*I will now start to try and go back to books I have read in the past.
This book is Umberto Cassuto’s argument AGAINST the Documentary Hypothesis. What is interesting, however, is that Cassuto does not come in with religious biases. He is able to come at the text objectively and try to see if the hypothesis makes sense. In a nutshell, the Hypothesis states that the Five books of the Torah as we know them are not one coherent book. They are the product of four authors, labeled J, E, D and P that were redacted into the Pentateuch over time. Cassuto goes methodically through the Hypothesis, testing its major points. He deems the five major “pillars” of the Hypothesis to be 1. Use of different names for G-d. 2. Changes in style of language. 3. Contradictions between different texts 4. Copies of different stories 5. And seemingly composite structure in certain texts. Cassuto tackles these problems in two distinct ways: Showing how that the Torah can be read as one complete unit, and why there are inconsistencies in the hypothesis. What I found most interesting was the beautiful reading of the text that came through from the former method of disproving the Hypothesis. I will go through one of the pillars to show Cassuto ‘s approach. One of these is found in the different names for G-d in the Torah. What I have learned for a long time that the two main names of G-d, Hashem and Elokim, are used for the G-d of mercy and G-d of justice respectively. While Cassuto does subscribe to this approach, he details a much more thorough reading of the names. The name Elokim is the name of G-d when he is dealing with the entire world and humankind. It is then clear why the name Elokim is exclusively used at the beginning of the Torah, when G-d is dealing with the entire world. The name Hashem is a much more intimate name, the name G-d uses with the Jewish people. This approach then leads itself to the idea, that G-d is the G-d of justice while dealing with humankind, but is merciful while dealing with his chosen nation, Israel. Cassuto goes through all of Breishit (Genesis) and explains how each use of the Names is proper in its context. By doing so, Cassuto shows that not only does the text not need to be read as different writers because of the Divine Names, but that the test must be one coherent book, using the Names consistently throughout. Also, he shows that there are many times where the Name that is supposed to be used in one document, is used in context of what the Hypothesis deems a different document. Cassuto uses this to show that the Hypothesis is not consistent. He believes this to show that the proponents of the Hypothesis are desperately trying to fit the text into conceived notions that they had before they read the text, something which he tries to never do.
Although I had little knowledge of the intricacies of the Documentary Hypothesis before reading this book, it seems that Cassuto does a very good job of displaying the problems in the Hypothesis. For those that are interested in or concerned by this part of critical scholarship, this is a must read.
