A great many Christians are under the impression that our scriptures were written in the same order in which they now appear in the canon. These documents have been exhaustively studied by a great many biblical scholars particularly in the last two centuries. The large majority of these scholars, both conservative and liberal, now agree with what has come to be called "the documentary hypothesis" when dealing with the Torah.
In the late 1800s, a group of scholars in Germany led by Professors K. H. Graf and Julius Wellhausen began to study rigorously the details of the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These books, called the Torah or the Books of Moses, constitute the most sacred part of the Hebrew Scriptures and were traditionally required by the Jews to be read in their entirety on the Sabbaths of a single year in the synagogues of the Jewish world. These scholars began to apply to these texts the insights of literary criticism. The results were salutary and more than anything else opened the doors to a new academic interest in the Bible itself.
Analyzing these texts carefully, these scholars discovered that there were many observable differences that could be noted which led them to the conclusion that the Torah consisted of several strands of what had once been independent material. One strand referred to God by the name Yahweh, or at least by an unpronounceable set of consonants that were written as YHWH, and it called the holy mountain of the Jews Mt. Sinai. Another strand of material called God by the name of Elohim and it called the holy mountain Mt. Horeb. A third strand of material reflected life in the Kingdom of Judah in the seventh century. Still another strand appeared to be dated during the time of the Exile and perhaps even later. When they began to separate these strands from one another, other insights became available.
These four strands are termed, in the order mentioned above, as J or Jahwist, E or Elohist, D or Deuteronomist and P or Priestly. These four strands were cut and pasted into a new document by R or Redactor (Editor) at some point late in the Exile or shortly after. All of this leads to modern confusion because the subject matter of the different strands is frequently similar but is handled quite differently.
For example, there are contradictions found in the three versions of the Ten Commandments contained in the Bible (Exodus 34:1-28, Exodus 20:1-17, Deuteronomy 5:1-21). The three versions are not the same. Exodus 34, the oldest version at about 950 BC, is from the pen of the "J" or Jahwist writer and is not one of which many have ever heard. The final commandment in this earliest version reads "You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk." Why, we are led to wonder, was this original set of Ten Commandments rejected or replaced? The second version Exodus 20, from about 850 BC, was from the pen of the "E" or Elohist writer, but was greatly expanded about 560 BC by a group of people called the "P" or priestly writers. Did these writers, who added so much to the entire body of the Jewish Scriptures, do so because they judged the original version to be so woefully inadequate that it required major additions and editing? Does one alter or tamper with what one believes to be "The Word of God?" The third version, Deuteronomy 5 in about 625 BC, was from the pen of the "D" or Deuteronomic writers composed somewhere between the original writing of Exodus 20 and the expansion done on that same text some 400 or so years later. For example, the version in Deuteronomy did not offer as the reason the Sabbath must be observed the fact that God rested on the Sabbath, for that version of that seven day creation story had not yet been written. So this author states that the Sabbath is to be observed because the people of Israel must remember that they were once slaves in Egypt and even slaves must have a day of rest. Which of these versions of the Ten Commandments, we might ask, can qualify as "The Word of God?"
Much later in the Old Testament Micah seems to summarize the commandments into just three:
Micah 6:8 --- And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Looking ahead into the New Testament we find:
Mark 10:19 --- Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
.
Here Jesus only lists six of the ten. When we look at the other two synoptic gospels we quickly note that "Defraud not" is not on Matthew's and Luke's list of Jesus' commandments. We also note Jesus' famous summary of the commandments down to just two:
Matthew 22: 35-40 --- One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
