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Documentary Hypothesis of the Hebrew Bible

The documentary by Professor Christine Hayes focuses upon the Hebrew Bible. It mainly depicts the Documentary Hypothesis, in the Torah, and the various sources. Her lecture is extremely controversial and provoking due to the manner, which she has chosen to address the key issues. The Documentary Hypothesis is from credible sources based on their narrative and historical nature. Furthermore, the source documents reflect on various concerns and interests of the different periods, which they existed. In turn, those who obtained the four sources were people from different backgrounds and did not know each other. Critics of the Documentary Hypothesis claim that it does not describe the situation and times that took place when they were being written. Moreover, they only give information regarding the Israelites practices and beliefs during the period of composition. Also, the Documentary Hypothesis does not give a clear explanation regarding the religion and beliefs of Israel. It only talks about creation and some of the events that took place thereafter. A weakness of the Documentary Hypothesis is that it is a ‘hypothesis’, and to some extent, is not quite authentic. Fortunately, some people have reconstructed it well by giving well supporting evidence (Hayes, 2012.1).

Professor Hayes believes that the sources were from different places as well as timelines. There were four sources and were ‘D’, ‘P’, ‘E’ and ‘J’ respectively. The former is known to be from the book of Deuteronomy. Prof. Hayes claims that the J source took place during the second creation. During that time, the Israelites were promised by God that they would be given new lands. It is claimed that this source dates from the tenth century to around the time King Solomon existed. The source ‘E’ is claimed by Professor Hayes to have begun around the time of Genesis 15. This source complements source ‘J’, and they cannot be easily isolated. The former source gives information regarding the kingdom that was located in the north during the ninth century. There are notable events that took place during the ‘E’ source and they include; the Exodus from Egypt, and the matriarchs as well as patriarchs (Hayes, 2012.1).

The other source is known as ‘D’, and it encompasses the book of Deuteronomy. It has vital information regarding Moses and the three speeches delivered by him, as they were on the way towards river Jordan. Also, Professor Hayes claims that it depicts the life of the people at that time. Furthermore, it claims that only one sanctuary existed, and others had to be destroyed. The last source is ‘P’ is found in parts of Numbers and Leviticus. This source gives a connection between various stories in the Torah. Professor Hayes seems to believe that the Priestly Source is unique as various priests were the ones responsible for coming up with this source. Moreover, it also unites the other ‘D’, ‘E’, and ‘J’ sources. Professor Hayes claims that there are differences between the southern and northern perspectives. The latter originated in Israel, and the former from Judah, and they contained different information. The southern perspective dealt with the journeys of people as well as their origins. The Northern perspective depicts traditions and conquests, as well Jerusalem’s worship centers. In conclusion, Professor Hayes provided useful information regarding the Torah based on the Document Hypothesis’ perspective (Hayes, 2012.1).

Work Cited

Hayes, Christine. Documentary Hypothesis. Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://openmedia.yale.edu/projects/media_viewer/video_viewer2.php?window_size=medium&type=flv&title=RLST%20145%20-%20Lecture%205%20-%20Prof.%20Christine%20Hayes&path=%2Fcourses%2Ffall06%2Frlst145%2Fflash%2Frlst145_05_092006” http://openmedia.yale.edu/projects/media_viewer/video_viewer2.php?window_size=medium&type=flv&title=RLST%20145%20-%20Lecture%205%20-%20Prof.%20Christine%20Hayes&path=%2Fcourses%2Ffall06%2Frlst145%2Fflash%2Frlst145_05_092006 (February 19, 2012).