Ben-Dov - Writing as Oracle as Law

Writing as Oracle and as Law: New Contexts for the Book-Find of King JosiahAuthor(s): Jonathan Ben-DovSource: Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 127, No. 2 (Summer, 2008), pp. 223-239Published by: The Society of Biblical LiteratureStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25610118 .

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JBL 127, no. 2 (2008): 223-239

Writing as Oracle and as Law: New Contexts for the Book-Find

of King Josiah

JONATHAN BEN-DOV

[email protected]

University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel

Two recent collections of articles have introduced new horizons to the study of prophetic literature: Writings and Speech in Israelite and Ancient Near Eastern

Prophecy (2000) and Prophets, Prophecy, and Prophetic Texts in Second Temple Judaism (2006).1 These volumes have given the formal stamp to a trend that has

already gained some influence in recent research. This new agenda centers on the relation between the mantic arts, prophecy, and the scribal culture. Based on the

commonly accepted view that the lion's share of the production of prophetic books was carried out by scribes rather than prophets, scholarly effort is increasingly focusing on the relationships among prophets, diviners, and scribes in order to ascertain the precise role each of these parties played in the "publishing" process of a prophetic book.2 In addition, more attention is being paid to the relevance of

This paper was first presented in a workshop entitled "The Roles of Books in Ancient Soci eties" at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University in June 2005.1 would like to

thank Professors Guy Stroumsa and Margalit Finkelberg, the organizers of the workshop, as well as the participants of the group. In addition, Professor Bustenai Oded read the article and made

helpful comments. English translations of biblical material follow the NJPS version. 1 Ehud Ben Zvi and Michael H. Floyd, eds., Writings and Speech in Israelite and Ancient Near

Eastern Prophecy (SBLSS 10; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000); Michael H. Floyd and Robert D. Haak, eds., Prophets, Prophecy, and Prophetic Texts in Second Temple Judaism (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 427; New York/London: T&T Clark, 2006).

2 See Lester L. Grabbe, Priests, Prophets, Diviners, Sages: A Socio-Historical Study of Reli

gious Specialists in Ancient Israel (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1995); James C.

VanderKam, "Prophecy and Apocalyptic in the Ancient Near East," CANE 3:2083-94; Anne Marie

Kitz, "Prophecy as Divination," CBQ 65 (2003): 22-42; E. Cancik-Kirschbaum, "Prophetismus und Divination?Ein Blick auf die keilinschriftlichen Quellen," in Propheten in Mari, Assyrien, und

223



224 Journal of Biblical Literature 127, no. 2 (2008)

extrabiblical prophetic texts, the study of which has introduced new data to the

already weighty discourse on biblical prophetic literature.3 Finally, acknowledg ment of early Judaisms textual orientation has augmented the consideration being given to the gradual textualization of prophecy4

Given the increased importance of writing and books, on the one hand, and the enormous scholarly interest in the book-find of King Josiah, on the other hand, it is a natural step to relate the two issues. The narrative of 2 Kings 22-23 stands at the intersection of various streams of tradition in ancient Israel regarding the value of written documents. A diachronic analysis of the story's composition and the books implied contents reveals a burgeoning appreciation for the "Book" in Israelite

religion, constituting the foundation stone for what in due course would emerge as

the "religion of the Book." It will be suggested below that a pre-Deuteronomistic (pre-Dtr) narrative?embedded in 2 Kings 22-23?conceived of the book not as a

document of law but as a sign from heaven, part of the routine oracular procedure in ancient Near Eastern royal courts.

The particular value attributed to texts in Jewish sources is usually considered to be a product of the Babylonian exile, during which the scattered community was

cut off from the temple cult. As James L. Kugel has noted, however, "This change, certainly characteristic of post-exilic life, is probably not a mere reflex of events of the exile_[S]omething of the growing independent life of texts may perhaps be

glimpsed even among writings that preceded the return."5 In the present article, I wish to highlight the value attributed to written texts

in preexilic Israelite religion. At the same time, I will ground this religious concept in the matrix of ancient Near Eastern religions, thus tracing possible origins for the

concept noted by Kugel.

Israel (ed. Matthias K?ckert and Martti Nissinen; FRLANT 201; G?ttingen: Vandenhoeck &

Ruprecht, 2003) 33-53. 3 See the articles by John Van Seters, Karel van der Toorn, and Martti Nissinen, in Writings

and Speech, ed. Ben Zvi and Floyd, and the articles by Nissinen and Armin Lange in Prophets,

Prophecy and Prophetic Texts, ed. Floyd and Haak. 4 See esp. Michael H. Floyd, '"Write the Revelation!' (Hab 2:2): Re-imagining the Cultural

History of Prophecy," in Writings and Speech, 103-43; idem, "The Production of Prophetic Books

in the Early Second Temple Period," in Prophets, Prophecy and Prophetic Texts, 276-97; Joachim

Schaper, "The Death of the Prophet: The Transition from the Spoken to the Written Word of God

in the Book of Ezekiel," in Prophets, Prophecy and Prophetic Texts, 63-79; idem, "Exilic and Post

exilic Prophecy and the Orality/Literacy Problem," VT 55 (2005): 324-42; Hindy Najman, "The

Symbolic Significance of Writing in Ancient Judaism," in The Idea of Biblical Interpretation: Essays in Honor of James L. Kugel (ed. Hindy Najman and Judith H. Newman; JSJSup 83; Leiden: Brill,

2004), 139-73. 5 James L. Kugel, "Early Interpretation: The Common Background of Late Forms of Bibli

cal Exegesis," in idem and Rowan A. Greer, Early Biblical Interpretation (LEC 3; Philadelphia:

Westminster, 1986), 17.



Ben-Dov: Writing as Oracle and as Law 225

Josiah was not the first ancient king to enact a religious reform. Nadav Naa man has summarized the similarities between Josiahs acts and those of other reli

gious reforms.6 In a lecture delivered before the Israeli Academy of Sciences, he discussed issues of royal authority, religious initiative, and the public response to the cult reform. Here I aim to clarify an additional element that was only touched on by Naaman: the divine oracles adduced by the monarch as an endorsement for his plan. Although the motif of the book-find as oracular support for religious acts has been discussed in previous scholarship,7 it is now time to investigate it again with new sources and renewed perspectives. More specifically, recognition of the role of "the book that was found" as an oracular object may enhance our under

standing of the use of written media in the prophetic process.

I. Torah?From Divine Oracle to Law Code and Canon

Since Josiah's book is frequently designated "the Book of torah" a prelimi nary discussion of the polyvalent Hebrew term mm (tora) and the various mean

ings it carries in the Hebrew Bible constitutes a critical task. Michael Fishbane has demonstrated the development of (the concept of) min in Hebrew religion and

thought up to the time of its status as a prominent symbol of Judaism.8 1 , from the root , designates any kind of instruction?such as the words of a parent to a child (Prov 6:20; 7:1-2) or a teachers instruction of a disciple (Prov 13:14). While this meaning of the term, common in wisdom literature, retains a secular aspect,9 elsewhere in biblical literature 1 conveys a divine message, mediated by a

6 Nadav Na'aman, The Past That Shapes the Present: The Creation of Biblical Historiography in the Late First Temple Period and after the Downfall (in Hebrew; Jerusalem: Bialik, 2002), 47

48. 7 E. Naville, "Egyptian Writings in Foundation Walls, and the Age of the Book of Deuteron

omy," Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 29 (1907): 232-42; S. Euringer, "Die ?gyp tischen und keilinschriftlichen Analogien zum Fund des Codex Helciae (4Kg 22 u. 2 Chr 34)," BZ 10 (1912): 13-23; Wolfgang Speyer, B?cherfunde in der Glaubenswerbung der Antike: Mit einem

Ausblick auf Mittelalter und Neuzeit (Hypomnemata 24; G?ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1970); Lowell .

Handy, "Historical Probability and the Narrative of Josiah's Reform in II Kgs," in The Pitcher Is Broken: Memorial Essays for G?sta W. Ahlstr?m (ed. Steven W. Holloway and

Lowell K. Handy; JSOTSup 190; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 252-75; Thomas C. R?mer, "Transformations in Deuteronomistic and Biblical Historiography: On 'Book-finding' and Other Literary Strategies," AW 109 (1997): 1-11.

8 Michael Fishbane, "Torah" (in Hebrew), Encyclopaedia MiqraHt (Jerusalem: Bialik, 1971

88) 8:469-83. See also Felix Garcia Lopez, "min t?rah," TWAT 8:597-637; Moshe Greenberg, "Three Conceptions of the Torah in Hebrew Scriptures," in Die Hebr?ische Bibel und ihre zweifache

Nachgeschichte: Festschrift f?r Rolf Rendtorff zum 65. Geburtstag (ed. Erhard Blum et al.;

Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1990), 365-78. 9 Fishbane, "Torah," 480.




prophet, priest, or diviner. It is this signification primarily that is relevant to the

present discussion.

As the word of God mediated by Gods agents, mm is expressed in various forms. In Priestly literature, it takes the shape of a short cultic instruction, cover

ing any of the situations occurring in the priest's profession. The Sitz im Leben of the priestly mm can be seen in Hag 2:11-13. Priestly instructions were recorded on short scrolls, each carrying a specific instruction and marked by a colophon, at either the beginning or the end.10 Those scrolls, however, are never designated by the term 50 (seper).11

An additional form of divine instruction was mediated by the prophets. The

prophetic message is usually termed 2 (d?b?r, "word"), but on several occa

sions?notably in First Isaiah?mm indicates the divine word. This can be seen

from the parallelism of mm and 1 in Isa 1:10, as well as in Isa 2:3: "mm will come forth from Zion / and the , of the Lord from Jerusalem" (cf. Isa 8:16; 42:4;

51:4).12 Proverbs 29:18 preserves the parallelism of (h?zdn, "prophetic vision") and mm, reinforcing the oracular aspect of mm.

The prophetic use of the term mm as a divine oracle resembles the cognate Akkadian term tertu(m).13 Alongside its administrative usage, this Akkadian term

is strongly connected to divinatory practices, mainly by extispicy, in which the deci sion of the god revealed in the form of the inspected liver is perceived as an

"instruction" to the human realm. Tertu(m) carries the meaning "decree, commis sion issued by gods," but also more specifically "extispicy" and even "exta, liver."14 The use of tertu(m) as the instruction of an oracle is especially pronounced in the

inscriptions of the Babylonian king Nabonidus, whose particular importance for the present topic will be discussed below.15

A wider meaning is attached to mm in Deuteronomy and its related litera

ture.16 Here the term often refers to the novel concept of an all-embracing collec

10 Michael Fishbane, "Biblical Colophons, Textual Criticism, and Legal Analogies," CBQ 42

(1980): 438-49; Garcia Lopez, "

1 ," 605-6; Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16: A New Translation

with Introduction and Commentary (AB 3; New York: Doubleday, 1991), 382-83. 11 Menahem Haran, The Biblical Collection: Its Consolidation to the End of the Second Tem

ple Times and Changes of Form to the End of the Middle Ages (in Hebrew; Jerusalem: Bialik, 2003), 2:35.

12 Fishbane, "Torah," 473; cf. Hans Wildberger, Isaiah 1-12: A Commentary (trans.

Thomas H. Trapp; Continental Commentaries; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991), 91. 13 Garcia Lopez,

" 1 ," 600, and bibliography given there.

14 CAD T, 363-67; cf. AHw, s.v. tertu(m), 1350B: "Weisung(en) von G?ttern, Opferschau,

Omina," and in Mari " Wortorakel."

15 See the glossary in Hanspeter Schaudig, Die Inschriften Nabonids von Babylon und Kyros' des Grossen, samt den in ihrem Umfeld entstandenen Tendenzschriften: Textausgabe und Gram

matik (AOAT 256; M?nster: Ugarit, 2001), 686. 16 Several mentions of in Deuteronomy still retain the simpler meaning "oracle" (17:11;

33:4). On the priestly oracular judgment in Deut 17:8-13, see Bernard M. Levinson, Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 127-30. It is




tion of laws. In Deuteronomy, the mm moves from being merely a marginal ele ment in Israelite religion to being its core.17 mm designates the entire book of

Deuteronomy and subunits in it, as is clear from the book's incipit (1:5)?"Moses undertook to expound this mm"; it is also "the mm that Moses set before the Israelites" (4:44; cf. 4:8; 17:18; 27:3; etc.). Menahem Haran has noted that Deuteron

omy?or, more specifically, source D, which constitutes the core of the present Deuteronomy?views itself as the initial embodiment of a canonical composition in Israel.18 For the first time, the word of God, through the speech of his servant,

Moses, is incorporated within one comprehensive document, whose observance is a necessary and sufficient condition for attaining the required degree of piety.

In place of the plural form, known from other sources (e.g., Lev 26:46; Ezek

43:11; 44:24), Deuteronomy uses the singular form mm, often with the definite article, turning mm into a specific document. The final chapters of Deuteronomy contain several mentions of "the book of mm" (Deut 28:61; 29:20; 30:10; 31:26; and passim), thus adding further emphasis to the works written aspect.19 In these

chapters, the mm is referred to as "this mm" (28:58; 31:11-12; and passim)?as if from the outside?as a complete and self-contained document.20

Deuteronomy gives special attention to writing as a medium for the word of God.21 Thus, in 31:9,24, Moses writes a mm scroll and assigns it to the priests for

preservation; "All the words of this mm" should be copied on twelve stones, serv

ing as memorial stelae for Yhwh's covenant (27:2-3, 8), while the king is ordered to inscribe a personal copy of the mm (17:18).22 In Deut 6:9 and 11:20 the people are required to write "the words," on the door posts and gates of their dwellings.

revealing to note that the oracular judgment of the priests in Deut 17:8-11 is transformed in the

Temple Scroll (11QT1 LVI.2-8) into a textual one: "According to the word they will tell you from the Book of the torah?

17 See Yehezkel Kaufmann, The Religion of Israel: From Its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile

(trans, and abridged Moshe Greenberg; Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1960), 174-75; Barnabas Lindars, "Torah in Deuteronomy," in Words and Meanings: Essays Presented to David Winton Thomas on His Retirement from the Regius Professorship of Hebrew in the University of Cambridge, 1968 (ed. Peter R. Ackroyd and Barnabas Lindars; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), 117-36, esp. 131.

18Haran, Biblical Collection, 2:170-84. A more intricate view of the relationship between

Deuteronomy and the Book of Torah is presented in Jean-Pierre Sonnet, The Book within the Book: Writing in Deuteronomy (BIS 14; Leiden: Brill, 1997), esp. 259-62.

19 The Hebrew "13 D can designate any written document: a letter, a scroll, a legal note, and so on (see BDB). I use the translations "book" and "scroll" indiscriminately. On the question

whether "l?)D can also denote an ostracon, see Nadav Naaman, "The Distribution of Messages in the Kingdom of Judah in Light of the Lachish Ostraca," VT 53 (2003): 178 n. 17.

20Haran, Biblical Collection, 2:71; Sonnet, Book within the Book, 103-12. 21 Haran, Biblical Collection, 2:174-84; cf. Ehud Ben Zvi, "Introduction: Writings, Speeches,

and the Prophetic Books?Setting an Agenda," in Writings and Speech, ed. Ben Zvi and Floyd, 7-8. 22 The meaning of mwn in Deut 17:18 is "a second (copy of the) min"; (on the

implications of the copying of 1 , see Sonnet, Book within a Book, 72-78). A similar concept




In summary, in Deuteronomy mm combines elements from all the various

meanings adduced above. It is a divinely inspired composition, which corresponds to the use of the term in prophetic circles. It is also the testament of a great master,

Moses, in which he instructs his disciples in proper conduct.23 The reader of

Deuteronomy, like the reader of Proverbs (1:9; 3:3, 22; 4:9; 6:21-22; 7:3), is urged to meditate on the words of the mm while awake and when retiring, in his house and outside it, to write the mm on his door posts, and to tie it as a jewel on his arms

and forehead (Deut 6:6-9; 11:18-20). At the same time, like the priestly (t?r?t), min in Deuteronomy also constitutes a collection of commandments.

While the priestly 1 1 were short statutes known to priests only, the Deutero nomic mm was a comprehensive law code, with which every individual under the covenant should become familiar. It was Deuteronomy that first created the equa tion: mm = word of God = law.24

The Deuteronomic mm was dominant throughout the redaction of the his torical books, Deuteronomistic (Dtr) authors employing mm as one of their pri

mary guidelines.25 In this respect, Josiahs reign brings Dtr history to its climax

when, for the first time, mm is publicly declared to be the ultimate source of

authority. 2 Kings 23:1-3 narrates how Josiah read the "words of the "12 D of the covenant" to the people in public and required their commitment to them. What causes one to wonder, however, is the extent to which the centrality of the Book of

mm in 2 Kings 22-23 itself constitutes the product of a Dtr writer. In other words, the question we should be asking ourselves is whether the place of mmn 20 in 2 Kings 22-23 reflects the view of a pre-Dtr author regarding the original course

of events or that of later writers. My suggestion here is that the crucial act of the book-find may have carried nuances in its original setting different from those attributed to it by Dtr authors, who wrote approximately a century post factum. A

can be seen in the royal court of Assyria, where King Assurbanipal kept a luxurious copy of the

omen series Enurna Anu Enlil for his own perusal, the monarchy being the institution most in

need of divine instruction. See Simo Parpola, Letters from Assyrian Scholars to the Kings Essarhad

don and Assurbanipal (AO AT 5.1-2; Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirch

ener Verlag, 1983; repr., Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2007), no. 319 (= SAA 8,19). Similarly, Nabonidus ordered tablets of the same omen series to be sent to him in Arabia, where he spent a

great part of his reign. For this episode, see Peter Machinist and Hayim Tadmor, "Heavenly Wis

dom," in The Tablet and the Scroll: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William W. Hallo (ed. Mark E.

Cohen et al; Bethesda, MD: CDL, 1993), 146-51. 23 For the indebtedness of Deuteronomy to wisdom traditions, see classically Moshe Wein

feld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School (Oxford: Clarendon, 1972), 244-81. 24 This equation became dominant in subsequent phases of Judaism, until the of Moses

was finally identified as nomos, "law." See the classic treatment in Charles H. Dodd, The Bible and

the Greeks (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1935), 25-42; Garcia Lopez, "min," 634-35. 25 See the roster of Deuteronomistic terms relating to min in Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and

the Deuteronomic School, 334-39; G. J. Venema, Reading Scripture in the Old Testament: Deuteron

omy 9-10, 31, 2 Kings 22-23, Jeremiah 36, Nehemiah 8 (OTS 48; Leiden: Brill, 2004), 50-52.




similar process of development of min from oracle to law as outlined above may also have taken place with regard to the understanding of Josiah's book-find.

II. The Composition of 2 Kings 22-23 and the Roles of the Book

The historical-literary analysis of 2 Kings 22-23 has been the subject of numerous studies in the past sixty years and is too complex to be summarized here.26 As with respect to other episodes in the book of Kings, it is commonly assumed that the Josiah narrative contains a certain amount of material written by a pre-Dtr source close to the time of Josiah, subsequently interwoven by one or more Dtr redactors into a later composition. Opinions regarding this process vary from the view that the entire story is non-Dtr, with the sole exception of a redac tional framework in 22:2 and 23:24-27 together with several glosses, to the asser tion that the entire story is Dtr apart from the short notice in 23:8a.27

The structure of the narrative in its present state can be outlined as follows:

22:1 -2 Chronographie formula and evaluation of Josiah's reign. 22:3-10 Temple renovation. The book is found and read to the king. 22:11-20 The king's response. An oracular inquiry to Huldah and her

reply. 23:1-3 The king reads the book to the people. Covenant. 23:4-20 Reform report in Judah, Bethel, and Samaria. 23:21-23 Passover celebrations in Jerusalem.

26 For valuable surveys, see Gary N. Knoppers, Two Nations under God: The Deuterono mistic History of Solomon and the Dual Monarchies, part 2, The Reign of Jeroboam, the Fall of Israel, and the Reign ofjosiah (HSM 53; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994); Christoph Hardmeier, "King Josiah in the Climax of the Deuteronomic History (2 Kings 22-23) and the pre-Deuteronomic

Document of a Cult Reform at the Place of Residence (23.4-15): Criticism of Sources, Recon struction of Literary Pre-stages and the Theology of History in 2 Kings 22-23," in Good Kings and Bad Kings (ed. Lester L. Grabbe; Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 393; London/ New York: Continuum, 2005), 123-63.

27 For the former opinion, see Haran, Biblical Collection, 2:24-25; somewhat similarly?

although with regard to the reform report only?already Gustav H?lscher, "Das Buch der K?nige, seine Quellen und seine Redaktion," in E A : Studien zur Religion und Literatur des

Alten und Neuen Testaments; Hermann Gunkelzum 60. Geburtstage, dem 23. mai 1922 (ed. Hans

Schmidt; G?ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1923), 158-213, esp. 206-10: "Wenn hier nicht eine geradezu authentische Geschichts?berlieferung vorliegt, so g?be es ?berhaupt keine";

Rudolph Kittel, Die B?cher der K?nige (HAT; G?ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1900), 297. For a contrasting opinion, see primarily Christoph Levin, "Joschija im deuteronomistischen

Geschichtswerk," ZAW 96 (1984): 351-71. For the basic authenticity of the reform narrative, see

Christoph Uehlinger, "Was There a Cult Reform under King Josiah? The Case for a Well Grounded Minimum," in Good Kings and Bad Kings, ed. Grabbe, 279-316.




23:24-27 Concluding evaluation concerning Josiahs rule. 23:28-30 Chronographie formula and additional information

Strictly speaking, Dtr phraseology is restricted to the following passages: the open ing (22:2); Huldah's prophecy (22:16-20);28 the covenant renewal and Passover cel ebration (23:1-3, 21-23);29 glosses and expansions in the reform report in Judah (23:4-14);30 the reform in Bethel and Samaria (23:15-20);31 and the evaluation and

concluding formula (23:24-27). Thus, although the general framework of 22:2 23:30 betrays an editorial hand, an earlier, pre-Dtr kernel is by no means precluded.

I do not intend to argue here for a maximalistic historical-literary analysis of 2 Kings 22-23. For the present purposes, it is sufficient to argue (with Gary Knoppers) that at least a minimal part of the Josiah narrative originated in a con

temporary pre-Dtr source.32 This source comprised at least parts of the book-find and the prophetic consultation (22:3-14), as well as of the reform report (23:4-14).

With respect to the latter, the authenticity of parts of the reform report in 23:4-14 is now commonly acknowledged.33 With regard to the former, however,

skeptical views still prevail in recent scholarship concerning the existence of a pre Dtr book-find story.34 The evidence marshaled by proponents of this persuasion, however, is usually based on the setting rather than on phraseology, while in fact the book-find report demonstrates clear marks of authenticity. Most significant in this respect is the mention of Huldah?hardly a Dtr celebrity?in this passage,

together with her identification as "the wife of Shalum son of Harhas, the keeper of clothes." As James A. Montgomery rightly claims, the mention of Huldah con stitutes a clear marker of authenticity.35 The otherwise unknown details in the pres entation of Huldah's husband Shalum represent additional evidence for the existence of a noneditorial hand. It is the presence of sundry personal names and titles that gives the entire episode in chs. 22-23 its mark of antiquity. Compare, for

example, the equally unknown titles in the reform report (23:8,11).

28 Knoppers, Two Nations under God, 2:131-33.

29 Hardmeier, "King Josiah in the Climax of the Deuteronomic History," 143-44; Knoppers,

Two Nations under God, 2:157, 216-17. 30 Hardmeier, "King Josiah in the Climax of the Deuteronomic History," 159-60.

31 See Mordechai Cogan, "A Slip of the Pen? On Josiah's Actions in Samaria (II Kgs 23:15

20)," in Sefer Moshe: The Moshe Weinfeld Jubilee Volume; Studies in Bible and the Ancient Near East, Qumran, and Post-Biblical Judaism (ed. Chaim Cohen et al.; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns,

2004), 3-8. 32

Knoppers, Two Nations under God, 2:121-25. 33

Ibid., 2:176-81; Uehlinger, "Was There a Cult Reform under King Josiah?"; Hardmeier,

"King Josiah in the Climax of the Deuteronomic History," 153-60. 34

Knoppers, Two Nations under God, 2:130; Hardmeier, "King Josiah in the Climax of the

Deuteronomic History," 141-44. 35

James A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Booh of Kings (ICC;

Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1951), 545. In contrast, Hardmeiers suggestion ("King Josiah in the Cli

max of the Deutronomic History," 138 n. 49) that "the Dtr construction of history lifts the other

wise completely unknown Huldah into the office of a prophet" is unconvincing.




The clear impression created is that an editorial hand refashioned an older

narrative in order to align it with the Dtr agenda. A central element of the edito

rial activity lies in the identity of the book discovered: It is primarily in Dtr passages that the reader is encouraged to identify the book with Deuteronomy. The various

designations employed for the book throughout the narrative comport with the

distinctions suggested above. Only in the two most clearly discerned Dtr passages? 23:1-3, 21-23?is the phrase man "ISO ("book of the covenant") employed,

reflecting the self-identification of Deuteronomy as a covenantal object (Deut 28:69;

29:8; and passim). In contrast, the reform report does not mention the book at all.

As a rule, the book-find story refers neutrally to the book as "a/the book" (22:10, 13, 16). The twice-invoked designation 1 "l?30 (22:8, 11) may consequently be

perceived, according to the discussion below, as a non-Dtr designation for an object

conveying heavenly instruction in the form of an oracle.

While it may be doubted whether the book was truly found or whether the

entire scene was staged by Hilkiah and his party?just as speculations concerning the exact contents of the book, whether parts of Deuteronomy or otherwise, may also be indulged?the fact of the matter is that, in the eyes of the Israelites, a book was found and was considered to serve as a catalyst for the cult reform. The con

siderable portion of pre-Dtr prose contained in 2 Kings 22-23 could not have sus

tained the authority of the book in Dtr terms. Sufficient explanation must rather be adduced from non-Dtr conceptions to account for the authority attributed to the

discovered book. In other words, how did the non-Dtr author, unacquainted with Deuteronomic ideas concerning books and writing, understand the authority of the book?

One must note, first of all, that the book was not initially understood as the

Book, a text that would engender a drastic transformation of Israelite religion. The initial declaration of Hilkiah the priest?"I have found the book of 1 in the house of God" (22:8)?did not contain the elaborate meanings and nuances of the term 1 as found in Dtr literature. 2 Kings 22-23 therefore encompasses two dif ferent conceptions of the discovered book?as well as two different meanings of

1 . The pre-Dtr comprehension understood the book-find as conveying the word of God to the king through a miraculous document. This understanding related to the book as simply "the book," or "the book of mm," the latter referring to the

objects oracular aspect. A different view, stemming from the Dtr circles which

shaped the present narrative, perceived the book as an ancient Mosaic composi tion, long forgotten but now rediscovered. This layer of the text refers to the book as "The Book of Covenant" (23:2,21), emphasizing its link to Deuteronomy.36 The

following discussion will clarify these two conceptions.

361 might suggest clarifying this distinction using contemporary Akkadian terms. While

the first notion of the book was something akin to an uHltu?a note or report written in horizontal

format not meant for long-term archival preservation?the later narrative viewed it as tuppu, a text

written in vertical format intended to be a permanent record. On this distinction, see Martti




III. Books and Book-finds as Oracular Media

Since a large part of a reformer kings acts conflicted with well-rooted reli

gious practices, such a monarch was compelled to obtain divine confirmation for the acts he chose to perform. Each of the current practices was supported by an

institution?priestly, political, or sometimes both. In his lecture, Naaman noted that reforming kings made use of a variety of oracular techniques in order to achieve the desired divine message.37 Good examples are the Neo-Assyrian kings Sennacherib, Essarhaddon, and Assurbanipal, all of whom presented numerous

queries to the gods in order to confirm their cultic and religious innovations. Most of these queries were answered by extispicy, and quite a few of them have been dis covered in Assyrian archives.38

Several reformer kings spoke of the discovery of ancient books as evidence of oracular support for their cultic acts. This fact is especially clear in examples from ancient Egypt.39 A chapter from "The Book of the Dead" declares the text to have been found during a temple renovation in Egyptian antiquity. Similarly, a report from the Ptolemaic period concerning the renovation of the Dendra temple notes that an ancient document discovered there revealed the program for this temple, including its physical layout and a detailed account of its rites.

A similar phenomenon appears in the reign of the Babylonian king Naboni dus, whose enormous building and renovation activity commenced early in his

reign.40 Nabonidus was especially keen to legitimize his temple renovations by dig ging up ancient deposits, laid at the foundations of those temples by the ancient

Nissinen, "Spoken, Written, Quoted, and Invented: Orality and Writtenness in Ancient Near East ern Prophecy," in Writings and Speech, ed. Ben Zvi and Floyd, 247-48.

37 On the use of divination as a political instrument in Mesopotamian royal courts, see Beate

Pongratz-Leisten, Herrschaftswissen in Mesopotamien: Formen der Kommunikation zwischen Gott und K?nig in 2. und 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. (SAAS 10; Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 1999).

38 Ivan Starr, Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria (SAA 4; Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 1990), nos. 262-65, 315. Parpola reinterprets sections of the

prescriptive text BM 121206 (G. van Driel, The Cult ofAssur [SSN 13; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1969],

74-119) as reflecting additional queries to the sun god; see Simo Parpola, "The Originality of the

Teachings of Zarathustra in the Light of Yasna 44," in Sefer Moshe, ed. Cohen et al., 376 and n. 13. 39 Naville, "Egyptian Writings," 232-42; Euringer, "Die ?gyptischen und keilinschriftlichen

Analogien," 13-23. Book-finds from the Greco-Roman world, some of which belong explicitly in

the realm of prophecy and oracles, have been noted and discussed by Speyer, B?cherfunde. Since

the present study does not intend to trace the entire history of this motif, however, I have not ana

lyzed them here. 40 On Nabonidus, see Paul-Alain Beaulieu, The Reign ofNabonidus King of Babylon 556-539

b.c. (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1989). The inscriptions ofNabonidus have been

collected by Schaudig, Die Inschriften Nabonids.




kings who had built them. He thus declares with regard to the temple of Samas in

Sippar:

I made excavations all around the cella and the central area of the platform, and

I gathered city elders, citizens of Babylon, many wise scribes who dwell in the

temple academy.... I sent them to deliberate, thus ordering them: "Look for the

old foundations..." With ardent prayers to Samas my lord and supplications to

the great gods, the assembly of scholars found the old foundations and made excavations in the cella and the platform.41

Nabonidus was noted among Babylonian kings as especially learned in writ

ing, wisdom, and divination, possessing a special regard for the god's word in the form of oracles, omens, and various other signs.42 Nabonidus's finds consist mainly of artifacts of former kings, however, whereas we are seeking parallels to the Josiah narrative, in which the object found is a text, the actual word of a god.

Closer parallels to the biblical text can be adduced from the Hittite culture. The Hittite king Mursiii II (late fourteenth century b.c.e.), troubled by a plague that struck Hatti during his reign, repeatedly inquired of the gods after the cause of this

plague through various media. In his "second plague prayer," Mursili recounts the outcome of one such inquiry:

[The matter of the plague] continued to trouble [me, and I inquired about it] to the god [through an oracle]. [I found] two old tablets: one tablet dealt with [the ritual of the Mala river]. Earlier kings performed the ritual of the Mala river, but

because [people have been dying] in Hatti since the days of my father, we never

performed [the ritual] of the Mala river. The second tablet dealt with the town of Kurustamma: how the storm god of

Hatti carried the men of Kurustamma to Egyptian territory and how the storm

god of Hatti made a treaty between them and the men of Hatti. . . the men of

Hatti thereby suddenly transgressed the oath of the gods ...

When I found the aforementioned tablet dealing with Egypt, I inquired about it to the god through an oracle_And it was confirmed by the oracle. Because

41 From the "Ebabbar cylinder" (Schaudig, Die Inschriften Nabonids, 386; trans. Beaulieu,

Reign ofNabonidus, 7). Similarly also: "The foundation of Eulmas of Akkad, from the time of Sar

gon, king of Babylon, and of his son Naram-Sin, former kings, had not been seen up until the

reign ofNabonidus, king of Babylon" (Schaudig, 454). Nabonidus continued the habit of his pred ecessors; see Paul-Alain Beaulieu, "Nabopolassar and the Antiquity of Babylon," in Hayim and

Miriam Tadmor Volume (ed. Israel Eph'al et al; Erlsr 27; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2003), l*-9*.

42 See Machinist and Tadmor, "Heavenly Wisdom"; Hanspeter Schaudig, "Nabonidus, der

'Gelehrte auf dem K?nigsthron': Omina, Synkretismen und die Ausdeutung von Tempel- und

G?tternamen als Mittel zur Wahrheitsfindung sp?tbabylonischer Religionspolitik," in Ex

Mesopotamia et Syria Lux: Festschrift f?r Manfred Dietrich zu seinem 65. Geburtstag (ed. Oswald Loretz et al.; AOAT 281; M?nster: Ugarit, 2002), 619-45.




of the plague I also asked the oracle about the ritual of the [Mala] river. And then too it was confirmed that I should appear before the Storm-god of Hatti, my lord. I have [just] confessed [the sin before the storm-god of Hatti]. It is so. We have done [it. But the sin did not] take place in my time. [It took place] in the time of

my father.. ,43

Having realized the cause behind the plague, the king immediately confessed the sin44 and acted to correct it.

It is clear from Mursili's prayer that the finding of the two tablets was consid ered part of the divinatory process.45 The tablets were discovered after an initial

inquiry was presented to the god, and they were then double-checked with the ora

cle to make sure their message concurred with the official divine line of thought. Although examples of the double-checking of oracles abound in ancient Near East ern cultures,46 Mursili's story, which involves a book-find, strongly evokes the story of Josiah.

In light of the above, it is a natural step to understand the book-find in Josiah's

reign as part of a routine oracular process. A monarch's need for an oracle was felt both in times of distress and in times of serenity; temple renovation represented the cause for an oracle inquiry just as did a disastrous plague. In fact, Josiah's book-find

may well have been preceded by an oracle request on the king's part. Various oracular practices existed in Jerusalem around the royal court in the

eighth and seventh centuries b.c.e., as attested, for example, in Isa 8:19-20. The

43 CTH 378.III (Emmanuel Laroche, Catalogue des textes hittites [Etudes et commentaires 75;

Paris: Klincksieck, 1971]), according to Itamar Singer, Hittite Prayers (SBLWAW 11; Atlanta: Soci

ety of Biblical Literature, 2002), 58-59. See earlier ANET> 394-96. On the political background of

the covenantal violation, see Hans G. G?terbock, "Mursili's Accounts of Supiluliuma's Dealings with Egypt," RHA 18 (1960): 57-63. In Mursili's "first" plague prayer, the oracle states somewhat

differently that the plague is due to a violation of a covenant made by Mursili's father with regard to the former king, Tudhaliya (Singer, 61). Here the oracle does not include a book-find.

44 Note that Mursili lays the blame on his father, just as Josiah does in 2 Kgs 22:13: "because

our fathers did not obey the words of this scroll." 45 Cf. the statement of King Muwatali, himself a reformer: "Whatever I... now find from

written records, this I shall carry out_And whenever I shall examine a venerable old man, as

they remember a (certain) rite and tell it, I shall also carry it out_I shall follow the (covenan

tal) bond of the gods that I am rediscovering, and it shall be henceforth carried on" (KB xi 1, apud Moshe Weinfeld, "Deuteronomy, Book of," ABD 2:175).

46 For this practice, see ARM XXVI 81; Parpola, Letters from Assyrian Scholars, 486; Starr,

Queries to the Sungod, XXXII. Handy has pointed out several examples of the double-checking of

oracles pertaining to cult reforms, especially by Essarhaddon and Nabonidus: see Lowell K. Handy, "The Role of Huldah in Josiah's Cult Reform," ZAW 106 (1994): 40-53. He concludes that both

the 13D and Huldah's prophecy are Dtr fictions, invented in order to replace the practices of

observing omina and consulting foreign gods for oracles. This, however, is too far-reaching a ver

dict, since books were used as omens already by Hittite kings, hardly devout monotheists them

selves. While the present form of Huldah's prophecy has evidently been heavily glossed by the

Deuteronomists, they surely did not invent the inquiry to Huldah.




Judean king and his court were keen "consumers" of prophecies and oracles.

Although from the eighth century onwards Israelite prophets were accustomed to

delivering their admonitions to the entire population rather than confining their audience to the court, traditional court prophecy still maintained its status in later

periods. Cultic prophecy was oriented toward the king. The prophetess Huldah, wife of a minor official in the temple's personnel (2 Kgs 22:14), probably belonged to the cultic prophetic institution, hence she was the one asked to confirm the con tents of the book rather than the prophets Jeremiah or Zephaniah, who were already active by then.47 Classical prophecy had been at war with institutional prophecy/ divination almost since its inception, as can be seen from historical and propheti cal literature alike (1 Kings 22; Deut 18:9-15; Isa 8:1-22)

48 During the period of

Josiah's successors, Jeremiah had to confront several such prophets and justify the hostile tone of his own prophecies (Jer 23:9-40; 27:14-18; 28:1-16). At the same time he was also summoned to present the word of God to the king (Jer 37:17-27).

By the end of the seventh century b.c.e., prophetic books were considered a standard medium for the word of God in Judah

49 Somewhat later, in the Lachish

letters, the report of a Judean army officer mentions a 5 that was sent to the front

by a prophet or official:

Who is your servant (but) a dog that my lord should have sent (him) the king's letter [spr] and those of the officials asking me to read them? The [official's/ prophet s] statements are not good?(they are of a kind) to slacken your courage and to weaken that of the men .. .50

The Hebrew Bible contains several examples of scrolls inscribed with pro phetic sayings. Isaiah in the eighth century is commanded to write down his ora

cles, whether as a means of preservation or as part of the efficacy of the prophetic act (8:1-4,16-20; 30:8-11; cf. 34:16).51 More than a century later, Habakkuk reports

47 John Gray, I & II Kings: A Commentary (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1970), 726.

48 The classification of various mantic practitioners?prophet, false prophet, cult prophet, court prophet, diviner, priest, and so on?has been the subject of continuous scholarly debate. The

classifications used in the biblical text seem to have little value with regard to the contemporary

phenomenology of prophecy; see Grabbe, Priests, Prophets, Diviners, Sages. 49See, e.g., Schaper, "Exilic and Post-exilic Prophecy." Schaper's reasoning, although more

nuanced, similarly concludes that the institutions of prophecy and scribalism became closer from

late preexilic times onwards. 50 Lachish 6 (trans. Dennis Pardee, COS 3:80-81). On the reading nh3 ("prophet") in Lachish

letters 3 and 6, see ibid. n. 21; this reading is supported also by Simon B. Parker, "The Lachish Let ters and Official Reactions to Prophecies," in Uncovering Ancient Stones: Essays in Memory of

H. Neil Richardson (ed. Lewis M. Hopfe; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1994), 65-78. For a

slightly different reading, see Naaman, "Distribution of Messages," 176-78. 51 On the significance of committing prophetic sayings to writing, see the works cited in

nn. 1 and 2 above, where specific discussions are dedicated to the prophetical passages mentioned here.



236 Journal of Biblical Literature 127no. 2 (2008)

how Yahweh commanded him to preserve his predictions in writing so that they would stand as witnesses for future times (Hab 2:2-3; cf. Isa 30:8).52 Similarly, Jere miah is ordered in 36:2: "Get a scroll53 and write upon it all the words that I have

spoken to you" (cf. 25:13; 30:2). Ezekiel (2:9-3:2) is ordered to consume a written scroll so that he can transmit its contents to the people of Israel.54 Once inscribed, the prophetic scroll becomes a divine object rather than a merely technical means for collecting the words of God. In Najman's words, "some later exilic and post exilic passages portray writing as the medium of revelation itself."55

Though none of the prophetic scrolls noted above is designated as 30, as is Josiah's book, they adduce sufficient prophetic background for the way books have been conceived. In fact, the story written on Jeremiah's scroll in Jeremiah 36 demonstrates a strong link with Josiah's story in 2 Kings 22. The two accounts

depict opposing scenarios of a kings response to a sacred book of oracles. When

Josiah hears the words of the book, he tears his clothes and repents; his son

Jehoiakim fails to repent, burns the scroll, and persecutes the prophet (Jer 36:24).56 In summary, the presence of pre-Dtr prose in 2 Kings 22-23 permits us to

conclude that the primary function of Josiah's book was the transmission of a

divine oracle. This is supported by reports on prophecies both within and without the Hebrew Bible.

IV. Josiah's Book as Lawbook and as Object of Study

While the designation in 2 Kings 22 belongs to non-Dtr narrative, the Dtr view of this book is best expressed by the designation 1 20, "the

52 Reading IVIftb IV, "the vision is a witness to the appointed time," instead of MT I'M;

cf. Isa 30:8; Dan 8:17,26; 11:35. For the possible background of this practice in Neo-Assyrian cul

ture, see Schaper, "Exilic and Post-exilic Prophecy," 330-31. 53 Hebrew 1?JD VibX? is a pleonastic construction combining two words that refer both to

the writing material and to the written text. See Avi Hurvitz, "The Origins and Development of

the Expression 20 nbxfr. A Study in the History of Writing-Related Terminology in Biblical

Times," in Texts, Temples and Traditions: A Tribute to Menahem Haran (ed. Michael V. Fox et al;

Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1996), *37-*46. In Jeremiah 36, the scroll is sometimes also labeled

just nbXD (w. 6,14,21,23, 25) or IflD (w. 10, 11, 13,18). In v. 32 both designations appear, with

a possible difference in nuance. 54 See Moshe Greenberg, Ezekiel 1-20: A New Translation with Introduction and Commen

tary (AB 22; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983), 66-68, 73; Schaper, "Death of the Prophet."

55Najman, "Symbolic Significance of Writing," 169. 56 On the relation between 2 Kings 22-23 and Jeremiah 36, see Charles D. Isbell, "2 Kings

22:3-23:24 and Jeremiah 36: A Stylistic Comparison," JSOT 8 (1978): 33-45; Caetano Minette de

Tillesse, "Joiaqim, repoussoir du 'Pieux' Josias: Parallelismes entre II Reg 22 et Jer 36," AW 105

(1993): 352-76; Andre Kabasele Mukenge, "Les derniers rois de Juda et la lecture du 'Livre': Josias

(2 R 22-23), Joiaqim (Jr 36) et Jekonias (Ba 1, 1-14)," RTL 30 (1999): 11-31; R?mer, "Transfor

mations," 9; Najman, "Symbolic Significance of Writing," 163-64.




book/scroll of the covenant," which appears in two key redactional passages: 23:1 3 and 21-23. This concept resembles the self-definition of Deuteronomy, which conceives of itself as a written covenant (Deut 29:19, 26). 2 Kings 23:1-3 recounts the covenant reenactment. This passage contains unmistakably Dtr elements, iden tifiable not only by typical phraseology but also by its reconstruction of an earlier

setting known from Deuteronomy. Knoppers has gone so far as to claim that "the account of Josiah's covenant (2 Kgs 23:1-3) is the deuteronomist's own composi tion."57 Most notably, the heart of v. 3?"that they would follow the Lord and observe his commandments, his injunctions, and his laws with all their heart and soul"?reflects a transformation of the book's identity. It no longer contains a

reproof or a prophecy of future doom, as assumed in previous passages, but rather a collection of laws. The people are admonished to obey those ordinances, as is usual with regard to the 1 in Deuteronomy and Dtr passages (cf. Deut 30:10; Josh 23:6; 1 Kgs 2:3). In fact, the Deuteronomists emphasized the new identity they attributed to Josiah's book as a manifestation of their conception of Deuteronomy itself. They consequently orchestrated the implementation of a public assembly along the lines of Deuteronomy 29-30 and Josh 23:2; 24:1b, insinuating that Josiah reenacted the type of public reading stipulated in Deut 31:11-13.

Further Dtr activity is seen in the description of the Passover festival in 2 Kgs 23:21-23. Although once again we meet here the 20 of the covenant, this time it is mentioned for the sake of one specific rule contained in it,58 the rule of the Passover sacrifice in Deut 16:1-8. This fact serves as a further demonstration of the nature of the discovered book: it dictated not only the vague "commandments" of 23:3 but also specific religious statutes.59

The two key passages just noted offer two different manifestations of piety ritual and textual. Along with the cultic feast of the Passover, Josiah also commis sioned a public assembly in which he read the text of the JTTin, a verbal-textual act. This was naturally performed as part of a larger covenant ceremony in the temple court, and as such it was an act rooted in a cultic background.60 What we note,

57 Knoppers, Two Nations under God, 2:157. For a more moderate view, see Montgomery,

Books of Kings, 528. 58 The majority of scholars see the entire passage as Dtr; see Knoppers, Two Nations under

God, 2:216-17 with detailed references. Haran (Biblical Collection, 2:25) claims that the passage contains a pre-Dtr kernel.

59 It may therefore be suggested that the chronology of Josiah's reign in Chronicles is more

original than that of 2 Kings 22-23, which gives the impression that the entire Josianic reform was

initiated by the book-find in Josiah's eighteenth year. On the version in Chronicles, see Lyle

Eslinger, "Josiah and the Torah Book: Comparison of 2 Kgs 22:1-23:28 and 2 Chr 34:1-35:19," HAR 10 (1986): 37-62; but cf. Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, II Kings: A New Translation

with Introduction and Commentary (AB 11; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1988), 296. 60 Menahem Haran, "The Berit 'Covenant': Its Nature and Ceremonial Background," in

Tehillah le-Moshe: Biblical and Judaic Studies in Honor of Moshe Greenberg (ed. Mordechai Cogan et al; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 203-19.




however, is that, following the Dtr instruction, Josiah enacts a religious rite that involves neither sacrifices nor temple liturgy. The religion of the Book, prevalent in

Judaism of the Second Temple period and afterwards, thus has its origins in the acts of Josiah, carried out several decades before the temple's destruction.61 What made this activity possible was the amalgam of cultic, sapiential, and prophetic cur rents achieved in the Book of Deuteronomy.

Josiah did not conceive of the book as a substitute for the temple. This idea

appears neither in the original pre-Dtr narrative nor in the Dtr framework. He did, however, elevate the book to the level of a significant religious object and thus laid the foundations for the religion of the Book. Although this kind of religion emerged from the background of ancient Near Eastern cults,62 it gradually developed into the

unique kind of literate spirituality that is typical of later Judaism.63

V. Conclusion: The Book-Find of Josiah in History and Tradition

I have suggested here that a preliminary story that assigned an important role to the book discovered in the temple in Josiah's reign was augmented in Dtr circles in order to reflect the special (but different) role played by books in the latter kind of religious ideology. In the older story, the book-find was interpreted as tradi

tionally understood in ancient Near Eastern royal courts?that is, as a divine oracle

61 Similar ideas concerning Josiah's acts were expressed in R?mer, "Transformations"; idem,

"Du Temple au Livre: L'ideologie de la centralization dans l'historiographie deuteronomiste," in

Rethinking the Foundations: Historiography in the Ancient World and in the Bible. Essays in Hon

our of John Van Seters (ed. Steven L. McKenzie and Thomas R?mer; BZAW 294; Berlin: de

Gruyter, 2000), 207-25, esp. 222-24. There is no reason to believe with R?mer that the narrative

of the book-find is a piece of literary fiction, however. It may well be that even prior to the destruc

tion of the temple, Deuteronomy-type circles transformed Israelite religion in the direction of a

less cultic and more "humanistic" worldview. See Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic

School 191-243; idem, "Jeremiah and the Spiritual Metamorphosis of Israel," ZAW 88 (1976):

17-56; recently also Na'aman, Past That Shapes the Present, 44-47, with up-to-date bibliography. 62 Karel van der Toorn, "The Iconic Book: Analogies between the Babylonian Cult of Images

and the Veneration of the Torah," in The Image and the Book: Iconic Cults, Aniconism, and the Rise

of Book Religion in Israel and the Ancient Near East (ed. Karel van der Toorn; Leuven: Peeters,

1997), 229-48. 63 Michael Fishbane, The Garments of Torah: Essays in Biblical Hermeneutics (Bloomington:

Indiana University Press, 1989); idem, "Law to Canon: Some 'Ideal-Typical' Stages of Develop

ment," in Minhah le-Nahum: Biblical and Other Studies Presented to Nahum M. Sarna (JSOTSup

154; ed. Marc Brettler and Michael Fishbane; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), 65-86;

Robert Goldenberg, "Law and Spirit in Talmudic Religion," in Jewish Spirituality, vol. 1, From the

Bible through the Middle Ages (ed. Arthur Green; World Spirituality 13; New York: Crossroad,

1987), 232-52.




sent to legitimize the king's actions. In contrast, the redactional framework of this

story construed this book as a comprehensive law book.

Books, scrolls, and tablets?any kind of writing material, in effect?are a tab ula rasa, subject to various manipulations in the realm of religion. Josiah's book find occurred in a significant period, one that is justifiably considered a turning point in Israelite religion. The traditional Jerusalemite religion was based on a

divinely ordained monarch who enjoyed the support of a band of prophets and

diviners?very similar to other royal ideologies in the ancient world. In Josiah's time, and under the influence of Deuteronomy, this gradually gave place to a more

restrained, somewhat elitist religion, in which the book played an important part. A new conception of the book was fashioned by Deuteronomic circles to fit this kind of religion, in which old conceptions from various religious streams were com bined and adapted. This conception, in turn, had considerable influence on the

production of prophetic books during the Second Temple period.



Documents

Ben-Dov - Writing as Oracle as Law