Who Wrote the Bible, Essay Example

The emergence of the monarchy in Israel was an evolution of the system of judges and priests that was already in place.  The various tribes were ruled by individual imbued with authoritative powers.  These positions were supplemented by the role of the prophet, who was considered chosen by the deity.  This system eventually became too weak, though.  With the domination of Phillistine,   The last judge, Samuel annointed the first king of Israel, King Saul.  This did not completely change the structuring of their society, though as the king maintained his right from the prophets and priests as well as the various tribal leaders.

After Saul, rule of the country passed to King David, who took various steps in order to consolidate his empire.  After the death of King Saul, the kingdom had been divided between Saul’s son, Ishbaal, in the north and David in the south.  David’s rule was consolidated after Ishbaal was assasinated.  The first step that David took to unite his kingdom was to move the capital to Jerusalem.  He also appointed a priest to the north and a priest to the south in order to help unite the two regions under himself.  He also married from various regions.  The establishment of a standing army and successive victories were the final factors that helped to cement his rule.

While the northern part of Israel was composed of various smaller tribes, the southern half was largely made up of the tribe of Judah.  During the rule of King Solomon the northern kingdom was often disregarded.  This included the removal of the northern priesthood’s leader.  There was also a disproportionate amount of taxation, the northern half tended to pay for projects for the south.  This also led to a lower amount of protection for the northern tribes.  He also redistricted the tribes, and while he was ale to hold onto the whole of the country during his reign, after his death his successor was unable to stop the north from seceeding.

In order to create a national religion specifically for the north, Jeroboam realized that he could not create a completely new religion, as the shared religion of Israel as a whole is what was keeping it from falling apart.  In order to alleviate their need to rely on the south for religious purposes, he gave them a new form of the already established religion.  This included religious holidays, centers, and priesthoods that allowed them to maintain their identities.

While Jeroboam had restructured the northern priesthood in order to promote more stability in his kingdom, this caused those established priests who had been displaced to have a negative reaction.  The priests of Shiloh, an order that Samuel had hailed from, felt as though they had been betrayed.  They had belonged to a shrine that was of important historical significance.

The two key pieces of evidence that led scholars to propose the existence of multiple sources of the Torah were doublets and the name of God.  There were usually two accounts of each story in the Bible.  These doublets make it seem like the stories come from multiple places.  Furthermore, the existence of different versions of the bible referring to God by two different names also gave them evidence.

J, E, D, and P refer to a code that biblical scholars use to represent different sources of the bible.  J stands for those that refer to God as Yahweh, while E represents the name El or Elohim.  Source P was concerned with rituals as well as record keeping, so it came to be known as the priestly source.  Finally, D, or Deuteronomy, seemed to be independent from the rest, containing differing accounts than the rest.

The argument that Friedman makes from pages 62-67 is based upon an analysis of the texts in relation to the rulers, classes, and priesthoods at the time.  What the author maintains is that the authors were concerned with different aspects of the kingdom.  While the writers of J seemed primarily concerned with Judah, those who wrote E were more concerned for the kingdom of Israel as a whole.

Friedman discusses the problem of the Golden Calf, mainly questioning the reasons for why the story was structured in the way it was.  The rebellious followers as well as the main perpetrator of the sin is questioned.  He concludes that the passages were written by the disassociated priests of Shiloh.  The king who had displaced them had established centers which worshiped golden calves.

Friedman differentiates between the religious symbols of the north and south.  In the north, statues were made of molten gold, while in the south they were made of wood with plated gold.  These differences are reflected in J and E.  While the stories in J reflect more of a dedication to the arc of the covenant and the temple of Solomon, the stories of E are more dedicated to the various tabernacles, or places of worship.

Friedman explains the difference in the use of divine names in J and E as being attributed to the author’s dedication to the older systems or the newer ones established by Jeroboam.  The author of E seemed to be trying to establish a connection between all the different names of God, in an attempt to help to solidify and unite the religion, while the author of J only used a single name, in an attempt to hold onto the ways of the past.