Law and Ideology in Monarchic Israel (JSOT Supplement 124)

Written by Baruch Halpern and Deborah W. Hobson (eds.) Reviewed By Richard S. Hess

Halpern’s essay, which comprises half of the book, wanders along from Hezekiah to Josiah, using the latest discoveries in archaeology to argue for a cultural and philosophical change in Judah. Hezekiah’s preparations for war concentrated all the people in the fortified cities and eventually in Jerusalem. This allowed the Assyrians to lay waste the countryside, including the high places. Although Manasseh revived this worship, Josiah returned to a strict monotheism. The latter’s policy of centralization in Jerusalem dealt a death-blow to the family kinship groupings which had formed the centre of spiritual life. This was replaced with an urban and alienated society which found its identity in written, national history and in the worship of a single national deity. While there is much here to be learned, Halpern’s dextrous use of the archaeological and textual evidence cannot avoid the impression that a considerable leap is necessary to establish his claims of an authentic reconstruction of ancient Judean ideology and philosophy. The other two essays include B. Peckham’s survey of various Israelite prophetic and historical works and their views of covenant and law, and P.E. Dion’s stylistic study of Deuteronomy 13, which he dates to Josiah’s reign but finds the closest parallel to in a stipulation in a Hittite treaty.


Richard S. Hess

Denver Seminary, Denver