Pictured is Julius Wellhausen.
The documentary hypothesis (DH) and the variations of it that appear in modern day biblical scholarship are pretty much opposed across the board by conservative Evangelicals. I’m trying to understand why.
One of the arguments I have heard is that it makes Jesus wrong because, for instance, in Mark 7.10 Jesus is recorded as saying, “For Moses said, ‘honor your father and mother’” (quoting Ex 20.12). According to various forms of the DH, Moses did not write these words. So, the argument goes, to adopt the DH (or any of its modern forms) is to mistrust or seek to prove wrong the very words of Christ.
Well…not really. Let’s put the DH to the side for a minute and forget that it even existed. Wellhausen never said boo and all we have is our Bible.
Let’s look at Mark 7.10 again. We see that Jesus is attributing a saying to Moses. But when we turn back to Exodus 20.12 we notice something quite shocking: it is not Moses who is speaking; it is God himself (Ex 20.1-2). So Jesus is attributing a saying to Moses that is really a saying of God’s. One could Read the rest of this entry »
