Evidence of Different Hands Telling the Exodus Story?

Old Testament / Authorship

Some time ago, a fellow scholar and friend, Jeff A. Benner [1] had come across some “inconsistencies” in the linguistics of the Hebrew found in the Book of Exodus. Knowing that I tend to work with the Documentary Hypothesis [2], he e-mailed me some of his notes. Which is why the credit for this should go to Mr. Benner. One note that I would like to share is the difference in which a noun is treated in two verses of the book. That noun is the Hebrew word עם (`am or people). Found in the beginning of Exodus 5:12:

ויפץ העם

And the people were scattered [...]

With the use of the preceding verb, the noun for people is identified as a masculine singular. In Exodus 14:31, the same noun (as a result of the preceding verb) is identified as a masculine plural. See excerpt below.

וייראו עם

[...] and the people feared him [...]

Are these little literary details even important? Well, possibly. As individuals, we tend to write in specific styles and utilizing specific words in specific ways. And unless we are challenged to do otherwise, we are typically creatures of habit. That being said, do these two separate verses in the Book of Exodus imply two separate authors penned each down? Not necessarily but it is an interesting observation nonetheless.

Anyway, I will speak to the Documentary Hypothesis, alongside the other authorship theories, in a future article but for now, I will state that under the Documentary Hypothesis, verse 5:12 belongs to the Elohist (E) while 14:31 is credited to the Yahwist (J).

Featured Image: A scribe re-lettering a Torah Scroll. (Source)

Notes

[1] Creator and maintainer of The Ancient Hebrew Research Center.

[2] The Documentary Hypothesis (or Source Hypothesis) proposes that the Bible was written by separate authors, sometimes in historical stages and eventually all separate components were compiled together either during or after the Exilic period, that is during the 6th century BCE or after. These 4 separate sources (or authors) are commonly referred to as the Elohist or E, the Yahwist or J, the Priestly or P and finally the Deuteronomist or D.