Most scholars would agree that Deuteronomy was composed independently, as the D in the JEDP.
Further, the theory which I will follow goes, Deuteronomy is understood to consist of a core Law Code, which is believed to be chapters 12-26 (Dtn), to which the writer added a prologue and epilogue to in order to contextualize it as an historical narrative. This writer is called the deuteronomistic historian (Dtr1) and likely wrote this first draft of Deuteronomy during the time of King Josiah (c. 649–609 BCE) or just before.
This is theorized to be the Book of the Law that Hilkiah the Priest “discovered” in the Temple which Josiah then used as the basis for his reformation of Judah (see 2 Kings 22). This writer Dtr1 added most of Chapters 1-12, and much of the material from 12:16-34:12.
The Deuteronomistic historian is thought to have written Deuteronomy as part of the longer Deuteronomistic History, a larger collection consisting of the seven books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel I and II, and Kings I and II. This was written as a single work, and contextualised the history of Israel in the light of Josiah’s reign, as Josiah was seen by the author as the culmination of all the prophecies of Israel, and the ideal King.
The other books of the Torah were written before the Deuteronomistic Historian began his work. J and E were likely first in existence as separate earlier forms around 1000 BCE and were compiled together at some point from 722 during the reign of Hezekiah, along with the new P document which was written by a rival Priesthood who considered themselves to be the only True Priests of Israel and wanted to delegitimize all the others.
It is likely that Dtr1 had knowledge of the earlier JE and P sources, and wrote his work to supplement/summarize/correct them. But despite this knowledge, the text itself is composed otherwise independently of them, as it does not incorporate any earlier material directly.
How far the core law code of Dtn or the narrative surrounding it reflects earlier sources that the Dtr1 author incorporated is unknown. Whatever the Dtr1 author used appears to have been used as background sources and not reproduced directly; everything was written in the Dtr1 author’s own words (apart from the inclusion of poems which are thought to be earlier – i.e. Deuteronomy 33). Dtr1 cites his sources elsewhere, in Samuel and Kings he references other texts that he utilised (i.e. “The Annals of the Kings of Israel”). But he does not do this in Deuteronomy and so we can only imagine whether he was using JE and P, and rewriting them for the benefit of Josiah’s political and theological interests, or whether he was using a separate independent existing tradition that was older than Josiah’s time and merely contextualising them.
Also note that within Deuteronomy an even later writer added further material to contextualize it within the exile of his own time. This later writer is known as Dtr2. He wrote after the exile in 586, when Josiah’s sudden death had shocked the entire country, his great reformation had failed and the hopes of the Israelites were shattered. This meant they had to reinterpret their older documents in the light of this, and so they added comments and interpretations to the older documents to contextualise them within their new understanding.
Also, P had not yet been written when the author of Deuteronomy set down to pen his composition.
Why doesn’t “Moses” know any of the material from Leviticus 1 to Number 10, 15, 17-20:13, 20:23-29, 25:6-31, and 33-36? Because when D wrote his text using Moses as his mouthpiece to legitimate his subversion of the earlier tradition (namely E), P had not yet been written.
See: http://contradictionsinthebible.com/all-the-words-that-yahweh-spoke-or-not/
Leave a Reply