and dominant religious ideas,--the region which Vatke in his
Biblische Theologie had occupied in its full breadth, and where the
real battle first kindled--that the controversy can be brought to a
definite issue. In making the following attempt in this direction,
I start from the comparison of the three constituents of the
Pentateuch,--the Priestly Code, Deuteronomy, and the work of the
Jehovist. The contents of the first two are, of course,
legislation, as we have seen; those of the third are narrative;
but, as the Decalogue (Exodus xx.), the Law of the two Tables
(Exodus xxxiv.), and the Book of the Covenant (Exodus xxi.-xxiii.)
show, the legislative element is not wholly absent from the
Jehovist, and much less is the historical absent from the Priestly
Code or Deuteronomy. Further, each writer's legal standpoint is
mirrored in his account of the history, and conversely; thus there
is no lack either of indirect or of direct points of comparison.
Now it is admitted that the three constituent elements are
separated from each other by wide intervals; the question then
arises, In what order? Deuteronomy stands in a relation of
comparative nearness both to the Jehovist and to the Priestly
Code; the distance between the last two is by far the
greatest,--so great that on this ground alone Ewald as early as
the year 183I (Stud. u. Krit., p. 604) declared it impossible
that the one could have been written to supplement the other.
Combining this observation with the undisputed priority of the
Jehovist over Deuteronomy, it will follow that the Priestly Code
stands last in the series. But such a consideration, although, so
far as I know, proceeding upon admitted data, has no value as long
as it confines itself to such mere generalities. It is necessary
to trace the succession of the three elements in detail, and at
once to test and to fix each by reference to an independent