Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/85

 writers note as characteristic of E finds no expression whatever in Genesis; and so far as it exists at all (Jos. 24), it belongs to secondary strata of the document, with which we are not here concerned.

Here we touch on a question of great importance, and one fortunately capable of being brought to a definite issue: viz., the relation of J and E to the literary prophecy of the 8th and following centuries. It is usual to speak of the combined JE as the Prophetical narrative of the Pent., in distinction from P, the Priestly narrative; and in so far as the name is employed (as, e.g., by Dri. LOT$8$, 117) to emphasise that contrast, it is sufficiently appropriate. As used, however, by many writers, it carries the implication that the documents—or that one to which the epithet is applied—show unmistakable traces of the influence of the later prophets from Amos downwards. That view seems to us entirely erroneous. It is undoubtedly the case that both J and E are pervaded by ideas and convictions which they share in common with the writing prophets: such as, the monotheistic conception of God, the ethical view of His providential government, and perhaps a conscious opposition to certain emblems of popular cultus (asheras, maẓẓebas, teraphim, etc.). But that these and similar principles were first enunciated by the prophets of the 8th cent., we have no reason to suppose. Nor does the fact that Abraham, as a man of God, is called Nābî' (20$7$, cf. Dt. 34$10$) necessarily imply that the figure of an Amos or an Isaiah was before the mind of the writers. We must bear in mind that the 9th century witnessed a powerful prophetic movement which, commencing in N Israel, extended into Judah; and that any prophetic influences discoverable in Genesis are as likely to have come from the impulse of that movement as from the later development which is so much better known to us. But in truth it is questionable if any prophetic impulse at all, other than those inherent in the religion from its foundation by Moses, is necessary to account for the religious tone of the narratives of Genesis. The decisive fact is that the