Chapter 5 In the Court of King Josiah Summary and Analysis

"The book that the priest Hilkiah said he found in the Temple in 622 B.C. was Deuteronomy" (p. 101).

The above quote summarizes the overarching question about Deuteronomy. The traditional claim that Moses had written it comes into question when considering the political forces at work during the reign of King Josiah. Making Jerusalem once again the center of religion, and lending credence to this act by discovering a lost book of the Torah, works neatly into the desires of the priests in Jerusalem. Their share of the sacrifices is ten percent of all the animals and produce brought to them. In 1805, the German investigator W. M. L. De Wette asserts that Moses did not write Deuteronomy, and that the book had been written specifically to support Josiah's reformation. De...