ex 18–20 * .24  EU *
Golden calf Ex 32  EU *
The promised land
Scouting the land Num 13-14  EU *
Balaam Num 22–24  EU *
* Not all verses within the named passages can be assigned to the “Yahwist”.

literature

Classic designs

  • Henning Bernward Witter : Jura Israelitarum in Palaestinam terram Chananaeam, commentatione perpetua in Genesin demonstrata. Hildesheim 1711.
  • Jean Astruc : Conjectures sur les mémoires originaux, dont il paroit que Moyse s'est servi pour composer le livre de la Genèse. Bruxelles 1753.
  • Johann Gottfried Eichhorn : Introduction to the Old Testament. 3 volumes, Leipzig 1780–1783.
  • Alexander Geddes: The Holy Bible or the books accounted sacred by Jews and Christians. London 1792.
  • Karl David Ilgen : The documents of the Jerusalem temple archive in their original form. Volume 1: The documents of the first book of Moses in their original form. Hall 1798.
  • Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette : Dissertatio critica. Jena 1805.
  • Julius Wellhausen : The Composition of the Hexateuch and the historical books of the Old Testament. Berlin 1876.
  • Julius Wellhausen: Prolegomena to the history of Israel. Berlin 1878.
  • Martin Noth : Studies in the history of tradition. Part 1: The collecting and processing historical works in the Old Testament (writings of the Königsberg learned society, humanities class 18.2). Niemeyer, Halle 1943.
  • Martin Noth: Tradition of the Pentateuch. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1948.

Newer literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Yahwist  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
  • Thomas Römer : Pentateuch research. Created December 2015 ( [6] on bibelwissenschaft.de)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Levin : Yahwist. April 2015 ( [1] on bibelwissenschaft.de)
  2. ↑ Melanie Köhlmoos : Exegesis and Hermeneutics of the Old Testament. Text published in "Loccumer Pelikan" 2/2017 [2]
  3. ↑ Cf. Astruc: Conjectures , pp. 143f.
  4. ↑ See Eichhorn: Introduction III, p. 22f.
  5. ↑ See Ilgen: Documents. P. 393f.
  6. ↑ Veronika Loidolt: The dating of Genesis 3rd master's thesis, University of Vienna, 2016 ( [3] on othes.univie.ac.at) here p. 16
  7. ↑ Julius Wellhausen: Prolegomena for the history of Israel. Berlin 1878.
  8. ^ Pauline A. Viviano: Source Criticism. In Stephen R. Haynes , Steven L. McKenzie (Eds.): To Each Its Own Meaning: An Introduction to Biblical Criticisms and Their Application. Westminster John Knox, Louisville, Kentucky, 1999, ISBN 978-0-664-25784-2 , p. 40.
  9. ↑ Russell Gmirkin : Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus. Bloomsbury, London 2006, ISBN 978-0-567-13439-4 , p. 4.
  10. ^ Pauline A. Viviano: Source Criticism. In Stephen R. Haynes, Steven L. McKenzie (Eds.): To Each Its Own Meaning: An Introduction to Biblical Criticisms and Their Application. Westminster John Knox, Louisville, Kentucky, 1999, ISBN 978-0-664-25784-2 , p. 41.
  11. ^ But also in particular the Old Testament scholars Karl Heinrich Graf , Abraham Kuenen in the late 19th century
  12. ↑ Cf. Wellhausen: Prolegomena. P. 8.
  13. ↑ See Hans-Christoph Schmitt : Arbeitsbuch zum Alten Testament. Göttingen 2005, p. 208.
  14. ↑ Cf. Levin: The Old Testament. P. 52.
  15. ↑ Hebrew בְּרֵאשִׁית Bereshit “In the Beginning” Genesis
  16. ↑ Hebrew שְׁמוֹת Schemot "names" Exodus
  17. ↑ Hebrew בְּמִדְבַּר Bemidbar "In the desert" numbers
  18. ↑ Hebrew וַיִּקְרָא Wajikra “And he called” Leviticus
  19. ↑ Hebrew דְּבָרִים Devarim "words" Deuteronomy
  20. ↑ Cf. Levin: The Old Testament. Pp. 48-54.
  21. ↑ See Hans-Christoph Schmitt: Arbeitsbuch zum Alten Testament. Göttingen 2005, p. 210 f.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on November 1, 2007 .