101 Myths of the Bible: how ancient scribes - Conscious Evolution TV

Introduction xix
system. The E author was probably a Levite priest descended from Moses. He most
likely came from the cult center at Shiloh, which allied itself with Israel when it split
off from Judah.
Long before the Pentateuch achieved its present form, an intermediate editor
probably combined J and E into a single narrative, editing both sources and omitting
portions of each.
The P source, in addition to its very different view of deity, distinguishes itself by
its close association with the Aaronite wing of the priesthood. The Bible portrays
Aaron and Moses as brothers from the tribe of Levi, and one of the conflicts in the
Bible concerns whether just the Aaronites or all branches of Levi should perform the
main priestly functions in the temple. P tends to promote Aaron at the expense of
Moses and argues that only the Aaronite wing of the Levites should perform the main
priestly functions in the temple. This suggests that the priestly author belonged to a
Levite sect operating in Jerusalem, with intimate knowledge of all the Jerusalem temple
rituals and features.
Like J, P begins with an account of Creation. Although it has nothing to say about
Adam and Eve or events in the Garden of Eden, it does contribute to the flood story.
With the fall of Israel in 722 B.C., many of its citizens fled south, bringing new
political and religious pressures into Judah. The refugee priests brought the E viewpoint
with them, one that promoted Moses as the hero and all Levites as equal. This
challenged the authority of the Aaronite branch of Levi, and P may have originated in
an effort to reinforce their authority by appealing to historical traditions. P probably
dates to a time after the Assyrian conquest but before the Babylonian conquest of
Judah in 587 B.C.
The D Source
D takes its name from the Book of Deuteronomy, which contains virtually no
traces of the other three sources, nor does any of D appear in the other four books of
the Pentateuch. It reflects the reformist views of King Josiah in the late-seventh century
B.C. and begins with the story of Moses. Josiah, if the biblical text can be trusted,
initiated major orthodox religious reforms, reinstating a highly centralized religious