Journal: Grace Journal
Volume: GJ 04:1 (Winter 1963)
Article: The Patriarchs’ Knowledge of Jehovah: A Critical Monograph on Exodus 6:3
Author: John Jefferson Davis

GJ 4:1 (Wtr 63) p. 29

The Patriarchs’ Knowledge of Jehovah:
A Critical Monograph on Exodus 6:3

John J. Davis

Abridged by the Author

“And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them.” (Exod 6:3 A.S.V.)

Anyone who has committed himself to a serious study of the Old Testament is aware of the fact that certain portions of Old Testament history and in particular certain verses have become focal points of critical and theological investigation. The text under consideration is one such text. To a rather large group of Old Testament scholars this verse has been more or less the basic proof text for the documentary analysis of the Pentateuch. Others have either ignored a treatment of the verse or proposed unsupported solutions to the problems it presents. For the conservative scholar, however, it gives unmeasurable light into the relation of the Patriarchs to their God; and more generally, the method and scope of Divine revelation in the Old Testament.

Because Exodus 6:3 has become a basic proof text for the documentary analysis of the Pentateuch, it is imperative that we briefly consider this very popular theory. This theory originated with Jean Astruc, a French physician, who, by the way, did not deny the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. In his famous treatise, Conjectures Concerning the Original Memoranda which it Appears Moses Used, to Compose the Book of Genesis, Astruc proposed that on the basis of the use of divine names two basic documents could be distinguished: one called A (using Elohim) and B (employing Yahweh). It is interesting to note that this idea was applied to Genesis alone. It was not until 1791 that the theory was applied to the entire Pentateuch by Eichhorn. From this time on the variant uses of the Divine names were employed as a basis for distinguishing various documents. The theory gained popularity as the years passed and other methods were also employed to distinguish source material for the Pentateuch. The documentary analysis reached its peak under the leadership of Julius Wellhausen, who died in 1918. This system as it is held today has basically four source documents: (J) Yahwist, presumed to have been written about 850 B.C., (E) or Elohist, about 750 B.C., (D) or Deuteronomy about 620 B.C. and (P) in the completed Pentateuch about 500 B.C. Unlike the view of Astruc, those who advocate this theory today deny the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.

Since the days of Wellhausen, there have been many modifications to this classic form of literary criticism of the Pentateuch. The present day efforts are to assume the existence of the documents and extend ...