{"id":64449,"date":"2019-10-17T16:22:12","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T13:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64449"},"modified":"2023-05-12T16:24:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T13:24:21","slug":"good-king-josiah-and-the-scroll-of-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/good-king-josiah-and-the-scroll-of-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Good King Josiah and the Scroll of the Law"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our chapter has become part of the stock-in-trade of biblical criticism. According to the prevalent theory of the multiple authorship of the Torah (the Documentary Hypothesis), the scroll of the Law that was recovered during the restoration of the Temple under King Josiah was none other than the Book of Deuteronomy making its first appearance. By reviewing the pertinent text, we may see how both sides to this issue interpret it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the high priest Hilkiah said to the scribe Shaphan:<\/span><\/p>\n

I have found a scroll of the Teaching (Law, <\/span>Sefer ha-Torah<\/span><\/em>) in the House of the LORD.\u201d And Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, who read it. The scribe Shaphan then went to the king and reported to the king\u2026 \u201cThe high priest Hilkiah has given me a scroll\u201d; and Shaphan read it to the king. When the king heard the words of the scroll of the Teaching, he rent his clothes. (vss. 8-11)<\/span><\/p>\n

And the king [ordered]: \u201cGo, inquire of the LORD on my behalf, and on behalf of the people, and on behalf of all Judah, concerning the words of this scroll that has been found. For great indeed must be the wrath of the LORD that has been kindled against us, because our fathers did not obey the words of this scroll to do all that has been prescribed for us.\u201d (vss. 12-13)<\/span><\/p>\n

The critical view posits that had the scroll been just a copy of an existing Torah, it would not have evoked such a response on the parts of the king and the people. Ergo, it was a discovery more than a recovery. Not surprisingly, the unusual impact of the scroll did not escape notice by rabbinic interpreters who had alternate explanations for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

One such explanation takes particular note of the fact that Josiah\u2019s reign was preceded by the 55-year reign of Manasseh, during which Torah law was calculatingly neglected and, arguably, copies of the Torah were removed from circulation. To Josiah and his contemporaries, then, it was as though the Torah had been given anew. Another explanation relies on the parallel description of this event in 2 Chronicles, in which the scroll is called \u201ca scroll of the LORD\u2019s Teaching given by Moses\u201d (34:9), which is interpreted to mean that it was THE original Torah text in Moses\u2019s own handwriting. Hence, its recovery was met with such pathos and dedication.<\/span><\/p>\n

In response to a critical claim that Deuteronomy could not have existed until Josiah because of the recurring references in Kings to the worship at <\/span>bamot<\/span><\/em> (high places)\u2014prohibited by Deuteronomic law\u00a0 (12:5, 16:6)\u2014Joseph Hertz (1872\u20131946) wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n

It is the old familiar argument that the Law could not have existed because it can be shown that it was broken! According to such logic, there could never have been any Prohibition Law in America (<\/span>The Pentateuch and Haftorahs,<\/em> <\/span>London: Soncino, 1960, 940).<\/span><\/p>\n

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