Pentateuch Sources

The Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, commonly known as the Books of Moses - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy - are composed from four primary sources and assembled by a Redactor (R), as follows:

Each of these wrote an almost complete story of the history of the Israelites, from their own perspective, up until 722 (the date of the destruction of the Northern Kingdom)

The most coherent theory is suggested by R. E. Friedman as follows:

When the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC many refugees streamed South into Judea, bringing "E" with them. "J" and "E" were then combined into a single document known as "JE". "D" was written perhaps a century later; it was (conveniently) 'discovered' in the Temple by the Priest Hilkiah in 622 BC (2 Kings 22:8-13), shortly after it was written. "D" was then joined with "JE". "P" was then written before the death of King Josiah in 609 BC, probably in the reign of Hezekiah, as an alternative to "JE". "R" then combined "P" and "JE" with other documents and his own brief bridging passages to form the first four books of the Pentateuch and then added Deuteronomy as a fifth.

In the 18th Century three scholars (Witter, Astruc & Eichhorn) independently (as far as we know) identified different authors for two accounts of:

IN the 19th Century traces of a third author were detected and then the linguistically separate "D" was identified.

Taken from:

Friedman, R.E.: Who Wrote the Bible?, Harper, 1977 ISBN 0060630353; The Bible With Sources Revealed, Harper, 2003, ISBN 0060530693; The Hidden Book Of The Bible, Harper, 199, ISBN 0060630043.

KC/June 06