01_VanSeters_copiaaaa_01_25 28/04/15 11:15 Pagina 22 22 JOHN VAN SETERS concern to link the history of the forefathers and their piety and the patriarchal promises with the later destiny of Israel. Finally, the rather unique role of the king as intercessor before the deity on be- half of his people, as reflected in Nabonidus’s inscriptions, forms a remarkable parallel with the role of Moses as intercessor, a quite distinctive feature of J’s narrative 37. This Yahwist as historian of Israelite origins may be contrasted with the new fragmentary hypothesis that is advocated by many European scholars today, in which this historical narrative is split up into numerous fragments, compiled by innumerable “redactors” over an extended period of time and of no fixed location and asso- ciated with no specific historical or social context. Such an ap- proach, it seems to me, is completely contradicted by the evidence presented here for a unified non-P history of origins that belongs to a quite specific time and place and social/religious location 38. III. Conclusion: Dating the Yahwist Using Biblical Texts and Non-biblical Evidence The objective of this study has been to bring together all of the relevant arguments for dating the Yahwist, by using comparison with both the biblical texts whose dates may be controlled and with the relevant non-biblical evidence that provides significant datable parallels to the text of J. For those scholars who still believe that there is a comprehensive and continuous non-priestly J narrative that extends throughout the Pentateuch, the historical and social context is vitally important for understanding what this long and detailed narrative has to say about the Jews’ ethnic, religious and institutional origins which define who they are. We must presup- pose that there existed in Babylonia a significant community of Jews who were concerned to preserve their religious and ethnic 37 Concerning the recent attempt by H.-C. SCHMITT, “‘Versuchung durch Gott’ und ‘Gottesfurcht’ in Gen 22,1.12 und Ex 20,20”, ZAW 126 (2014) 15- 30, to date the theme of the “fear of God” as pre-Deuteronomic, the evidence presented here speaks against this early dating. 38 For a collection of essays that represent both sides of the debate see T.B. DOZEMAN – K. SCHMID (eds.), A Farewell to the Yahwist? The Composition of the Pentateuch in Recent European Interpretation (Atlanta, GA 2006).