Richard Elliott Friedman (born May 5, 1946)[1] is an American biblical scholar, theologian, and translator who currently serves as the Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia.
He was the Katzin Professor of Jewish Civilization: Hebrew Bible; Near Eastern Languages and Literature at the University of California, San Diego, from 1994 until 2006,[3][4] whereupon he joined the faculty of the University of Georgia's Religion Department, where he is currently the Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies.
"[7] According to Friedman, and others who follow the theories of Julius Wellhausen regarding the formation of Israel's religion, P is the work of the Aaronid priesthood.
Chronicles reported explicitly: Friedman wrote that the "Aaronid priesthood that produced P had opponents, Levites who saw Moses and not Aaron as their model.
"[citation needed] Friedman has also proposed that the prophet Jeremiah, working together with his scribe Baruch, was also the person that is the D-source, the Deuteronomist, who wrote/rewrote the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings.
he gave supporting evidence pointing towards this identification and also notes that in the Talmud Jeremiah was already seen as the author of the Books of Kings.
But Yahweh did not turn back from his great fury which burned against Judah over all the things in which Manasseh had angered him" (2 Kings 23:25–26).
This group later merged with the Israelites, introducing the cult of Yahweh in Caanan, together with the idea of monotheism/monolatry, possibly inspired by the religious reforms of Pharaoh Akhenaten.
Friedman mentions the Torah’s Levite sources often refer to a commandment to treat stranger in your land well, for “you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” The name Yahweh, according to Friedman, was probably inspired by the Shasu deity Yhw, whose presence is attested by two Egyptian texts from the time of Pharaohs Amenhotep III (14th century BCE) and Ramesses II (13th century BCE).