In Old Testament research the literary character, the time and place as well as the intention of the priestly passages of the Pentateuch are in discussion. Jakob Wöhrle shows that the priestly passages in the ancestors' account - but only there - are to be understood as a redactional layer. The priestly redactors took up several sources and for the first time put them together to a continuous story. The priestly passages were written in the early Persian time by the returnees from the Babylonian exile. Through the ancestors they describe themselves as the real people of God. They enforce their claims to the land. And they present their idea of how to coexist with the nations in the neighbouring countries and with the people living in the land.

Dr. theol. Jakob Wöhrle ist Professor für Altes Testament an der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.