bacht

there's an interesting passage in 2 Kings 16:

When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tig'lath-pile'ser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus.
And King Ahaz sent to Uri'ah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details.
And Uri'ah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uri'ah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.
And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar.
Then the king drew near to the altar, and went up on it, and burned his burnt offering and his cereal offering, and poured his drink offering, and threw the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar.

It's tempting to read this as a glimpse of pre-monolatry, an admission that in the old days Israelites worshipped much as their neighbours did.

spin

Do you have some reason to think that? I've seen nothing to suggest this.

And when do you think Deut 12 was written? I get the idea that it's based on the fact that sacrifices seem to be pre-exilic and sacrifices seem to be pre-exilic because Deuteronomy talks about them.

My interest is to find indications that might allow the texts to be dated, not to find ways of making the narratives seem coherent. Traditions will develop whether they are based on fact or not. They will be relevant to those who need them. Who needed the rules regarding being too far from Jerusalem before John Hyrcanus centralized the Yahweh religion, destroying high places such as Mt Gerizzim?

Ritual sacrificing went on for millennia in the Levant and down through the Hasmonean dynasty in Jerusalem.


spin

semiopen

I've been curious about Deuteronomy 12 for awhile. It seems to me to be a catchall written after the main text but I haven't seen any scholarly opinions about this.

In addition to the non ritual slaughtering, blood, etc. is the prohibition (apropo of nothing) against human sacrifice, or at least that of relatives.

My guess is that this is a late addition.