Editing Priestly source (section)

{{Short description|One of the four sources of the Torah in the documentary hypothesis}}
[[File:Diagram of the Supplementary Hypothesis.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Diagram of the [[supplementary hypothesis]], a popular model of the [[composition of the Torah]]. The Priestly source is shown as '''P'''.]]
The '''Priestly source''' (or simply '''P''') is perhaps the most widely recognized of the sources underlying the Torah, both stylistically and theologically distinct from other material in it.{{sfn|Ska|2006|p=146}} It is considered by most scholars as the latest of all sources, and “meant to be a kind of redactional layer to hold the entirety of the [[Torah|Pentateuch]] together,”{{sfn|Feldman|2023|p=5: "A number of scholars understand the priestly stratum to be the latest source, written after all the others and meant to be a kind of redactional layer to hold the entirety of the Pentateuch together"}} It includes a set of claims that are contradicted by non-Priestly passages and therefore uniquely characteristic: no sacrifice before the institution is ordained by [[Yahweh]] (God) at [[Biblical Mount Sinai|Sinai]], the exalted status of [[Aaron]] and the priesthood, and the use of the divine title [[El Shaddai]] before God reveals his name to [[Moses]], to name a few.{{sfn|Baden|2009|pp=2-3}}

In general, the Priestly work is concerned with priestly matters – ritual law, the origins of shrines and rituals, and genealogies – all expressed in a formal, repetitive style.{{sfn|Viviano|1999|p=41}} It stresses the rules and rituals of worship, and the crucial role of priests,{{sfn|Gilbert|2009|p=34}} expanding considerably on the role given to Aaron (all Levites are priests, but according to P only the descendants of Aaron were to be allowed to officiate in the inner sanctuary).{{sfn|Kugler|Hartin|2009|pp=xix, 49}}