Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/89



only prove a date not earlier than Solomon.—Other arguments, such as the omission of Asshur and the inclusion of Kelaḥ and Nineveh in the list of Assyrian cities in 10$11$ etc., are still less conclusive.

While it is thus impossible to assign a definite date to J and E, there are fairly solid grounds for the now generally accepted view that the former is of Judæan and the latter of Ephraimite origin. Only, it must be premised that the body of patriarchal tradition which lies behind both documents is native to northern, or rather central, Israel, and must have taken shape there. The favourite wife of Jacob is not Leah but Rachel, the mother of Joseph (Ephraim-Manasseh) and Benjamin; and Joseph himself is the brightest figure in all the patriarchal gallery. The sacred places common to both recensions—Shechem, Bethel, Mahanaim, Peniel, Beersheba—are, except the last, all in Israelite territory; and Beersheba, though belonging geographically to Judah, was for some unknown reason a favourite resort of pilgrims from the northern kingdom (Am. 5$6$ 8$5$, 1 Ki. 19$14$).—It is when we look at the divergence between the two sources that the evidence of the Ephraimite origin of E and the Judæan of J becomes consistent and clear. Whereas E never evinces the slightest interest in any sanctuary except those mentioned above, J makes Hebron the scene of his most remarkable theophany, and thus indelibly associates its sanctity with the name of Abraham. It is true that he also ascribes to Abraham the founding of the northern sanctuaries, Shechem and Bethel (12$3$); but we can hardly fail to detect something perfunctory in his description, as compared with E's impressive narrative of Jacob's dream at Bethel (28$7. 8$), or his own twofold account of the founding of Beersheba (chs. 21. 26). It is E alone who records the place of Rachel's grave (35$10-12. 17-12$), of those of Rebekah's nurse Deborah ($19$), of Joseph (Jos. 24$8$), and Joshua ($32$),—all in the northern territory. The sections peculiar to J (p. xliii) are nearly all of local