עֵדָה

The word עֵדָה appears 110 times in chumash, all of which are in P. The occurrences are as follows:

Ex. (12:3) (12:6) (12:19) (12:47) (16:1) (16:2) (16:9) (16:10) (16:22) (17:1) (33:31) (35:1) (35:4) (35:20) (38:25)

Lev (4:13) (4:15) (8:3) (8:4) (8:5) (9:5) (10:6) (10:17) (16:5) (19:2) (24:14) (24:16)

Nu. (1:2) (1:16) (1:18) (1:53) (3:7) (4:34) (8:9) (8:20) (10:2) (10:3) (13:26) (14:1) (14:2) (14:5) (14:7) (14:10) (14:27) (14:35) (14:36) (15:24 x 2) (15:25) (15:26) (15:33) (15:35) (15:36) (16:2) (16:3) (16:5) (16:6) (16:9 x 2) (16:11) (16:16) (16:19 x 2) (16:21) (16:22) (16:24) (16:26) (17:5) (17:6) (17:7) (17:10) (17:11) (19:9) (20:1) (20:2) (20:8 x 2) (20:11) (20:22) (20:27) (20:29) (25:6) (25:7) (26:2) (26:9) (26:10) (27:2) (27:3 x 2) (27:14) (27:16) (27:17) (27:19) (27:20) (27:21) (27:22) (31:12) (31:13) (31:16) (31:26) (31:27) (31:43) (32:2) (32:4) (35:12) (35:24) (35:25 x 2).

One possible retort to this is that somehow the P verses are thematically connected to the word עֵדָה. The problem with this is that this word is generally used in the stories about the nation of Israel in the desert. There are such stories in all of P, JE, & D, yet the word עֵדָה only comes up in the P stories. One would have to invent some sort of distinction between two types of such stories, in which the nation assumes different names, but such distinctions are very thin and stand dangerously close to just reformulating the P/JE/D distinction but just in traditional words (e.g. Moshe didn’t like the word עֵדָה and it’s thus not used in Devorim)

Another possible retort is the circular reasoning argument: passages are assigned to P on the basis of the word עֵדָה. This, in turn, is in reality two arguments. Firstly, once could argue that the P passages are assigned to P on the grounds of the word עֵדָה. Secondly there are some passages, such as the M’raglim or Korach, that are thought to be composite. Perhaps, one might argue that the P verses in those passages are assigned to P on the grounds of the word עֵדָה. To the first point, I would reply that most of the time there is much, much evidence to assign a passage to P, and even without the word עֵדָה, we would not change our mind. Moreover, this answer does nothing to explain the P vs D divide. To the second, I say, again, this does not explain the P vs. D divide, it does not explain the whole passages that are assigned entirely to P or JE, and, even in cases of composite passages, such as the spies, the passages assigned to P are generally so assigned for several reasons, not just the word עֵדָה. Finally, even if one feels that P passages are assigned to P solely on the basis of this word, its ubiquitiesness in some passages and disappearance in others is itself suspicious. For example, Nu. 14:11-25 is part of the JE account of the spies. One may argue that we have only so assigned it on the basis of the word עֵדָה not appearing therein, which would be wrong, but even if it were so, the lack of the word עֵדָה in this passage, coming in the midst of a story where the word is heavily utilized is itself suspicious.