mid-nineteenth century, the Elohistic source that contained both narrative and law of a Priestly kind (later labeled P) was regarded as the earliest of the sources and the basic document for the rest, because it provided a clear chronological framework for the Pentateuch as a whole. A major development in the Documentary Hypothesis was made by W. M. L. de Wette (Contributions to Old Testament Introduction, 2 vols., 1806–1807), who identified the ‘book of the law’ that was reported to have been discovered