Source Criticism

I asked my 12th-grade students to divide the flood story (Genesis 6–9) into two narratives by applying four rules: look for different divine names, variations in style and language, distinct themes, and contradictions in the storyline. Is this the best pedagogical approach, or should we first teach students the established scholarship? And how can we teach students to read critically without misrepresenting the complexity of source criticism?

Was Jacob buried in the Cave of Machpelah, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, as well as his wife Leah, were buried, or at Goren-ha-atad, in a grave Jacob dug for himself?

When YHWH tells Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah are to be destroyed, Abraham pleads for their lives without mentioning Lot. Why? The answer is in the sources describing Lot’s accompanying of Abram to Canaan and their eventual separation.

Abraham and Isaac each dig a well in Beersheba and make a treaty with King Abimelech. Which story came first?

The Akedah (binding of Isaac) takes place on a mountain in the obscure land of Moriah. When a Judahite scribe later revised the story to have the angel of YHWH stop Abraham from killing his son, he connected Moriah with the Jerusalem Temple, thereby giving it a new hieros logos—a sacred founding legend, to compete with the northern worship site Beth-El.

In revenge for the Midianite seduction, Phinehas takes the sacred utensils from the Tabernacle and leads the war against Midian. Many details in this story contradict other Priestly texts, giving us a glimpse into how the Priestly Torah was compiled.

The story of Joseph is replete with narrative contradictions. Source criticism has long dominated the quest for textual coherence. But how are we to make sense of the integrated text?

The oldest biblical sources see Balaam as a great seer, but as time goes on, biblical texts portray him in an increasingly negative light. The key to this shift lies in Deuteronomy’s attitude to Israel and gentiles.

The route the Israelites take through the Transjordan in Numbers 21 is choppy: They are in the Negev then suddenly they are back in the Transjordan; they are moving south and suddenly they are north; they are in western Moab then suddenly they are in the eastern desert. Though traditional commentators attempt to tease out an overall route, it seems more likely we are looking at a palimpsest that includes contradictory versions of the story.

The merging of two different accounts of Jacob’s return home is reflected in the double etymologies for Mahanaim and Penuel. Why do both sources have Jacob pass through these two cities one after the other? The answer lies in geography.

Traditional commentators endued certain Torah references with midrashic or esoteric purport in an effort to counteract those who mocked them. But in so doing, they were conceding the mockers’ evaluation of these texts as being, prima facie, inconsequential. Fortunately, source criticism helps us accept these texts without discomfort, obviating the compulsion to interpret them away.

After commissioning Moses at the burning bush, God commissions Moses again in Midian, and then again on his way to Egypt. In this third commission, God instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let My son go, that he may worship Me, yet you refuse to let him go. Now I will slay your firstborn son” (Exod 4:22-23). How does this narrative fit into the exodus story?

A closer look at the thematic and verbal parallels between the accounts of the flood and the destruction of Sodom, as well as comparison with other ANE flood/destruction stories, helps us better understand the genre and function of the Sodom story.

Deuteronomy (23:18) states “Let there be no kadesh among the sons of Israel,” referring to ritualized male prostitution. What does this imply about regular male prostitution?

A polyphonic approach to reading the Torah

The plague of blood developed as a mythological amplification of an older account in which Moses strikes the Nile to kill the fish and make the water stink.

The Song of the Sea begins with defeat of the Egyptians and ends with YHWH’s enthronement in His temple. Comparison with the Epic of Baal and Enuma Elish clarify the genre and purpose of such hymns, and a striking parallel with Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8 offers a clue to the original context of this ancient song.

God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites two different names, Ehyeh and YHWH.

The biblical text is unclear as to why Datan and Abiram are rebelling. A careful look at their words shows that they are complaining about the land they are already living in.

Moses refers to the story of the spies in Deuteronomy 1. The details that overlap with Numbers fit only with the (incomplete) J version of the account. How are the two versions connected and what new details can we learn from comparing them?

Biblical narratives describe the Israelites living in tents in the wilderness and make no mention of sukkot, “booths.” So when and where did God “settle the Israelite people in booths”(Leviticus 23:43)? The answer: Kadesh! Although Israel journeys through the wilderness for forty years, they arrive at Kadesh early on and dwell there for more than thirty-five years.

The oldest layer of the exodus story has the Egyptian people, panicked by the plague of darkness, force the Israelites out under the king of Egypt’s nose. The story is later revised to credit the exodus to God's smiting the firstborn sons, and then drowning Pharaoh and his army in the sea. The final, Priestly editor added his signature theological innovation: God forces Pharaoh to give chase by hardening his heart.

The hidden polemic in the Torah’s note that “Israel did not escape by way of the Philistine coastal route”

A close literary reading reveals the seams of two independent stories: the Harem Intrigue (Esther) and the Court Intrigue (Mordechai) and how they were connected to the festival of Purim.^[1]

Exodus narrates three distinct conceptions of God’s relationship to Pharaoh’s stubbornness: God was surprised, God knew beforehand, and God was the direct cause.  The final conception reflects the Priestly redaction of the Torah, whose authors were unwilling to leave the destiny of the plagues up to Pharaoh’s own heart.

The plague story expanded over time in three main stages: The oldest stage (E) has Moses perform 3 plagues on his own; this was revised to create a story of an all-powerful God performing 8 plagues (J), utilizing Moses as a mouthpiece. Finally, the Priestly redactor revised this into our familiar narrative of 10 plagues, in which God uses the miracles to announce himself to Egypt and the world.

Before the Five Books of Moses were compiled as a complete work, evidence from Deuteronomy as well as from Joshua and Kings shows that Deuteronomy itself was known as “the Torah.”

Using source criticism to disentangle a moral problem in the Torah

Kadesh-barnea is in the Wilderness of Paran, and Kadesh is in the Wilderness of Zin; how are we to explain the Scouts’ return to “Kadesh in the Wilderness of Paran?”

Demonstrating God’s control of the world

A classic example of source criticism applied to Torah legislation.

According to the Torah: Does God split the sea? Do the Israelites cross it? What is the wind for? Where are the Egyptians when they drown?

The free-will conundrum of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart—a supplementary approach.

When Moses instructs the people to eat the manna on Shabbat, he emphasizes “today,” “today,” “today.” Is this repetition just Priestly literary style or is it meant to tell us that Shabbat begins in the morning, and not the evening like Pesach and Yom Kippur?

Why do the Israelites name their first stop Marah “Bitter Waters,” if the story is about how Moses miraculously made the water sweet?

The evidence for the Levites leaving Egypt and the introduction of YHWH into Israel.

Is Moses raised by an Egyptian princess? Does he kill an Egyptian man? Does he run away to Midian and marry the daughter of a Midianite priest? Not according to P, which cleanses Moses of these problematic elements.

An inductive approach.

The significance—or lack thereof—of family pedigree in matters of individual excellence and righteousness.

Caleb and Joshua or only Caleb?

The story of the scouts introduces Hoshea bin Nun for the first time, following which Moses renames (only) him Joshua before sending him off to scout the land. And yet, Joshua has already featured in several stories as Moses’ protégé.

When God reveals the name YHWH to Moses in Exodus, he says that not even the patriarchs knew this name, yet they all use it in Genesis. Critical scholarship’s solution to this problem led to one of the most important academic innovations in biblical studies in the last three hundred years: the Documentary Hypothesis.

Does the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15 tell a different story about an escape from the Egyptians than the account of the splitting of the sea in Exodus 14?

After Jacob steals the blessing from Esau, the reactions of both Isaac and Rebecca present numerous narrative difficulties. A source-critical reading reveals two distinct portraits of Jacob: one Jacob who is reactive and on the run, and another who is proactive and purposeful.

The two creation stories of Genesis, chapters 1 and 2-3 (P and J) introduce two long narratives which continue throughout much of the Torah. Each is working with a different conception of the creator—a rather human-like God versus a majestic and distant deity.

A Historical Approach

Deuteronomy presents Moses’ account as a retelling of the story narrated in Exodus and Numbers. And yet, so many details contradict the earlier narrative. Here are ten examples.