A first step before the Exile
Date
640BCE
640–609 BCE
According to 2 Kings, a scroll of Moses's law found during Temple repairs led Josiah to a major reform, and scholars suspect it was Deuteronomy.
Sourced narrative
Each block is a verifiable statement. The number opens the cited page; amber or coral blocks flag tradition or contested interpretation.
4 statements
01The scroll found
The earliest stages of the canon may predate the Exile. According to 2 Kings 22 and 23, during the reign of Josiah (640 to 609 BCE) a long-lost Torah of Moses was found during Temple repairs, setting out the commands the people had to follow to keep their covenant with God. Josiah realizes they have been violated and launches a major religious reform, suppressing idolatrous practices. Modern scholars suspect that the scroll was Deuteronomy and that its 'rediscovery' was a ruse staged by the king to present a freshly written law book as an old text of Moses that people would feel bound to obey. If so, 2 Kings 22 and 23 shows how one of the Five Books of Moses was first made public, and the canon was already forming before the Exile.
02Before this, no scripture
Before this, Judahite religion does not seem to have been scripture-centered: figures like David consult prophets to discern God's will and are never shown studying the laws of Moses or working to interpret them. Beyond Josiah's reform, the push toward scripture came from the Babylonian conquest and the upheaval that followed.
Context
Scholars are fairly confident that canonization began in the Persian period, but when it ended is unclear. Centuries later there was still debate over whether books like Ecclesiastes belonged in the canon, and other books may have been viewed as canonical by some Jews and rejected by others. Even so, once the Second Temple era closed, most Jews seem to have agreed on the contents, which were close to today's Jewish Bible.
§ 01Geography
Where it happened
§ 03Historiography
What scholars debate
Scholarly debate · 01
What was the scroll found in Josiah's reign?
2 positions · no single answer · take a seat →
- A
A forgotten Torah of Moses
The account of 2 Kings 22 and 23
During Temple repairs a long-lost Torah of Moses was found, setting out the commands of the covenant; Josiah sees they have been violated and launches a major reform.
- B
Deuteronomy and a staged 'rediscovery'
Modern scholars
The scroll would be Deuteronomy and its rediscovery a ruse by the king to pass a newly composed law book off as an ancient text of Moses.
§ 04Network
Connections
§ 05Bibliography
Further reading
Richard Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible? (San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997).
How modern scholarship worked out the authorship of the Torah · recommended in Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 61
§ 06Apparatus
Sources on this page
- 01Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 47inspect
- 02Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 48inspect
- 03Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 48inspect
- 04Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 51inspect
- Documented evidenceAttested by contemporary evidence: texts, inscriptions, coins, papyri or archaeology.
- Scholarly reconstructionHistorians' inference from indirect evidence.
- Tradition or narrativeA literary, traditional or religious account; significant in itself, but not independently verified.
- Contested interpretationScholars explicitly disagree; see the positions in the debate.
- Illustrative reconstructionA hypothesis or visual scheme to guide reading; not a historical claim.