One Author

Among the theories inflicted upon the world in the 19th Century is the Documentary hypothesis. This theory was actually fomented centuries earlier and found expression in the 17th Century. This theory teaches that Moses could not possibly have authored the first 5 books of the Bible.  It is also referred to as the JEDP theory, with the “J” standing for Jehovah, “E” for Elohim, “D” for Deuteronomist, and “P” for Priestly. Each part of the JEDP theory identifies the supposed distinctions within the Pentateuch, which must presuppose that the miraculous cannot happen. Therefore, a supposed conclusion must be made in advance that the Pentateuch is not inspired and Moses could not have written it. They must find another explanation for the mosaic authorship of the first five books of the Bible.  As many theories formulated in past centuries, its very fabric is shown to be frayed and rotten.

More recent research has demonstrated the falseness of this idea. Books such as The Redaction of Genesis by Rendsburg (Eisenbrauns: 1986), point to the “incredible linguistic unity and artistry of the composer of all of Genesis. The J and E sections share an extremely high number of theme-words and linking-words, puns, etc.!”

It doesn’t end there, however:

"..it becomes simply incredulous that J wrote 12:1-4a, 12:6-9 about the start of Abraham's spiritual odyssey and that E wrote 22:1-19 about the climax of his spiritual odyssey, and that these two authors living approximately 100 years apart and in different parts of ancient Israel time and again chose the same lexical terms. Surely this is too improbable, especially when such examples can be and have been multiplied over and over. Admittedly, a corresponding word here or there could be coincidental, but the cumulative nature of the evidence tips the scales heavily against the usual division of Genesis into JEP" (p. 104-105).