THE K I N G ’S BUS I NES S
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others guess that there were 3 or 30? And what is known as the “Fragment Hypothesis” was not long in coming into existence. Dr. Green fitly char acterized it as “the document hypothe sis run mad, the reductio ad absurdum furnished by the more consistent and thorough going application of the prin ciples and methods of its predecessor.” One of these critics claims th a t Genesis is composed of 38 distinct fragments, “varying in length from four or five verses to several chapters.” The names^ of these authors are, of course, not found in history, indeed, they are sim ply myths floating through the brain of a learned man whose imagination has been excited by the assumption th a t he has a miraculous discernment of style. MYTH NO. 5—The fragment hypo thesis soon falls under the weight of its absurdities, and gives place to a simpler theory known as the “Supple mentary Hypothesis.” By this it is claimed that the author who used the word Elohim wrote the original docu ment and that the author who used the word Jehovah, finding this Elohist document, supplemented it with his additions. But it is soon discovered th a t the Elohist refers to things writ ten by the Jehovist who came after him, and this myth vanishes into thin aic. But the myth-makers are not dis couraged; they give us the “Crystalliza tion Hypothesis” which assumes th a t the Pentateuch is a “vast conglomerate including various accessions made in the course of many centuries.” But this myth soon became old enough not to satisfy those who, like the Athen ians,. cared only for something new, and the “Modified Document Hypothe sis” is born." That is a complicated affair. It assumes an “Elohist” , a second “Elohist” , “Jehovist” , a second “Jehovist” , a “Deuteronomist” , a sec ond “Deuteronomist” , a Priestly writer,' a second Priestly writer and a third Priestly writer, and as you read one of their pages with the letters E, J, D,
speculation, for they show a marvel ous credulity in reference to everything except the Bible. MYTH NO. 3—The Pentateuch or Hexateuch may be divided into two dis tinct documents written by two authors, one of whom used the word Elohim in referring to God, and the other the word Jehovah. The originator of this myth was Jean Astruc, born in 1684, '‘a French physician of considerable learning bu t profligate life.” He wrote a treatise entitled “Conjectures con cerning the Original Memoranda which it appears Moses used to compose the Book of Genesis.” He believed th a t Moses was the author of Genesis, though he used material th a t was writ ten by others. Dr. Eichhorn, of Got tingen, adopted this theory and added many original guesses to the guesses of Astruc. This profligate French phy sician has the honor of being the fa ther of the modern destructive higher critic movement, unless you choose to trace its fatherhood through his bad character back to ,th e one who, in the Garden of Eden, said to the woman in disregard of God’s word, “Ye shall not surely die.” When a w riter today uses in the same article or book in referring to God th e word “Almighty,” “Creator;” or “Father,” no one suspects th a t two men were authors of the arti cle or book. But because the word “Elohim,” which refers to God as the Almighty Creator, and the word “Je hovah,” which refers to Him as the covenant-keeping God, were used in Genesis, it is inferred that two authors must have w ritten the book. It is strange th a t Jean Astruc and his fol lowers did not have discernment enough to see th a t the same man may use the word “Elohim” in referring to God as Creator, and “Jehovah” in referring to Him as the covenant-keeping God. MYTH NO. 4—The document theory of Astruc and Eichhorn opened the way for any number of guesses. If Astruc had the righ t to guess th a t there were two authors of Genesis, why may not
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