Author(s): the Book of Genesis:
Chapter 7 about Noah's Flood

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Continued from Chapter 5 & 6

Background (Repeated):

According to Jewish and Christian tradition, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) were written by Moses under the inspiration of God. God inspired Moses to write the truth and prevented him from making any errors.  Many conservative Christians and Jews continue with this belief.

However, mainline & liberal theologians and secularists generally accept the "Documentary Hypothesis" which asserts that the Pentateuch was written by five authors or groups of authors, from diverse locations, over a period of centuries. Each wrote with the goal of promoting his/her own religious views. In Genesis:

	J: a writer who used Yahweh/Jehovah as the divine name.
	P: a writer who added material of major interest to the priesthood.
	R: a redactor who welded the contributions of J and P together into the present Pentateuch.

Chapter 7 of the book of Genesis are reprinted below. ₁ The original authors, according to the Documentary Hypothesis, are indicated in color: J, P, and R. We follow the identification by R.E. Friedman. _2,3

GENESIS CHAPTER 7: The story of the great flood:

Chapter 7 and 8 are of particular interest, as the text switches frequently between the two main authors. The Redactor seems to have wanted to preserve both the J and P accounts more or less intact. As a result, the text is quite repetitious:

	In verses 7 and 13, J and P each describes Noah and family entering the ark.
	In verses 10 and 11, J and P both describe the start of the rains.
	In verses 17 and 18, J describes the increase of the waters and floating of the ark twice.
	In verses 21, 22 and 23, J and P describe the drowning of the people and animals.

There are some conflicts in the stories which the redactor apparently decided to let stand:

	In Genesis 7:19-20 and Genesis 7:15 "P" lists two of every species. But in Genesis 7:2-3 "J" specifies 7 pairs of clean animals and birds and 1 pair of unclean animals.
	In Genesis 7:4, "J" describes the flood as being created by rain. In Genesis 7:11. "P" describes how it is formed rather from two sources: "the fountains of the great deep" which was a great ocean that the ancient Israelites believed existed under the earth. and "the windows of the heavens" when they were opened.

One or more verses from J are followed by one or more verses from P. If you read only the J verses, then you will get a coherent story. If you read just the P verses, you will see a consistent but slightly different story.

Continue with Chapter 8: the rain stops and the ark lands

Related essays on this website:

	Comparison of the Babylonian and Hebrew flood stories
	Who wrote the 5 books of Moses?
	A possible source for the flood stories

References used:

1. The book of Genesis from the King James Version of the Bible.
2. R.E. Friedman, "Who Wrote the Bible?" HarperCollins, (1997), Pages 246-247. Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
3. R.E. Friedman, "The hidden book in the Bible: The discovery of the first prose masterpiece," Haper San Francisco. Review/order this book. The author traces the "J" component of the first four books of the Bible. He writes:  "Readers have an opportunity to see the first great prose writer's full achievement; an epic work of the struggle between God and humans. and between good and bad.

Copyright 1998 to 2014 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.
Latest update: 2014-FEB-08
Author: B.A. Robinson, J, P, & R

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