| abstract | - The Elohist (E) is one of four sources of the Torah described by the Documentary Hypothesis. Its name comes from the term it uses for God: Elohim. It portrays a God who is less anthropomorphic than YHWH of the earlier Jahwist source ("J"). Since the end of the 19th century, it has been argued that the Elohist was composed in northern Israel (Ephraim) c 850 BC, combined with the Yahwist to form JE c 750 BC, and finally incorporated into the Torah c 400 BC. The Elohist promotes Israel over Judah, and Levitical priests over Judah's Aaronite priests. E includes Abraham's mission to sacrifice Isaac, Moses calling down plagues on Egypt, Aaron and the golden calf, the Covenant Code, and Joseph as an interpreter of dreams. Recent reconstructions suggest that the Elohist may have been written before the Jahwist, or else they leave out the Elohist altogether, proposing a DJP sequence, written from the reign of Josiah into post-exilic times.
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