Day 3 - Tenth Day of Christmas

Read | Genesis 9:1 - 10:32 | 1 Chronicles 1:8-23

Background | To understand the reading of the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Bible, scholars for many years have claimed a "Documentary hypothesis" to explain the seemly strains of differing work within the text.

Wikipedia explains...

The documentary hypothesis (DH), sometimes called the Wellhausen hypothesis, proposes that the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) was derived from originally independent, parallel and complete narratives, which were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of redactors (editors). The number of these narratives is usually set at four, but the precise number is not an essential part of the hypothesis.

The hypothesis was developed in the 18th and 19th centuries from the attempt to reconcile perceived inconsistencies in the biblical text. By the end of the 19th century it was generally agreed that there were four main sources, combined into their final form by a series of redactors, R. These four sources came to be known as the Yahwist, or Jahwist, J (J being the German equivalent of the English letter Y); the Elohist, E; the Deuteronomist, D, (the name comes from the Book of Deuteronomy, D's contribution to the Torah); and the Priestly Writer, P.^[1]

The contribution of Julius Wellhausen, a Christian theologian and biblical scholar, was to order these sources chronologically as JEDP, giving them a coherent setting in a notional evolving religious history of Israel, which he saw as one of ever-increasing priestly power. Wellhausen's formulation was:

• the Yahwist source (J) : written c. 950 BCE in the southern Kingdom of Judah.
• the Elohist source (E) : written c. 850 BCE in the northern Kingdom of Israel.
• the Deuteronomist (D) : written c. 600 BCE in Jerusalem during a period of religious reform.
• the Priestly source (P) : written c. 500 BCE by Kohanim (Jewish priests) in exile in Babylon.

While the hypothesis has been critiqued^[2][3] and challenged by other models, especially in the last part of the 20th century, its terminology and insights continue to provide the framework for modern theories on the composite nature and origins of the Torah^[4] and Bible compilation in general. Click here for more.

With this in mind, the Flood account that we read has probably two sources being J and P.
Here is one breakdown on the story - Click here

Reading | Noah, 600 year old, takes family into the ark; rain 40 days/nights; flood 150 days; God sends a wind to clear the land; Noah is 651 years when he opens the ark with waters dried up; Noah worships God; God calls them to be fruitful and multiply and promises not to do this again; concludes with various genealogies of Noah's sons and descendants and where they settled.  

Next | 1/4/2015 | Day 4 | Genesis 11:1-26, 1 Chronicles 1:24-27, Genesis 11:27-14:24

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For Those We Love

Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to your never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come, knowing that you are doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source | Mission St Clare | Morning Daily Office in English | Click here for today

Check out the GraceFullBible  for another way to read the New Testament in a Year – Click here
One way to do the Daily Office from the Book of Common Prayer | Click here