JE Narrative

3. Combined Yahwist-Elohist Narrative (JE)The Elohist source eventually found its way south to Judah, where it merged with the Yahwist source. It is understandable that the two sources would be joined together. Both had the same basic scope, though the Elohist did not have any pre-ancestral stories, and the Yahwist and Elohist sources shared the fundamental conviction that Yahweh is the God of all the Israelites and that he must be worshipped by his people.
   The joining of the two sources into JE, what some scholars call the "Old Epic" tradition and others the "Jehovistic source," took place shortly after the fall of Israel in 721 B.C.E. The northern Levite author of the Elohist source fled south to Judah after the Assyrian invasion, taking his writings with him. He ended up in Jerusalem, and king Hezekiah used the Elohist and Yahwist materials as the manifesto for a national religious revival. Putting these two traditions together supported the legitimacy of the Davidic line, of which Hezekiah was a part, and also promoted the religious and moral devotion that was at the heart of the Elohist tradition.
   Perhaps the combination of these two national stories, one from the north and one from the south, also promoted a sense of unity among the people. Those from the north who fled to the south and found a home there after 721 B.C.E. now also had a voice in the national story.