One of the most accepted sources for the Torah in source criticism
TheDeuteronomist, abbreviated as eitherDtr[1] or simplyD, may refer either to the source document underlying the core chapters (12–26) of theBook of Deuteronomy, or to the broader "school" that produced all of Deuteronomy as well as theDeuteronomistic history ofJoshua,Judges,Samuel,Kings, and also theBook of Jeremiah.[2] The adjectives "Deuteronomic" and "Deuteronomistic" are sometimes used interchangeably; if they are distinguished, then the first refers to the core of Deuteronomy and the second to all of Deuteronomy and the history.[3][4]
The Deuteronomist is one of the sources identified throughsource criticism as underlying much of theHebrew Bible. Among source-critical scholars, it is generally agreed that the Deuteronomistic history originated independently of the books ofGenesis,Exodus,Leviticus andNumbers (based on thePriestly source and theJahwist), and independently of the historicalBooks of Chronicles. Most scholars trace all or most of Deuteronomistic history to theBabylonian captivity (6th century BCE), and associate it with editorial reworking of both the Tetrateuch andJeremiah.[5]
Since the mid-20th century, scholars have imagined the Deuteronomists as countryLevites, a junior order of priests, or as prophets in the tradition of the northernKingdom of Israel, or as sages and scribes at the royal court.[6] Recent scholarship has interpreted the book as involving all these groups, and the origin and growth of Deuteronomism is usually described in the following terms:[7][8]
Following thedestruction of Israel by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE, refugees came south toJudah, bringing with them traditions, notably the concept ofYahweh as theonly God who should be served, which had not previously been known. Among those influenced by these new ideas were the landowning aristocrats (calledam ha'aretz "people of the land" in the Bible), who provided the administrative elite in Jerusalem.
In 640 BCE, there was a crisis whenKing Amon of Judah was murdered. The aristocrats suppressed the attempted coup, putting the ringleaders to death and placing Amon's eight-year-old sonJosiah on the throne.
Judah at this time was avassal state of Assyria, but Assyria now began a rapid and unexpected decline in power, leading to a resurgence of nationalism in Jerusalem. In 622, Josiah launched hisreform program, based on an early form of Deuteronomy 5–26, framed as acovenant (treaty) between Judah and Yahweh in which Yahweh replaced the Assyrian king.
By the end of the 7th century, theNeo-Babylonian Empire had replaced the Assyrians. The trauma of thedestruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586, and theBabylonian captivity that followed led to much theological reflection on the meaning of the tragedy and the Deuteronomistic history was written as an explanation: Israel had been unfaithful to Yahweh, and the exile was God's punishment.
By about 540, Babylonia was rapidly declining as the next rising power, theAchaemenid Empire, steadily destroyed it. With the end of the Babylonian oppression becoming ever more probable, Deuteronomy was given a new introduction and attached to the history books as an overall theological introduction.
The final stage was the addition of a few extra laws following theFall of Babylon to theAchaemenid Empire in 539 and the return of some (in fact only a small fraction)[9] of the exiles to Jerusalem.
Deuteronomy was formed by a complex process that reached probably from the 7th century BCE to the early 5th.[10] It consists of a historical prologue; an introduction; theDeuteronomic Code followed by blessings and curses; and a conclusion.[11]
The book's core is the law code (chapters 12–26).[12]2 Kings 22–23 tells how a "Book of the Law", commonly identified with the law code, was found in theTemple in Jerusalem during the reign ofJosiah.[13] According to the story in 2 Kings, reading the book caused Josiah to embark on a series of religious reforms, and it has been suggested that it was written to validate this program.[14] Notwithstanding, it is generally accepted that at least some of the laws are much earlier than Josiah.[13]
The introduction to the code (chapters 4:44–11:32) was added during Josiah's time, thus creating the earliest version of Deuteronomy as a book,[15] and the historical prologue (chapters 1–4:43) was added still later to turn Deuteronomy into an introduction to the entire Deuteronomistic history (Deuteronomy to Kings).[16]
The term was coined in 1943 by the German biblical scholarMartin Noth to explain the origin and purpose ofJoshua,Judges,Samuel, andKings. These, he argued, were the work of a single 6th-century BCE author/compiler seeking to explain recent events (the fall of Jerusalem and theBabylonian exile) using the theology and language of theBook of Deuteronomy.[17] The author used his sources with a heavy hand, depicting Joshua as a grand, divinely guided conquest, Judges as a cycle of rebellion and salvation, and the story of the kings as recurring disaster due to disobedience to God.[18]
A series of studies that modified Noth's original concept began in the late 1960s. In 1968,Frank Moore Cross made an important revision, suggesting that the history was first written in the late7th century BCE as a contribution toKing Josiah of Judah's program of reform (the Dtr1 version), and only later revised and updated by Noth's 6th-century author (Dtr2).[19] Dtr1 saw Israel's history as a contrast between God's judgment on the sinful northernKingdom of Israel ofJeroboam I, who set upgolden calves to be worshiped inBethel and Dan, and virtuous Judah, where faithful king David had reigned and where now the righteous Josiah was reforming the kingdom.[20] The exilic Dtr2 supplemented Dtr1's history with warnings of a broken covenant, an inevitable punishment and exile for the sinful (in Dtr2's view)Kingdom of Judah.[21]
Cross's "dual redaction" model is probably the most widely accepted,[22] but a considerable number of European scholars prefer an alternative model put forward byRudolf Smend and his pupils.[23] This approach holds that Noth was right to locate the composition of the history in the 6th century, but that further redactions took place after the initial composition, including a "nomistic" (from the Greek word for "law"), or DtrN, layer, and a further layer concerned with the prophets, abbreviated as DtrP.[24]
For a time, the Deuteronomistic history enjoyed "canonical" status in biblical studies.[25] However, writing in 2000,Gary N. Knoppers noted that "in the last five years an increasing number of commentators have expressed grave doubts about fundamental tenets of Noth's classic study."[26]
The prose sermons in theBook of Jeremiah are written in a style and outlook closely akin to, yet different from, the Deuteronomistic history.[27] Scholars differ over how much of the book is from Jeremiah himself and how much from later disciples,[28] but the Swiss scholarThomas Römer has recently[when?] identified two Deuteronomistic "redactions" (editings) of the Book of Jeremiah occurring some time before the end of the Exile (pre-539 BCE) – a process which also involved the prophetic books ofAmos andHosea.[29] The biblical text records about the "authors" of the Deuteronomistic works that Jeremiah the prophet used scribes such as Baruch to accomplish his ends.[30] It is also noteworthy that the Deuteronomistic History never mentions Jeremiah and some scholars believe that the "Jeremiah" Deuteronomists represent a distinct party from the "DtrH" Deuteronomists, with opposing agendas.[31]
Deuteronomy is conceived of as a covenant (a treaty) between the Israelites andYahweh,[32] who haschosen ("elected") the Israelites as his people and requires them to live according to his law.[33] Israel is to be atheocracy with Yahweh as the divinesuzerain.[34] The law is to be supreme over all other sources of authority, including kings and royal officials, and the scribes (Sanhedrin) are the guardians of the law: prophecy is instruction in the law as given through Moses, the law given through Moses is the complete and sufficient revelation of the Will of God, and nothing further is needed.[32]
Under the covenant, Yahweh promised the Israelites the land ofCanaan, but the promise was conditional: they would lose the land if they were unfaithful.[35] The Deuteronomistic history explains successes and failures as the result of faithfulness, which brings success, or disobedience, which brings failure; the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 721 BCE and the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians in 586 BCE are Yahweh's punishment for continued sinfulness.[36]
Deuteronomy insists on the centralisation of worship "in the place that the Lord your God will choose"; Deuteronomy never says where this place will be, but Kings makes it clear that it is Jerusalem.[32]
It also shows a special concern for the poor, widows and the fatherless: all Israelites are brothers and sisters, and each will answer to God for his treatment of his neighbour. This concern for equality and humanity extends also to the stranger who lives among the Israelites.[37] The stranger is often mentioned in tandem with the concern for the widow and the orphan. Furthermore, there is a specific commandment to love the stranger.[38]
^Van Seters 2015, pp. 79–82, "Scholars generally designate these strata as 'deuteronomic' (dt) for the material belonging to the core document of the Josiah reform and 'Deuteronomistic' (dtr) for one or more subsequent strata that belong to later redactions and to the larger Deuteronomic History..."
Rogerson, John W. (2003)."Deuteronomy". In James D. G. Dunn; John William Rogerson (eds.).Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Eerdmans.ISBN9780802837110.
Ausloos, Hans (2015).The Deuteronomist’s History. The Role of the Deuteronomist in Historical-Critical Research into Genesis–Numbers. Old Testament Studies. Vol. 67. Leiden, Netherlands – Boston, Massachusetts: Brill.
Knoppers, Gary N. (2000). "Is There a Future for the Deuteronomistic History?". In Thomas Römer (ed.).The Future of the Deuteronomistic History. Peeters.
McKenzie, Steven L. (1995)."Postscript". In Schearing, Linda S.; McKenzie, Steven L. (eds.).Those elusive Deuteronomists: The Phenomenon of Pan-Deuteronomism. T&T Clark.ISBN9781841270104.
Römer, Thomas (2000)."Deuteronomy In Search of Origins". In Knoppers, Gary N.; McConville, J. Gordon (eds.).Reconsidering Israel and Judah: Recent Studies on the Deuteronomistic History. Eisenbrauns.ISBN9781575060378.
Römer, Thomas (1994)."The Book of Deuteronomy". In McKenzie, Steven L.; Graham, Matt Patrick (eds.).The History of Israel's Traditions: The Heritage of Martin Noth. Sheffield Academic Press.ISBN9781850754992.
Schearing, Linda S. (1995)."Introduction". In Schearing, Linda S.; McKenzie, Steven L. (eds.).Those Elusive Deuteronomists: The Phenomenon of Pan-Deuteronomism. T&T Clark.ISBN9781841270104.
