Josiah and The Torah Book, 1
Josiah and The Torah Book, 1
Josiah and The Torah Book, 1
Lyle Eslinger
The Calgary Institute for the Humanities
The University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
T2N 1N4
Literary theorists are not the only ones to have noticed this common
reading practice; authors put it to good use in their manipulations of plot
and event sequence. To get a reader thinking that event B is the result of
event A, an author need only put the two in the sequence A, B. The least in
the kingdom of expositional manipulations at an authors disposal, event
sequencing is greater than any explicit expositional voice that the author
might use to prepare the way for his tale; greater, because causality is so
commonly assumed in temporal sequences. And a readers assumptions are
stronger elements in a tales power over the reader than anything an author
might try to impose by brute expositional force.
The authors of biblical narrative were well aware of the expositional value
of plot manipulation, as Sternberg has so ably demonstrated (1985, esp.
chs. 6-8). Their preference, in fact, is to let the tale do its own talking, or
more exactly, to let the exposition surface implicitly within the story rather
than by means of the external voice of narratorial commentary. The biblical
narrator is a narrator bent on self-effacement (Sternberg, 1985, p. 266). 1
There is little to support the idea that both accounts go back to one
source or to the events themselves.3 The literary relationships between the
books of Chronicles and Kings have led to the universal assumption that the
former depends on the latter. But the dependence, far from diminishing our
opportunity for comparative plot analysis, enhances it. For though we do not
know and will probably never know how the book of Kings has reconstrued
the actual sequence of events in Josiahs reign, we are able to see the
source of the Chroniclers account and compare it with his own arrangement
of the plot.
The Kings Version
One
A B
Two
A B
The purpose: to pay the Temple The purpose: to read the book of
restorers (vv. 4-7). the covenant and to make a
covenant (vv. 2- 3).
Three
Shaphan reads the book to the Josiah reads the book to the
king (v. 10). assembly (v. 2).8
Four
A B
Five
A B
Six
A B
Seven
A B
Josiah and The Torah Book, 4
Eight
A B
Nine
A B
Ten
A B
Hilkiah and retinue return and bring Josiah returns (s]wb ) to Jerusalem,
back (s]wb ) word to the king (v. 20). signifying the completion of his task
and response (v. 20).12
Eleven
A B
The king gathers all the elders of The king commands all the people to
Judah and Jerusalem to hear and celebrate a pass- over in accord with
respond to the book of the law (23:1- the the book of the covenant (v. 21).
3).
Twelve
A B
Josiah initiates the entire series with his efforts to continue the Temple
restorations begun by Jehoash in 2 Kgs 12. But it is not for his continuation
of Jehoashs project that Josiah is toasted as the outstanding king (23:25).
The corresponding phraseology in descriptions of the workers and the
conditions of payment in Jehoashs reforms (2 Kgs 12:11-15) and in Josiahs
(23:5-7) underlines the fact that Josiahs restorations are not innovations. 13
He is simply carrying on the work initiated by Jehoash and this is not his
outstanding contribution.
Josiahs actions in 1 and 2 A, prior to the discovery of the law book are
distinctly different than their opposing parallels in 1 and 2 B, which are
post-law book actions. In the remaining parallels there is both continuity
and historical development between the A and B members of the pairs.
For example, in item 3, Shaphan reads the book to Josiah (A) and Josiah
reads the book to the people (B). In item 4, the king responds positively to
the book (A) and then the people do likewise (B). In item 6, Josiah inquires
about the proper course of action to take in response to the law book (A),
and then makes the actual attempt at proper response (B).
Temple and the covenant relationship. In the plot sequence of 2 Kgs 22-23,
the discovered law book focuses Josiahs attentions on the crucial themes of
obedience to the covenant and the concomitant abolition of idolatry. 15
In this remarkable series of parallels, the most interesting pairs are items
4-8. Here the narrator describes Josiahs responses to the words of the law
book and Huldahs oracle. When the plot sequence in numbers 4-8 is
compared with that of the book of Chronicles, which maintains the initiative-
response structure, its uniqueness stands out. The sequential revisions in
the Chronicles plot lead to an entirely different conception of the
significance of the reform. Almost the only change in the Chroniclers
account is in the sequencing of events. Yet, thanks to the common
assumption of causality in narrative sequences, the result of resequencing is
a strikingly different reform.
Item 4 shows that action is the desired response to a reading of the law
book. Josiahs expression of humility and contrition after reading the book
(A) is matched by the assemblys acceptance of the need for covenant
renewal in 4B. Josiah commands Hilkiah and his retinue to inquire about the
proper course of action in 5A and in 5B he issues a matching command to
Hilkiah and others to begin the purge with the cleansing of the Temple. In
response to Gods general complaints against the inhabitants of the land
-that they have burned incense to other gods and provoked God with the
works of their handsJosiah takes painstaking redressive measures. 17 He
aims to please.
In the Kings narrative the most important result of the discovery of the
law book is the purge of idolatrous objects and practices: first from the
Temple, then from the lands of all of Judah (from Geba to Beersheba)
(23:8), and finally even into the precincts of Samaria (23:15-20). The B
members of numbers 7 and 8 are Josiahs best efforts to address Huldahs
explanation of the significance of the law book for his historical hour.
Just as the end of Huldahs oracle is signalled by the return and retelling
(s]wb ) of the oracle to the king in 9A, so Josiahs response is completed
when he himself returns (s]wb ) to Jerusalem (9B; 22:20). Item 11 lies
outside the most important series of pairs bracketed by numbers 3, the
discovery of the law book (22:8-10), and 10, Josiahs return to Jerusalem
(23:20). Within these brackets lies the quintessence of Josiahs response as
presented in the plot structure of the book of Kings. The importance of this
Josiah and The Torah Book, 7
section is marked by the placement of the purge. It is set in parallel with the
sole divulgence anywhere in the entire episode of the contents of the law
book.
The parallel members of item 11 (A: 23:1 and B: 23:21-23) form a bracket
around the vital responses to the law book and the oracle. The initiative
the assembly of the people to hear the law (A)raises some doubt: how will
the people respond, and so, how successful will Josiahs efforts to promote
obedience and allay Gods anger be? In answer, 11B describes the passover
celebration. Although the passover stands outside the central response (the
purge), it is a fitting conclusion to Josiahs reforms and bears the same
imprint as his other zealous responses. The passover resolves the doubts
raised by 11A and displays again Josiahs willingness to go the extra
distance to placate God.18
The series of responses conclude with 12B, the only response without a
corresponding initiative. Here Josiah literally outdoes himself in his limitless
desire to establish the legal prescriptions of the law book. Even though there
is no initiating parallel to cue his response, the momentum of his previous
responses continues. Josiah performs one last reform operation, ensuring
that the law books prescriptions are obeyed. The kings unstinting support
of the law book is proclaimed to God and man. The narratorial comment in v.
25 shows just how hard Josiah tried to meet the challenge of the law book.
He was a king who turned to Yahweh with all his heart, soul and might, in
accordance with all the law of Moses. More than anything else, this Josiah
is obedient. Unfortunately, obedience is not enough (23:26).
The theological issue probed by the author of Kings is not difficult to see,
even without the contrast provided by the book of Chronicles. In the
contextual bounds of chs. 22-23, Josiahs response (23:4-20) is an active
interpretation of the oracle of Huldah. Throughout the series of initiatives
and responses there is little more he could have done to respond to the
demands of the situation and the law book. The plot structure directs our
eyes to the speedy and active response of Josiah to the law book and its
interpretation. And yet, the net result of all his effort is slight. Having shown
all of Josiahs pious bustle and having eulogized him incomparably (23:25),
the narrator turns to heaven to reveal the effect on God and the
consequence for Israels survival:
But the Lord did not deviate from his burning anger . . . and he said I will also
remove Judah from my sight . . (2 Kgs 23:26-27).
The conjunction of this revelation and the eulogy immediately after the
exhaustive description of Josiahs emergency measures raises enormous
questions about the efficacy of redressive piety and the possibility of human
behaviour changing the course that God has plotted for Israelite history. If
an effort such as Josiahs is so futile, what of the craven masses lesser
Josiah and The Torah Book, 8
efforts? If the Dtr narrative is the theodicy it is often called, and I have my
doubts, it certainly does not seem here to call for the repentance of a sinful
Israel toward a God who listens to the broken and contrite spirit. Without
attempting to work out all the implications of this narrative conjunction it is
safe to say that the detailed plot structure of 2 Kgs 22-23 is a strong
implication of several theological problems here and especially in the
conventional reading of Dtr theology. 19
Of course the suggestion that the Chronicler made creative use of his
main literary source in the story of Josiahs reform is contrary to much
received, but decaying opinion about his ingenuity. In Wellhausens view, the
Chronicler was forced to adhere to the text of 2 Kings. . . . the free flight of
the Chroniclers law-crazed fancy is hampered by the copy to which he is
tied, and which gives not the results merely, but the details of the
proceedings themselves . . . (1973, p. 195). But elsewhere the Chronicler
demonstrates a ready willingness to modify and summarize his source when
it is detailed and he wishes to compress description or collapse extended
plotting.21 Wellhausens assertion flies in the face of such readiness. His
opinion does, however, show the importance of a careful study of plot
structure and the other implicit means by which the biblical narrators
characteristically frame their view. On the surface, at the level of explicit
exposition, Wellhausen is quite right: it appears that the Chronicler has
changed little if anything. But underneath, at the powerful level of
implication, the Chroniclers account is very subversive of the Kings account.
One
A B
Having purged the land and the The king sends (jlv) for the fathers
house (or in order to continue and the elders. Josiah and retinue go
purging the land and the house) up to the house of the Lord (34:29). 24
Josiah sends (jlv) Shaphan,
Maaseiah, and Joah to the house of
the Lord (34:8). 23
Two
A B
Purpose: to repair the house (34:8). Purpose: to read the book of the
covenant and to make a covenant
(34:30-31).
Three
A B
Shaphan reads the book to the king Josiah reads the book to the
(34:18). assembly (34:30). 25
Four
A B
Response: Josiah tears his clothes Response: a covenant is made;
(3:19). Josiah makes all present stand to it;
and the people act in accordance
with the covenant of God, the God of
their fathers(34:32).
Five
A B
The king commands Hilkiah and Josiah removes the abominations
retinue (34:20). from N. Israelite territories (34:33a).
Six
A B
Required action: to inquire of the Josiah makes all present in Israel
Lord about how to propitiate the serve God, and in his lifetime they
wrath of the Lord which has been do not depart from the service of the
kindled because of the fathers Lord, God of their fathers
neglect of the words of the book (34:33b,c).26
(34:21).
Seven
Josiah and The Torah Book, 11
A B
The word of the Lord through Response: in accordance with the
Huldah: Godis about to bring evil word of the Lord by Moses (35:6),
and the curses of the book upon this the kings command (v. 10), the
place (Judah) (34:24). book of Moses (v. 12), the ordi-
nance (fpvm, v. 13), and in the
service of the Lord, Josiahs
insurpassable passover is celebrated
(35:1-19).27
Eight
A B
Why is God doing this? They have [Cf. 7B.]
burned incense to other gods and
provoked him with the work of their
hands (34:25).
Nine
A B
A special oracle to Josiah: because
he has humbled himself, he will die
in peace (34:26-28).
Ten
A B
Hilkiah and retinue return and bring Summation report of the completion
back (bwv) word to the king (34:28). of the passover celebration and
Josiahs response (35:16).
Eleven
A B
The king gathers the elders of Judah The Israelite priests and Levites, all
and Jerusalem, men of Judah and Judah and Israel and the inhabitants
inhabitants of Jerusalem, priests and of Jerusalem who were present
Levites, and all the people to make a performed the passover.
covenant (34:29-32).
This change is a product of the Chroniclers greater respect for the results
of Josiahs actions insofar as they are guided by the ways of David, (34:2),
and the directions of David and Solomon (35:4). As Myers has suggested
(1966, p. 269), the Chronicler saw David as a second Moses, with the
prerogatives of king and priest: Moses built and planned the tabernacle
(Exod 25:9), and David the Temple ((2 Chr 28:11-19). For the Chronicler, the
existence of this alternate source of authority in the royal dictates of David
and Solomon is at least of equal importance as the newly discovered law
book.29 From the deuteronomistic viewpoint of the book of Kings, such was
simply not the case.30 Such indications of catholicity in the Chroniclers
recognition of diverse sources of authority may betray an attempt to win the
affections of the various groups in Israelite society, whose own sources of
authority are honored by the Chroniclers narrative. He modifies the Kings
account, mitigating its delegation of exclusive authority to the law book in
order to accommodate these other sources of social authority. 31
interested in unifying various groups and traditions, the Temple is the place
where it is to occur, and the Levites are among those at the helm.
In item 4A, the response to the words of the law book, the Chronicler
follows Kings closely. Josiah shows compunction on hearing the words of the
law book (2 Kgs 22:1 = 2 Chr 34:19). In Kings, Josiahs response is
understandable, given that the land and Temple have yet to be purged. In
Chronicles, where Josiah has completed his purge of the land and where the
purge or renovations to the Temple are well under way, the reason for
Josiahs contrition must lie elsewhere. 35
The Chroniclers portrait of Josiah not only allows him to exalt the Davidic
kingship as the corner stone of the nation`s continued existence, but also
seems to be in better agreement with Huldahs oracle than that of Kings. 37
In the oracle, the inhabitants of the land are responsible for the coming evil
because they have forsaken the Lord. Josiah, on the other hand, is
commended and rewarded for his humility. The similarity of the peoples
response to Josiahs response in Kings, is uncharacteristic; it demonstrates
the convincing power of the law book. In Chronicles, on the other hand, the
peoples response agrees with their characterization in the oracle. The words
of the law book do not convince them and the kings own authority and
power are required before they stand to the covenant. Perhaps this
difference is another example of the Chroniclers de-emphasis of the law
book in favor of the kings authority. Chronicles recognizes a dual authority
because it combines two separate streams of tradition that originally
recognized different sources of authority.
In Chronicles, item 5 of the narrative structure lacks the B part of the pair
formations. With this major departure from the narrative structure of Kings
the Chronicler openly begins to state his differences. In 5A, Josiahs
command to inquire of the Lord about what to do agrees with Kings. In
numbers 5 and 6 B the Chronicler creates his own version of the text of 2
Kgs 23:24. In the Kings narrative, 23:24 appears as a superlative finishing
touch in the series of Josiahs responses to the law book. For Kings, v. 24
describes a special type of reformative effort to remove a particular
category of objectionable religious practices from the precincts of Judah and
Jerusalem.38 The Chronicler transposes this account of superlative reform
and sets it in the gap left by the absence of a B part in numbers 5 and 6,
the evicted Temple purge, which was unnecessary in his view.
The Chronicler also radically alters the content of 2 Kgs 23:24. The
meaning of the alteration can only be appreciated in the light of what has
gone before. Josiah has already purged Judah and Jerusalem (34:3-5) and
has even made a few forays into old Israel (34:6-7). He has renovated, or is
in the process of renovating the Temple (34:8-13). Finally, he has
reestablished the covenant and made all inhabitants of Jerusalem and the
tribe of Benjamin stand to it (34:32). There would seem to be no possiblity
of further improvements in response to the great wrath of God poured out
on account of the fathers dereliction of duty to the law.
5B. He made all found in Israel serve the Lord their God
all his days they did not turn from following the Lord,
God of their fathers.
Having already put his own kingdom in order, Josiah proceeds to do the
same for the remnants of the northern kingdom.
The result is not a false claim for the requirement of such a passover.
Rather it is an emphasis on the commandment of passover observance. The
Chronicler makes the passover a binding duty, the neglect of which brings
evil and the curses of the law on the head of the disobedient. In spite of the
importance of this claim for the Chroniclers argument, contained implicitly
in the plot structure, he avoids making any explicit expositional statement in
its support. Instead, he relies exclusively on the readers normal assumption
that sequence implies causality.
ordinance (v. 13). By emphasizing that the reason for Gods wrath is the
non-fulfillment of the commandments and that the passover was carried out
in detailed response to the commandments through Moses, the Chronicler
removes much of the incongruity. 42 The other obvious justification for the
appearance of the passover celebration as response in items 7 and 8 is that
Josiah has already rectified the problems of idolatry by the purge of Judah
and Israel, the restorations performed on the Temple, the covenant renewal
in Judah and the religious reform in Israel. The only thing lacking, therefore,
is the correct performance of the cultic ceremonies and duties.
Finally, the Chronicler agrees with Kings in the last item, number 11. The
call to covenant renewal is balanced by the celebration of passover in both
Kings and Chronicles, although in Chronicles it is merely a recollection and
not an actual performance.
Summary
For Kings, the law book is primary in the reform. Josiah merely supplies
the means to accomplish the dictates of the law book. The means of
accomplishment involves, in particular, the willingness to act in accordance
with the law. Josiah was unsurpassable in his willingness to comply with the
law of Moses (2 Kgs 23:25). Without the guidance of the book of the law,
however, Josiah was simply one of a line of kings who did right in the eyes of
the Lord, as demonstrated by his pre-law book continuation of Jehoashs
Temple restorations, in which the Kings presentation shows nothing that
goes beyond his predecessor. The mirror-like plot structure of the Kings
account has been contructed to pinpoint the law book as the reason for the
Josianic reform.
The Chroniclers handling of the Kings text suggests that he may have
been dealing with a text that had already attained an authoritative status in
the community. Given that his own views differed from those of the author of
Kings, the Chronicler expressed his views in subtle alterations to the plot
structure, and by deleting Kings material or adding new expansionistic
details. That he was often constrained to leave the Kings text as it stood,
however, is evidenced by those places in his narrative where he has to
maneuver, as for example around the implications of 34:25.