Completion, Finalization, Authorization

Why Did the Editing Processes in the Pentateuch Come to an End? A Conversation with Jean-Louis Ska

Abstract

While the source model (JEDP) in Pentateuchal studies has been replaced
by a model of literary traditions and successive Fortschreibungen, the concept of
final editing as a mere technical compiling redaction has lost its impact. Subsequently,
the closure of the cascading editing processes of Pentateuchal texts was
linked to external initiation by the Persian authority or even the imperial context.
But these theories have also more or less failed and thus the question of when and
why the editing processes of the Pentateuch ended is still open. In contrast to an
external motivation of closure and a decisive influence of the Persian authorities,
Jean Louis Ska already at an early stage asserted internal reasons for the Pentateuch’s
conclusion. This essay presents Jean Louis Ska’s hypotheses based on his
examination of the two important theories of the Persian imperial authorization and
Joel Weinberg’s citizen-temple community. Building on this, it sheds light on the
process of the finalization of the Torah against the background of recent research
on the textual history, the Samaritans, and the significance of the Torah in Qumran. By
understanding the Torah as a “shared tradition”, which served as a point of reference
for the collective construction of identity in an increasing density of textual
references, processual finalization of the Pentateuch is proposed.