Fortunately, we need not discuss the minute and complicated arguments on which all this rests, for the idea of any writings being so hopelessly mixed together is most improbable. While it has been shown in recent years to be very doubtful whether these names, Elohim and Jehovah, occurred in the original Hebrew, in the same places as they do now.[70] And if they did not, the theory loses one of its chief supports.
[70] The Name of God in The Pentateuch by Trœlstra; translated by McClure, 1912
And in any case there are at least four plain and simple arguments against it. The first is that the Egyptian references, to which we have already alluded extend to all the parts J, E, and P; as well as to Deuteronomy, which these critics assign to yet another author D. They are thus like an Egyptian water-mark running all through the Pentateuch. And while it is difficult enough to believe that even one writer in Canaan should have possessed this intimate knowledge of Egypt, it is far more difficult to believe that four should have done so.
The second is that all the writers must have been equally dishonest, for they all contain passages, which they assert were written by Moses (see further on). And here again it is hard to believe, that even one writer (leave alone four) should have been so utterly unscrupulous.
The third is that the curious custom of God speaking of Himself in the plural number, which would be strange in any case, and is especially so considering the strong Monotheism of the Jews, is also common to both J and P.[71] And so is the puzzling statement that it was God Himself Who hardened Pharaoh's heart, which is also found in E.[72]
[71] Gen. 1. 26 (P): 3. 22 (J).
[72] Exod. 4. 21 (E): 7. 3 (P.): 10. 1 (J).
The fourth is that parallel passages to the supposed two narratives of the Flood, ascribed to J and P (and which are thought to occur alternately nineteen times in Gen. 7. 8.) have been found together in an old Babylonian story of the Flood, centuries before the time of Moses; and also in layers corresponding to J and P.[73] And this alone seems fatal to the idea that J and P were originally separate narratives that were afterward combined in our Genesis.
[73] Sayce's Monument Facts, 1904, p. 20; Driver's Book of Genesis, 1905, pp. 89-95, 107.
Of course those who maintain that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, quite admit that he made use of previous documents, one of which, the book of the Wars of the Lord, he actually quotes.[74] Nor is it denied that some additions have been made since his time, the most important being the list of kings, who are said to have reigned in Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.[75] And this brings the passage down to the time of Saul at least who was Israel's first king. But it is probably a later insertion, since these kings are referred to in a different way from the dukes, who precede and follow them. And the same may be said of a few other passages[76] such as that the Canaanite was then in the land, which must clearly have been written after the Israelites conquered the country. But they can all be omitted without breaking the continuity of the narrative.