A brief editorial note: this wasn't meant to be a post at all, but a comment. It disappeared on me last night, when I made a comment, and reappeared here as a post this morning. At any rate, since it is here, I've edited it to make more sense as a blog post.
The original post is here:
http://sicat222.blogspot.com/2006/09/bloody-murder.html
Deuteronomy 19 is a fascinating exploration of how people of this long ago time developed a different sensibility regarding manslaughter. It recognizes both the lack of intent of the perpretrator, and the righteous anger of the victims family and friends. Although we respond to distinctive kinds of killings very differently today, you have to admire Deuteronomy's great subtlety as a quasi-legal text.
Many have speculated that Deuteronomy is pseudepigraphically from Moses, and is actually mostly the (inspired of course) writing of King Josiah in the middle iron age. If that is so, it is a book that shows the King of Judah to be Godly, progressive, and humane for the otherwise barbaric world he lived in - surrounded by unjust and harsh kingdoms such as Babylon.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Irina's law school inspired musings
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2 comments:
That makes me want to learn more about King Josiah. Based on the research linking him to Deuteronomy, did they manage to reconstruct anything more about his life?
There's an excellent book on the topic of the archaeology of this crucial period of Judaean life (between Hezekiah and Josiah.) It is called "Unearthing the Bible", and it is by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman.
They make a number of conclusions, some of which seem to be well grounded. He's the only one of the Kings that truly gets credit for being a good man. Hezekiah comes close, but Josiah is the one under whom worship away from the temple comes to an end. It appears to be in this time, after the fall of Israel, that Judaea develops a confident sense of nationhood.
And yet Josiah was somewhat ignominiously killed, after making a serious tactical error on the battlefield. For such a heroic character, his passing seems an afterthought. It would take until the end of the exile, with Cyrus and Ezra, for any further heroic characters to arise.
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